Map of Sakastan around 100 BCE.

Sakastan, Sakasthana or Sakasthan is a term indicating the south and western regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, partly corresponding to the modern Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Sistān o Balūchestān ( Persian: استان سیستان و بلوچستان is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It was also a province of the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty or Sassanian Dynasty (ساسانیان) is the name used for the third Iranian dynasty and the second Persian empire

The area received its name from the Scythians or Sakas, an Aryan tribe which resided in the area from the 2nd century BCE, following their southward migrations ahead of the Yuezhi. The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic The Sakas ( English form of Old Iranian Sakā, Nominative plural masculine case; Ancient Greek Σάκαι, The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese: 月支 Pinyin: yuè zhī or ròu zhī; also 月氏 Pinyin: yuè shì The Sakas were a tribe of Aryans. During their expansion into eastern parts of Afghanistan, Sakastan came to include many other parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. From around 100 BCE the Sakas invaded the Indus valley, where they were known as Indo-Scythians. The Indus Valley Civilization (Mature period 2600&ndash1900 BCE abbreviated IVC, was an ancient Civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Indo-Iranian Sakas ( Scythians) who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria,

The presence of the Sakas in Sakastan in the 1st century BCE is mentionned by Isidorus of Charax in his "Parthian stations". Isidore of Charax, also known as Isidorus Characenus, was a 1st century geographer from the city of Charax in Characene, on the northern end of the present He explained that they were bordered at that time a Greek city of Alexandria to the east (Alexandria of the Arachosians), and the Parthian-controlled territory of Arachosia to the south:

"Beyond is Sacastana of the Scythian Sacae, which is also Paraetacena, 63 schoeni. Alexandria in Arachosia was a city in ancient times that is now called Kandahar in Afghanistan. Arachosia (ˌærəˈkoʊʒə, Arakhōsia) or Arachotae (əˈrækəˌtiː, Arakhōtai) is the latinized form of Greek name of an Achaemenid A schoenus ( Latin) or schoinos ( Greek) is a historical unit of itinerant distance once common throughout the Mediterranean. There are the city of Barda and the city of Min and the city of Palacenti and the city of Sigal; in that place is the royal residence of the Sacae; and nearby is the city of Alexandria (and nearby is the city of Alexandropolis), and six villages. Palacenti was an ancient town of Drangiana in southwest Afghanistan. Sigal was a city of the Helmund Valley in south-west Afghanistan (ancient Sacastene " Parthian stations, 18. ^[1]

The westernmost part of these regions would later be known as the Sistan or Seistan. Modern Sistan ( is a border region in southeastern Iran (see Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and southwestern Afghanistan (see Nimruz Province

Notes