hism reached Gandhāra during the 4th and 5th centuries AD, its sculptors turned to the Hellenistic world as a matter of course for a visual conception of Buddha and quickly evolved several Hellenistic versions. In the popular Apollo version, Buddha is long-faced, long-nosed, and has wavy hair. This type survived into the 5th century and penetrated as far as Kashmir and Turkistan.A school of religious sculpture equal in importance to that of Gandhāra (Gandhāra art) developed almost simultaneously at Mathurā (Mathurā art). Its earliest Buddhist images are virtually contemporary with the earliest ones produced in Gandhāra, but, in Mathurā, Indian influences predominate. The portrayal of Buddha in the Mathurān style is softer yet more direct. The features are more Eastern; eyebrows extend in a continuous, sinous line; hair is straight; the earlobes are elongated; and an enigmatic smile replaces the withdrawn expression of the Hellenized Buddhas of Gandhāra. While the sculptors of Mathurā used a red sandstone, the Gandhārans worked in limestone or a local gray schist. They generally chose the latter for the small, uniform-sized panels with which they faced their stūpas and vishanas, carving them with scenes of Buddha's life. On the panels, the story unfolds from left to right, each scene being framed within either trees, leaves, or Corinthian columns sometimes linked by arches. These religious narratives often include furniture and details drawn from contemporary life. The figures, which use gestures of Indian origin to convey emotion, display racial characteristics that range from Indo-European to Mongolian. Many figures are presented in the frontal position favoured by Parthian artists, while others appear three-quarter face, as in Hellenistic art. Some wear Hellenistic robes and headdresses such as those worn in Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria. The Gandhāran style of sculpture was no longer produced after this area was invaded by the White Huns, in the 6th century.Central Afghanistan is rich in Kushān sites. Āteshkadehye Sorkh Kowtal, situated in the Qondūz valley, close to the Kābul-Mazār-e Sharīf road, is dated by an inscription to the time of Kaniṣka's reign. The architecture of the region was very highly developed there. The town was protected by a double row of walls that ascended the hill on which it stood. The most impressive site within the wall was occupied by a dynastic fire temple, built to an Achaemenid (Achaemenian Dynasty) plan in large blocks of well-dressed stone and approached by an imposing staircase. Within, columns topped by Corinthian capitals supported the roof. Numerous sculptures had originally adorned the interior, those worked with floral and animal motifs conforming to the Gandhāran tradition while figural works followed Scytho-Parthian and, to some extent, Hellenistic traditions.The Buddhist art of central Afghanistan was admirably represented at Bamiyan, where Mani, the Iranian founder of the Manichaean (Manichaeism) religion, probably lived and encouraged the growth of a religious pictorial art in the 3rd century AD. At both the eastern and western approaches to Bamiyan, a huge statue of Buddha as ruler of the world was cut into the face of the rock. The smaller statue measured 120 feet (about 40 metres) and dated from soon after the town's foundation in the 4th century AD; the other measured 175 feet (53 metres) and dated from the 5th century. In their commanding monumentality, both reflected the influence of the Mathurān image of King Kaniṣka and the portrait sculpture of Sāsānian kings and Parthian notables. Traces of painting showed Sāsānian and Indian influences in the rock-hewn niche behind the earlier Buddha. In 2001 the statues were destroyed by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, who regarded them as idolatrous.Regardless of Manichaean influence, Sāsānian elements prevailed at Bamiyan between the 4th and 6th centuries. At Dūktar-e Nowshirvān, near Bamiyan, a 4th-century painting of a Sāsānian king flanked by attendants survives. The murals in Bamiyan's 5th-century temple of Kakrak include