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A UTHOR:

RAWLINSON, HUGH

GEORGE
TITLE:

BACTRIA, THE HISTORY

OF A FORGOTTEN
PLACE:

...

LONDON
DA TE:

1912

Master Negative #

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Rawlinson,
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Hugh
...

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II

Bactria, the historj^ of a forgotten empire,

Rawlinson

Hare

by H. G. (Founded on an essay which obtained the London, university prize, Cambridge, 1909)

Probsthain
xxiii, 175 p.

&

co.,

1912.
2
fold.

front., plates,

maps.

19}"".

{Half-title: Probst-

hain's oriental series, vol. vi)

Bibliography: p. xv-xxiii. Authorities at end of chapters.

1.

Bactria

Hist.

Library of Congress

13-6952

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BACTRIA
THE HISTORY OF A FORGOTTEN
EMPIRE

BY

H. G.

RAWLINSON,

M.A.,

I.E.S.

LATE SCHOLAR, EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, THE DECCAN COLLEGE, POONA

(FOUNDED ON AN ESSAY WHICH OBTAINED THE HARE UNIVERSITY

PRIZE, CAMBRIDGE,
1909)

PROBSTHAIN
41

5?

CO.
W.C.

GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON,

1912

;\

Frontlspicfu.

ri

->

- w

i/ V

DEDICATED TO

JAMES ADAM,
vwrKp^i

Litt.D.

i
s^

were trans* If through the Bactrian Empire European ideas mitted to the Far East, through that and similar channels Intellectual Asiatic ideas found their way to Europe."Draper
:

Development of Europe,

I. ii.

Oita, XI.

In the profound obscurity which envelops the history of light Bactria, we must cull with care all that can throw the least
(

upon it." SCHLEGBL.

vu

/^

PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE KHAMBA BABA COLUMN AT BESNAGAR
Frontiapieee

HAVE to express

my

obligations

to

many whose
mono-

kindness has enabled

me

to

obtain access to the

materials necessary for the publication of this

graph.
At end
n
99

Some
Library.

years ago, through the courtesy of

I

THREE PLATES OF BACTRIAN COINS

ELEVATION OF THE KHAMBA BABA COLUMN

Mr. F.
Office

W. Thomas,

was permitted

to use the India

Mr. H. H. Lake, Superintending

MAP OF INDIA AT THE TIME OF MENUNDER

MAP OF ANCIENT IRAN

Engineer of the Gwalior State, has provided

me

with

))

a drawing and other details of the famous Bactrian

pillar at

Besnagar.

This drawing was copied for

me
*

by Lieutenant M. G. G. Campbell, K.E.,

also

good enough to prepare the valuable

who was maps which

I

greatly
to
of

enhance the

utility of

the book.

have also

acknowledge the generous aid of the authorities

Emmanuel

College, Cambridge, in defraying the

expenses of the original edition.

indebted to Professor E.
J.

Lastly, I

am

deeply

Kapson, Professor of
Cambridge, for his
advice.

Sanskrit in the University of

unfailing interest

and invaluable

Professor

Bapson has been kind enough

xi

to read

through the

jK^''^

k^ .tm

'

BACTRIA
proof-sheets of this edition,
gestions

and

to

add many sugintended

and corrections.
add that as this work
is

I should, perhaps,

for the general reader, the tiresome diacritical

marks

which are the fashion in Oriental works have been

omitted.

H. G. RAWLINSON.
POONA, 1912.

INTRODUCTION
The
of

object of this book is to investigate the history

the

great Iranian province which formed

the

eastern portion of the Persian Empire, and which,

after the

Macedonian invasion, became an indepen-

dent Greek kingdom.

The

valiant Greeks

who

ruled

the country were afterwards driven over the Hindu-

Kush, where they mamtained themselves

for nearly

century longer, finally succumbing to the tribes from

the north which had originally displaced them.
it

Thus

will

be seen that the history of Bactria falls naturally

into four divisions.

Passing over the mass of legend

earliest period, centred chiefly

which surrounds the

round the figure

of

Zarathustra Spitama, we find

ourselves on more

solid

ground when we come to

deal with Bactria as a satrapy of the Persian Empire.

After the overthrow of Persia by Alexander

we enter

upon the second phase

in the history of the country

its

subjugation and settlement by the Macedonians.

The
250

third period begins with the revolt of Diodotus in

B.C.,

when Bactria assumes xm

the role of an inde-

i-.-yrttffta,-

XIV

BACTRIA
its

pendent Greek kingdom, extending

sway not only

over Sogdiana to the north, but over a great portion

of the

modern Afghanistan and the Fan jab.

their

The

closing chapter of the history of the Bactrian Greeks

commences with
their capital,

evacuation of

the country

north of the Hindu-Kush, when they made Sagala

BIBLIOGKAPHY
Keperences in Classical Literature.
of early Iran is

and ends with

their final supersession

by the Kushan monarchs.

The history

involved in the greatest obscurity, and

we are able
Empire.
Persian

to glean very little trustworthy informa-

tion about Bactria before the foundation of the Persian

The legends
literature

of the

Avesta and the later

the

(especially

Shahnama

of

Firdousi) are not

meant
in

for

serious history;

they

merely

preserve

poetic

garb

half-forgotten
small, inde-

traditions of a time

when Bactria was a

pendent kingdom, struggling for existence against the

"

Turanian

**

nomads.

ality is that of Zoroaster,

The only outstanding personand the references to him

Ctesias.

may
is

be founded upon a substratum of fact. ft^Oroftlr pViyaiman n.f. fVift fipn rt of ArtaXOrXCS
the earliest Western author

^^

Mn^mOftrto write

who attempted

a history of early Iran.

His long residence in the country, and access to state archives, gave him a unique opportunity, which, unfortunately, he utterly
misused.

Without

critical

faculty,

and, like most

Greeks, quite oblivious of the necessity of studying

the classical tongue of the land, he records any wild
fables

and improbable

tales

he happens

to pick up.

XV

XVI

BACTRIA
That delightful
MofinU
of

BIBLIOGRAPHY
book,

xvu
Oestis

His stories of Semiramis, his legends of Zoroaster and a the Scythian expedition of Cyrus the Great, and
host of other gossiping tales, passed into later history, and are reproduced without question by later writers,

De Rebus

Alexa/ndri

Quintus Curtiogy^ belongs to a different

It is

order of literature.
subject,

a popular book on a great

of technical

y^riatotlediflcovesed
opinion
is

hk

and the author's own ignorance

geography and
tactics is

ttBtwiatHQrthin^flflj

his

details of

confirmed by the inscriptions, Herodotus,

history.

rather indiscriminate use of his authorities.

made worse by his One of

and Jewish

Wejmly Innw of Qteaiaaibiroagh

thaBvzantine ecclesjagtio-.

them, Cleitarchus,
least, of

is

suspected, on one occasion at

jtb^ Q,brir1gfln^(jntj of Ehotius.

eking out history with a dash of romance.

other

X Berosus, the
of

Chaldean priest who wrote a great history Babylonia, Media, and Persian about the tune of

On

the

hand, Gurtius
;

does

not

trust

his

authorities blindly

he mentions at

least

one episode

Alexander the Great, probably preserved a mass of information which would have thrown light on the
early history of Baotria.

omitted by Arrian;^ and on the question of the

locality of

Zariaspa, the mysterious Bactrian town

is

about which there

of course, the

so

much

disagreement, he

is

For the Persian Empire we have,

is

much
revolt

the clearer of the two.^

of

excellent first-hand evidence of Herodotus, of

it

whom

For the history

of

the Bactrian kings from the

their
extinction,
ftf
ft

unnecessary to speak here.

Herodotus, alas!

Diodotus to
is
Jiifltin.^

our

only

carries us

down
to
of

to the Battle of
b.o.

Mycale only, and

authority

the

ftllthor

wnr^

or^f-ifiQ/i

V from 479
knowledge
in books

330

there

is

a great gap in our few scattered notices

^Tropi Pom/pet PhUippicarum

anthology,*'
of

Epitomsu a **kind
**

of

Eastern Iran.

as he calls

it,

of the

Philippic history

"

like the Bibliotheca of

Diodorus of

Sicily,

a
of

Trogus, an historian of the reign of Augustus.

The

contemporary

of Julius Csesar, is all that

we hear

original

work

is

now

lost,

but Justin preserves innu-

Bactria for over a century.

merable facts about the revolt of Parthia and Bactria,

Two

historians have collected minute details of

Alexander's campaign in Bactria.

Of these, incom-

and the Bactrian rulers of India, which are of inestimJustin has often been blamed for his able value.
Date uncertain. He probably lived in the reign of Claudius E.g,, De Beb, Qeit, IX. 11, 21. ^ The maseacre of the Branchiadse, perhaps passed over ou t of shame by Arrian smd his authorities. * See oh. i., sub fin., of the De Beh. Oest Alex, Mag.
*

parably the greater is,Arri&nj^a brilliant and versatile member of the Imperial Civil Service under the

Emperor Hadrian.
Arrian was

Scholar, soldier,

and philosopher,
he undertook.

well fitted for the great task

is

The Anabasis

based on the works of Ptolemy and

*
*

About
*

A.D. 500.

Aristobulus, first-rate material, admirably employed.

Velut florum oorpusoulum."

6

1
xvm
inaccuracy.

BACTEIA
" Trogus
a sad historian, or Justus remarks an eighteenth-century
is

BIBLIOGBAPHY

are preserved by Justin

a vile

abridger/*
;

translator

" but as we have the testimony of famous men in favour of Trogus, Justin will stand condemned."
This
is

ungrateful.

He

wrote, as Adolf

Holm

re-

and Strabo, we have valuable dialogue. The evidence in the Pali philosophical Davids Qmstions of Milinda, translated by Dr. Ehys The (Sacred Books of the East, XXXV.-XXXVL). romance, written question how far this work is a mere
like

for marks, "for a circulating library public," and not

Xenophon's Cyropadia, " non ad

historiae

fidem

scholars.

After a quite disproportionate popularity

yet satisfactorily sed ad effigiem justi imperii," is not

settled.

forgotten, in the Middle Ages, Justin has been almost modern the by treated was ago years few a until and
editor

The Chinese

writers

who

refer to the

Scythian

with very scant courtesy.

is

edition

the admirable French

one

The only recent by Gamier

Greeks can only tribes which overthrew the Bactrian in translations. student be consulted by the ordinary

Freres, with a useful introduction and notes. Strabo's Geography is another valuable authority
for the history of Bactria.

The questions arising from

of

their statements

have

This work
the tribes of

is

a veritable

from the pens been discussed in a number of articles Chavannes, Specht, and Sylvain L6vi, and

MM.

mine of information about and India, as far as was known

Incidentally,

Central Asia

Messrs. F.

W. Thomas,

Fleet,

in the writer's days.

Strabo adds

great

many remarks
describes,

the various Oriental journals. dealing with this particular

and V. A. Smith, in The most useful books

subject are probably

about the history of the countries he are in the case of Bactria and Bactrian India these
all-important.

and

qui Deguigne's Recherches sur quelques EvenemenU la Bactriane de Grecs Rois des VHistoire concernent

(M6m. de TAcad. des

references of

Inscrip.

xxv.)

and

Dr. Otto

great

many

more

or less value to

Franke's Beitrdge aus Chinesischen Quellen zurKenntnis

der

the study of this subject occur

m a variety of authors,

from Clement of Alexandria to Isidore of Seville and of the Byzantine historians. A considerable number his in McCrindle J. W. by these have been collected East in series of translations of references to the

1904).

Turkovolker und Skythen Zentralasiens (Berlin, The standard English translation of the
of

records
(A.D.

the
to

Chinese

pilgrims,
(a.d.

from Fa-Hian
629),
is

400)

Hiuen Tsiang

Beal's

and Latin writers (Ancient India as described London, 1896). \J by Classical Authors, five vols. For the history of Menander, of which fragments
/i&reek

Buddhist Records of the Western World, in Triibner's Hiuen Tsiang has recently been Oriental Series. retranslated by Watters (Oriental Translation Fund,
R,A.S.f vols, xiv., XV.).

XX

BAGTBIA
MoDEBN
AtJTHOBiTiBS.
(a)

BIBLIOGEAPHT
into

XXI

These may be divided

;

Bevan.

Mr. V. A. Smith, in his recent book, The

three classes:

History of Bactria and the sur;

rounding countries

(b)

Numismatics

(c)

Books

deal-

Early History of India (Oxford, 1904), deals briefly but thoroughly with the whole question.^

ing with Grseco-Indian art and the problem of the possibility of the influence of Greek culture upon
India.

Numismatics. ThQ history

of

the Bactrio-Greeks

History of Bactria.The earliest attempt to elucidate the history of the Indo-Greeks was made by Bayer, in a book published in St. Petersburg in 1798.

depends very largely upon coins, which link together the gaps between the scattered notices found in the The magnificent coinage of the classical writers.
Bactrian Empire shows that the Greek conquerors must have been a people of high culture, and not the
small settlement of semi-civilized veterans they are

Another early work was that

\

of

Thomas Maurice

The Modem History of Hindoostan, that comprehending of the Greek Empire of Bactria^ Kingdoms bordering on its Asiatic Great and Other
(1802), entitled

sometimes represented as being.

been unearthed in great numbers, a

These coins have

fact in itself con-

Western Frontier,

But the

first really scientific

conis

clusively proving the prosperity of the Greeks in Many of them were struck by kings who are India.

tribution to the history of this part of the

world

otherwise

unknown

to history,

and a great deal

of

Horace

Hayman

Wilson's magnificent Ariana Antiqua

of

ingenuity has been displayed in the endeavour to

(1841), a

monumental work
Indische

the highest value.

Lassen's

Alterthums-kunde,

and

Spiegel's
still

arrange them in their proper chronological order. The older discoveries of Wilson and Van Prinsep^
are

Eranische AUerthumer (Leipsic, 1878), are

useful

now embodied

in

more recent works.

The

chief

upon many

For the history of Parthia, Rawlinson's Sixth Oriental Monarchy remams an authoritative work. Professor von Gutschmidt, of
points.

book bearing on Bactrian numismatics is Gardner's Catalogue of the Coins of Greek and Scythic Kings of
Bactria aud India in the British

Museum.

The same

Tubingen, has dealt at length with Bactrian problems

in
his

contribution

to

the
(s.v.

ninth

edition

of
2).

the

author has also issued a catalogue of the coins of the Seleucid kings, while Mr. Warwick Wroth deals with
those of
*

Encyclopcedia Britannica
Gesehichte

"Persia,"
a

His
book,

the Parthians.
edition
of

All these

works contain

Irans

(1888)

is

serviceable

The eleventh

" abounding in
a recent

brilliant, if over-bold conjectures," as

contains an article

on "Bactria" from the pen

is

the Encyclopcedda BHtcmnica of Dr. Ed.

given.
It

Meyer.

No new

information, however,

has a

critic observes.

The

principal works dealing

useful bibliography.
* Prinsep was the pioneer in Bactrian numismatics. work he did in this subject was heroic.

with Syria and the Seleucids are M. Babelon's Rois de

Syrie,

The

and the admirable House ofSeletums

of

Mr. E. B.

xxii

BACTRIA
introductory

BIBLIOGEAPHY

XXIU

valuable

For the Indian Sir collections, we have numerous articles by General the and Chronicle, A. Cunningham in the Numismatic valuable Catalogue of Coins in the Calcutta Museum,
remarks.

subject Literature, with a copious bibliography of the

end of the book. The Gandhara sculptures have been investigated by M. Poucher under the auspices of the Acad^mie des Inscriptions et Belles
at the

by Mr. V. A. Smith. useful pamphlet on

Dr. Aurel Stein has written a Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-

Lettres

the results

may

be seen in his Notes sur la

Geographic Ancienne du Gandhara, sur la Frontier

Scythian Coins, and Professor Rapson has contributed Grsecoa very valuable r6sum6 of his researches on

Indo-Afghane, and his more recent

Uart du Gandhara.

Bactrian coins to the Grundnss der Indo-anschen the Philologie, which is practically the last word on
subject.

Mr. V. A. Smith's views were stated in his paper on " Grffico-Roman Influence on the Civilization of Ancient India" (J.A.S.B., 1889, p. 115).^ From the Indian
point of view, Mr. Havell in

Von

Sallet's

Die Nachfolger Alexanders des

M^

T^^dlnn Sculpture

and

Grossen in Baktnen (Berlin, 1878) will not, of course,

be overlooked.^ Indo-Oreek Art and Greek Influence on India.The vexed question of Greek influence on India has
received a good deal of attention in recent years. exaggerated views of Weber and Niese have pro-

fWntm(1908)^^
jjmt^ Indian
art

owes anyihinp; to
in

thfl

WftRJ

For

foreign

elements

Indian

architecture,

besides

Cunningham's remarks in

vol. v. of

the Archaological

The

Survey of India, the reader may refer to an article by W. Simpson, in the Journal of the Institution of British
Architects, vol. i, p. 93.
1 Mr. V. A. Smith has now set forth his views (greatly modified by recent criticism) in his History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon (Clarendon Press, 1911), chapter xi.

voked a not unnatural reaction.

Mr. V. A. Smith

'* astonishing goes even so far as to say that Niese's paradox" is "not supported by a single fact.'*

Among the noteworthy contributions to the subject is W. W. Tarn's Notes on Hellenism in Bactria and
**

India" in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1902.2

From

the purely literary point of view, the fullest and most unbiassed discussion will be found in the concluding

chapter of Professor MacdonelPs History of Sanskrit 1 See also Bapson's Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhraa
and the Corolla Numismatica (Oxford,
a

1906).

See also the impartial summary in the relevant portions of Brita/nnica, the article on * HeUenism " in the Encyclopedia
eleventh edition.

BACTRIA
CHAPTER
I

GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BACTRIA

" B&khdhlm (jrlrSm eredhv6 drafsham " (Bactra the beautiful, crowned with banners). Vend., I. 7.

The name
lies

of Bactria, or Bactriana,^

was given by

classical writers to

the vast tract of country which

between the Hindu-Kush and the Oxus.

On

its

southern and eastern flanks the great mountain barrier divides it from Thibet and India; on its western side lie the great Carmanian desert, and the grassy downs of Aria and Margiana.^ Beyond the Oxus
The Greek " Bactria" comes from the Persian Bakhtri of The earlier form, found in the Zend Avesta, is Bakhdhi. In Pehlevi this became Bakhal, or Bdkhlij by a conmion metathesis of "dh" and "1," whence the modern (Mahommedan) Balkh. The Greeks naturaUy adopted the West Persian form, in use (as the Behistun Inscr., col. i. 6, shows) among the people they came in contact with. The old derivation of Bactria, from A-paktra, "northern" (Bactria being the most northerly Arian settlement), is plausible, but
^

the cuneiform inscriptions.

unsound.
great antiquity.

The modern Herat and Merv, both Iranian settlements of Margiana {Margush, Behist. Inscr., III. 3) was counted as part of Bactria by the Persians for adminis^

;;

BACTRIA
and sparsely
to

GEOGEAPHY AND EAELY HISTORY

cavalry acquired.^

to the north stretches the little-known

!i

inhabited region of Sogdiana, as far as the Jaxartes beyond that, again, lie the limitless steppes of Central
Asia,

inhabited

by

the

vast

hordes of

nomadic

account for the reputation which the Bactrian The well-known description of Bactrian fertility by Quintus Curtius has been praised by subsequent travellers. " The soil of Bactria," he
tells us,

Scythians, whose presence on the borders of their territories constituted a perpetual menace to the

" varies considerably in

its

nature.

In some

spots

extensive

orchards

and

vineyards
quality.

produce

Iranian population of the fertile valleys. Bactria was noted for its fertility. It

abundant
is called

fruit of a

most delicious
the rest
is

by

there

is

rich

and well-watered.
;

The soil The warmer parts

Strabo "the pride of Ariana,"^ and in later days it paid the large sum of 360 talents tribute to the Persian revenues. It was well watered. Besides the

produce crops of corn

land.

The

fertile

portion

is better for pasturedensely populated, and

rears

mighty
It

Oxus, the Arius (the

modern Hari-rud), and

esting to

several less important streams, irrigate the country. produced all the Greek products except the olive

an incredible number of horses." ^ it is intercompare what is told us by ancient writers with the remarks of a recent visitor to these regions.

and silphium, which was useful as an article of commerce, as well as for fattening an excellent breed of sheep, grew in great quantities on the slopes of Lucerne, the "Medica herba," the Hindu-Kush.2 the place of its origin, grew from called as it was freely in Bactria, and produced admirable fodder for the famous Bactrian horses, helping, perhaps, partially
trative purposes.

