Barikot and Ancient Bazira: Alexander's Swat Town

Barikot is the first sizeable town you reach in Swat after the motorway, about 25 km up the valley from Chakdara and 19 km short of Mingora. Beside it lies ancient Bazira, the fortified town that Alexander the Great's army besieged in the autumn of 327 BCE. Italian and Pakistani archaeologists have dug here since 1984 and found a town that was lived in, on and off, from about 1700 BCE to the 11th century CE.

This guide covers what happened at Bazira, what the excavations have uncovered, how to visit, and which other sites to combine with it.

What happened at Bazira in 327 BCE?

Alexander entered Swat from the west in 327 BCE, fighting the people the Greek writers call the Assakenoi. After taking their chief town, Massaga, he moved against two more strongholds: Ora and Bazira. Aurel Stein and later Giuseppe Tucci identified Ora with Udegram, further up the valley, and Bazira with the hill at Barikot.

The historian Arrian, writing from the accounts of Alexander's own officers, says the general Coenus was sent to Bazira. The town stood on high ground and was well fortified, and its people did not surrender. Alexander went on to storm Ora himself. When the defenders of Bazira heard that Ora had fallen, they left their town at night and fled to the rock of Aornos, and the Macedonians fortified Bazira as a garrison.

The name may survive in the place. Stein argued that Bir-kot, the old name of the hill, keeps the sound of Bazira, and Barikot is the modern form.

What have the excavations found?

The Italian Archaeological Mission, founded by Tucci in the 1950s, began work here in 1984 and is still digging. The site is unusual because the layers run without long breaks through nearly 3,000 years. In outline:

• Around 1700 to 1400 BCE. The first traces of people: pits and pottery of a Bronze Age village.
• Around 1200 to 800 BCE. A settlement of about 15 hectares with a citadel on the hill and a graveyard.
• Around 600 to 400 BCE. A town begins to form, with pottery showing links to the Persian empire that then ruled Gandhara.
• 327 BCE. The Macedonian siege.
• After about 200 BCE. Under the Indo-Greek kings, Bazira gets a massive defensive wall with bastions. The town covered about 12 hectares including the citadel. A silver coin of King Menander was found here.
• 1st to 3rd centuries CE. A busy town under the Kushan empire, with Buddhist shrines among the houses.
• 3rd century CE. Earthquakes damage the town, and the lower city is abandoned by about 300 CE.
• Around 700 CE. A temple is built on top of the hill under the Shahi kings.
• Around 1000 to 1100 CE. A last phase under the Ghaznavids.

The best-known recent find was announced in December 2021 by the mission and Ca' Foscari University of Venice: a Buddhist temple with a rounded end, dated to around 250 BCE, the time of the emperor Ashoka. It was still in use a century later under Menander. That makes it one of the earliest Buddhist buildings yet found in the region.

What you can see today

There are two parts to the site. The lower town lies at the foot of the hill on the edge of modern Barikot. This is where the Indo-Greek city wall, its bastions, the streets and the house foundations are. The hill, Bir-kot-ghwandai, rises behind it and carries the remains of the citadel and the Shahi temple.

The lower town is the part most visitors see. The hill is a steep climb on rough ground, and we could not confirm how much of the top is open to walk around, so ask locally before you start up.

Be realistic about what a dig looks like. You will see stone walls and foundations, not standing buildings, and there is little on site to explain which wall belongs to which century. Trenches are opened and covered again between seasons, so what is visible changes from year to year. The carved stone, coins and pottery from Bazira are not here: the best of them are in the Swat Museum in Saidu Sharif, which the Italian mission helped to set up in 1963 and rebuild in 2013. Visit the museum on the same day and the walls will make far more sense.

We found no published ticket price or opening hours for the excavation. Go in daylight and carry small change in case an attendant is present. If the mission's team is working, stay outside the marked trenches and ask before taking photographs of the work.

How to get to Barikot

By car from Islamabad. Take the M-1 towards Peshawar and turn onto the Swat Motorway, which ends at Chakdara. From there the N-95 follows the left bank of the Swat river for about 25 km to Barikot. The whole drive is about 220 km. Our Islamabad to Swat by road guide has the detail.

From Mingora or Saidu Sharif. Barikot is about 19 km back down the main road. Road routing gives 25 minutes, but a 2014 newspaper account put it at 50, and traffic leaving Mingora is the reason. Barikot is on the one main road out of the valley, so buses and vans between Mingora and the cities to the south pass through it; our Swat bus service guide covers the operators.

On the way in or out. Because Barikot is on the only main road, the simplest plan is to stop here on the drive into Swat or on the way home, with no detour at all.

What else is near Barikot?

Barikot is the best base in Swat for Buddhist-period sites. Within a short drive:

The road south from Barikot climbs over the Karakar Pass into Buner. Our Buddhist sites of Swat guide helps you choose if you only have time for two or three.

Is it worth visiting?

For anyone curious about Alexander, the Indo-Greeks or early Buddhism, yes. There are few places in Pakistan where you can stand beside a city wall of the 2nd century BCE on the spot named in the ancient accounts, and it costs you no extra driving.

For a family that wants a signposted monument with a clear story, Shingardar or Amluk-Dara will be more satisfying, and the museum more so again. Barikot rewards people who have read a little first.

Barikot is in the warm lower valley, at about 800 metres, so the site is hot and shadeless in summer. The cooler months are the comfortable time to walk it; see our best time to visit Swat guide.

Is it safe to visit Barikot?

Barikot is a working town on the main road with constant local traffic. The wider picture has changed in 2026. On 2 August 2026 a suicide bomber attacked the Kabal police station in Swat during a peace rally, killing 17 people, and the UK government's travel advice, updated in September 2026, advises against all travel to Swat district. Pakistani visitors continue to travel there, but check local news and current police advice before setting out. Foreign passport holders should read their own government's advice first, since travelling against it can void travel insurance. See our page on whether Swat is safe for tourists.

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