1. Historical overview

Herat (Harat) is a city and province in western Afghanistan and a part of Greater Khurasan, situated in the fruitful valley of the Hari-Rūd River. In antiquity the name of Herat is mentioned in several forms: The Greeks called the city Areia, and in the inscriptions of Darius the Great (522–486 B.C.E.) it is called Haraiva. Alexander the Great, who built the city in the fourth century B.C.E, called it Alexandri…