Euthydemus, a Magnesian Greek
according to Polybius and possibly satrap of Sogdiana, overthrew Diodotus II
around 230 BC and started his own dynasty. Euthydemus's control extended to
Sogdiana, going beyond the city of Alexandria Eschate founded by Alexander the
Great in Ferghana:
"And they also held Sogdiana, situated above Bactriana
towards the east between the Oxus River, which forms the boundary between the
Bactrians and the Sogdians, and the Iaxartes River. And the Iaxartes forms also
the boundary between the Sogdians and the nomads."
Euthydems was attacked by
the Seleucid ruler
Antiochus III around 210 BC. Although he
commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius and
had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the
fortified city of Bactra (modern
Balkh), before Antiochus finally
decided to recognize the new ruler, and to offer one of his daughters to
Euthydemus's son Demetrius around 206 BC. Classical accounts also relate that
Euthydemus negotiated peace with Antiochus III by suggesting that he deserved
credit for overthrowing the original rebel Diodotus, and that he was protecting
Central Asia from nomadic invasions thanks to his defensive efforts:
"...for if he did not yield to this demand, neither of
them would be safe: seeing that great hords of Nomads were close at hand, who
were a danger to both; and that if they admitted them into the country, it
would certainly be utterly barbarised."
Following the departure of the Seleucid army, the Bactrian
kingdom seems to have expanded. In the west, areas in north-eastern Iran may
have been absorbed, possibly as far as into Parthia, whose ruler had been
defeated by Antiochus the Great. These territories possibly are identical with
the Bactrian satrapies of Tapuria and Traxiane.
To the north, Euthydemus also ruled Sogdiana
and Ferghana, and there are indications that from Alexandria Eschate the
Greco-Bactrians may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar and Urumqi in
Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between China and the
West around 220 BC. The Greek historian Strabo too writes that:
"they extended their empire even as far as the Seres
(Chinese) and the Phryni"
Several statuettes and
representations of Greek soldiers have been found north of the Tien Shan, on
the doorstep to China, and are today on display in the Xinjiang museum at
Urumqi (Boardman).
Greek influences on Chinese art have
also been suggested (Hirth,Rostoytzeff). Designs with rosette flowers,
geometric lines, and glass inlays, suggestive of Hellenistic influences, can be
found on some early Han bronze mirrors, dated between 300-200 BC.
Numismatics also suggest
that some technology
exchanges may have occurred on these occasions: the Greco-Bactrians were the
first in the world to issue Curo-nickel (75/25 ratio) coins, an alloy
technology only known by the Chinese at the time under the name "White
copper" (some weapons from the Warring States Period were in copper-nickel
alloy). The practice of exporting Chinese metals, in particular iron, for trade
is attested around that period. Kings Agathocles and Pantaleon made these coin
issues around 170 BC. Copper-nickel would not be used again in coinage until
the 19th century.
The presence of Chinese people in
India from ancient times is also suggested by the accounts of the "Cinas"
in the Mahabharata and the Manu Smriti.
The Han Dynasty explorer and
ambassador Zhang Qian visited Bactria in 126 BC, and reported the presence of
Chinese products in the Bactrian markets:
""When I was in Bactria (Daxia)", Zhang Qian
reported, "I saw bamboo canes from Qiong and cloth made in the province of
Shu (territories of southwestern China). When I asked the people how they had
gotten such articles, they replied, "Our merchants go buy them in the
markets of Shendu (India).""
Upon his return, Zhang Qian informed
the Chinese emperor Han Wudi of the
level of sophistication of the urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and
Parthia, who became interested in developing commercial relationship them:
"The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana
(Dayuan) and the possessions of Bactria (Daxia) and Parthia (Anxi) are large
countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and
given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, and
placing great value on the rich produce of China"
A number of Chinese envoys were then
sent to Central Asia, triggering the development of the Silk Road from the end of the
2nd century BC.
The Indian emperor, founder of the
Mauryan dynasty, had re-conquered northwestern India
upon the death of Alexander the Great around
322 BC. However, contacts were kept with his Greek neighbours in the Seleucid
Empire, , a dynastic alliance or the recognition of intermarriage between
Greeks and Indians were established (described as an agreement on Epigamia in
Ancient sources), and several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes,
resided at the Mauryan court. Subsequently, each Mauryan emperor had a Greek
ambassador at his court.
Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka converted
to the Buddhist faith and became a great proselytizer in the line of the
traditional Pali canon of Theravada
Buddhism, directing his efforts towards the Indian and the Hellenistic worlds
from around 250 BC. According to the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of
them written in Greek, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia
and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the
Hellenistic world at the time.
"The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the
borders, and even six hundred yojanas
(4,000 miles) away,
where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy,
Antigonos, Mages and Alexandra rule, likewise
in the south among the Cholas, the, and as far as." (Edicts of Ashoka,
13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).
