Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was an ancient state of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. BC, which was founded by Diodotos I , a governor of the Greco-Macedonian Seleucids in Bactria . The empire extended in its greatest territorial extent to Hindustan . After the empire was divided into a Graeco-Bactrian and a Graeco-Indian state, it continued to exist as an Indo-Greek kingdom until the early 1st century AD after the loss of Bactria to Central Asian horsemen and nomads in Gandhara and Punjab .
The chronology and valuation of the kingdom is relatively uncertain or controversial in several points due to the very poor source situation (often only coin finds are available).
history
Empire founding
The empire was founded around 256 BC. Founded when Diodotos I , the Bactrian governor of the Seleucid Antiochus II , made himself independent after his defeat in the Third Syrian War . First he minted coins with his own image and the characters / titles of Antiochus II, then he replaced the latter with his own. His son of the same name reigned after him until this family was overthrown by the Greek Euthydemus I.
The Euthydemids
Conflict with the Seleucids
Euthydemus I had to face an invasion of the Seleucid king Antiochus III. who wanted to reintegrate the apostate province into his kingdom. After the Bactrian cavalry was defeated in open battle, the capital Bactra was besieged for two years. During this time, however, the threat from the Saks increased , which led both sides to conclude a settlement peace. Euthydemus I was allowed to keep his kingdom, but had to give up the war elephants and assure the Seleucids support.
Expansion to India
The alliance was supposed to be sealed by a marriage between Euthydemus' son Demetrios and the daughter of Antiochus, but it does not seem to have come about. After Antiochus' defeat at Magnesia against the Romans , Demetrios extended his sphere of influence to the areas south of the Hindu Kush . 185 BC He took over the border areas of the Seleucid Empire, which correspond to today's southern Afghanistan and Balochistan . 183 BC BC three western provinces of the Maurya Empire fell to him, which at that time was in the state of state dissolution .
The kingdom in Bactria had a thin Greek upper class , which was strengthened by settlers from the west. After the Bactrian kings extended their sphere of influence to the Indian border, coins (since Demetrios II) were minted with both Greek and Indian-language titles. And the quality of these coins was high - you weren't dealing with any local power. At the same time there was a syncretism of Hellenism and Buddhism , Graeco Buddhism .
The usurper Eucratides I.
Possibly under Demetrios I or after his death the empire was divided. The first partial ruler, Demetrios II (son of Demetrios I, previously viceroy in Kabul) lost his throne to an adventurer named Eukratides I , allegedly a relative of the Seleucids, who had already defeated Demetrios I. Eucratides seized the land with a few hundred men when Demetrios I was on a campaign in India. The Greeks occupied large parts of the Maurya Empire and, under General Menander, were already besieging the Maurya capital Pataliputra when Demetrios learned of the rebellion and had to turn back. However, he came too late - his viceroys (possibly his brothers) Agathocles (in Sistan) and Antimachos (in Herat) had already been defeated and were killed along with his family.
Afterwards Eucratides I also killed Demetrios' brother (?) Apollodotus I and conquered Gandhara (165/4 BC). But apparently he could not completely eliminate the descendants of Euthydemos south of the Hindu Kush and above all General Menander. The issue of gold coins speaks for the prosperity of his rule. Eucratides I supposedly fell in 145 BC. Against the Parthians under Mithradates . According to another account, he was murdered by his son and co-regent ( Eucratides II ?) On his return to Baktra / Balkh .
Invasion of the Yuezhi
Eukratides' son, King Heliocles (approx. 157–135 BC), was the last important Greek king of Bactria. He is also said to have ruled Gandhara. The invading Yuezhi conquered between 141 and 129 BC. The areas north of the Hindu Kush. Archeologically, the task of the city called Ai Chanum today (the ancient name is unknown) on the Oxus around the year 145 BC is about. Occupied. To the south of the Hindu Kush, other Greek rulers were able to assert themselves, for example Menandros in India , who lived around 165 BC. Was elected king of an Indo-Greek kingdom . These kingdoms lasted more than a century longer than the Greek rulers in Bactria, but mostly had only regional significance. Equestrian nomads infiltrating into the area , who penetrated the Hindu Kush towards India, completely eliminated these dominions at the beginning of the first century AD. Straton II is considered the last Indo-Greek ruler .
