by helicopter and army convoy through northern Iraq to the site of the greatest battle in the ancient world; by truck up the Khyber Pass, then by river to the first great Indian capital Patna.

From the time of Alexander the Great, the road to Indian conquest has led down from the north through the Khyber Pass. To keep the encroaching Russians away from this gateway to their empire ...

Using all the tools available to the historical detective—from DNA to climate science, oral survivals, ancient ... South India to the Ganges plain and from Pakistan and the Khyber Pass out ...