Some of the Greek populations that
had remained in northwestern India apparently converted to Buddhism:
"Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas,
the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the
Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in
Dharma. (Edicts of Ashoka,13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika).
Furthermore, according to Pali sources,
some of Ashoka's emissaries were Greek Buddhist monks, indicating close
religious exchanges between the two cultures:
"When the thera (elder) Moggaliputta, the illuminator
of the religion of the Conqueror (Ashoka), had brought the (third) council to
an end… he sent forth theras, one here and one there: …and to Aparantaka (the
"Western countries" corresponding to Gujarat and Sindh) he sent the
Greek ( Yona) named Dhammarakkhita... and the thera Maharakkhita he sent into
the country of the Yona". Mahavamsa XII).
Greco-Bactrians probably received
these Buddhist emissaries (At least Maharakkhita, lit. "The Great Saved
One", who was "sent to the country of the Yona") and somehow
tolerated the Buddhist faith, although little proof remains. In the 2nd century
CE, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized the existence of
Buddhist Sramanas among the Bactrians
("Bactrians" meaning "Oriental Greeks" in that period), and
even their influence on Greek thought:
"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility,
flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the
nations. And afterwards it came to Greece.
First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among
the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the
Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and
the philosophers of the Celts;
and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into
the land of Judea guided by a star. The
Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian
philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"),
and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι")."
Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus, started an invasion of India from 180 BCE,
a few years after the Mauryan empire had
been overthrown by the Sunga dynasty. Historians differ on the motivations
behind the invasion. Some historians suggest that the invasion of India was
intended to show their support for the Mauryan empire, and to protect the
Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Sungas as alleged by
Buddhist scriptures (Tarn). Other historians have argued however that the
accounts of these persecutions have been exaggerated (Thapar, Lamotte).
Demetrius may have been as far as the
imperial capital Pataliputra in eastern
India (today Patna). However, these campaigns are typically attributed to
Menander. The invasion was completed by 175 BC. This established in northern
India what is called the Indo Greek Kingdom, which lasted for almost two
centuries until around AD 10. The Buddhist faith flourished under the
Indo-Greek kings, foremost among them Menander I. It was also a period of great
cultural syncretism, exemplified by the development of Greco-Buddhism.
Back in Bactria, Eucratides, either
a general of Demetrius or an ally of the Seleucids, managed to overthrow the
Euthydemid dynasty and establish his own rule around 170 BC, probably
dethroning Antimachus I and Antimachus II. The Indian branch of the Euthydemids
tried to strike back. An Indian king called Demetrius (very likely Demetruis II
) is said to have returned to Bactria with 60,000 men to
oust the usurper, but he apparently was defeated and killed in the encounter:
"Eucratides led many wars with great courage, and,
while weakened by them, was put under siege by Demetrius, king of the Indians.
He made numerous sorties, and managed to vanquish 60,000 enemies with 300
soldiers, and thus liberated after four months, he put India under his
rule"
Eucratides campaigned extensively in
northwestern India, and ruled on a vast territory as indicated by his minting
of coins in many Indian mints, possibly as far as the Jhelum River in Punjab.
In the end however, he was repulsed by the Indo-Greek king Menander I, who
managed to create a huge unified territory.
In a rather confused account, our
historian explains that Eucratides was killed on the field by "his son and
joint king", who would be his own son, either Eucratides II or Heliocles I(although
there are speculations that it could be his enemy's son Demetrius II). The son
drove over Eucratides' bloodied body with his chariot and left him dismembered
without a sepulchre:
"As Eucratides returned from India, he was killed on
the way back by his son, whom he had associated to his rule, and who, without
hiding his parricide, as if he didn't kill a father but an enemy, ran with his
chariot over the blood of his father, and ordered the corpse to be left without
a sepulture"
Concurrently, and possibly during or
after his Indian campaigns, Eucratides' Bactria was attacked and defeated by
the Parthian king Mithridates I, possibly in alliance with partisans of the
Euthydemids:
"The Bactrians, involved in various wars, lost not only
their rule but also their freedom, as, exhausted by their wars against the
Sogdians, the Arachotes, the Dranges, the Arians and the Indians, they were
finally crushed, as if drawn of all their blood, by an enemy weaker than them,
the Parthians."
Following his victory, Mithridates I
gained Bactria's territory west of the Arius, the regions of Tapuria and
Traxiane:
"The satrapy Turiva and that of Aspionus were taken
away from Eucratides by the Parthians."
In the year 141 BCE, the
Greco-Bactrians seem to have entered in an alliance with the Seleucid king Demetrius
II to fight again against Parthia:
"The people of the Orient welcomed his (Demetrius II)
arrival, partly because of the cruelty of the Arsacid, king of the Parthians,
partly because, used to the rule of the Macedonians, they disliked the
arrogance of this new people. Thus, Demetrius, supported by the Persians,
Elymes, Bactrians, routed the Parthians in numerous battles. At the end,
trumped by a false peace, he was taken prisoner."
