The imperial capital of Pataliputra, of course, was the most important city in the empire. Megasthenes, 27 the Macedonian ambassador to Chandragupta, tells us that Pataliputra was surrounded by massive wooden palisades with 64 gates and 570 watch-towers. The city was shaped like a parallelogram 14.5 km in length and 2.5 km in breadth. Even if one does not take the numbers literally, they imply a very large city.
