I Did Not Know This

[stoutfellow]

The city of Kandahar, in Afghanistan, was originally named after Alexander the Great. ("Alexandria" > "Iskandahar" > "Kandahar". "Iskander/Iskender" is a common Turkic version of "Alexander"; cf. the Albanian warlord Iskender Bey, AKA Skanderbeg.)

Comments

[ndrosen]

I didn’t know that either, or had forgotten, although I knew that Iskander derived from Alexander. I remember reading about Skanderbeg in Gibbon’s DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, and later doing some further reading about him.

[stoutfellow]

When I was a kid, I had a school assignment to write a report on some historical figure. I wanted to do either Skanderbeg or Stefan Dushan, but couldn't find enough information. I think I ended up writing about Stalin.