It will be seen that the agricultural features of the country have altered little ; incidentally, the similarity

between the two descriptions

of the classical geographers.

testifies to

the accuracy

writing on

The Times correspondent with Lumsden's force, March 12, 1882, describes the country as
It is curious that so little is said

about the (afterwards)

being understood. (modern Murgab).

1

Mapyiavrf, like Bajcrptav^, is an adjective, yrj It means the land of the Mapyoy, river

famous Bactrian camels. They must have been extensively used on the trade routes. The Parthians employed them as ammunition animals, to carry fresh supplies of arrows for their

irpoaxwa r^s

'Apiavfjs,

XI. 11,
silvse

1.

So Vergil
Indi."

mounted infantry. But they we never mentioned among the products of Bactria by classical writers, and only figure once on
the coins.

" Sed neque

Medorum

ditissima terra

Laudibus Italia
a

certet,

non Baotra neque

Oeorg.j II. 187.

arbor, et vitis largos

Silphium (assafcetida) was looked upon by the ancient Greeks as a condiment. It was also used medicinwe It is difficult to understand their addiction for what ally. should consider a nauseating substance. It is still so used in See also Arrian, Anab., III. 29. parts of India, however.
Strabo, ihid,

" Bactrise terra multiplex et varia natura est. Alibi multa mitesque fructus aht ; solum pingue crebri fontes rigant ; quae mitiora sunt frumento oonseruntur ; cetera armentorum pabulo cedunt," etc. A recent traveller remarks
^
:

"

The language

of the

most graphic writer could not delineate

the country with greater exactness " (Sir A. Burnes,

to

Jowmey

Bokharay i, 245). The various passages are quoted in Appendix V., pp. 162-166.

iii

tv

n
4
follows
:

BACTEIA
*'

GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY

Parapamisus
is
<

The south branch

of the

"Then sands
v

begin

represented by gentle undulations of gravelly

soil,

To hem

his watery course,

and dam

his streams,

covered
r

with camel thorn

and

assafoetida,

intervene between Herat and the frontier. wild carrots, of pistachio and mulberry trees, bushes,
testify to

which ... Groves

And

split his currents,

that for

many

a league

The shorn and

Through beds

parcelled

of

Oxus strains along sand and matted rushy isles."

it

the richness of the soil, irrigated in many with fish." places by streams of purest water alive to extends, referred extraordinary fertility here

The same
Polytimetus,^
Curtius,
is

fate

in

probably overtook the Sogd, or Sogdiana, which, according to

of the earth,"

The

"plunges into the bowels

to sight.2

and

country however, only over the central part of the Arius. and Oxus the by watered the alluvial lands a&ndshifting .great lay frontier western along the
All
barrier to dunes, formrng^annalmo'st impenetrable Curtius tells us that invaders, as Alexander found. uncommon for the after a north-west gale it is not roads being altered, be to whole face of the country fresh sandand obliterated, landmarks out,
blotted
hills piled up, so that

lost

Sogdiana, the little-known land

north of Bactria, was not so fertile or so thickly From the Oxus to the Jaxartes lay populated. a succession of rolling steppes, interspersed with

'

ii

the traveller can only guide remark,^ himself by the stars. As Strabo and Arrian to Unable this has a curious effect on the rivers. absorbed gradually are maintain their course, they sands and in the overwhelming mass of shifting

Only round Maracanda patches of barren desert. and on the river-banks was any attempt made at The inhabitants were scattered and cultivation. probably dread of the nomads .number few in ; from across the river, as well as the nature of the country itself, made agriculture hardly worth
while.

The Arius in this way comes to an disappear. cut a channel in the Tejend oasis, being unable to even the in the shifting Turcoman deserts; and
Matthew lordly Oxus suffers in the same manner. difficulties which the describes graphically Arnold Aral Sea,^ in beset the stream on its course to the language which would apply with equal truth to the
other
I

end

and indeed the general climatic conditions of this part of Asia, appear to have changed a good deal since the days of the Macedonian invasion. The same has happened in the Panjab

The courses

of the rivers,

and in Khotan; the latter country, now a barren waste, was once a fertile land with cities and orchards,
Vide note, p. 17. Quintus Curtius, VII. 10, 1. Curtius says the Polytimetus plunges into a narrow gorge and then disappears. He states that the roaring of the water may be heard for some distance underground, and the course of the streams traced by the soimd. Modern travellers do not confirm this story. Perhaps he is thinking of the kanatSj or underground watercourses, still a The passage is quoted in the feature of the country {Enivofwi).
^

B actrian

r ivers
;

Oeog., XI. 5

Anah, IV.

6.

Vide the passage

(g),

on

p. 165.
a Its

present course, not the ancient one.

Appendix,

p. 166.

BACTBTA
The bare
plains

GEOGEAPHY AK^ EAELY HISTORY

as recent explorations have revealed.

of the

broad plateau, capable, when properly provisioned and

supplied with water, of supporting a garrison of 500

Mekran cannot have

been as utterly destitute

of water and forage as they are now, or Alexander could hardly, even with the losses he sustained, have crossed those terrible deserts at all. Perhaps the

men

for

an

indefinite period

it

fields at

the top, and was

more

even had cultivated like a town than a

of the province of
;

fortress.

Maracanda, the capital

monsoon
wards as

current, which

now

deflects abruptly to the

Sogdiana, was more than double this in height

against

and

east off the

Bombay

coast, once penetrated

north-

we hear of another strong fortress which was held

the

far as Karachi.

The courses

of the "five

rivers " of the

Pan jab have altered considerably since

b.c.
;

Arimazes.

Macedonians by the Iranian prince So confident were the defenders of their

the third century

the Oxus, again, which in the Aral

Sea.

security that they rejected Alexander's overtures with

scorn, declaring that troops

Strabo's day emptied itself into the Caspian Sea near

Krasnovodsk,

now
of

flows
is

into

The

order to scale their walls.

must^be able to fly in Arimazes found out his

though
this

modem

town

Balkh

river (the ancient Bactrus),

some miles distant from the on the banks of which it

mistake to his cost.

Bactra, the capital of Bactria,^

was also a

city of great strength,

was due

originally stood.
,

One of the most characteristic features of Bactria and Sogdiana was the succession of great natural
reminding
in the

than natural causes.^ It resisted the forces of Antiochus the Great, and compelled him to raise the siege and acknowledge the independence
to artificial rather
of the country.

ii

forts scattered over the face of the country,

It is

the traveller of similar strongholds, so

j

common

ment that Polybius

refers,^

probably to this great achievewhen he speaks of the

Bombay Deccan, which

part in Maratha history.

played such

a prominent

"siege of Bactra," as one of the most renowned

blockades in military history, and a

!'

il
I

Like the Marathas, the

synonym

for

^Iranians of Bactria had recognized their strategic value, and in many cases had made them almost impregnable. The successive reduction of these forts
taxed
all

stubborn resistance.

Bactra was celebrated in Iranian history for

associations. Hither, according to
^

many

an ancient tradition,
CariatsB

gives us a

the resources of Alexander himself. Strabo minute account of these great strongholds.^

Other

cities of

which we hear are

17

and Adraspa, or

Darapsa.
*

chief of them was the citadel of Sisimithres, surrendered by Oxyartes to Alexander. It is stated to have been fifteen stadia high, and eighty stadia in

The

Diod., II. 6

yap BuKxpiav^ X^P rroXXai? kuX fifydXcuf

fiev flx^v iirK^avetTTorriVi iv
rj

olKov^4vr) TTokecri fiiav

avvi^cuvev
rj

thai Ta /Sao-tXem. Kara

3

avri; 8* cjcaXttro fiev Ba/crpa, fieyiOet 8c Koi

circumference at the base.

^

The summit formed a

aKporroXiv oxvponjri nokv Tratrav 8U(f>p. cannot be certain of this, Polybius, xxix. 12, 8.
ttjv

We

though

XI., 88,

4, etc.

See the passage quoted in Appendix V.,

von Gutschmidt takes

it

for granted.

Polybius might possibly

pp. 164-165 (/).

be thinking of the mythical siege by Semiramis.

BACTBIA
prophet
not
truth.

GEOGKAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY

itself correct,

came the

Zarathustra to expound the doctrines afterwards associated with his name. Here, too, stood one of the many rich temples of the
goddess

Anahid^

or

Anaitis
of

the

Tanata

of

the

doubtless contains the germs of the was a Scythian goddess, and herjcult was probably brought mto^Media by Cyrus on his return from the East. She was then~ identified, as
Anaitij

Persians, and Ananita

the Avesta hymns.

The

Herodotus

tells us,

with the AssyriaiL Mylitta (the

shrines of this goddess were always a source of great

wealth to the city in which they stood.

At Ecbatana
;

_s

<

her temple had silver tiles and gilt^ pillars equally wealthy was another at Elymais. On more than one occasion needy Syrian monarchs were constrained to
plunder these opulent fanes to replenish their coffers.* The wealth and popularity of the temples of the
goddess were partly due to the licentious nature of her rites. At Acilisene, in Armenia (in which country

Arabian Alytta), the Venus Urania of Greece.^ One of her most celebrated shrines stood in Bactra, and probably antedated by many centuries the Iranian
occupation of the city.

Artaxerxes

Mnemon, the victor

at Cunaxa, was a special devotee of this goddess, who appears by this time to have become associated in some way with the Persian Mithra, perhaps as his feminine
It was a sign of the degradation of the Persian creed, noted already by Herodotus, that its followers began to hanker after the anthropomorphic

counterpart.^

she was especially popular), girls prostituted themselves in her honour, and incidentally, no doubt, to
the great enhancement of the temple revenues.^ Another festival of Anaitis, called the Sacsea, was

religion of their neighbours, forsaking the

pure Uni-

tarianism which so commended them to the Jews.^ Artaxerxes was an especial offender, and one of his acts

accompanied by wild and licentious revels, the celebrants, men and women, indulging in excesses which remind the student of similar orgies which
also

was

to

statue.

adorn the shrine at Bactra with a magnificent This famous image is celebrated in the Avesta

accompanied the Hindu festival of the Sakti Puja, described by the Abb6 Du Bois.^ This took place at Zela, and the participants dressed in Scythian costume. The festival is said to have commemorated the victory of Cyrus over the Scythians ;^ this explanation, though
KXv(rci)^4va (Polybius, X. 27, 12). Antiochus Epiphanes and Mithridates I. both did so (vide Maccabees, I. vi. 13, and II. i. 18). 3 Strabo, XI. 14, 16. * Moeurs, Institutions et Ciremonies des Peuples cTInde (trans. Beauchamp, Clarendon Press), ii. 9.
1

hymns,* where the Bactrian Anahid is described as the " High girdled one, clad in a mantle of gold, having on thy head a golden crown, with eight rays and a hundred
xerxes

The identification is attributed to ArtaI. 181. Longimanus (not Mnemon, as Clement of Alexandria states, led away probably by the further honours paid to the goddess by the latter). 2 Or ^akti, to adopt the Indian term. The Bactrian Anahid was also, by the Iranians, looked upon as a yazata, or spirit, of the Ardvisura (Oxus), on whose banks the temple stood. 8 Herod., loc. cit. : " The Persians do not think the gods have human forms. They sacrifice to sun, moon, fire, air, and
1

Herod.,

the winds.
Mylitta,
*

They have
ii.,

since learnt to sacrifice to

(*.e.,

Strabo,

XL,

viii.,

4-6.

whom

the Persians call Mithra"

p. 82.

Anahid).

8,B,E.,

vol.

10
stars,

BACTEIA
and clad
in a robe of thirty otter-skins of the sort

GEOGRAPHY AND EAELY HISTORY

they
exist, lie

11

buried under

many yards of

d^ris.

The

with shining fur."

dess
is

The opulence
figures, in

of the Bactrian god-

in keeping with the wealth

and splendour
;

of her

'* Bactra the Iranians spoke with affectionate pride of beautiful," but it did not favourably impress the Mace-

other shrines.

She

her eight-rayed crown,

donians

on a fine coin of the GrsBco-Bactrian Demetrius ^ and Clement of Alexandria refers to a statue of Aphrodite Tanais, (meaning, no doubt Tanata, the Persian name for Anaitis,) existing in his days at Bactra. Such, then, was Bactra, the capital of Eastern Iran. Her ancient shrine, a place of pilgrimage to Scythian and Persian alike, was very probably a source of great wealth and renown her associations with Zoroaster ,2 and her great natural strength as a fortress, added to her celebrity and besides, situated as she was in the heart of Iran, and on the high road to Europe and Eastern Asia on the one hand, and China and India on the other, her commercial and strategic importance would be hard
;

suburbs
to

when they occupied it. The clean and spacious won their admiration, but they were disgusted

at the (to

them) barbarous practice of exposing corpses be devoured by birds, which is enjoined by ZoroasThe swarms of half-savage pariah dogs trianism.

which haunt the streets of Oriental cities were especially common in Bactra, the centre of the most conservative type of the ancient Iranian creed, as Zoroastrianism regards the dog as a sacred animal, to injure which is an offence computed in the Vendidad as more heinous
than manslaughter. The dog was originally protected by the precepts of Zarathustra, no doubt because of its useful scavenging habits, which made it in primitive times a valuable means of promoting sanitation. The

to overestimate.

Unfortunately, this part of Asia

is

custom

practically unexplored as far as archaeological research

ia.conc&:):ned
;

modern

travellers

have

failed to detect

any remains

of its ancient glory in the

modern Mahom-

a sacred character to useful animals them may be illustrated from the case of the Hindus, who similarly revere the cow. Strabo, however, declares the Bactrians practised the
of attaching

in order to protect

medan town, though vague

reports of the discovery of

savage habit,

common among

the Scythian tribes, of

inscribed bricks which occasionally appear

to the existence of cuneiform inscriptions.

may

point

In any case,

in a town like Bactra, continually inhabited

and rebuilt by successive conquerors, any remains of the ancient shrine of Anahid, or of the Greek occupation, must, if
^

Gardner, Catalogue of the Greek a/ndScythic Kings ofBactria iii. 1. Perhaps also on a coin of Euthydemus in H. H. Wilson's Ariam,a Antiqua, ii. X (Wilson says it is Apollo). ^ We hear of a great fire temple the Nas-boh4r, or Temple of the Spring in Firdousi But this seems to have dated from Sassanian times only.
a/nd India,

handing the old and infirm over to the dogs to devour. He asserts that these dogs were called " Entombers,"^ " and that the streets of the city were " full of bones This was certainly not originally an in consequence. Iranian custom, though it must be mentioned that a persistent opinion prevailed among the Greeks that some Iranian tribes gave their dead to the dogs. In
the Clementine Recognitions
^

we

find

it

recorded that
Appendix V.

VTa<t)iaarai,

The passage

is

given in

full in

e), p.

164, q,v.

*'

12

BACTRIA
of the effects of the

GEOGKAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY

St.

13

one
I-

preaching of

Thomas was

We

that "very few of the Modes

now

give their dead to

the dogs.''^

An ancient
to

custom,

still

practised by the
(to drive off

may, in a word, conjecture that Bactria underwent the same change that we can so clearly trace Armenia, when it becomes first known in Armenia.
to

\n

Parsis,

was

show the corpse to a dog

it

history,

is

clearly
all

Turanian.

Its

inscriptions,

the fiends), before giving

over to the vultures at the

language, religion,

point to this.
of

Then, about the

dakhma, or Tower of Silence. Strabo may be referring to some garbled account of this custom (which was put down by Alexander as a detestable habit), or he

seventh century b.c, a change comes over the face of

the country.

Herodotus writes

Armenia

in his

may
( t^ f^

^ fifty thiq.n

be referring to an actual practice among the popul ace of B actra; such customs were

north of the Oxus, as the Scythians had a prejudice against letting their older people die naturally. The Caspii starved them to death ; ^ the

common

day as populated by an Aryan race, akin to the Phrygians. In Bactria, as in Armenia, "everything seems to indicate that a strange people had immigrated into the land, bringing with them a new
language,
religious

new manners and customs, and a new

system." ^

We

see,

however,

numerous

M8,ssaget8B

are

said
is

to

have devoured them

similar custom

HIi

There

seems
"'^

recorded of the island of Geos.^ to be very little doubt that the

Scythian.

We traces in Bactria of the old order of things. with Anahid, of worship the to referred already have her Sacsean ritual, celebrated by priests in Scythian
vestments; the very fact that her statue in Bactra was " clothed in otter-skins " seems to show that she

population of Bactria was largely

The

" Turanian
of

tribes

who

dwelt

all

along the north

the Iranian settlements of Western and Central

Asia,

known

indifferently to classical writers as Sacae,

came from the frozen steppes beyond the Jaxartes.^ Other barbarous customs, referred to on a previous
page, appear to be undoubtedly of Scythian origin. Strabo says the custom of doing away with the dead

or Scythians,

had occupied the

fertile plains of

the

Oxus long before the advent of the Aryans. **The Bactrian Empire was founded by the Scythians," says Justin; and Strabo tells us that this event
occurred at the same time that these nomads occupied
the fertile valleys, afterwards
1

and infirm obtaining in Bactria

is practically identical

known

as Sacasten6.^

Second or third century

Strabo, Geog., XI. 11, 8.

a.d.

IX. 29: "Neo multi apud

^ Ibid,, * I.e.,

with that of the Scythians.^ The Iranians who conquered Bactria did not, of course, oust or exterminate the primitive inhabitants. Their numbers were too few, and the country too
vast.

Medos canibus

objiciunt mortuos."

Apparently, they merely seized and fortified

ix.

* Ibid.,

X.

6, 6.

XI. 8, 6. non-Iranian.

Rawlinson, Sixth Oriental Mona/rchy, ch.

the It is significant that she is a favourite goddess of

Justin, II. 1.
^

Oeog., XI.

8,

4.

the Sakas settled

first

(c/.

Saca8ten4 = Saka-stan, the land where Afghanistan, Hindustan, etc.). The word

kings,

who were

Scythians.
others.

Kushan The name nano appears on the

coins of

Huvishka and

3 G60flr.,XI. I, 3.

occurs, I believe, in Isidore of Seville.

^i

14

BACTRIA

GEOGEAPHY AND EAELY HISTORY

in its latter days.

15

the great natural strongholds with which the country

ilt'

abounded, and dwelt there in peace and safety. They appear to have agreed excellently with the aboriginal inhabitants. Their rule was probably easy, and imposed nothing more than a light tribute in kind upon
the rude cultivators.
is

The most probable supposition

that the pure Iranian nobles formed a kind of

"equestrian order," ^

^mounted
infantry,

knights

who

could

quell without difficulty the ill-armed

and
is

ill-disciplined

pedestrian population of the country.

firmation for this theory in what

We

find con-

told us about

the

rude Bactrian

armed with

"Medic

turbans, bows of Bactrian cane, and short spears,"

by the luxury which enervated the Persian Empire Bough and outspoken, they had all the virtues of the ancient Persians. Like all borderers, they were continually at war, and this kept their martial spirit alive. Their life was one long struggle to keep the Scythians from over the Oxus from harrying their fields; they were independent and apt to resent an insult, but intensely proud of the privilege of having a royal prince as their ruler. For him they would fight to the last, even against the Great King but on the whole they were the most loyal and devoted of the subjects of the Persian throne. At Gaugamela and after they resisted
;

i1

These are obviously not the picked regiments left behind with Mardonius on account of their efficiency. Quintus Curtius, too, refers to a " body of 7,000 Bactrian equites whom the rest obeyed";^ these are, no doubt, the Iranian ruling caste. Constant references to "Bactrians and SacsB*' in one breath, as it were, in Herodotus^ point strongly to the coexistence of an aboriginal and Iranian population in Bactria. We hear of them as an obstinate and valiant race,^ who were unaffected
Xerxes.^
^ In nearly every case we find the conquering Aryan-speaking people forming a military aristocracy, who owe their supremacy over a more numerous aboriginal race to their superior weapons

who accompanied

Alexander to the
their

last

gasp,

resenting bitterly the

despised and suppressed

intrusion of a foreigner

who

most cherished customs.