Dating
Since the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom is rarely mentioned by classical Western authors due to its spatial location and dated monuments from Bactria itself are rather the exception, there are few clues for the exact chronological classification of the events and rulers. The most important key data are:
- Marcus Iunianus Iustinus (xli. 4) reports that Diodotos I , the first Greco-Bactrian ruler, broke away from the Seleucid Empire at about the same time as the Parthians under Arsakes I did. The latter made itself around 247 BC. Chr. Independent.
- Between 209 and 206 BC BC Antiochus III. a campaign against Bactria in order to reincorporate it into the Seleucid Empire. The campaign ended around 206 BC. With a peace treaty. Euthydemus I ruled there at that time.
- Eukratides I is said to have ascended the throne at the same time as the Parthian ruler Mithridates I. This happened with high probability in the year 171 BC. He ruled for at least 24 years.
- Antimachus I described himself as theos . This is also attested for Antiochus IV (ruled 175–164 BC), where Antimachos I probably copied Antiochus IV.
See also
literature
- Franz Altheim , Joachim Rehork (ed.): The Hellenism in Central Asia (= ways of research. Vol. 91, ISSN 0509-9609 ). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1969.
- Osmund Bopearachchi: Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques. Catalog raisonné. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-7177-1825-7 (French-language standard work on the coinage of the Greeks in Bactria and India).
- Bactria. In: Hatto H. Schmitt , Ernst Vogt : Small Lexicon Hellenism. Study edition (reprint of the 2nd revised and expanded edition 1993). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04727-5 , pp. 93-96 (concise presentation with comprehensive references).
- Frank L. Holt: Thundering Zeus. The Making of Hellenistic Bactria (= Hellenistic Culture and Society. 32). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1999, ISBN 0-520-21140-5 .
- Frank L. Holt: Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions (= Hellenistic Culture and Society. 44). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2003, ISBN 0-520-23881-8 .
- Frank L. Holt: Into the Land of Bones. Alexander the Great in Afghanistan (= Hellenistic Culture and Society. 47). University of California Press, Berkeley et al. 2005, ISBN 0-520-24993-3 .
- Rachel Mairs: The Hellenistic Far East. Archaelogy, Language, and Identity in Greek Central Asia. University of California Press, Oakland CA 2014, ISBN 978-0-520-28127-1 .
- Rachel Mairs (Ed.): The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World. Routledge, London 2020, ISBN 978-1-138-09069-9 .
- Abodh K. Narain: The Greeks of Bactria and India. In: IES Edwards et al: The Cambridge Ancient History . Volume 8: Alan E. Astin, Frank W. Walbank , Marten W. Frederiksen (Eds.): Rome and the Mediterranean to 133 BC 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1989, ISBN 0-521-23448-4 , pp. 399 ff., Doi : 10.1017 / CHOL9780521234481.012 .
- Coloru Omar: Since Alessandro a Menandro. Il regno greco di Battriana. Fabrizio Serra editore, Pisa / Rome 2009.
- Walter Posch: Bactria between Greeks and Kushan. Studies on cultural and historical problems of a transition phase. With a text-critical excursus on Shiji 123. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1995, ISBN 3-447-03701-6 (At the same time: Tübingen, University, dissertation, 1994).
- Homayun Sidky: The Greek Kingdom of Bactria. From Alexander to Eucratides the Great. University Press of America, Lanham MD et al. 2000, ISBN 0-7618-1695-X , ( expert . Review ).
- Richard Stoneman: The Greek Experience of India. From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2019.
- William W. Tarn: The Greeks in Bactria and India. 3rd Edition, updated with a preface and a new bibliography by Frank Lee Holt. Ares, Chicago IL 1985, ISBN 0-89005-524-6 (Reprinted 1997; PDF of the 2nd edition in the Digital Library of India).
- Osmund Bopearachchi: Indo-Greek Dynasty . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica , Paragraph supp4, as of November 9, 2004, accessed on June 6, 2011 (English, including references)
- Pierre Leriche, Franz Grenet: Bactria . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica , as of December 15, 1988, accessed on June 6, 2011 (English, including references)
- Werner Widmer: Hellas in the Hindu Kush. Greek culture in the far east of the ancient world. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2015.
Web links
- Coin Collection ( Memento from February 21, 1999 in the Internet Archive )
Remarks
- ↑ See Narain, p. 399 ff .; however, a large part of the presentation is speculative, as the sources hardly allow precise statements.