Bactria
Bactria, known for its fertile agricultural land, was a significant historical region in Central Asia, primarily located in present-day Afghanistan. Its history traces back to its incorporation into the Achaemenian Empire around 540 BCE when Cyrus the Great conquered the area. Bactria became a strategic province within this empire, later experiencing invasions by Alexander the Great in 327 BCE. Following Alexander's conquests, Bactria fell under the control of the Seleucid Empire, leading to the establishment of Greco-Bactrian kingdoms, with Diodotus I declaring independence around 245 BCE. This era witnessed significant cultural and economic development, illustrated by the flourishing of trade and the minting of distinguished coins.
Throughout its history, Bactria served as a melting pot of cultures, where Greek settlers interacted with local populations, leading to a gradual assimilation of Hellenistic and local traditions. Important rulers like Menander, who is associated with the Buddhist text "Milinda-pañha," highlight the region's historical significance. However, by the second century BCE, Bactria faced invasions from nomadic tribes such as the Sakas, leading to the eventual decline of Greek influence. The historical legacy of Bactria remains crucial for understanding the interactions between diverse cultures in ancient Central Asia, as well as the region's role in broader historical narratives.
Bactria
Related civilizations: Persia, India, Hellenistic Greece.
Date: c. fifth century-120 b.c.e.
Locale: Central Asia between the Hisar and Hindu Kush Mountains, present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan
Bactria
Bactria (BAK-tree-uh) was a rich agricultural area watered by irrigation canals from the mountains by the beginning of the first millennium b.c.e., and archaeology has uncovered many sites that were inhabited in ancient times. The history of Bactria, however, begins with its incorporation into the Achaemenian Empire of the Persians.
Bactria, the most important province and center of Achaemenian control in Central Asia, was conquered by Cyrus the Great about 540 b.c.e., and its satrap supported his son Darius the Great in the latter’s seizure of the throne about 522 b.c.e.Alexander the Great engaged in much fighting in Central Asia and had established many garrisons in Bactria by 327 b.c.e. when he left for India. More Greeks and Macedonians were settled in Bactria than elsewhere in Alexander’s empire because the local inhabitants were prone to revolt and trade routes from Greece to the east had to be maintained.
From 307 b.c.e. when Seleucus I Nicator became heir to the Asian portion of Alexander’s empire until about 245 b.c.e., Bactria remained subject to his successors. The Seleucids established additional colonies in Bactria, several of which have been excavated. The site that has provided most information about this period of history is Ay Khanum in northern Afghanistan on the Kokcha River, probably founded by Antiochus I Soter, son of Seleucus I. It was a fully Greek city with an agora (marketplace), gymnasium, theater, and other features of Hellenistic cities. The capital of Bactria was at Bactra (present-day Balkh), which has not been excavated.
About 245 b.c.e., Diodotus I, the Greek governor of Bactria, revolted against Seleucid rule and established the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, striking his own coinage, considered the finest in antiquity for the lifelike features of the rulers. Most of what is known about the rulers of this kingdom comes from their many coins. About 230 b.c.e., a rebel called Euthydemus seized power in Bactria, but about 208 b.c.e., the Seleucid ruler Antiochus the Great defeated him and laid siege to Bactria. Peace was made, and Euthydemus retained his kingdom, succeeded by his son Demetrius. The latter crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains and conquered parts of northwest India. During his absence, Eucratides (c. 170 b.c.e.) apparently seized power of Bactria from Demetrius, either I or II, for the coins are uncertain sources, and only their different styles suggest another ruler with the same name.
The Bactrian kingdom had apparently become divided about the beginning of the second century b.c.e., and various rulers struck coins that cannot be localized and only approximately dated by legends and artistic features. In general, coins with only Greek legends and minted in the Attic weight system are assigned to rulers north of the Hindu Kush Mountains, and coins with both Greek and Indian legends with an Indian weight system are assigned to those Greeks who ruled south of the mountain range. The Parthians encroached on Bactrian domains in the west, and areas north of the Hisar range probably became independent of Greek rule by the second century b.c.e.
The most famous of later Greco-Bactrian rulers was Menander, who ruled in northwest India (r. c. 155-135 b.c.e.). He is probably to be identified with the king Milinda of a Buddhist book in the Pāli language, the Milinda-pañha (first or second century c.e., some material added later, date uncertain; The Questions of King Milinda, 1890-1894). The plethora of names on the coins—Antimachus, Agathocles, Pantaleon, Strato, and others—suggest a division of the Bactrian realms into many small kingdoms, as well as the founding of many cities. Greek colonists from the west, however, must have been few after the Parthians expanded their rule over the Iranian plateau by the beginning of the second century.
The extent of Greco-Bactrian possessions in India is unknown, but allusions in a Sanskrit grammar to Greeks besieging towns in the Ganges River valley indicate that they at least raided far into the subcontinent, perhaps in compensation for land lost to the Parthians in what has become southern Afghanistan.
Archaeology has yielded few remains of the Bactrian Greeks, but the inscriptions and art objects that remain compare favorably with those of Greece itself. There is no evidence of major conflicts between the Greeks and the local population, but the site of Ay Khanum suggests that Bactrians left no traces of their occupation in the city until after the nomadic invasions. In time, however, syncretistic tendencies of the Hellenistic world brought local features into the art and architecture of the Greek settlements in Bactria. Local deities were identified with those of the Greeks, and natural features, such as the Oxus River (now Amu Dar’ya River) were deified. This leads to the conclusion that at first the Greeks remained separate from the local population, but assimilation gradually proceeded until the foreigners were absorbed.
About 130 b.c.e., the Greco-Bactrian domains to the north of the Hindu Kush Mountains were overrun by nomads from Central Asia. These were the Sakas, or Scythians as the Greeks called them, and they were followed by other nomads. The last Greek ruler who struck coins in Bactria was called Hermaeus, but apparently copies of his coinage continued to be struck after his reign. Other Greeks continued to rule in India for at least half a century until they too were replaced by Sakas and later the Kushāns. One tribe of the latter gave their name to Bactria, for when the Arabs came to this land at the end of the seventh century c.e. it was called Tokharistan.
Bibliography
Narain, A. K. The Indo-Greeks. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1957.
Tarn, W. W. The Greeks in Bactria and India. 2d ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1952.