The satrapy

of Bactria

was, strategically, the most important post in the

Empire

upon its holder devolved the duty, not ; only of guarding against invasion from India on the
north, but of putting

down

revolts against the king

in Margiana, Aria, or other provinces,

his authority in these distant realms.

and upholding
Bactria, the
its religious

home

of Zarathustra,

was conservative in
of

customs, and was very probably the scene of the

authorship of

many

the oldest

hymns

of

the

Zend Avesta.

The Bactrians were famous

for their

and organization. and Gaul.

* Herod.,

This

is

equally true of early Greece,

Bome,

pithy proverbial sayings, of which two at least have

Vide supra, p. 81. ' Quintus Curtius, VII. 6 " Erant autem vii millia equitum, quorum auctoritatem ceteri sequebantur " ** xxx millia," VII. 4. * E.g., VII. 64 and IX. 113.
VII. 64.
:

passed into current use.

Curtius says
rentibus:
**
:

Cobares, the Iranian chief,

illas

Sunt autem Bactriani inter

gentes promp-

tissimi, horridis ingeniis,

siti

* Quintus Curtius, IV. 6, 8, So, too, the author of the Periplus talks of the (later) Bactrians as a fjLaxi'tJ'<i^aTov tBvos.

multumque a Persarum luxu abhorhaud procul Scytharum gente beUicosissima et

rapto vivere assueti, semperque in armis erant."

16

BACTRIA
of

GEOGEAPHT AND EARLY HISTORY

;

17

when speaking
"Hift^bark
is

Alexander to Bessus,^ remarked:

for still

worse than his bite

waters

Hystaspes, Adraspa, etc. Perhaps Zariaspa is the City of the Golden Horse" [ara=gold; c/. Zarflfshan, bringing down

run

deep.*'^

AUTHOEITIES.
For the subject PrincipaUy Strabo and Quintus Ourtins. theories of interesting the see Sacsea, the of Anaitis and
J. G. Frazer,

name of a river in Sogdiana, which, says Strabo, the Greeks paraphrased {wapavofiaa-av) by the word IIoXvri/iT/Tos]. See Adolf Holm, Greek History, i. 26, n. 1 (ng. trans.) F. von Schwarz, Alexander des grosaen Feldzuge vn Tv/rgold," the
hesta/n.

The Golden Bough,

ii.

24, 263,

and

iii.

151, etc.

ceremonies of the (second edition). Dr. Frazer shows that the those of Merodach at Sacffia bear an organic resemblance to were New Babylon and the Roman Saturnalia. The two latter " the central Year festivals, and at all three the " mocking was nature The Jewish festival of Purun was of a shnilar figure.
Mordecai).

Haman and (Dr Frazer sees an allusion to it in the story of " Boscher^s See also Ed. Meyer's article " Anaitis in wnd Mithra. Lexicon, and Windischmann's Study of Anaitis elucidation of Practically nothing has been done towards the problems connected with the ethnology and geography
the

A mysterious city called Zariaspa is often menPliny Strabo constantly identifies it with Bactra. for Zariaspa, name later a is Bactra that states agrees, and town stands. taken from the River Bactrus, on which the corruption of This is certainly wrong, Bactra being the Greek in Iranian city the for name only) (and earliest B&khdhi, the
of Bactria.

many

tioned.

literature.

Professor
capitals, like

Bury thinks Bactra and Zariaspa were double

Sogdiana and Maracanda.

von the Oxus, a on Schwarz aapa (Skt. aava) good deal to the north-west. The termination of places and persons e.gr., is common in Persian names, both

He

follows F.

in identifying Zariaspa with Ohargui

ji'i

quod apud Bactrianos vulgo usurpabaiit latra/re quam mordere; altissima vehementviia timidum ca/nem Curtius, VII. 4). quoqueflumvna mvnimo sono lahir (Quintus The proverbial sayings of the Bactrians were well known. the best "Truthful words are always better" ("Honesty is (Sh&hn&ma, Balkh" of man wise a of dictum is the
1
<

Adjicit deinde

>

policy^')

Trans. Mohl.,
2

vii.

44).

Hist. Nat., VI. 18.

tl''

EARLY HISTORY OF BACTRIA

many
who
centuries later,

19

the Scythians forced south-

wards the Bactrian Greeks.

The invading hordes

followed, the nucleus of the Iranian race, appear to have split into two bodies.^ One body proceeded in

a westerly direction, and found a lodgment on the eastern borders of the great Semitic nations of the

CHAPTEE n
EARLY HISTORY OF BACTRIA TO THE DOWNFALL OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
In some remote period, probably about two thousand

and Euphrates Valley. Of these, one powerful the Persians, spread over the mountainous district at the head of the Persian Gulf; another, the Median tribe, subdivided into several smaller clans, occupied the dales and valleys of the country from the
Tigris
tribe,

which years before Christ, the collection of tribes Indo-Aryan and Iranian the formed the nucleus of invasions, races ^ swept, by a series of wave-like
into

shores of the Caspian to the land of Persis.

rich valleys

Into the
;

Western

Asia.

We

have no data by which to

;

determine their route; they may have come across possibly, the Jaxartes from the north-east they may, It is Caucasus. the across have even found their way
I

beyond they dared not penetrate on the other hand, the Assyrian troopers would hardly venture to attack the hardy mountaineers in their fastnesses, from which they only descended in search of plunder. Later, the Medes overran Armenia. Some time before
the seventh century we find the original Turanian population replaced by an Iranian one. The other body of Iranian tribes proceeded in an
easterly direction. Forcing their predecessors and kinsmen, the Aryans, to seek new homes over the mountains, they proceeded to settle wherever the pre-

more probable, however, that they dwelt, before their the inruption into their final abode, somewhere between
later Aral and Caspian Seas, in the country occupied conveniently by the Dahse. The invaders may be

divided into two

groups the Aryans and

Iranians.

The Aryans were evidently the first to enter Iran, whence they were driven southwards by the presence gradually forced of further invaders in then: rear, who Pan jab, just as, the into Paropamisus the across them
word " Iranian " to indicate the Persians, Medes, other tribes of Ira/n, By "Aryan" I signify and Bactrians, Vedic Hindus. But the kmdred races of Northern India, the " and '* Aryan " are phUologicaUy identical, " the words Iranian of course (Avesta, iliriyct ; Skt^Arya). 18
1

sence of ample streams provided a prospect of good

* This theory may be smnmarized as follows : The invading Iranians split into two streams, which flowed east and west of the Carmanian desert. The Eastern Iranians settled in Sogdiana, Bactria, Carmania, Margiana, and Aria. They drove their predecessors, the Aryans, into India. The Western Iranians went to the west of the desert. The foremost tribe was the Persian; it was followed by the Medes, from whom the Indo-Germanio settlers in Phrygia and

I use the

Armenia may have

been offshoots.

I'l

i
,..*,*'>* t*\'-f

r
20
pasture and
tillage.

BACTRIA
The most powerful of
these tribes

EAELY HISTORY OF BACTRIA

21

took up their abode on the banks of the Oxus. They subdued the wandering nomads, and seized the ancient
U'

of shrine of Bactra, which became their capital ; some lonely and vast the into their kinsmen even migrated country beyond the Oxus, and reached the banks of the

The two races, however, drifted farther and farther The Aryans of the Panjab spread eastwards apart. towards the banks of the Ganges, and lost touch with their northern kinsfolk. The rift is exemplified by the gradual changes which creep into the meaning
of

what were once common words

to both tongues

Jaxartes.

men

of

Being few in number, and, unlike their kinsthe west, dwelling in a level country with no

asura, originally used

to signify a "spirit," takes,

mountains to protect them, the Bactrians seized the

curious rocky eminences which rose abruptly here and there out of the flat alluvial plams. Here the Iranian
lords built their castles,

and dwelt

in

With

their swift cavalry, they could

proud isolation. swoop down upon

%i

an invader and retire as quickly to their strongholds, many of which were actually small towns, and quiie
impregnable.

Between the Aryan tribes which crossed the mountains and found a home in the Indus Valley and their Iranian kinsmen on the banks of the Oxus there was at first no great difference of language, customs, or Both alike worshipped the powers of Nature, religion. ** something which to them were the visible signs of the Ovpavo^, Varuna, interfused," deeply far more ** friendly " light shining vault of Heaven ;^ Mitra, the of the sun; Vayu, the wind that drives away the storms, and makes bright the face of Heaven Yama, the prim;

'^ demon," by applying it to the Supreme Intelligence, Ahura Mazda, the " Omniscient Lord." On the other hand, the word deva, originally used of the bright spirits of air and sky, and retaining that meaning in Sanskrit, is used in the Avesta tongue in the sense of ** demons." It has been thought by some authorities that this strange opposition of meanings points to a time of strife between the Iranian and Vedic peoples, when the gods of the one

among the Yedic

Indians, the connotation of

it

while the Iranians exalt

became,

like their proUges, the national foes of their

it is

opponents, and
Panjab.

possible that this strife

may have
it

led to the great migration of the defeated tribes to the

Such a theory has nothing

;

to support

but
tain

its

inherent plausibility

it is

not in

itself essential

to explain the strange divergence in

meaning

of cer-

words

of

the

common Aryan

vocabulary, as

such differences are often merely the work of lengthy

separation.

man, reigning over the blessed souls in Paradise. Both alike celebrated the mysterious sacrament of the Soma, when the sacred juice was solemnly consumed, to the spiritual uplifting of gods and men.
eval
1

Of the early history of Bactria we know

nothing; the
exploits given
lists

little

or

of

kings and accounts of their

later writers are

by the Sassanian and

almost entirely a mass of untrustworthy legends.

All

"

The Persians

called the

whole vault
1. 131).

of the

sky Zeus

we can glean
1.6.,

for certain is that as early as the second

b.g.,

the Supreme

God"

(Herodotus,

millennium

a powerful confederacy, of which

22

BACTRIA
the

EAELY HISTORY OF BACTRIA

where in Media,^ and he belonged

28

Bactria was the centre, existed in East Iran;

to a tribe, the

inhabitants, not crushed by the proximity of powerful

Mt

neighbours, like their Persian and Median kinsmen,

Magu, who had how, a monopoly

inherited or acquired,
in religious functions.

we know not

By

this time

were yet prevented from sinking into a state of slothful ease by constant wars to repel the incursions of the Turanian nomads. They dwelt, a proud and
powerful aristocracy, mostly in their acropolis-like
strongholds, to which they retired

the Iranian religion, like the Iranian language,

had

begun to diverge widely from its original Aryan prototype. As we have seen, the early Aryans worshipped the elements

the

sacred

fire

(the

Hindu
air,

when hard

pressed,

Agni), the wide heavens, the

soma

plant, the

and from which

the marauders.

their chivalry descended to chastise

and

the water.

The Iranians developed

certain

We may
a

a similar style to the

keeping
in

Norman barons

imagine that they ruled in in England,

aspects of this religious system, especially the wor-

mr

numerous helot population by virtue of their superior organization and intelligence; such^ indeed, was the state of most countries in the early days of their invasion by The capital of this the Aryan-speaking peoples. great Iranian Empire was the ancient shrine
subjection
of

ship of the sacred fire, and out of reverence for it abandoned the old practice of burning the dead, substituting the custom of exposing them instead to the
birds.

elements
of

This feeling of the necessity of keeping the sacred free from defilement further led to the

elaboration of a great

number
to

of ritual observances

Bactra,

probably chosen because

it

the invaders

the most

minute and,

already found
sanctity.

a place of great and immemorial

in the early history of Bactria

puerile character.

Lists of clean

modern eyes, often and unclean animals

The only episode

of the

which appears coming

Spitama.

to be

founded upon fact

is

the story

of the Iranian prophet,

Zarathustra
of

and insects (the former, strangely enough, including the dog, almost universally looked upon as unclean), to be protected or destroyed, were formulated, and drastic penalties, consisting of fines and corporal
punishment, were enacted to enforce the keeping of
these rules.
Lastly, the

Round

his

name, as round that

many
such a

of the great law-givers of the ancient world,

great central idea of the

sprung up, that many There is, have doubted his existence altogether. however, no reason to suppose that he was any less an actual personage than Lycurgus or Moses, although it is impossible at this distance to distinguish precisely what the Iranian religion actually His birthplace was someowes to his teaching.
plentiful crop of legends has

Iranian faith, the existence of a dualism in Nature*

appeared; the Iranian explained Evil as the work of Ahriman, Angra Mainyu, the Prince of Dg-rkness, and the Lord of the Hosts of Devas.^i
*

Probably at Raghse, or Rai (Payai), in Media Atropatene. This may have been acquired from contact with the Semitic
.

nations.

24

BACTEIA
That
this creed

EARLY HISTORY OF BAOTRIA

priestly caste
;

25

was developed by the

king."^
in

Finally, according to Firdousi, he perished

of the

Medes appears

to be extremely probable

the

!|

mmute
'*

code of the Vendidad was

certainly not
at best
it

meant

The one of the many Scythian invasions. barbarians are said to have penetrated into Balkh
itself,

for the populace at large,

where

would be

and

to

have

killed

the prophet

before

his

more honoured in the breach than the observance " and, as we know, its most important precept was violated by the Persian kings themselves, who were buried in the royal sepulchre at Pasargadse, and not
exposed at
all.^

fire-altar.

Other indications, such as the silence

of classical writers

on the subject

of

to point to the existence of a distinct

Ahriman, seem Magian creed,

\l

only partially accepted by the Iranians generally.

We' must now turn our attention to the Western About 700 b.c. the Medes at last found an opportunity to break away from the Assyrian yoke. Phraortes, some fifty years later, united the Persian and Median kingdoms, and the doom of Nineveh was From the wreck of the Empire of Assyria sealed. arose two new nations, Babylon and Media. At first
m

Iranians.

Such was the "reformed religion" which Zarathustra, apparently, propagated.

the two races, absorbed in their respective conquests,

Tradition

says

it

was in the reign

at
*'

one Gustaspa^ that he appeared Bactra the beautiful, city of the high- streaming
of

11

banners,"

the

ancient

seat

of

the

monarchs

of

remained at peace with one another Nebuchadnezzar was busy with his Jewish and Egyptian expeditions, while the Medes were pushing forward to the Halys. For a time Lydia staved off the inevitable doom, and
;

Apparently he was not alone, for his wife's relations are said to have attained high
positions in

Eastern Iran.

the royal court.

This

may have

led

a treaty was made between the rival nations, and ratified by a marriage between the Medic king and a Lydian princess. Hopes of peace from this alliance,

to the widespread

adoption of his tenets; and so

powerful did the family of Spitama become at Bactra,

that henceforth that city became the centre of Zoroas-

however, were cast to the winds when, in 550 b.c, an event of the utmost import in the history of Iran took place. The ancient Medic line was deposed

new creed, and a legend grew up in Greece that "Zoroaster was a Bactrian
trianism, the heart of the
>

by the Persians, and Cyrus the Great, the

first

of the

The body was, however, coated with wax

to prevent actual

'U

soil (Herodotus, I. 140). Conjectures as to the date of Zoroaster vary to an astounding degree. Some identify Gustaspa with the father of Darius others put him back to 1400 b.o. or earHer, or declare him to be a myth. Professor Jackson, of Columbia University, thinks he
^
;

contact with the

flourished during the

Medic supremacy, and

to

have died about

* I have said nothing of the legendary wars of Ninus and The Assyrians never invaded Semiramis against Bactria. Bactria, much less conquered a Bactrian king called variously Zoroaster (Justin) and Oxyartes (Diodorus). The story found in Justin and many writers originated in a Persian legend Eugene Wilhelm, in a learned pamphlet retailed by Ctesias. (Louvain, 1891), shows that Zoroaster and Oxyartes are corruptions of some name like ZaOpavarrfSf itself a Grecism of an

588

B.C.

Iranian word.

26

BACTEIA
king
of

EAKLY HISTORY OF BACTEIA

the

27
the
it

Achsemenids, became

now

extensive

Smerdis.^

This measure

efiEectually conciliated

il'i

Perso-Median Empire. The fall of Sardis, under the attacks of the new monarchy speedily followed, and with Sardis, the overthrow of the Greek colonies on Finally, in 538, the once the Asiatic coastline.
despised Iranians stormed the mighty city of Babylon,

pride of the haughty

and turbulent Bactrians, as

gave their country a sort of pre-eminence over its neighbours; the satraps of Bactria appear to have

always enjoyed the devoted adherence of their subjects. Thus Bactria became, like the Deccan under the

mH

and proclaimed themselves the masters

Asia.
It

of

Western

Moghuls, an excellent school for young princes. The office was no sinecure, owing to the continual threats
of invasion

was not

likely that

under these circumstances

the East Iranians would long maintain their position

proud isolation from the doings of their western kinsmen. Soon after the fall of Babylon Gyrus undertook a great expedition to the East. Bactria, together with the minor East Iranian tribes, willingly
of

from over the border. by Arrian,^ that from Bactria Cyrus went southwards across the Paropamisus and reduced Kapisa (NortkrEast Afghanistan). From here he marched into the Pan jab and tried, with terrible results, to perform the feat, afterwards accomplished
It is related

submitted to the conqueror of Media, and the Iranians were now for the first time incorporated into a single vast empire. Cyrus was not slow in perceiving that
the Scythians on the north-east border.

one of the chief menaces to his great kingdom lay in In order to settle the country as far as possible, he plunged into Sogdiana, and attempted to drive the nomads back
across the Jaxartes.^
in
this

by Alexander with equally disastrous consequences, of marching home by the southern route across the tropical deserts of Gedrosia (the modern Mekran). Strabo disbelieves this story, and it seems probable
that Arrian is confusing his exploits with those of Darius. Cyrus was killed in a second expedition
across the Jaxartes against the

Massa

Getae,

who

He was

temporarily successful

attempt, and before retiring established a

great frontier fortress, called Cyropolis by the Greeks,

to

appear to have given trouble on the Bactrian border. He was succeeded by Cambyses, who appears to have devoted all his time to Egypt, and to have left
the eastern portion of the Empire to
reign
of
itself.

possibility

Seeing the imkeep guard over the border. of governing Bactria from the distant
of

The
for

Cambyses was

chiefly

remarkable
influence
of

capital

Susa, Cyrus started the practice,

after-

the extraordinary growth of the

the

wards adopted by his successors, of placing Bactria under a prince of the blood, who acted as the king's viceroy. The first of these royal satraps was his son
ii
^ Ctesias, of course, embroiders the story of the campaign with various romantic (and utterly fabulous) stories.

Magi, who, like the Brahmans of India, aspired to become the "power behind the throne*' in Persia. Smerdis, satrap of Bactria, the king's younger
^

Ctesias calls

him Tanoxyarces.
vi.

Exped. Alex.y

24.

mi\il
111

28
brother,

BAOTRIA
had been
secretly

EARLY HISTORY OF BAOTRIA

with, probably

89

made away

empire into satrapies, each paying a fixed sum to the

Imperial Treasury; this wise precaution prevented local governors from levying taxes at will, under the pretext
that they were required by the Imperial Government. Under the new scheme, Bactria became the twelfth

I!

because, like other governors of himself vince, he had shown signs of desiring to set

that distant pro-

up
act
I'lf

as

an independent
its

ruler.

This

treacherous
for

brought

own

reward.

No one knew

certain that Smerdis

profiting

by the as were able to set up one of their own number prince. king, pretending that he was the dead The conspiracy assumed such gigantic proportions
himself; that Cambyses, in a fit of despaur, killed rather, (or Smerdis false the and for over a year puppet), their as him used who priests the crafty

was dead, and thus the Magi, prolonged absence of Cambyses,

satrapy in the empire, and paid an annual tribute of This seems a small 360 talents (about ^90,000).
contribution,

compared

to the

sum

of 1,000 talents

contributed by the most wealthy province, Assyria but it may be that Bactria received concessions of

some kind

in return for its loyalty to Darius.

Darius, as

we have already mentioned, was the son

of the governor of a great province of Eastern Iran,

reigned

a conspiracy, headed (Vistaspa) by Darius, son of Prince Hystaspes formed, was governor of Hyrcania and Parthia, To party. his which overthrew the usurper and littleand nebulous, huge, crush a rebellion in a organized empire of the extent of Persia, was no easy

supreme.