The 5th century historian Orosius
declares that
Mithridates I managed to occupy territory between the Indus and the Hydaspes
towards the end of his reign, circa 138 BCE, before his kingdom was weakened by
his death in 136 BCE.
Helicoles I ended up ruling in what territory remained. The defeat,
both in the west and the east, may have left Bactria very weakened and open to
the nomadic invasions.
According to the Han Chronicles,
following a crushing defeat in 162 BC by the Xiongnu (Huns), the nomadic tribes
of the Yuezhi fled from the Tarim Basin towards the west, crossed the
neighbouring urban civilization of the "Ta-Yuan " (probably the Greek
possessions in Ferghana), and resettled north of the Oxus in modern-day Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan, in the northern part of the Greco-Bactrian territory. The
Ta-Yuan remained a healthy and powerful urban civilization which had numerous contacts
and exchanges with China from 130 BC.
The Yuezhi apparently occupied the
Greco-Bactrian territory north of the Oxus during the reign of Eucratides, who
was busy fighting in India against the Indo-Greeks.
Around 140 BC, eastern Scythians
(the Saka, or Sacaraucae of Greek sources), apparently being pushed forward by
the southward migration of the Yuezhi started to invade various parts of
Parthia and Bactria. Their invasion of Parthia is well documented, in which
they attacked in the direction of the cities of Merv, Hecatompolis and Ectabana.
They managed to defeat and kill the Parthian king Phraates II, son of
Mithridates I, routing the Greek mercenary troops under his command (troops he
had acquired during his victory over Antiochus VII). Again in 123 BC,
Phraates's successor, his uncle Artabanus I was killed by the Scythians.
It seems that Bactria was also
attacked and strongly diminished during the same massive movement of the
Scythians. The destruction of the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai Khanoum, dated to
around 140 BC, is regularly attributed to them. The Scythians would be further
displaced to the South and South-East into Afghanistan and India, under the
pressure of the Yuezhi.
The culture of these nomadic
invaders is apparently documented by such archaeological sites as Tillia
Tape, is northwestern Afghanistan.
When Zhang Qian visited the Yuezhi
in 126 BC, trying to obtain their alliance to fight the Xiongnu, he explained
that the Yuezhi were settled north of the Oxus but also held under their sway
the territory south of Oxus, which makes up the remaining of Bactria.
According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi
represented a considerable force of between 100,000 and 200,000 mounted archer
warriors, with customs identical to those of the Xiongnu which would probably
have easily defeated Greco-Bactrian forces (in 208 BC when the Greco-Bactrian
king Euthydemus I confronted the invasion of the Seleucid king Antiochus III
the Great, he commanded 10,000 horsemen). Zhang Qian actually visited Bactria
(named Daxia in Chinese) in 126 BC, and portrays a country which was totally
demoralized and whose political system had vanished, although its urban
infrastructure remained:
" Daxia (Bactria) is located over 2,000 li southwest of
Dayuan , south of the Gui (Oxus) river.
Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. Their customs are
like those of Dayuan . It has no great
ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. The people
are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle, but they are clever at
commerce. After the Great Yuezhi moved west and attacked Daxia, the entire
country came under their sway. The population of the country is large,
numbering some 1,000,000 or more persons. The capital is called the city of
Lanshi (Bactra) and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and
sold."
The Yuezhi further expanded
southward into Bactria around 120 BC, apparently further pushed out by
invasions from the northern Wu-Sun. It seems they also pushed Scythian tribes
before them, which continued to India, where they came to be identified as
Indo-ScythiansThe invasion is also described in western Classical sources from
the 1st century BC, with different names than those used by the Chinese:
"The best known tribes are those who deprived the
Greeks of Bactriana, the Asii, Pasiani, ,Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from
the country on the other side of the Jaxartes, opposite the Sacae and Sogdiani."
Around that time the king Heliocles abandoned
Bactria and moved his capital to the valley, from where he ruled his Indian
holdings. Having left the Bactrian territory, he is technically the last
Greco-Bactrian king, although several of his descendants, moving beyond the
Hindu Kush, would form the western part of the Indo Greek Kingdom. The last of
these "western" Indo-Greek kings,Hermaeus, would rule until around 70
BC, when the Yuezhi again invaded his territory in the Paropamisadae (while the
"eastern" Indo-Greek kings would continue to rule until around AD 10
in the area of the Punjab).
Overall, the Yuezhi remained in
Bactria for more than a century. They became Hellenized to some degree, as suggested
by their adoption of the Greek alphabet to write their Iranian language, and by
numerous remaining coins, minted in the style of the Greco-Bactrian kings, with
the text in Greek.
Around 12 BC the Yuezhi then
movedfurther to northern India where they established the Kushan Empire.