Bactria (from , the Hellenized version of Old Persian Bāxtri?; Elamite ba-ak-?i-i?, Persian and Pashto as ????? Bākhtar or Pākhtar; ; Chinese ) is the ancient name of a historical region located south of the Amu Darya and west of Gandhara. It was a part of the eastern periphery of the Iranian world, now part of Afghanistan.