Finally

trians,

pretenders sprang up from Babylon to Armenia, and it was only after two years' fighting that peace was restored, and the Magi made to pay

matter

and he appears to have won the esteem of the Bacwhich may account for the remarkable fact that these ardent champions of the Zoroastrian creed did not join the side of the Magi in any of the various This may be also partly due to the fact that risings. the satrapy of Bactria was in the hands of a certain Dardases, who appears to have remained loyal to his
master's cause in spite of grave temptations. One of the most formidable of the rebellions confronting

'k-i\

It was with their blood for their bold attempt. disturbsimilar of probably to prevent a recurrence of ances that Darius set about the gigantic scheme mto a possessions vast his linked he which reform by co-ordinated whole, paying fixed assessments to the

Darius was that of Phraortes of Margiana, who proclaimed himself to be a descendant of the ancient Median kings. Even Hystaspes was unable to quell the rising, which was finally subdued by the king in

lit I

Royal Treasury, and of that wonderful network of roads, with their service a of news the that posts, so efficiently maintained rapidly troops and conveyed instantly rising could be moved to the disturbed area. Darius finally divided the

connected with the capital

by

The co-operation with the Bactrians. Behistun inscription records how Darius sent word to " Dardases his servant " to " smite the people that
person, in

owned hun not." Dardases was probably a prince

this *)litary reference,

of the

blood, like the other Bactrian satraps, but except from

we hear nothing further

of

him.

i^

30

BACTRIA
About
an important expedition left Bactria the Indus Valley.^ Scylax of Caryanda in Caria
.512 B.C.

EAELY HISTOKY OF BACTBIA

81

tingent during the Grecian expedition of 480 b.o.

Apparently, the Bactrian brigade comprised two distinct bodies of troops

;

for

undertook the exploration of the course of the Indus from the land of the Pakhtu^ to the sea, and returned, after a most adventurous voyage of over a year, via the Ked Sea, landing near the modern port of Suez. A province south of the Paropamisus was established,
probably as a subsatrapy of Bactria, and a regular trade was opened from the mouth of the Indus up the Persian Gulf. One of the many important results of this undertaking was to open up a connection between
the Persians and their long-forgotten kinsmen of the Panjab. Probably, historians have never appreciated

the infantry consisted largely

*'

of semi-savage aboriginals,

armed with short spears

and bows

of

Bactrian cane,"

singularly

ineffective

weapons, one would think, with which to attack the

Greek hoplite

while the cavalry was composed of the

Iranian equites.

The

latter,

being not very different

from the Persian horse, are not mentioned in the picturesque catalogue of the seventh book of the history
of Herodotus.
It is

noteworthy, however, that

when

the significance of this contact. One tangible result, at any rate, was the introduction into the north-west
of India of the of

Kharoshthi

script,

which

is

evidently

Aramaic origin. It continued in use for over 800 years on the border, till ousted, about a.d. 343, by the Brahmi (or Brahmin) writing, the parent of the

Mardonius was selecting a picked force to carry on the campaign after the death of Xerxes, he chose " Modes, SacsB, Bactrians and Indians, both infantry and cavalry,"^ which testifies to the military prowess of the Bactrian army. We shall not be far wrong if we imagine that the Bactrian cavalry were principally retained the footmen with their cane bows would only be useful as skirmishers, and were hardly likely to
;

modern Indian

alphabets.

make much impression

long
pike,

against the hoplite, with his

In the reign of Xerxes, who succeeded to the throne in 485 B.C., two of his brothers, Masistes and Hystaspes, appear to have dwelt at Bactra. Masistes, apparently
the elder, was satrap of the province, while upon Hystaspes devolved the command of the troops, and in this capacity he took charge of the Bactro-Sacean conHerodotus, IV. 44. later work.
1

heavy armour,

and

close

formations.

Masistes also took part in the campaign on the staff of

Mardonius, and on his return to Sardis after the Battle

of

Mycal6

lost his life in

a characteristic fashion. The

queen, suspecting an intrigue between Xerxes and his

brother s wife, contrived to seize her wretched rival and

put her to death in a barbarous manner. The

so-called Fervplvs of Scylax is a

Masistes fled

m
1:

3 The Afghans (Pushtu). The expedition started from "Kaspatyrus and the country of Paktyik^," probably at the junction of the Kabul River with the Indus. Kaspatyrus is the ** Kaspapyrus " of Hekataeus, " a city of Gandhara." Perhaps the Indian name was Kaspapur.

vowing to raise the satrapy and take condign vengeance, but was intercepted by cavalry and put to death, with his family and escort.^ Hystaspes succeeded to the vacant post. Apparently, he did not
to Bactria
1

Herodotus, VIII. 118.

Ibid,, VII. 108.

h!

is

82

BACTEIA
shall,

EAELY HISTOEY OF BACTEIA

chidsB (settled

88

venture to take any measures at once to avenge the insult ; but upon the death of Xerxes, in 464, he promptly revolted against Artaxerxes Longimanus, and was only

however, meet with the descendants of the Branby Xerxes on the north bank of the

two pitched battles.^ From the death of Xerxes to the invasion of Alexander the history of Bactria is almost a blank for us. Herodotus ends his story at the battle of Mycal6, and

subdued

after

They had been Temple of Apollo at Didymi to the Persians, and were removed hither to escape the vengeance of their Greek neighbours.
Oxus) under tragic circumstances.
guilty of betraying the

Xenophon, our next authority on the subject

of Persia,

AUTHORITIES.
Of the ancient
authorities,

has little or nothmg to tell us about the condition of Eastern Iran. Bactria appears to have remained a flourishing and prosperous state, unaffected by the degeneracy which was fast overtaking the western

Herodotus holds the

first place.

Justin repeats legends from Ctesias, usually worthless. Equally

unreliable are the Persian authorities
Firdousi, and others. For Iranian customs, see the translations of the Vendiddd, Sacred Books of the East, iv. and xxxi., with valuable prefaces by Darmsteter and Mills. Of modern authorities, Bawlinson (Five Great Oriental
is still valuable. Von Gutschmid's articles in the ninth edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica, and his Geschichte Irans, are noteworthy, and also the up-to-date

kingdom.

Either Artaxerxes

I.

or his successor of the

same name appears to have been a devotee of the Bactrian Anahid, and to have adorned her temple with the magnificent star-crowned statue, which is mentioned so often in later literature.

Mona/rchies)

Bactria seems to have been used as a sort of " Siberia " under the Persian kings. Before the battle frighten the of Lad6 the Persian commanders tried to
** banishment to rebels into submission with threats of Bactria " in case they failed to yield. Ordinarily, it has

articles

edition of the EncyclojpceoUa,

on "Zoroaster" and "Ancient Persia" in the latest by Karl Geldner and Ed. Meyer.

been remarked, the Greek maidens, at any rate, would have been sent to Susa but Bactria is mentioned because it would appear more distant and terrible to the
:

Greeks,
empire.*

who

all

exaggerated the size of the Persian

colony of Libyans from Barca was settled by Darius in Bactria ;^ we never hear of them agam. We

^i't

a
8

Compare Diodorus, XI. 69, with what Ctesias Herodotus, VI. 9 and see Rawlinson's note.
;

tells us.

Ibid., IV. 204.

CONQUEST OF IKAN BY ALEXANDEK

or inclination.

85

By

this time, indeed, Bactria

had

drifted into the position of a semi-independent king-

dom,

little

disposed to tolerate interference from the

of
fact,

capital.

As a matter

the Persian kings,

fully occupied as

they were with their ceaseless round

CHAPTEE

III

THE CONQUEST OP IRAN BY ALEXANDER

B.C. came the day of reckoning for Persia. The magnificent organization of the empire by Darius the Great had merely earned for him the

In 334

of intrigues and wars with Greece, had of late years had no time to meddle in their eastern provinces; nor would the Bactrians have brooked any attempt Devoted to their satraps, to bring them into line. they were always ready to follow them, if an ambitious prince showed any disposition to strike for

independence.
It is significant to notice

" from the Persian nobility, title of the "shopkeeper and corruption and intrigue had reduced the greatest

that only 1,000 Bactrian

if'^

cavalry took part in the great battle of Gaugamela,^ a

kingdom

of antiquity to a

huge unwieldy mass

of

possessing enormous resources, but inStates, The hardy Persian mouncapable of utilizing them. taineers of two centuries before had become as
still

luxurious and enervated as the alien nations they had The corruption, however, had not spread displaced.
across the Carmanian Desert, and the Bactrians of the East, owing to their constant wars with the
Scythians, and their great distance from Susa, retained in their far-off rugged country some of the virtues of the primitive Iranians of the days of Cyrus

which one would have thought have rallied. They fought, it is true, with the utmost gallantry. They opened the battle with a brilliant charge upon the Greek right, which was well pushed home, and for a time effectually checked the advance of the enemy. Alexander was compelled to run the risk of seriously weakening his centre before he was able to But the fact beat off this dangerous flank attack. remains that only a small Bactrian contingent took part in the engagement. No doubt Bessus was already
decisive struggle, to
all

the forces of

the empire would

the Great.
J

awaiting a

favourable opportunity for raising the

The

Viceroy of Bactria at the

invasion was Bessus, a

time of Alexander's distant cousin of Darius

standard of revolt, and had excellent reasons for lending his kinsman only a very perfunctory support.
of

^Codomannus. It was hardly likely that he would have much respect for the mild, weak prince, a puppet in the hands of the conspirators who had raised him to a dignity for which he had small ability
84

In the spring of 330 B.C., when the ancient capital the Persians had fallen into the hands of the Macedonians, the final pursuit of Darius began. It
1

October

1,

831 b.c.

'

!ll

86

BACTRIA
was

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

first

37

was felt that the last chance lay in falling back upon Eastern Iran. The great provinces of Bactria, the Ariana, and Margiana, were as yet unaffected by little now was Darius invasion but the unfortunate more than a prisoner in the hands of Bessus. From
;

to send a force to occupy this important point

line of

subdued, and word was given to Parmenio on the

communications.

A move

was then made to

Zadracarta, where a halt was called, and a concentration of the forces for an advance on Bactra was
effected.

Ecbatana

to Ragse, from Ragse to the Caspian gates, monarch and his guardians, his unhappy the fled Alexander spared forces melting away as he went. neither men nor horses in his wild pursuit. At last, one summer morning, after a desperate night ride of

Alexander's transport arrangements must

for within a fortnight, notwith-

have been admirable,

standing the fact that the king and his little body of cavalry had travelled hundreds of miles ahead

nearly

with a few picked troopers he rode rearguard as dawn was breaking. enemy's the into The foe scattered at the onset ; a few miles further
fifty miles,

on Alexander found the

last of the heirs of

**

Cyrus

the King, the Achsemenian," lying mules and drivers, stabbed through and through. Bessus was far ahead, flying to Bactria to proclaim
himself king under the title of Artaxerxes. Alexander now entered upon the most difficult part He was no longer at war of the Persian campaign.

among

his dead

with an

effete

and disorganized empire

he was face

East Persia, to face with the primitive Iranians of virtues of the of some retaining still hardy warriors
the mountaineers

who had conquered Assyria and

Babylon, and whose simplicity and courage had won had the admiration of the Greeks themselves. He an unknown to march thousands of miles through country, across burning deserts and lofty mountains,

main army in pursuit of Darius, all was ready push forward. Alexander had determined to advance by the great caravan route which runs through Susa and Merv to Bactra, along which water and provisions would Hardly, however, had he be easily obtainable. disappeared into the desert beyond Susa when Satibarzanes, satrap of Aria, who had lulled his suspicions by a pretended submission, revolted, hoping, no doubt, to cut off his line of communication. Satibarzanes was a confederate of Bessus, and the design was to take the advancing Macedonians in It was a highly critical flank and rear at once. moment, for Satibarzanes was certain of the help of Once more Alexander's Barsaentes of Drangiana. marvellous speed in moving troops saved the situation he turned abruptly south, and dashed down to Artocoana (Herat) in two days. His unexpected apof the

to

f.

where at any moment he might perish for want of food or water, or be cut off by a rising in his rear. But the splendid Macedonian force never hesitated. Hyrcania, the wooded country on the Caspian shore,
[>

pearance struck terror into the enemy. Satibarzanes galloped away in hot haste to Bactra Barsaentes was
;

surrendered and executed.

Alexander now altered his plans. He determined to attack Bactra from the south, subduing the pro-

88

BACTRIA

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

utterly demoralized the foe, already perturbed
fate of their

39

vinces en route, and founding colonies on the line It was a terribly daring of march to secure his rear. The policy, but Alexander knew his own powers.

Arian

allies

by the under Satibarzanes. The

winter 330-329

b.c.

was passed

in Gedrosia.

The

Bactrian cavalry had mobilized to the number of 8,000, and now was their chance, when the enemy,
disorganized by their privations and with most of
their horses

the passes idea was to cross the mountains as soon deserts of formidable were open, so as to enter the

lying dead in the high passes, were

southern Bactria before the hot weather made them impassable. In the early spring of 329 the columns began to march up the Helmand Valley. The remainder of the year was spent in advancing to the Two prolonged halts were foot of the Paropamisus.

debouching in detached columns upon the lower But the Macedonians had acquired that levels.
prestige

yMk\

once in Arachosia, where a city was founded, which may still survive in the modern Kandahar, and once again at the foot of the actual defiles, where

made

which is so invaluable to a commander. Nothing would face them henceforward Alexander's foes, until he came to India, where the terror of his name had not yet spread, would only stand up to him behind strong walls, and not in open battle. It is strange that Alexander should have been permitted
;

was estabBy this means the retreat was secured, and lished. all chances of a revolt in the Macedonian rear were prevented. In the meantime Alexander was rejoined by a force from Aria, bringing the welcome news
another veteran colony,

numbermg

7,000,

to enter the gates of Bactra, the sacred stronghold of

Zoroastrianism, without a blow.

This famous city on

other occasions offered to invaders the most desperate resistance recorded in the history of the ancient world, as its natural and artificial defences well

that they

had defeated and

killed Satibarzanes.

enabled
of

ander's tasks.

one of the most stupendous of AlexIn front of him lay the vast unexplored ranges of the Hindu-Kush, with their precipitous gorges and pathless glaciers. It was a task more formidable than Hannibal's but the soldiers, though

Now began

It must have been with feelings it to do. more than ordinary interest that the war-worn generals looked round this remote yet famous town, which to Greeks of the last generation was so distant that it was spoken of as a semi-legendary place, on the confines of the world. But Bactra appears to have

raw mutton and the foetid silphiumroot for sustenance, finally emerged triumphant upon the Bactrian plains. A prolonged halt was made
often reduced to

disappointed the Greeks, who, with their usual con-

Drapsaca, the scattered forces were reorganized, and a move was made in the The sudden appearance of the direction of Aornus.
at the frontier
fortress of

tempt for the "barbarian," noted with disapproval the revolting customs prevalent among the lower The Saceans gave over their dead to dogs, orders. and even allowed the infirm and old to suffer the

same

fate

their bones littered the streets.

Nor did

Macedonians over the mountains appears to have

the Zoroastrian custom of exposing corpses to the

ifi

^1

40
birds

BACTRIA
meet
their approval,

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

41

and Alexander promptly ordered the dakhmaa, or Towers of Silence, to be

closed.

It was at this juncture that one of the most disgraceful incidents in Alexander's career took place, so

Again the army made was distressing enough. In the rear rumours of rebellion were rife, and it was doubtful if Erygius, an old and not very active general, was capable of the vast task of keeping open the lines of communiOwing to the state of the country, it was cation.
a brief halt.

The

situation

to record

utterly inexcusable that his biographers were ashamed On the northern bank of the Oxus it.^

dwelt the
to save

little

colony of Greeks descended from those

.1

Branchidse

who had been deported thither by Xerxes them from the fury of the Milesians after the
They streamed out
in a joyous crowd

Persian wars.
to welcome, in

procure remounts to replace the horses lost in the mountains, and cavalry, in view of the But enemy's mobility, was an absolute essential. the first thing to be done was to crush Bessus before
difficult to

broken Greek, the coming of their kinsmen; but Alexander savagely ordered them to be surrounded and massacred. His reason was that their ancestors ^ had betrayed the Hellenic cause, and
he, as the
to

champion

of Hellenic rights,

was bound

<

'w

he should succeed
in

in

raising a

formidable

force

Sogdiana,

whither

he had

fled.

Once

again

Alexander advanced in pursuit.

The journey from

Bactra to the Oxus was short, but terribly trying. The hot weather had set in, and in spite of the precaution of marching at night, the troops arrived at
the river bank half dead with thurst and exhaustion, for Bessus had taken the precaution to break down the bridges and destroy the provisions and wells during
his retreat.

avenge the wrong. It was precisely by such acts that Alexander showed how little he was imbued with the true Greek spirit; under the thin veneer of Hellenism lay the barbarian, ready to break out, on the smallest provocation, in ugly forms o! senseless
brutality.

Alexander's advance over the Oxus had caused a No obstacle, further panic in the Bactrian camp. conit seemed, would stop him; and the Sogdian
federates of Bessus, Spitamenes and Dataphernes, decided to betray their leader, hoping thereby to

4J
'

Alexander very characteristically refused to drink or even unbuckle his armour till the last straggler had come in. We can well imagine his pride in the splendid troops who could overcome alike the
intense cold of the passes of the Hindu-Kush and the horrors of a forced march through the Mid-

pacify the invader and put

quests in this region.

an end to further conBessus was handed over to Ptolemy Lagus, and doomed to horrible, but not undeserved tortures; but Alexander was not to be
diverted from his purpose so easily.
1

Bessus Asian deserts in the height of summer. on crossed was Oxus the had burnt the boats but
;

He saw
is,

that

The

story is only found in Curtius.

to doubt
it.

There

unfortunately,

skins stuffed with straw,

and the army

set foot in

no reason
2

Sogdiana.

Five generations had elapsed since the original misdeed.

42

BACTEIA

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDEK

43

nothing less than the complete subjection of Iran would make an advance on India possible. The Macedonians advanced rapidly. Maracanda,
the royal capital,
fell,

At the same time Alexander's viceroy, Artabazus. Cyropolis and Sogdiana. in up blazed rising fierce a other cities put their Macedonian garrisons to the
sword.

with other strong fortresses,

and received a garrison, and the army pushed on to the Jaxartes. Here Alexander determined to found the last of his great colonies, Alexandria Ultima, on the banks of this distant river, to keep watch over the
Scythians, and to protect the great trade route to China. Eesistance, however, though scotched, was not yet

At Maracanda, Alexander's principal fortress, the citadel was fiercely beset, and the detachment The revolt was ably scarcely able to hold its own. encouraging did the and so Spitamenes, by organized prospects of success appear, that Oxyartes and the other princes of Eastern Sogdiana, who had hitherto
remained quiet, decided to throw in their lot with The Sacse, terrified at the rise their countrymen.
of the great fortress

With the disappearance of the King in the wilds of the north a great national reaction set in. The
killed.

commanding the

ford over the

lovement was primarily a religious one. Alexander had shown himself the enemy of Zoroastrianism the burial customs of the Iranians had been forbidden, libraries and temples ransacked, and the sacred |Avesta books either destroyed, or, what was almost
:

Jaxartes, were mustering ominously on the further bank, and a body of troops from the Massa Getae

had gone

to join Spitamenes. demonstration in force dispersed the nomads, and the builders of Further Alexandria were left in

worse desecration, translated into Greek by recreant

Persians to satisfy the curiosity of

peace.

A
:

force sent to relieve

Maracanda was

less

" Alexander the accursed

feelings of his enemies.^

Greek savants. had aroused the deepest In Bactra the rumour was
*'

lucky
follow

they raised the siege, but in attempting to

industriously circulated that a massacre of the Iranian knightly class was being planned,^ which had the
effect
^

up their opponents were cleverly ambushed by Spitamenes and killed almost to a man. In the meanwhile Alexander was busy with Cyropolis, which he eventually captured,^ and on his advance
Spitamenes and his horsemen vanished into the wilds. The fighting which was necessary to subdue the country resembles that which the British had to The undertake for the conquest of the Deccan. Saceans and Bactrians, unable to face the Macedonians in the
field,

of

stirring

up considerable

feeling

against

religion is not

"Gazasht^ Alexander." The persecution of the Iranian mentioned by Greek writers. There is a pere.g.,

sistent Persian tradition to this effect

p. 87. * Quintus Curtius,

J.B.B.B.A.S., xv.,
1 sub fin.
It is

VII. 6

vide Arrian,

iv.

bade them defiance from their

interesting to see the

same

story appearing in Persian sources

in the apocryphal correspondence of Alexander

and

Aristotle,
vol.
iii.,

translated

by Darmesteter, Journal Asiatiquey 1894,

pp. 185 #. and 502/.

