Learned Traveller

Taxila is an ancient buddhist site not far from Islamabad. It was inhabited by, and very heavily influenced by, the Ancient Greeks, who settled there after Alexander the Great's conquest. Note the Greek column in the picture. The unusual brickwork was designed to withstand earthquakes, and clearly it has been very succesful in that - this wall is not a reconstruction. Sadly we saw a lot of evidence of how more modern construction in Pakistan is woefully inadequate for withstanding earthquakes - the results of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake were still very visible along the Karakorum Highway.