Jandial Temple

The Jandial temple is a semi-Classical building of Greek Ionic design located north of the ancient city of Sirkap (across from Taxila). It may have been built under second century BCE Greek supervision or by first century BCE Parthian or Scythian rulers. The temple is built in the Hellenic style with a peripheral wall and capitals modeled after the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, suggesting Greek workmanship. A coin of the Indo-Scythian ruler Azes I (ca. 48-25 BCE) was discovered in the rubble, indicating that the temple may have been built during his reign. The site is known for its sandstone Ionic columns, uncommon in the region, and a heavy stepped wall behind the naos which may have supported a Zoroastrian ziggurat. Philostratus depicts the temple as having been a shrine to Alexander and Porus in the first century CE. The site was excavated by Gulan Qadir under the direction of John Marshall in 1912 as part of the Archaeological Survey of India. Another temple, known as Jandial D, was excavated nearby in 1863 and is believed to have bracketed the other side of a highly traveled road to Gandhara. Jandial seems to have survived until Kashmir rule in the seventh century CE.