(New

Series).

1 The inhabitants were sent to populate Alexandria Eschat^, For the various cities founded and destroyed by Alexander see Appendix V., p. 165 (/), and the passages of Strabo there quoted.

44
lofty rock-fortresses,

BACTRIA
considerable

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

must have become by
besides his recent losses in the
field,

45

with

which had to be stormed, often "Can you fly?" asked loss.

this time very small indeed;

an immense

Arimazes, the commandant of one of these strongholds, in answer to a summons to surrender. Alexander convinced him that flying was not necessary by scaling, with a picked force of 300 men, The a rocky crag which commanded the city.
garrison

number had been swallowed up by the numerous

garrison colonies established at points of vantage. It was therefore decided for the winter months to

now

as a warning to the rest.

coercion,

surrendered, and Arimazes was crucified By this policy, partly of

partly of conciliation. Western Sogdiana subdued so effectually that Feucolaus was able was to keep order with a standing army of 3,000 men A chain of forts from the Oxus to the Ochus, only. where they joined hands with Alexandria Margiana,

hold the royal court at Maracanda, a huge fortress and palace, regarded as the ancient capital of the country, and admirably adapted for the purpose. Here! the unfortunate incident took place which cost Alexander, like all Macedonians, was Clitus his life.
given to drinking, and the dryness of the climate
alleged by
is

some as an excuse

for his excessive indul-

"velut freni domitarum gentium," as Gurtius says, kept the western border subdued, and prevented any
incursions of the DahsB,

however, to blame the king partiAt the cularly for his share in this disgraceful scene. proceed to orders under was Clitus murder his of time
gence.
It is hard,

to

who were allies of Spitamenes. Alexandria Eschate, now a formidable fortress, effectually checked any similar diversions from the
The
result

Bactra^ to take over charge from Artabazus, who found that the post was beyond the capacity of a man of his years. Artabazus does not appear to have been a great success Alexander's experiments
;

of putting natives in charge of

important posts did

north-east.

measures was seen when Spitamenes was overtaken by the fate which, partly through his instrumentality, had befallen Bessus. He was betrayed by his confederates and murdered
of

these

not always

succeed.

Clitus

was now replaced by

Amyntas. Early in 327, Alexander, having received his reinforcements, moved out for a final campaign in
Parffitacene.

his head was sent to Alexander as a peace offering.^

The heart

of

the

native opposition

had thus improved considerably when Alexander ordered his troops, at the end of 328, into It was not possible, however, to winter-quarters.

The

situation

centred round

the gigantic fortress of Sisimithres, the

Sogdian rock, which commands the passes leading into the country from the south. Here had assembled
1 So Curtius. Arrian says the early part of the winter was For a discussion of the identity of this spent at Zariaspa. mysterious city, see Chapter I. fi/n. a Curtius, VIII. 1 ; Arrian, IV. 17.

leave the country as yet, as Eastern Sogdiana

still

held

out, and no operations were possible until the levies from Macedonia arrived. Alexander's striking force
*

Arrian, IV. 17 fin,

Curtius says his wife murdered him.

Ill

46

BACTRIA

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

47

Oxyartes, a brother ^ of Darius, with his family the and round him clustered last hope of the royal race But the independence. Bactrian of the remnants

homes, so as to secure his conquests permanently. He was followed by Seleucus, who married Apama, the daughter of the dead Spitamenes, and thus peculiarly
qualified himself and his successors for the position It cannot, however, be they afterwards claimed. said that the alliance was popular with the Mace-

m f

Macedonians were now experts in mountain warfare, and surprised the citadel after a night attack. Among the captives was the beautiful Koxan^,^ daughter of Oxyartes. She was brought, with thirty other maidens, before the Macedonian chiefs as they Her beauty so struck Alexander that, to sat at table. the surprise of everyone, he there and then married
her, after the simple

Alexander on his return was more autocratic than ever. Incited, perhaps, by his wife, he insisted on prostrations and
donian generals at large.
to Bactra

other servile signs of obedience, after the Persian

fashion,
to the
*'

Macedonian rite,^ offering her bread divided with the sword, of which each partook. Alexander was usually indifferent to women, and it is impossible not to think that motives of policy had something to do with this romantic action. Marriage with a daughter of the royal race would go far to conciliate native opinion to his rule, for it had been Alexander's fixed claim since he first set foot in Persia that he was not a mere military invader, but the successor of the Achemaenidse upon the royal
throne.

from the court.

The

resulting discontent led

it

Conspiracy of the Pages,'* as

was

called.

ij

The conspiracy was,

It

as usual, stamped out in blood.

cannot be said that Roxan6 got much happiness from her romantic marriage. Almost immediately after Alexander set out for India, whence he returned
only to
die.

him a
called.i

son, Alexander

few months after his death she bore ^gus, as he is meaninglessly

f

After Antipater's death mother and child

Bactria was to be the base of his operations against India, and these would be impossible to carry
out unless the country was completely settled. He also wished to set his veterans the example of marry-

fled to Epirus, only to be caught and cruelly murdered by Cassander. Alexander might well have rested on his laurels

ing Persian wives, and making the

1

new country

their

So Plutarch.

Diodorus
is

calls

him

" King of Bactria," and

star

Firdousi says Boshanak

* I.e.y

" Dara's daughter."

achievements of the past three performed a feat which in any age would have been entitled to the admiration of mankind; at that time it was almost superhuman. He had literally conquered a new world, and not only
after the stupendous

years.

He had

Roshan-ak,
details,
;

little star."

i2o^n= light,

-ah

is

an
3

**

affectionate " diminutive.

conquered, but settled it. In spite of lines of communication 2,000 miles in length, he had never
suffered a serious reverse.
1

For the

see

Plutarch,

Alexander (Langhome's
canto xxxiii.

translation, p. 478)

8ikam,der

Nama,

Curtius, VIII. 4, 23

Arrian, Anab., IV. 21.

Quintus Also the passage of

;

He had

penetrated, without
(t.e.,

Aires

is

silly

mistake for

AAA02

Alexander the

Strabo given in the Appendix, p. 166 (/).

Second).

48

BACTEIA

CONQUEST OF IRAN BY ALEXANDER

satrap Peithon,

49

trackor guides, over precipitous mountains and warlike and active an of less deserts, in the face enemy, and through the midst of hostile country.

maps

who probably had no

alternative in

dealing thus with his unwelcome visitors.^

None but a genius for organization, with a perfect transport and a magnificently trained intelligence It has been .department, could have done this.
/
I

In the meanwhile Bactria appears to have been Tyriaspes,^ governor of Paropamisus and Kabul, was accused of extortion, and petitions were
fairly peaceful.

sent to Alexander for redress.

They reached him on

replaced

maintained that he never met with real resistance

the truth was that in most cases his movements were so rapid that he took his foe by surprise. The Iranian was as stout a soldier as any in the ancient
world.

the Indus, and he sent back orders for the offender's

execution.

Tyriaspes

was

by

Oxyartes.

Oxyartes had been suspected of complicity in the conspiracy of the pages, but, probably owing to the intercession of Roxan^, had escaped.^

But there was no

rest for Alexander.

Spring saw

him

India.

busy with the preparations for a descent upon The first thing to do was obviously to secure

his base.

this purpose an army of 11,500 was under Amyntas, while twelve Bactra posted at garrison towns were founded in Bactria and Sogdiana, were likely to in which were placed the troops who advance.^ further be refractory at the prospect of a

For

There is some ground for thinking that Amyntas, perhaps owing to the incompetence shown by him in dealing with the turbulent settlers, was superseded by Stasanor of Soli. Sogdiana, apparently, was then
put in charge of
Parthia,
as well.
**

Philip the Prsetor," governor of

who subsequently became

satrap of Bactria

Oxyartes remained in charge of Kabul for

some

years, perhaps until the province

to

was handed

They were a turbulent crowd, and must have numrevolted bered nearly 30,000 men. Some of them tried and departure, Alexander's after immediately
to set

Chandragupta. Apparently, both he and Stasanor assumed a semiindependent position after Alexander's death.

over by Seleucus Nicator

up a certain Athenodorus as was murdered; whereupon a body

their king.
of

He
AUTHOBITIES.

malcontents,

under a leader named Bico, left Bactria. probably made no effort to detain them.^ A much larger body, computed by some
also fled on receiving the

Amyntas
at 23,000,

Arrian and Curtius, and, incidentaUy, Justin and Strabo. Arrian is the most valuable. Their merits have been discussed in the Introduotion.

news of Alexander's death. they were cut to pieces by where Media, entered They
^

* Tirystes, ^
**

Diod. Sic, XVIII. 7. Arrian, VI. 16

Terioltes, Curtius,

IX.

8.

>

XI. 6^n Curtius. IX. 7. He

Justin.

Oxathres, prsetor Bactrianorum, non absolutus

modo

sed

may

be relating what really happened

etiam jure amplioris imperii donatus est " (Curtius).

after Alexander's death.

BACTKIAN INDEPENDENCE

51

ander's untimely end was that the Macedonian invasion of the East, instead of consolidating the various Asiatic

nations into a great Hellenic State, in which the immense resources of the Persian Empire were turned to proper account, resulted merely in bitter discord and

CHAPTER

IV

THE ESTABLISHMENT OP BACTRIAN INDEPENDENCE

the death of Alexander, the huge edifice which the master-mind had built up melted away almost as quickly as it had sprung up into being. Alexander had done all that forethought and policy could suggest

The Macedonian troops, who had marched across half a continent to accomplish what had been, perhaps, the greatest project which
further disintegration.

On

human enterprise has ever conceived, were now, as a reward for their labours, set at one another's throats,
and the mild, if ineffective, government of the AchsBmenids was exchanged for something infinitely worse-^the tyranny of a foreign military autocracy, who turned the country which they had conquered into a battle-field of rival factions.
After the death of Perdiccas, a second and

to consolidate his conquest

on his march to the East, the schemes he had set in before removed was but he motion had time to mature. His officers had learned only too well the lessons which Alexander the general

more

successful attempt at a settlement

somewhat was made in

had

Alexander the apostle of Hellenism, the founder of a cosmopolitan world-empire, they utterly failed to comprehend.^
to teach
;

821 B.C. at the conference of Triparadisus. From this time two great personalities emerge from the confused tangle of

contending forces

Seleucus

and

At

first

Perdiccas, by virtue of his personal ascen-

Antigonus.

Seleucus,

now

satrap of Babylon, was

k\.

dancy, established a temporary modus vivendi, with himself as regent; he lacked, however, the magic personality of his great predecessor, and in a short time the mutual rivalry of the generals plunged Asia into war, Perdiccas himself finding his death on the

obliged by motives of policy to side with his rival in

the struggle against Eumenes, but Antigonus saw in a confederate so indispensable a more than probable rival,

banks

of the Nile at the of the

One

hands of his own troopers. most distressing of the effects of Alex-

1 *' It was the fond dream of each *sucoe8or' of Alexander that in his person might, perhaps, be one day united all the ** (Rawlinson, Sixth Oriental territories of the great conqueror

Mona/rch/yt chap,

iii.)*

and Seleucus only anticipated the fate of Eumenes and Pithon by a providential escape into Egypt with a handful of horse. In 312 b.c, however, we find him back in Babylon, casting about for means to establish an empire whose resources would enable him to meet his great rival in the West. Whither could he better turn than to the East? The clash of arms which reverberated through these unquiet years from end to
1

60

if

52 end
of Asia

BACTKIA
sentence.^

BACTEIAN INDEPENDENCE

58

Minor only awoke distant echoes in the East of the Cophen, Macedonian who influence was steadily on the decline, the generals had conquered the East being far too busy with the task of destroying one another to keep an eye on the government of the lands which had cost them so much
far eastern frontier.

blood and labour to acquire. Pithon, the ruler of Sind, had been compelled to vacate his command by 820 B.C. Eudamus, in command of the garrison at

But when once more the glint of Macedonian pikes was descried on the winding road descending the Kabul Pass, India was ready to meet her invaders on more equal terms. Chandragupta,* the first of the Mauryas, had seized the throne of Magadha, expelling the last of the Nandas, whose weak and unpopular rule had left their kingdom an
easy prey to this bold usurper.
ander, and had learnt

Alexandria-on-Indus, went

murdering his native colleague and collecting all the plunder he could i), with a body of troops, to participate in lay hands on the scramble for power, in 317 b.o., probably only

home

(after

Chandragupta had studied in the school of Alexmuch from the great general
he worshipped as a hero
of semi-divine powers.

whom

What happened

in the encounter

we do not know.

anticipating expulsion by voluntary evacuation.^

Probably Seleucus recognized the futility of a struggle when he found his opponents in such unexpected
strength",* particularly in

-4-

Cophen, Stasanor continued to govern and Oxyartes the province which lies in the triangle between the Indus and Cophen and the Parapamisus range. The kinsman of Darius even appears war with to have sent help to the confederates in the unmolested. remain to allowed Antigonus, but was Perhaps, on the receipt of the news of the tragic end of his daughter and grandson, he changed sides, or withdrew from the contest his influence, in any case, was In 30d b.o. the peace of of no weight on either side. Seleucus entered Bactria was once more disturbed. We may allegiance. its demanded the country and prolonged without any given was it that imagine

West

of the

view of his coming in conflict

satisfactorily

Bactria,

with Antigonus.
to both
;

Terms were concluded

and while Seleucus returned with his forces jjonsiderably augmented by Indian elephants and, no doubt, subsidies irom Bactria^ Chandragupta jwas^^ allowed to_exteQd_ his domains uj Jo^he_edg oi tba.
1

" Principio Babylona cepit

inde, auctis ex victoria viribus,

Bactrianos expugnavit " (Justin, with a vengeance.

XV.

4).

This

is

condensation

Sandracottus.

"Populum quem ab
30,000
cavalry,

externa dominatione

vindicaverat, ipse servitio premebat."

*

(Justin, loc, cit),

600,000

infantry,

and 9,000 elephants

p. 117,

(V. A. Smith,

Early History of India,

second edition).

resistance, as Justin passes over the fact in a single

*

Diodorus, XIX. ** India ,

. . .

4.
. .

post

mortem

Alexandri, veluti cervicibus

jugo servitutis excusso, prsefectos eius occiderat. tatis Sandracottus fuerat " (Justin, XV. 4).

Auotor

liber-

But it is unwarranted to talk of Seleucus as ''defeated" or "humbled," as Smith does. Our authorities imply nothing of Seleucus gave up lands over the kind. It was a compromise which he had never been able to exercise a de facto sovereignty The actual terms are disin return for a lucrative alliance. For the pros and cons, see Smith, Appendix G, p. 182, puted.
:

of his

History of India,

54
Parapamisus,

BACTKIA
probably
including in
his
territory
I'n

BACTKIAN INDEPENDENCE
fifty

55

pQWflr with

years* ahnost eBtino -peaee

Arachosia and part of Gedrosia. They ajiuler engaged in a life and death straggle 2^000 milea..

were useless to

and Justin's mention of the " thousand cities " ruled over by the prefect of Bactria conveys a general notion
of

asay^^and, -unlike Bactria, were not valuable ior-^gpplying subsidies of men or money to any esteni. wAt Ipsus (301 B.C.) Antigonus fell, and Asia passed
into the

Bactria had furthermore,

jifter wards

The prefect of the prosperity of the country. it seems, acquired a certain

hands

of Seleucus.

For

fifty

years

we hear

overlordship over the satrap of the country which became famous as Parthia-^ This small
tract of land, comprising chiefly the Tej end watershed,

nothing of Bactria. The " rowdy " element, it will be remembered, had passed out of the land on the death of Alexander, to find their fate at the swords of Pithon's

was quite

insignificant ^

when compared with the

vast

6^

The remaining Greeks appeared to have intei^ parried with the Iranian populace, anS^to have settled fX-^Csfcv-~'<jgo\^n peacefully under the, rule of the Greek satrap^ /Even in religion a compromise appears to have been
iroops.
9ipfc
effected, the
I

tracts of Bactria and Sogdiana, but contained a breed of men antagonistic from every point of view to the province which claimed their homage they were non-

their

own Artemis
of

Greeks recognizing in Anahid of Bactria In 281 b.c. Seleucus or Venus.

jfell

'insensate struggle which ensued

an assassin, and in the endless and between Syria and Egypt, Bactria seized an obvious opportunity to ca^ off a yoke which had become little more than nomina^.
by the blow
Antiochus
II.

Aryan, accustomed to plunder their more civilized neighbours, and born fighting-men. Their satrap at the time appears to have been one Andragoras, who may have succeeded on the death of Stasanor. We cannot, perhaps, do better than to consider what Justin
freed Parthia
**

(our chief authority) has to say about the revolt which and Bactria from the Syrian Empire.
** the After the death of Antigonus," says Justin,^ Parthians were under the rule of Seleucus Nicator, and

(Theos) succeeded his father (of the

same name) in 260 b.c. He carried on the futile campaigns against his neighbours, and it was not long ere the inhabitants of Pr.thia and Bactria
recognized the folly of paying tribute to a distant

then under Antiochus and his successors, from whose great-grandson, Seleucus, they revolted, at the time of the first Punic war, in the consulship of Lucius
Manilius Vulso and Marcus Attilius Kegulus. For their revolt, the disputes between the brothers Antigonus and Seleucus gave them impunity ; for the two
from what Strabo says of Arsaces " According he was a Bactrian, who withdrew himself from the encroachments of Diodotus, and established Parthia as an
1

monarch who was incapable

obedience.

tJ^

-'
'

'
'

-^

of enforcing respect or TyiCir-'-O^ '^ ^'-'''

The, details of this great revolty which wrested from Syria the fairest jewel of her crown, and established

I infer this

to one account,

one

of the

most remarkable

of the

many

offshoots of

Hellenic colonial enterprise in the heart of Asia, are

independent State " (XI. 9, 3). ' kct' dpxas fiv ovv curOevris ^v (Strabo, XI.
'

9, 2).

hadqiormjMiflly

Justin,

XLI.

4, 5.

56
latter

BACTRIA
were so intent on ousting one another from the
at the

BAOTRIAN INDEPENDENCE
hands
of the Gauls,"
it is difficult

57

to determine.

throne that they neglected to chastise the revolters.

The " fraternal war " broke out on the death

of Antio-

AtJhmmL.penQd^jjl&o Theodotus^ governor ofJ^OOOcities JaBActria^Jcebelledr and took the kingly., title,

whereupon the other nations of the East, following his One Arsaces, a lead, fell away from Macedon too. man of uncertain origin but undoubted courage, arose He was accustomed to make his liveliat this period. and heard a report that Seleucus bandit, hood as a had been worsted by the Gauls in Asia. Feeling himself safe

chus Theos in 246 b.c, between Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax; but if this is the case, why mention the consuls for the year 250 b.c. ? Perhaps
Justin
is

confusing two separate accounts, and

:

we
"8.

may
V

reconstruct the story of the revolt as follows

&x).

^*
'

O
r

In 250

DiodotuB iS>lted (whil^Antiochus Theus

c -

from interference, Arsaces invaded Parthia

with a band of brigands, defeated and killed Andragoras, the governor, and took the reins of Government
into his

own hands."
is

This

by

far the fullest account of the revolution

it is

which we possess, and

Justin's

more than usually full of First of all, what does usual inaccuracies.

Justin consider the date of the revolt to have been ? He mentions " the Consulship of L. Manilius Vulso

This was the year 256 b.o. Attilius is a mistake Marcus that however, Supposing, for Caius Attilius, who was consul with Lucius Manilius

and M.

Attilius Regulus."

Vulso in 250
revolt,^

B.C.,

the latter date would be that of the

agrees with the opinion of later
place the revolt in "the eleventh

was busy with his Egyptian war), and Aiidragoras..afir^^ ^^Kj^^^-^yHM The revolutions were practi- '^^^-'"^J-Mx:^, his vassal followed suit. cally simultaneous,^ but Bactria set the example But ^^<L^^,x^ ^ the native Parthians cordially hated their rivals and *'-- f^^ '^^^Ct. masters on racial and other grounds, and in the years between 246 b.c. and 240 b.o. (the reference to the r^f o ^ c " reverse at the hands of the Gauls must refer ^olyi^.0^ n T^^^^-^ rumours about the battle of Ancyra in 240 b.c), a patriotic Parthian, who had taken upon himself the 1 J-"^a-j^^^ royal title of Arsaces,^ returned from exile among the Parnian Dahee, of the same race as himself^ in ^^^^(\^xaM.^ Ochus Valley, whence he had been carrying on a border war since his banishment and slew Andragoras> He _^ then proceeded to set up a purely native state, strongly /^CC<^_ anti-ttellemc/ in which all traces of Alexander's
.

