File:Kandahar fourthcity durrani.jpg

Summary
This lithograph is taken from plate 23 of 'Afghaunistan' by Lieutenant James Rattray. 1848. He sketched Kandahar in December 1841 from the rooftop of the former residence of the province's governor, Sirdar Meer Dil Khaun, who was brother to the Emir. Pictured on the left is the tomb of Ahmed Shah Durrani and on the right the Bala Hissar (fort) and citadel. The houses in the foreground were dilapidated due to frequent earthquakes.

Afghans believed that ancient Kandahar had been built by Alexander the Great. Rattray's drawing shows the fourth city on the site, built 95 years earlier by Ahmed Shah Durrani. Vast ruins of the earlier cities remained. Rattray wrote that Kandahar, a Durrani capital, was situated in a well-cultivated and fertile irrigated plain circled by mountains: "Every hill and building around rejoices in some singular title and each has its legend." Downloaded from the British Museum website by Fowler&fowler  «Talk»  21:26, 16 March 2007 (UTC)