'*

'

and

this

influence were effaced.

^
**

This, however, is at best a

" (Justin,

authorities,^

who

Eodem

tempore, Theodotus
/xcv Trjv

XLI. 4). Strabo

year of Antiochus H." on to refer to the ** fraternal war " between Seleucus
Justin

What
**

means by going

says: irparov
. . .

BaKrpidvrjv d7r<mj<rav oi TrcTriorcv/itvot,

and Antiochus, or
^

to the

report of a reverse suffered

iriTa 'ApaaKTjs nrj\$V Koi eKpoTTjcrev avrrjs* Arsa-kes (c/. the Scythian Maua-kes) was a title, not a name, as Justin remarks (XLI. 6). So Surenas (commander) was often mistaken for a proper name. Cf. Tac, Ann., VI. 42.
2

I follow, with
J

some

reservations, Rawlinson's Sixth Oriental

Strabo,

IX.

9, 2.

Monarchy
^

p. 44, note. II., p.

The

title

" Phil-Hellen "

* Justin, XLI. 6. assumed by the later Parthian

'*

Eusebius, Chronicle^
1 fin.

82

Moses

of Chorene,

History

of Armema^ IL

kings is merely an attempt to repel the taunt of *' barbarism leveUed at the race by its more cultured neighbours.

'r

58

BACTRIA
and takes no account was agamst

BACTEIAN INDEPENDENCE
his death),

59

conjectural version of the story,

and coins would scarcely have the same

of

of the assertion of Arrian,^ that the revolt

opportunity of passing into general circulation as

Pherecles, satrap of Antiochus Theus.

they would in the long reign

PftTi ^rian
if

his

son.^

The
-

however, that Diodotus revolted in the reign of Antiochus Theus, and this theory finds some support in the coins of Bactria which have been handed down to us. In Professor
It

seems

fairly clear,

ftiP" Q^y^^^> pftHi ft ii^rly^nA

if>f

aB4kitofeating
thft 4iesL

^^^

tho*^

^r^^ r>i'n(^nfi

^^

amoDg-

The
I*

cognizance of the Diodoti, before and after the revolt, appears to have been the figure of " Zeus thundering."

find figured one series

Gardner's Coins of the SeletLcid Kings of Syria ^ we which bears the inscription of

Von

Sallet puts
*

down

to Bactria, before the revolt,

11.

the silver coins

bearing the bust of Antiochus

on

Antiochus

11. ,

but a portrait which

is

certainly that

of Diodotus, as figured in his coins.

Did Diodotus,
**

the reverse, and on the obverse Zeus, striding to the These may belong to the left and hurling a bolt.
period of Diodotus
portrait of
of his son.

as Professor Gardner thinks, issue these coins, as a

first tentative step towards open plant his master in the eyes of the people " ?

rebellion,

to supIt

as bearing the types and

may

and the coins mentioned above names of Antiochus and the Diodotus may have been the earliest issue
I.,

Hi

and we may conjecture that he did not venture into open revolt until he found this first advance unreproved by the Syrian monarch.* Other authorities, relying on the fact that the face of the coins is that of a young man, consider the whole series to belong to the younger Diodotus, and that the father issued no coins in his own name at all."* In support of this theory, it must be remembered that Diodotus I. appears to have died in 245 b.o. (if we date the change in policy towards Parthia from
well be so,

Other fine coins of Diodotus (father or is always the same, and is that of a young man, clean shaven, with a severe but purely Hellenic type of feature) are the gold one pictured by Professor Rapson,^ and the silver ones figured by
son

the

face

Gardner in his catalogue.* All bear the image of the " Thundering Zeus," striding to the left and hurling his bolt, on the reverse. One bronze coin only bears
* In dealing with Euthydemus, we shall observe that he claims "to have destroyed the children of those who first This surely impUes that Strabo beheved in the rebelled." existence of ttoo rulers of the name of Diodotus, the second of the two being the one whom Euthydemus murdered. Justin is " Tiridates, morte Theodoti metn quite clear on this point
:

Fragment I. Arrian makes out that it was a private The satrap grossly insulted Tiridates, whereupon his brother murdered him and raised a rebellion.
^

quarrel.
a

Plate V.,

7.

For discussion of the whole question of dates in connection with the two revolts, see Rawlinson, Sixth Oriental Monarchy, Bevan, House of Seleuctta, i., p. 286 and V. A. chap. iii.
*
;

liberatus,

Smith, History of India, p. 196. ^ y. A. Smith, Catalogue of Coins in Calcutta Introduction and Notes, pp. 6, 7.

Museum^

eiuset ipso Theodotofoedus ac pacem fecit.** I.M., 7616 and 9304. * In his article on Greek and Scythian coins contributed to the Qrundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie. * Gardner, Catalogue of Oreeh and Scythic Kings, etc.

cum

filio

Plate

I.,

Nos. 4 to

8.

60

BACTRIA
of

BACTEIAN INDEPENDENCE
and the strongest
fear, for it is
cities

61

a figure of Arfcemis with torch and hound, and on the obverse a head which may be that of Zeus.^
(

foe to Arsaces, even

from motives

Jt

Mi

has been already remarked that there wa&oia^ bst between the Bactrians and their fellow-

thousand

not likely that the "prefect of a " would fear a discredited and harassed

Bvolters, the Parthians. S2ye

The Parthians, who imme-

monarch like Seleucus. It is more likely that the treaty was concluded, as Justin says, by the second
Diodotus, just before the advance of Seleucus to subdue the invader of Hyrcania, whose challenge could

iately followed the lead of their powerful neighbours,

some years afterwards, probably, as we have seen, not till after the accession of Seleucus Callinicus; and, apparently, Arsaces dreaded Bactria a good deal more than Syria.

did not win complete freedom for

hardly be overlooked.

We may

conclude, then, that

The year 247

of Syria

b.c.

witnessed the meteoric invasion

^iojjQtng..IIr succeeded hig father some time between the acquisition of Hyrcania by Parthia and the invasion of Seleucus. Common consent has fixed the

f.

y
I

to the very borders of Bactria, without, however, entering the newly-constructed kingdom, as far as we can judge. The expedition stopped short at this point, owing to domestic sedition, and the invasion of

by Ptolemy Euergetes, who penetrated

date at about 245 jujCL Diodotus reigned iill 230 bx., and probably lived to regret the unnatural alliance he formed in his early youth, for Tiridates, thanks to his complaisance, won a complete and unexpected victory over the " ever- victorious " Seleucid, and launched

Ptolemy was only one more incident of the cruel and useless war that was draining the life-blood of Western
..Tindatesjox Arsaces. n., for Tl-^J.4jju great founder of JP arthia> had falUn in battle) now proceeded to annex Hyrcania, and shortly after took t^e surpriaing step of coming to terms with Bactria. This effectually disposes of the theory that Diodotus 11.
^^^^'

Parthia on

its

great career as the rival, not only of

Bactria or Syria, but

Kome

itself.^

Diodotus

fell

the victim of a court conspiracy, at

the hands of one Euthydemus, a Magnesian, who appears to have taken effectual means to prevent any
of the rival family

throne.

It is possible that

from disputing his right to the the murder was caused

only exists in the pages of Trogus and Justin.^ The have been made in the reign of the first Diodotus, the determined opponent of Parthia,
alliance could never
Gardner, Catalogue of Greek a/nd Scythic Kingsy etc., Plate I., 9. Diodotus assumes the title Swnyp, referring (if the title has any definite meaning) to the part played by Bactria
*

by discontent at the tame policy of Diodotus, who appears to have done little for Bactria in comparison with his successors, and certainly committed a fatal
error of policy in his alliance with Parthia.

Diodotus

in protecting the eastern flank of the Hellenic world from the barbarians. This was always acknowledged to be the chief function of Bactria.
'

have fallen some years before Antiochus HI. appeared on the throne of Syria, which was as well for the sake of Bactrian freedom. His death probably
appears to
1

Date uncertain.
says 287 b.o.

Rawlinson {Sixth Oriental Mona/rohy,

Introduction to Gardner's Catalogue,

p. 48)

But

is this

not too late ?

62
took place about 230

BACTBIA
b.o., after

BACTRIAN INDEPENDENCE
which a great change
;

68

AUTHORITIES.
Smith (Early Strabo, XI. 9, 8 Justin, XLL 4, 6, etc. ; V. History of Indm\ E. R. Bevan (House of Seleucus, vol. i.) Some useful remarks will be give accounts of the rebellion. found in Rawlinson's Sixth Oriental Monarchy, chap. iii. For coins, see Gardner's Catalogue of the Coins of Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria a/nd India in the British Museum,
Valuable articles by Ed. Meyer (.v. Diodotus, Bactria, etc.) will be found in the Encycloj^adia Britwnnica, eleventh edition.

I
A

takes place in Bactrian policy,

marked by a correspond-

ing cessation of activity by the Parthians.

^0 ended the dynasty which founded Bactria ad

free

state.

monarchs^ were glad

the
1-V'

In themselves not remarkable, later to claim kinship with the

earliest kings of Bactria,

title of
*'

and even

to give Diodotus I.

Divine."

Additional Note to Chaptbb IV.

Antimachus "Thbos": This mysterioua king, whose title would lead us to suppose him to be a personage of some importance, is only known to us from coins historians have overlooked him. He appears to have been a son, or close relation of, Diodotus II., as his coins bear on the obverse that king's head, and on the reverse the naked Zeus hurling the bolt. V. A. Smith (Catalogue of Covm in Calcutta Museum^ p. 10) thinks '^he succeeded Diodotus II. in Kabul" But surely Kabul was at this time in the hands of the Mauryas.^ He appears to have been a member of the royal house, who, on the murder of Diodotus II., proclaimed himself as the rightful heir. The inscription on the coins BA21AEY0NT02 ANTIMAXOY GEOYis that of a man who wished to emphasize his ' divine right " to the throne, and after a brief reign as the head of "the legitimist faction," was quietly crushed by Euthydemus.
;

^1

* Agathocles. See his corns in Gardner (Plate IV., and Introduction, pp. xxviii, xxix). * See, however, V. A. Smith, Ewrly History of India, p. 194, and Eapson, Coims of the Andh/raa^ Introduction, p. xcviii.

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER

the weak and vacillating policy of Diodotus
ticularly towards Bactria's national
rival, Parthia,

66
par-

and well-hated

his murder,

was to a large degree responsible for which could hardly have taken place
^'i

without the connivance of at least the great Iranian

nobles.

Euthydemus had some years

of

unaventful pros-,

CHAPTEE V
BACTBIA AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWBB
It must have been about the year 230 b*c. that Euthydemus, the Magnesianuoaurdered Diodotus and usurped his thr<me. Who Euthydemus was is quite unknown but no ai\xxbt a kingdom with the romantic history of Bactria appealed to the Greek imagination,
;

perity in

which to consolidate the empire he had seized before he was challenged to vindicate his right by the ordeal of war. Jn 223 B.C. Antioohus IIL,

*i
^

"^

second son of Seleucus Callinicus, succeeded to ^e throne of Syria. Antiochus has some right to the title of " The Great," which he assumed. He is one
of the

'^^-XZ>^-'
.

few Syrian monarchs for

whom we

can

feel
l^V

ii

fortune" ready to make a bid for success in the new world which had just been thrown open to them. The treachery of Euthydemus was palliated, if not

and attracted many

*^

soldiers of

combining as he did the personal valour which had become a tradition among the
real respect,

any

W t'

successors of Alexander's generals with a military ['1 *-^*-^^.

talent

and a reluctance to waste the resources of his kingdom in interminable petty campaigns, which is
It

justified,

by

its

success.

Under him and

his successors

only too rare in his predecessors.

'Vv-

Bactria not only magnificently vindicated her rights, to an independent existence, but launched upon a career of*eonquest and expansion which paralyzed her
1 i

was only in reply

to a direct challenge
all in

Parthia that Antiochus interfered at

from what was

Arta-

taking place in the east of his dominions.

rivals,

and was destined to spread Hellenic influence more surely and permanently than had been done by the great Macedonian himself. So remarkable is the career of Euthydemus, that later historians forget the existence of Diodotus. "The house of Euthydemus," says Strabo, **wa8 the
Bactrian independence.'*
*

first

to establish

It is possible, indeed, that

before

He

is

this Bactria

thinking of the succesBful repnlse of Antiochns was only a kingdom * on sufferance."

banus I. (who succeeded Tiridates I. about 214 b.c), pursuing the policy of aggression which under his predecessors had succeeded so admirably, took advantage of the rebellion of a satrap named Achaeus to advance and occupy Media. This was open defiance, and Antiochus could not ignore it if he would. An arduous campaign followed. Antiochus did not make the mistake of underrating his foe, and Justin even puts his forces at 100,000 infantry and 20,000

64

66
cavalry.i

BACTEIA

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEE

of Artabanus, if indeed

67

fell back However, the Parthians merely faBtnesBes mountain their into farther and farther Artabanus found and at length the dogged courage o!

itB

an alhance ^AntiochuB even condescended Media was lesser though with his gallant antagonist,^ was Artaban^ Syria. [PfiXhaps, however, it
to form

own reward. , . i,* . had fought bo The independenceJor-wMch Parthia recognized, and weirTnd so persistenay was at last
.

are right in supposing the influenced in his action been Syrian monarch to have incurred the enmity of had Bactria by his new ally. the last monarch the of reign the in Seleucids the weak and short-sighted policy of Diodotus II. had

we

restored to

if!'-'
I

'H

of the rww. who suggested to Antiochua the invasion lent him have even State of Bactria. and he may have may He troops or promised co-operation. becommg fast was what pointed out to Antiochus peaceful rule of apparent, that Bactria, under the

enabled Parthia to establish her independence, as we have seen, unmolested and, above all, the Syrian Empire, rich though it was, had been almost exhausted by years of suicidal war and misgovernment, and could ill afford the loss of the most fertile of her
;

"I

provinces,
called.

"the glory of Iran,"^ as it was popularly To regain the allegiance of Bactria was a

natural ambition.

resources, and Euthydemus, with its great natural Greek to direct its the advantage of an enterprising menace to Parthia and fortunes, was fast becoming a be a triumph of would Syria alike. Besides, it the forces of so divert could diplomacy if Parthia cherished nvaL her against dreaded a neighbour war might veer, Whichever way the fortunes of If Antiochus were Parthia must be the gainer.
successful, the fidelity

in

The_expeditipn jigainst Bactria must have started "Se year 209 b^cl^ perhaps in the early spring;. Antiochus chose to attack the country by approaching
in

(romJha south and striking at, the capital. The campaign has been described by Polybius ^

the concise vivid style which gives the reader so ready an impression of military operations. Unfortunately, the chapter
is

an

isolated fragment only,

and breaks

and assistance

of

Artabanus

which the off afte> a description of the battle with subsethe of account all leaving campaign opened,
quent operations a blank. Of the invasion, however, the ravages of time have spared us a minute account. Antiochus marched along the southern borders of the
Arius, the river which rises in the Hindu-Kush, and loses itself, like so many rivers in that region, in the
shifting sands

might be rewarded by

the least, Bactrian aggression were On the other hand, if the Syrian forces ever. would no doubt soon reign once
defeated, anarchy
find her oppormore in Syria, and Parthia would agam. Antiochus tunity for further expansion once

the control of Bactria, and, at would be checked for

had an excuse
1

at

hand

for yielding to the

,

arguments
.

Tejend Oasis.
1
2

and fertile patches just beyond the The invader had of necessity to choose
Strabo, Oeog., XI. 11,
1.

ISA

Justin.

Ibid., "

XVI. 5. Postremum

in societatem ejus admissus.

..

Polybius, XI. 84, and X. 49.

m
68
his route in a

ji

BACTRIA
march upon
Bactria.
i!

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER

he wished to
back on his almost impregnable
details of the siege
capital.
it

69
the

Of

of the Bactrian wastes. avoid the hardships and perils intended to He learnt that the ford ^ by which he force by was held cross into the enemy's territory to force attempt and to the famous Bactrian cavalry, disaster. court to was the face of these

we know

nothing, but

may

be ^
i

that

it is

he says that

to this blockade that Polybius refers when the ** siege of Bactria " was one of the

a passage in Knowing, however, that

to

poet great sieges of history, and a common-place for ** City and rhetorician. Time wore on, and still the
of the

was a Bactrian custom at night, leavmg a thm army main withdraw their
it

Horse " held

out.

long absence from

home

screen of pickets to

the positions occupied, bid for success. Antiochus determined on a bold swiftly and advanced Leaving his infantry behind, he

hold

was unsafe for Antiochus, for the Syrian Empire might at any moment break out into one of those the incessant rebellions which were the bane of

and attacked, suddenly with a picked body he carried that unexpectedly, probably at dawn, so
of cavalry,

I!

driving the pickets the passage almost unopposed, fierce encounter now A body. main the back upon horsemen of Iran and took place between the picked characteristic Antiochus, with the recklessness
Syria.

Both sides, perhaps, were not Seleucid Empire. unready for a compromise, and this was brought about by the good offices of a certain Teleas, a fellowcountryman of Euthydemus, and hence especially
the task. On behalf of the Bactrian out that it was illogical to cast pointed prince, he accruing from the policy of blame the him upon Diodotus II. in forming an alliance with Parthia. In
suitable
for
fact,

and his generals, led of the successors of Alexander combat, in which hand-to-hand the charge, and after a several sabre-cut in the mouth and lost
he received a
teeth,

Euthydemus was the enemy

of Diodotus,

and

had merited the gratitude of Antiochus in destroying

he had the

completely.

enemy up came now The main Syrian army

satisfaction of routing the
river.

^ A still the " children of those who first rebelled:' king. the convince to sufficed argument more cogent

and crossed the

Euthydemus appears not to but to have fallen engagement, have risked a general
Tayovpiav. Von GutBchmid Close to a city caUed by Polybius a Uttle to the west of was ford The emends to TA Tavpiava.
1

The S6ythian hordes were on the move, and threatening the borders of the Jaxartes like a storm-cloud. and Bactria was the outpost of Hellenic civilization, Syrian the of its integrity depended the safety

on

f.

the town.
2

The reason was that the habit. It was also a Parthian aU mounted, and a ahnost were troops Bactrian Parthian and force would cause horrible sudden night attack upon a mounted withdrew to a safe distance from confusion. Hence they always force, for similar reasons, Parthian A night. at the enemy never marched or attacked at night.

1
xi.
j.

i.i,

Von Gutschmid

takes this for granted.

This

is

scarcely

justifiable.
I.e., Diodotus, and probably others of the family likely to (see appendix be in the way. Perhaps "Antima<jhus Theos" These words seem to to preceding chapter) was one of them. were two be very strongly in favour of the view that there Diodotus. of kings of the name

.-.t-^.-fr'-l. r/<tV^-i'> "^

'

^^^^.-nji**^

Mil

70
empire
I

BACTRIA
;

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER

gallant prince

71
n I
ri

and Euthydemus

pointed out that to weaken

who had caught the

attention of the

'

Bactria would be a fatal step for the cause of Hellas. ^ '* Greece would admittedly lapse into barbarism." This is the first mention we have of the aggressive

on behalf of ^fiacidiffiilst conducting negotiations

Euthydemus may his father in the Syrian camp. of recovermg propriety the Antiochus have urged on
of Paropathat old appanage of Bactria, the satrapy of Kabul kingdom the of value strategic The misus. by recognized question; it had been

beyond the Jaxartes ^ but the problem was evidently not a new one to Euthydemus
attitude of the tribes
;

or to Antiochus.

The Seleucid monarch came

was

to the

was beyond
Alexander,

conclusion that

it

to his interest to preserve the

who had

placed

it

in

the

hands

of

integrity of this great frontier state,

^ ^^

v^

the roads from India and the north. which peace was concluded must have caused intense chagrin to the Parthian allies of Antiochu3. An alliance, offensive and defensive,^ was concluded

which guarded The terms^ on

seen, probably Oxyartes, who, as we have already weakness or the by till, it continued to administer back to the passed it Nicator, Seleucus negligence of

Ibetween the royal houses of Bactria and Syria :^ this, /of course, included the recognition of the claim by Euthydemus to the royal title, which was perhaps

il
i

granted on

condition

that

he

should guard

the

probably hands of Chandragupta Maurya. It was prmoeIndian the this domain that Antiochus found the who reigning ling Sophagasenas or Subhagasena at conjectured was It latter was is quite uncertain. is a title of Subhagasena name one time that the had died in a son of the great Asoka, who
;

Jalauka,

Scythian frontier (for it was that the claim had been put forward) ; the alliance, moreover, was to be sealed by the betrothal of the young daughter*^ of Antiochus to Demetrius, ihe
chiefly
this
1

on

ground

231
of

B.O. ;^

but Jalauka himself

little

eK^ap^aptoOrja-ea-Bai rrfv

EWdda

Sfiokoyovpiivm,

Von Gut-

Bchmid makes a curious mistake here. Taking the passive voice, apparently, for a middle, he says, in his Encyclopaedia article, that Euthydemus ** threatened to call in the harhoHana a/nd
overrun the country 2 Vide Eawlinson, Sixth Oriental Monarchy, p. 58 note. For the whole 3 For terms, vide Polybius, XI. 34, 9-10. campaign (except the siege, of which we have been spared no account except the doubtful reference, Book XXIX.) I have followed Polybius. See also Bevan, House of Seleucua, II. 23 and Rawlinson, loc, cit. Date of the treaty, ? 208 B.C.
i !

Euthytradition." voluminous, stories of Kashmir mamly was expedition the whom demus, on behalf of terms the by obligation the under undertaken, was accomthe means for its of the treaty to provide time (the last for many third a For plishment. from the far west centuries) the tramp of armies defiles of the winding was heard down the long
historic

whom we know

a misty personality, besides the vague, though

is

Khyber.
to

But the expedition does not appear

which carried out with the thoroughness
>

have been

Euthydemus

First suggested

I by Lassen, Indiiche Alterthumslcim<U,

* avfifiaxia,

Was

she the mother

of

the

Laodic6 of

the coins

of

171 and 197, 198. Vide Smith, Early History of India, pp.

Eucratides?

See Appendix

II., p. 152.

.-.t:

-'* '

i;^..

72

BACTKIA
liked.
It

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER

covered, not only in Bactria

78

would have

ill

was little more than a demonSubhagasena appears to have stration in force. yielded very easily, and consented to the payment of a considerable indemnity and the surrender of Antiochus had already been overlong elephants. absent from Syria, and he hastened home by the Kandahar road, through Arachosia and Carmania.
Androsthenes of Cyzicus was the sum owing to the Syrian
left

behind to receive

coffers,

and

to follow

Hi ('

with

it later.

'ii

figures on several fine coins which he appears on them as a man recovered been have in the prime of life, with a heavy stern face.^ The wide area over which his coins are found points to a considerable extension of the Bactrian domains. An

Euthydemus

and Sogdiana,^ but in Paropamisus (which may have been put under the suzerainty of Bactria by Antiochus), Arachosia, Drangiana, Margiana, and Aria.* Euthydemus may well have looked back upon vindihis career with pride. By sheer ability he had violently cated his right to the crown he had so wrested away. The ablest of the Seleucids had come before he left, to punish hhn as a revolting vassal won that^ had valour, the Bactrian, by his dogged lord of' was He friendship. and respect monarch's
;

attempt was probably made in his life-time to annex those territories which had been ceded to Chandragupta by Seleucus Nicator, and with the break-up of
the
>

his son hadl la great, fertile, and important realm; /already shown promise as a warrior and statesman;] land the latter's wedding with a princess of thej proudest of the Hellenic families, whose royal ances- [ ( " Seleucus the Conqueror," second only \ tor, the great Alexander himself, claimed the God Apollo as his

to

father,^
'

Maurya kingdom on the death

of

Asoka

this

was

quite feasible.

Doubtless Demetrius took a prominent

part in leading his father's ^irmies, and he

may have

111

been associated with him in ruling in the now extensive dominions of Bactria, though it is probably a mistake to attribute the Indian expedition and the
foundation of Euthydemia to this reign.
course, unsafe to
coins,
^

was a guarantee of lasting peace and friendship with Syria. The hated Parthians were paralyzed Bactria for the time by then* rival's success, and must have been growing rich in her position at the confluence of the world's trade routes. Ever since
story, the day when, according to the oft-repeated " a and wine of supply a request Bindusara sent to and Chan-t contemporary, Syrian his from sophist"

It is, of

draw inferences too certainly from but the coins of Euthydemus have been dis-

dragupta sent presents of drugs to his father-ia-i

1

Does

this indicate that the Sacse

were kept well in hand in

this reign ?
? Circa 206 b.o. See the iUustration, Gardner, Plate II. 8 On the obverse we find either a horse (appropriate in the case of the Bactrian Zari-aspa, the * City of the Horse ") or the
2

figure of Hercules,

a ' Apollodorus of Artemita says the Greeks (of Bactria) conreign or quered Ariana." If they did, it was probably in this the next {Oeog,, XI. xi. 1). Laodice said that Apollo was reaUy the father of her son. See Justin, XV. 4 q,v.

Ii*

Ik

74
law,^ the

BACTEIA
growth
of

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEK

e^tfol
reign of

76

luxury in the Greek world, and. Ibhe establishment of new cities of the type of Ale^u. Indianandria, must have created a great demand for binding ties close the of A further proof
is found in the fact that, twice at were in residence at the ambassadors Greek least, of [court of the Mauryas, Megasthenes at the court ^ Bindusara. of Vchandragupta, and Deimachus at that from caravans the \ Frequent as must have been EAbul to Bactria, others doubtless arrived from

Euthydemus came

to

an end,-wd
successor

goods. India and the West

in the kingdom passed to a worthy begun already had Demetrius Uemetrius.^ Whether at some his eastern conquests we do not know, but of her period of his reign Bactria reached the climax The ancient citadel of the Iranians was prosperity.

words of the capital of a mighty Empire, as the the occasioned who Strabo testify: "The Greeks
revolt

the then the distant Seres of the north-east, for

in novel commodity of silk was in great demand the luxurious towns of the new and cosmopolitan

Euthydemus and his family), owing to became the fertility and advantages of Bactria, These conquests masters of Ariana and India. were achieved partly by Menander and partly by They overran Demetrius, son of Euthydemus.
(i.e.,
. . . . .
.

Hellenic
IMI
iri T

The forum

tf

which Alexandria is so must have resembled that of Sagala in Menander's days, when traders of every and the creed and tongue crowded the bazaars, innumerable shops were loaded with the most
age,
of of Bactria

typical.

Saraostos not only Pattalene, but the kingdoms of of the remainder the constitute and Sigerdis, which
coast.2
. .
.

They extended

their empire as far as

heterogeneous articles muslin and silk, sweetstuffs, and silver, and spices, drugs, metal work in brass Euthydemus that wonder jewels of all kinds.^ Small Only one Bactria. of founder regarded as the
is

was the Seres and Phrynoi." Their object, obviously, similar a to reach the sea for trading purposes; China. object led them to secure the highroad into (vide Exxthjdemns of coins the The evidence of by Aria of occupation the to point to seems
ante)

that king.3

Conquests east of Kabul, on the other

prospect, storm-cloud marred the otherwise shining horizon. distant the on down low yet as was and that The barbarians beyond the Jaxartes were still moving
uneasily.^
1

of Antiochus 1 190 B.C. was also the year of the great defeat the already by the Romans. Perhaps this fresh disaster to Demetrius harassed Syrian power encouraged Euthydemus and

About . the
1, 9.

year-,
1.

190-

bx^ the- long-M^-iv.

Mtiller,

Frag, Hist. Grcec,

844,

and

421.

2 3

Iron Milinda-Panha, Sacred Boolcs of the East, XXXV. 3. in commerce item important an also was quaUty superior of a with the Seres. * If we are to believe the Chinese authorities, the first actual the reign of occupation of Sogdiana must have been as early as
Eucratides.

Strabo, II.

India. . ^ to use their opportunity for invading BafcrptW Qeog., XI. xi. 1 Arj^firpios 6 EvOvbrifibv vi6s rov Kariax^v aK\a Ka\ r^s /Sao-iXccos- ov fiovov be r^v naTT({kr)vfiv KaXovfiivriv Koi t^v Taaapi6(rrov (?) t t^v TrapoX/a? SKXrjs
:

Siyeprtdoff /Sao-iXfiav, etc.

"

Demetrius in Anarchosia. Vide Isidorus Characensis, 19, was this Frag, Oeorg. Grac. Mvn., vol. i., 1855. When that of his father? in or Demetrius, of reign the In town founded? simultaneously. Probably Aria and Anarchosia were subdued
3

Miiller,

MI
76

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEE

77

BACTKIA
It is

hand, appear from Strabo's words to have been the work of Demetrius, probably after his father's death, Strabo speaks very though this is not certain. vaguely of the extent of the dominions of Demetrius.

now held that it is not to be confused with the " Sangala " razed to the ground by Alexander and modern authorities identify it with either Shorkot,
;

By

Pattalene he appears to

mean

the kingdom of

which was first taken from Bind, On the west Musicanus by Alexander the Great. of the Indus, all the country from the Cophen to the mountains appears to have thus belonged to Bactria
the

country

the confluence near the modern Jhang, not far from Sialkot, further or Hydraotes, and Acesines of the the head waters north, near Lahore, and not far from Later on we shall see that of the Acesines.1 " born near Alexandria," " 200 leagues

Menonder was

east of the Indus, after the annexation of the kingdom of the Delta (Pattalene), it was not a great step
to proceed to subdue the neighbouring kingdom of Kathiawar or Surashtra (the Greek Saraostos). What
\\\'

point to from Sagala," and this would certainly " Alexandria " is the if Shorkot, than Sialkot rather and Indus" town at the "junction of the Acesines difficult mentioned by Arrian (Anah., VI. 5). It is permanent any that the Bactrians had
to

believe

it

is indicated by the "kingdom of Sigerdis appears to be impossible to determine. It may *' have been some minute ** kingdom (i.e., the domain

quite

borderland.* hold on the country up to the Chinese territory the all that is means Perhaps all that Strabo west of extreme the on emporium the great

up to Serikei.e.,
Bactrian
reasons,
of

Tashkurghan in

Sarikol,
for

of some petty raja) between Pattala and Surashtra. Besides these kingdoms on the coast, we have

influence,

and, perhaps

was under commercial

evidence to confirm the opinion that a considerable portion of the Panjab fell into the hands of Demetrius as well. It is usual to ascribe to him the
w

raids was protected by their troops from the marauders. Sakas and other nomadic

foundation of the town of Euthydemia, which he named after his father, according to a not uncommon Euthydemia became the capital of the practice.

the history of coins of Demetrius illustrate his father, Like manner. interesting his reign in an as his Hercules god the adopted have he seems to of coins the upon patron deity, and Hercules figures the as much very Demetrius,*

The

Euthydemus and

Bactrian kingdom east of the Indus, and under its Indian name, Sagala, grew to be a flourishing city The question of the of great wealth and magnitude.
identity of Sagala (or Sakala) is a matter of dispute.^
See McCrindle's says Ptolemy. learned note {Ancient India^ p. 87). He places it in the Pandya country, west of the Hydraotes, about sixty miles from Lahore.
1

the Diodoti, or thundering Zeus figures on those of antagonist Demetrius's of comage the Dioscuri on the These the pro-Syrian Eucratides.

and successor,
1

2dydKa

fj

Koi Ev^/;8ta,

There also appears to have been a town called Demetria in Sind (p. 168).

note. Smith, Ea/rly History of Indda, p. 68, Khotm, p. 72. Cities of Scmd-buried See Stein, wnd Scyth^wn 8 Vide Gardner, Catalogue of Covns of Greek vide note 17 ante. Ki/nga, etc., Plate II. 9 and III. 8

\\

ii

\ 78

BACTKIA

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER

influence of

79

eoins were doubtless issued for circulation in Bactria proper, like the famous and striking specimen which

great empire in India

some master mind had consolidated a but the bonds had always been
;

Gardner reproduces,^ on which a

clad as she
is

figure,

almost cer-

purely
of a

artificial, liable to

dissolution on the appearance

It

tainly to be identified as the Bactrian Anahid, appears,

weak

or incapable ruler.
of

had become apparent

little

described in the Zend-Avesta.

For use

in his

domains beyond the Paropamisus,

Demetrius issued a series of coins of a more suitable character, remarkable alike for their workmanship and as representing the earliest attempt at that

even the great on the death elements of introducing in succeeded had Mauryas cohesion into their vast and heterogeneous realms. The small satrapy appears to have been the natural political unit in India, as the city state was in Greece.

Asoka how

amalgamation which is one

series

of of

Greek technique and Indian form, the most striking features of the
Indo-Bactrian dynasties.^
as an Indian raja,

coinage of the

To

this

However, Demetrius did not arrive at a satisfactory solution of the problem of simultaneously governing two distant and diverse kingdoms. Perhaps his continued absence in India aroused the jealousy of the Grseco-Iranian kingdom in the north; it may be that the inhabitants of Bactria looked upon Sagala

we may

safely assign the silver coins

represent the

King

which wearing an

elephant helmet, and those bearing an elephant's head ; these coins are, it must be observed, purely

Greek in standard and pattern, and are probably earlier than the series of square coins, where an attempt at compromise between Greek and Indian

with jealous eyes, as a new and alien capital at any rate, the absence of Demetrius gave ample opportunity for a rival to establish himself securely in Bactria before the arrival of troops from the far
;

south to overthrow him.

methods first appears.^ his It seems probable that Demetrius divided greater for principalities minor into Indian possessions
'i

The

rival

who

did this was one Eucratides.

Who

convenience of government. A system of satrapies, or small feudal states, appears to have been the only form of administration found possible by the invaders
of India,

he was, or what may have been his motive, we can only infer from his coins in a somewhat conjectural
fashion;

whether Scythian, Parthian, or Greek. It was, indeed, the form of government most adapted to From time to time the the eastern temperament.
1

one thing, however, seems mor^-er less he was connected in som^' way to the In his sympathies, and royal house of Seleucus. probably by birth, he is distinctly closely bound up with the reigning dynasty in Syria. Justin implies that he seized the throne about the
plain, that

Catalogue, III.

1.

3 Illustrated

by E.

J.

* Ihid., II. 9 and III. 3. Rapson in the Gnmdriss, i. 10;

The inscription is still Greek, but a Gardner, XXX. 8. Notice the Kharoshthi inscription appears on the reverse. gradual de-Hellenization, well illustrated by the coinage.

time of the accession of Mithradates I. in Parthia We may supi.e., about 174 b.c, or a little earlier. pose that Demetrius was engaged in his Indian con-

80

BACTKIA

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEE

81

quests and the administrative and other prohlems they entailed, and either had no leisure to attend to

what was happening in Bactria, or did not feel himpowerful a self strong enough to march against so sufficiently was south the in power his until rival Meanwhile Eucratides was pursuing consolidated.
the a vigorous policy in the north, not always with in up springing success he deserved. Enemies were had Eucratides and Bactria, all directions to menace claimed.^ to vindicate his right to the throne he had I. Mithradates was rival formidable most and first The

was coming, and Eucratides went to meet it with great spirit. At one time the fortunes of war seemed to have definitely turned against him; by a final effort Demetrius, with the huge force of 60,000 men, caught and besieged his rival, whose army by some means had sunk to only 300 men. By a marvellous

ii

combination

of

skill

and

good

fortune,
(if

Eucratides cut his

way out

after a siege,

which

we are

to believe the only authority

upon the

inci-

dent)^ lasted five months, and this proved to be the

Mithradates

appears

to

have succeeded with the

special mission of counteracting Bactrian influence, him for Phraates, his brother, had left the throne to

in preference to his

numerous sons, as the ablest likely to continue the great most successor, and one dominion in the east, Parthian extending mission of the progress of which had been thwarted since 206 her rival B.O., when Antiochus the Great had raised The continual to the position of ally and equal. threats of aggression from the Parthians, the everincreasing pressure on the frontier, which caused
various wars (perhaps not of great magnitude, but harassing, as a foretaste of what was to come) on the

Soon after the Indian fell into the hands of Demetrius dominions of Eucratides, and the once powerful Demetrius either perished or was deposed about the year 160 b.c If, as is just possible, Eucratides was really the
turning-point in the war.

grandson

of his royal opponent,^ the great disparity

between their ages would account for the ease with which that once doughty leader allowed himself to be defeated by a handful of desperate men, whom

Sogdian frontier, and a campaign against whom we are not informed in Drangiana, made the life The struggle of Eucratides anything but peaceful. moreover, dispossessed, had he with the monarch

he had conquered with a vastly superior force; it would also save the historian from the necessity of condemning Justin's whole account of these incidents as exaggerated and inaccurate always a pre-eminently unscientific proceeding in the case of an unconThe victory over Demetrius troverted statement.

is
^

probably commemorated in the fine coins reproJustin (XLI. 6)

tells

the story

"

losses (in frontier wars), Eucratides,

trius,

Though much reduced by when besieged by Deme-

Perhaps Demetrius had left Eucratides in charge of Bactria Someone must have been so left ; and this would as Eegent. account for the latter's accumulation of power, his command
1

in frontier wars, etc.

King of India, with a garrison of 300 men only, kept at bay a blockading force of 60,000 of the enemy by continual sorties. Finally, after a five months' siege, he escaped." ^ See Appendix II., p. 153. 6

82

BACTRIA
represent,
in

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEE

83

duced by Gardner,^ which

'

a most brethren," with twin great "the fashion, spirited waving the palms of their lances at the charge, These were evidently struck for use victory. the HinduBactria for use in the provinces beyond where coins,^ of series a Kush very probably he struck

Greek MEFAAOT BASIAEHS) in his Indian domains; in Bactria, however, he appears as the leader of the Greek, as opposed to the Iranian section of the populace. By birth and leanings it seems evident that Eucratides was thoroughly Greek. His
coins betray his pride of birth
;

the distinctive figure

is

'

art is illustrated in the blending of Greek and Indian Nike, holdmg goddess the bearing a curious manner, inscription on Pali a and obverse, the on a wreath

on nearly

all his

Bactrian issues
;

a representation

The corns are the reverse, in Kharoshthi^ characters. instance another bronze and square, this being cu:cular Greek the replaces which the Indian shape

coin.
It
is

extremely interesting to notice the

manner

adapts itself to in which the Greek temperament Eucratides gives himself the changed conditions. he translates by the title of ** Maharaja"* (which
1

^*ii

origm, in the script, probably of Aramaic north-west frontier Parouse during our period on the west and here it spread, with pamisus, Kapisa, and the Panjab. From by the Karosthi shown is as Khotan. the Buddhist reUgion, to Brahmi, MSS brought from that country by Sir Aurel Stein. one of the Devanagri, used, original the is hand, other the on As vernaculars. Prakrit modern the all in form or another, western border, only most Bactrian coins were minted on the Agathocles) bear Brahmi a few (issued by Pantaleon and one of the greatest of the Bactrian
3

a Ibid.,

Vide Catalogue, Plate V. Plate VI. 6 and 7.

6-9.

...

KharoshtU was

mounted they were the patron saints of the Seleucids, and under the rule of the ** son of Laodice," took the same place on his coinage as Zeus, the thunder-god, did on the coins of the Diodoti. One of the most striking features of Bactria is the utter predominance of everything Greek in its history. The coins are essentially Greek, the rulers are certainly so. The Iranian population never seems to have had any voice at all in the government, though we must remember that Greek was the language of commerce and civilization in Western Asia, and we are apt to be easily misled by the fact that Greek names, coinage, and language were excluIn Parthia, for instance, we know that sively used. national feeling was utterly anti-Hellenic, and yet
of the Dioscuri,

Greek appears to have been the language generally used for commercial and public purposes. Perhaps it was his partiality for Greek customs and his pride in his Seleucid blood that brought about the downfall
of Eucratides.
i!

inscriptions.

Demetrius, practice of stnkmg comers, was the first to adopt the significant bilingual coins. the * equivalent to Chhatrapa (satrap), merely,
rulers, the latter,

Baja seems Bactrio-Indian petty one being used by the native Indian or

To render BA2IAEY2 "Maharaja"

1
It

apparently, by the feudatories of Parthia. The MEPAS is required.

some of the coins is an attempt at a ** literal Chhatrapa was a title probably translation of "Maharaja." introduced into India from the Parthians. Some critics have (wrongly, I think) seen in this word traces of Persian influence on Indian political development (see Chapter VIII.). ararpanijs Tav a-arpdirav first appears on the coins of Mithradates I.
of

BA2IAEY2

'

'

34

BACTKIA
is

AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWEE

86

Justin tells us, he While returning from India, son, who had shared the was murdered by his own who, far from concealmg the throne with him, and had killed " not a parent murder, declared that he brutally drove his chariot and but a public enemy," blood, and ordered his monarch's through the dead Thus {circa 156 b.c). body to be cast out unburied many the of remarkable perished one of the most monarchs of the Bactrian obscure, though great, really his by Gardner figured Empire. A splendid coin, good idea of very a form to us catalogue,^ enables proud, determmed man, the appearance of the king-a diademed with crest, and the

supposed by them to have headed a native reaction, fomented either by his father's Hellenizing tendencies, or by his inactive policy against Mithridates. Mithradates, we know, took the satrapies of " Aspionus and **^ from Eucratides, and it is possible that this Turiva

monarch.

caused dissatisfaction at the policy of the Bactrian There is, however, some reason to suppose
that the parricide's

name was Apollodotus,^ who may supposed patriotic character of his by the have deed to assume the titles of SUTHP, NIKH^OPOS, and MEPAS,* which we find on his coins. It is supposed that Heliocles avenged his father's murder
been led

wearing the KausiaJ' bull's horn at the side.

On

the reverse, significantly,

charging with long lances are figured the Dioscuri, The delineation victory. of and waving the palms traditions of highest the of of the steeds is worthy of * the Great appears on the

and secured the throne, probably putting his brother to death; some have thought that this is indicated by the title " AIKAIOS," which appears on his corns.
It is probable,
is of

however, that the

title of

the " Just

Buddhist

origin, but this point

may

be more

Greek Art.

The

title

'

appropriately discussed later on.

coin,

BASIAEI12 MEFAAOT ETKPATIAOT.a The deprived his name of the parricide who thus foully Some recorded. not is father of his life and throne who Heliocles,^ with him have identified
authorities
1

Apollodotus seems to have enjoyed a very brief reign, and Heliocles probably succeeded in 156 B.C.

With him the rule of the Greeks in Bactria comes to an end the Bactrian princes were forced to transfer
;

Strabo, Oeog., XI. ii

are Iranian.

3.

Gardner, Plate V.

7.

The names
Aspaciacse.

Nothing more is known of them. Lassen thinks they are Turan and the

M'

is the magnificent twenty-stater Anottier cohi of this reign Biblioth^que Nationals at Pirns, the in present at gold piece, know, by far the largest gold corn struck in ft was, as far as we every issued two-stater pieces), and is antiquity (Alexander marks the high-water mark of Bactnan fittmgly It unique. way after this reign it graduaUy nrosperity under Eucratides only sUver and copper Eucratides of decayed. After the reign

2 Cunningham, Num. Ch/ron., 1869, p. 241, etc. See, howIf Apollodotus succeeded Eucraever, J,B.A.S.y 1906, p. 783. tides, why does Eucratides restrike his coins, as he is shown to

Apollodotus
3 It

On the other hand, do by Gardner, B.M. Cat, p. xxxv? See p. 112. is closely connected with Menander.
has been pointed out that the
titles
2a>r?;p,
Nic^</)opoff,

know. ^nins were struck, as far as we J.H.S., 1902, p. 272. ^^Twn. " HeUenism in Bactria,"

point to the continual wars against the nomads, Indians, or their Greek rivals, which drained the resources of the Bactrio-Hellenic princes.
'AvUrjTosi

and the

like,

86

BACTEIA

their empire to their capital

beyond the Hmdu-Kush. worse than a crmie was The murder of Eucratides the one man capable of death was a blunder. The
it

resistance useless, of saving the situation rendered further enfeebled by the rise

and the country was

of

still

satraps, who were a number of prmcelings or we have seen, of necessary for the government, as but who territory, Bactrian the immensely increased strong a of removal the on were always inclined, semi-mdeThe independence. their hand, to assert

CHAPTER

VI

THB OVBBTHROW OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM

Since the days when Alexander made his demonstration in force north of the Jaxartes, and the town of Furthest Alexandria, built on the uttermost limit o! the Greek world, was erected as a frontier fort to keep
waste,

pendent character

of

these petty rajas^

is

shown by

the style of the inscriptions upon

their corns.

AUTHOBITIES.
writers, are of the most Justin and Strabo, among ancient Bevan and Vmcent importance. The works of Messrs. E. R. The writers on authorities. modem prmcipal the Smith are

watch and ward over the barbarians of the outer there had been a feeling of vague unrest among the Greeks in the Far East regarding the

likelihood of trouble from the mysterious hordes of

numismatics are, of course, invaluable, as " deduced" from corns, which eke out our otherwise history is For a further discussion of the corns of information. scanty II. Appendix Eucratides see
1

much

of

Bactnan

the northern steppes.

No one knew
them
all

their extent or power,

which made

There are nearly thirty

of

them.

See the Usts, pp. 161, 162.

the more formidable. Perhaps memories of the terrible Cimmerians of the old days had become a kind of tradition in men's minds, for at all periods
of the history of the ancient

world we seem to detect

a feeling of latent anxiety, a prescience of what was to *' come, with regard to the vast tribes of barbarians" cyclonic sudden who from time to time burst like a because feared, civilization wave on the barriers of
their numbers, power,
1
ii

and resources were only known through vague report and extravagant rumour. The very fact that the Parthians, once an obscure nomadic tribe, pasturing their herds on the grassy slopes between the Oxus and the Ochus, had suddenly thrust
87

88
into the heart of the

BACTEIA

OVEETHROW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

Bactrian history
is

89

Greek world a great anti-Hellenic antagonism to Greek ideas, and its of empire, proud dispute with all comers its right to eager aggressively was a position of ruling state in Asiatic Greece,
to the

Greek element.

No

the wonderful persistence of the Iranian ruled in Bactria after

the accession of Diodotus, and the Greek kings, if we may judge by their coins, were proud of their Hellenic
blood,
art.

warning

of

what the barbarians might

do,

and

of the

and kept up the best

traditions of their national

risk of despising him.^

Even

in the Southern

Kingdom

there appears at

by the Bactria was destined to be overwhelmed

finally operation of the same irresistible force which utterly world ancient the of civilization swept the

first little

Obscure hordes on the Mongolian plains, far beyond the ken of Hellenic observation, were slowly finally but surely pressing south, and the impetus was Hellenic of fringe the being transmitted to the tribes on
away.

evidence that the new-comers were likely to be absorbed into their Indian environment on the contrary, few things are more remarkable than the manner in which the Greek spirit adapts itself to
;

altered circumstances,
life,

and blossoms out

**

into a

new

infusing something of the

diviner air" of the

his con-

old masters into the coins of

Menander and

^ill

by sheer physical pressure, border, sweeping all before the they were driven over avalanche. an of force them with the Signs of trouble on the northern border had been
civilization,
till

temporaries, or, later, into the friezes of the Buddhist

sculptures of Gandhara.

at last,

In the troubled times which followed the death of Eucratides events occurred which must have finally

observed by Euthydemus, and Antiochus the Great had had the wisdom to see the danger of weakening Other causes, however, had been at work to Bactria. drain Bactria of her resources the constant antagon:

wrecked
Sacse.
tides.

effectual resistance to the

any chance Bactria had of offering any impending invasion of the Heliocles, as we have seen, succeeded Eucra-

ism

m^

conof Parthia, and the brilliant but expensive quests of Demetrius in India, till at last the Bactrian *' Greeks were literally drained of their life-blood," as Justin graphically says,^ " and a comparatively easy
prey."

very little of him except that his coins invariably bear the inscription AIKA102. It was formerly held that he murdered his father and took this title to assert the justice of slaying a king

We know

Indeed, one of the most striking features of

a section of his subjects appear to have reIt is more probable, garded as a public enemy.

whom

1 In Chapter I. I have tried to point out the likelihood of suba Saccean Helot population in Bactria an aboriginal stratum, whose existence points to the constant tendency of the northern tribes to move southwards and westwards, which had

however, that Heliocles was his father's avenger, and on that ground assumed the title of the "Just," though the title may merely be a translation of the

begun before the coming * ExscmgueSf XLI. 6.

of the Iranians.

Buddhist dhdmiikasa, fluenced by the spread

if,

indeed, Heliocles was in-

of

Buddhism

to the extent to

which most

of his successors

appear to have been.

90

- BACTEIA
\
1

OVERTHBOW OF NOBTHEBN KINGDOM

91

i'

Mithradates, as we have noticed already, had inaugurated the aggressive policy against Bactria, for which he had received his crown in the reign of
Eucratides, with some success.
asserted, Eucratides lost his life
If,

as

it

has been

had on the Seleucid house claims arising from the treaty of Antiochus, and the ties of marriage uniting the two royal families. Between the years 142 136 I B.C., he advanced against Parthia, intent on another

owing

to his inability

of the

many spasmodic

efforts of

the Syrian kings to

to resist Parthian aggression, his successors were not

less deserving of a similar fate.^

Mithradates con-

tinued to advance, and he appears to have actually

check the growth of their powerful rivals. His army on the march was greatly strengthened by reinforcements from Persia, Elymais and Bactria, and routed
the Parthians in a succession of battles.^

held Bactria for a time as a sort of vassalage. If we can trust references in Orosius and Diodorus, he even attacked the Southern Kingdom, and penetrated to

The Par-

thians, however, maintained the struggle with their

usual persistency, and finally achieved by stratagem

Euthydemia
ever,

itself.

We may

fairly safely infer,

from the silence of Justin, and also no Parthian coins are found over the Paropamisus, that the occupation was not of a very lasting character, and may indeed have only been a demonstration in force, like the expedition of Antiochus III. against Subhagasena.^ Perhaps we may find an echo of these obscure and almost unrecorded campaigns in
fact that

howfrom the

a Parthian coin which

is

still

extant in the British

Museum
coins of
I
I

collection.^

It represents

a standing figure of
of Bactria.*

Hercules, and appears to have been imitated from the

Euthydemus

II.

and Demetrius
of Bactria.

what they were unable to effect by force. Demetrius was enticed to his enemy's camp by pretended overHe was publicly paraded as a tures and entrapped. warning to the cities which had joined his standard of the futility of reliance upon Syria. In the year 136 b.c. Mithradates I. died. He was succeeded by Phraates II., and it was during his reign that the great Saka invasion took place, which swept over Bactria with such amazing suddenness and completeness. The movements which led to the great irruption have been worked out with tolerable completeness, chiefly by reference to Chinese authorities;

Fortune, however, appears to have intervened on

this occasion

however,

it

is

not proposed here to enter into

Demetrius II. of Syria had not quite forgotten the claims which Bactria

on behalf

minute discussions

upon the obscure movements

of

the various tribes, with the

many historical

difficulties

the murder of Eucratides, caused by popular indignation at his ** pro-Parthian " policy, was a kind of challenge to Mithradates, which he was not slow to accept.
-

Perhaps

they involve, as the subject is scarcely relevant to the student of the fortunes of Bactria, and only interests us in so far as Bactria is directly concerned. What

' He appears to have subdued the Saka Princes kingdom between the Indus and Hydaspes. 3 Catalogued by Warwick Wroth, Plate III. 7. * Gardner, Catalogue, II. 9 and III. 8.

of Taxila, the

happened appears to have been as follows About the year 165 b.o. the great tribe
1

of

the

Justin,

XXVin.

1.8,

4.':

92

BACTRIA

OVERTHBOW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

for a

93

Yuehchi were driven out of their pastures in Northwest China by a rival horde, and, moving in a southwesterly direction,

successor to the throne,

whom

they found in

came

into contact with the con-

glomerate bands of Scythians, whom the Greeks knew by the vague general name of Sacse, who may be identified pretty certamly with the Saka of the Indian writers, and the Su, Sai, 8e, Sek, or Sok, of the Chinese
ill'

another brother of the elder Phraates, Artabanus, uncle Artabanus appears to have followed of the last king. these plunderers up ; but in a campaign against the
Thogarii, says Justin, he was wounded in the arm and possibly because the weapon was died at once poisoned. One is strongly tempted to identify these

Annalists.
to

The

Sacse appear to have already settled

of the Jaxartes
;

" Thogarii " with the

the
'*

**

Tochari," who, together with

some extent south

we know noth-

Asii, Pasiani,

and Sacarauli,"^ are mentioned by

ing for certain about the state of

the

Sogdiana under the

Bactrian kings, but probably, with the extension of empire in the south, the Greek hold on the

Strabo as being the best known of the Sacsean tribes who crossed the Jaxartes and invaded Bactria. The Tochari appear to have established themselves on a

province north of the Oxus became more and more nominal, till it was finally no longer asserted at all.^

more or

About the year 136 b.c,

after the

death of Mithra-

dates, the results of this pressure

upon the Bactrians and Parthians began to be seriously felt. The first omen of the approaching trouble proceeded from a body
of SacsB

less permanent footing in Sogdiana, and so be the chief opponents of the Parthians. naturally would to have exacted tribute in a most appear Sacffi The extortionate manner from the people bordering on the

country they had overrun, forcing them to pay a certain sum of money on condition that their lands should
only be overrun and plundered at certain seasons.* To Heliocles belongs the melancholy distinction of being the last king of Northern Bactria. The Bactrians
were, indeed, little in a
fit

who had

enlisted as mercenaries in the

army

of Phraates, probably because they

had been driven

out of their old pasture-lands and had no other occupation. They arrived too late to assist in the war for which

state to cope with the situation.

they were hired, and, being discontented at the treatment they received, began to plunder the country.
Phraates,

who appears
fell

to

unpopular,

in trying to put

II

owing

to the treachery of

have been incapable and them down, chiefly his Greek forces, who were
to the original royal line
p. 163, " Bactriani
. .

Their life-blood had been drained by the Indian schemes withdrawal of of preceding kings, and the consequent to seek a them among adventurous and the more able more extended career in the new addition to the empire and, as in the case of every nation which has
;

exasperated by his cruelty.*

The Parthians now reverted

^

conquer the East without taking the utmost precaution to preserve the integrity of their race from
tried to
1 Qeog.y XI. 8, attempt to render

See the passage

(&),

Appendix V.,
etc.

Sogdianorum beUis fatigati," a Justin, XLII. 1, 2.

Von Gutsclunid thinks all these names Yuei-Chi " in Greek Strabo, Geog.y XI. viii. 3.
2.
*'

94

BACTRIA
all

OVEKTHROW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

As we have

95

intermixing with the subject stock, the East was

gradually absorbing

them

into

itself.

already observed, the coins begin to show that Greek

that western historians have deigned to devote to the subject, and the inference is that the once famous "City of the Horse" surrendered tamely enough to

standards of thought and manners were gradually be-

the advance of a foe so long threatened that

lost the terror of novelty.

it

had

Heliocles and such families

coming

less

and

less carefully

adhered

to

and an

account of the state of Bactria, presumably shortly

after the invasion of the Sacae, confirms the view that

Bactria had

little

that was Greek

left

in

it

at the time

as had enough Greek instinct to refuse to dwell under the rule of the illiterate barbarians probably retired before the enemy's advance to their friends on the
other- side of the Paropamisus.
It

of its final overthrow.

From

was

far different in

the annals of Chang-

Kien^ we learn that the Ta-Hia, or Bactrians, were very between Ferghana and An- Si (Parthia). These people all spoke various dialects, but
like the other tribes
all

the case of the once weaker Parthia, which was able, not only to repair the losses suffered from the Scythian attack, but finally to retake part of the old Bactrian
territory
;

so that the poet

true,

Horace

^with

some

inac-

understood one another; they were agricultural,

treated their wives with

an exaggerated
all

respect,

and

curacy,

it is

can write

allowed them great liberty, and were

distinguished
in

" Begnata Pa/rtMa Bactra,*^

by deep-set eyes and thick beards. They were bad and

cowardly soldiers, and only fond of trade.^
scription of

an ode which must have been published about the

b.g.

The dethe Bactrians here given by one who was

year 25

evidently a close and accurate observer shows fairly

conclusively to what extent the process of absorption

had been going

il.'

on,

and explains what would be other-

wise difficult to comprehend

the reason why Bactria

He

invasion, then, may be said to have branched off into two distinct channels. The motive force was provided by the advance of the Yueh-Chi and this great movement, which ended by the Yueh-Chi occupying the old kingdom of Bactria, forced another

The barbarian

succumbed without a struggle worth recording to the incoming flood of invasion. Two brief references are
'

great portion of the SacsB

the Sakas proper, possibly

Envoy from

the Chinese

Court to the Tueh-Chi.

returned, after various adventures, in 126 B.C. * Von Gutschmid says it is " remarkable that

the Sok or Sse of our Chinese authorities, and the ** pastures new" still Saca-rauli of Strabo- to seek farther from the borders of their restless and powerful

Chang

notices

kinsmen.

This no doubt caused the Saka irruption

between the Greeks and their Iranian subjects." The explanation is simple there were no pure Greeks left. Some remains of the old Aryan (Iranian, not Greek) population may still be traced in the language of the non-Tartar people dwelling round Balkh (Rawlinson, HerodottL8t App., Book VII., Essay 1, p. 207 ; M. Mtiller, Languages of the Seat of War, p. 88).
difference
:

no

1 I have not thought it necessary to discuss Bayer's theory that the Greeks were driven out of Bactria by Parthia. He misunderstands Strabo. Strabo tells us that Mithradates II. and his troops d<l>ikovTo ttjs BaKTpiavfjs iipot ^laa-dfievoi rovs

^KvOas (XI.

9, 2).

V.

96
into India,

BACTKIA

OVEETHKOW OF NORTHEEN KINGDOM

It is curious to note that, while the coins of

97

though how and when the Saka princes found their way into the Panjab is never likely to be It is usually supposed that they definitely settled.
descended into the Ki-pin or Cashmere Valley, and from thence gradually spread over the Gandhara district,

Euthy-

demus II. indicate that he ruled over ^ people who had a good deal of Greek blood in their veins, those
of

his two

contemporaries are

much

less Hellenic

and

finally settled in a series of petty principali-

ties in

of Taxila

the Panjab, such as the very flourishing states and Mathura (the modern Muttra), on the
rajahs.

Jumna, from which they displaced native

These two princes issued some remarkin character. able nickel coins, and also some square copper ones bearing inscriptions in the Brahmi,^ instead of the usual Kharoshthi script. Their general similarity in these respects, and also the fact that both put the
bust of Dionysius on their coins, make it seem highly probable that the two princes were closely related in some way. Pantaleon appears from his portraits to have been the older, and probably Agathocles suc-

Others even reached the Peninsula of Surasthra, across the formidable Sind deserts, and, together with the Greek invaders already settled in the north-western

behind

corner of India, inaugurated a period which has left it some very remarkable traces, both in coinage

and architectural remains. There was no contemporary historian to chronicle the brief careers and brilliant courts of the Kajas of Taxila or Sagala it remains for us to read the riddle, as far as may be, from the evidence which the ravages of time have spared for
;

ceeded him. Pantaleon and Euthydemus were probably contemporaries, and date from some time fairly early
in the reign of Demetrius, soon after that king

had

the ingenuity of the modern investigator. We have seen that Euthydemus hoped to manage his huge realm upon a kind of feudal plan, which had
obtained from immemorial time in the East. Probably one of the earliest of the princes who reigned south of

begun to attempt some definite settlement of his newlyacquired domains in the south. We shall probably not go far wrong in dating their accession at circa 190 b.c, and that of Agathocles at about five years later. With Agathocles we get numismatic evidence of a
rather startling quality, in the shape of a magnificent series of medals which that monarch struck, apparently

the Paropamisus was another Euthydemus, whom it is convenient to call Euthydemus II. He appears to have

been a son

of

Demetrius, and named, according to the

old Greek custom, after his grandfather.

His reign, to

on his accession. Nothing is more remarkable than the manner in which the Greek spirit flashes out in all sorts of unexpected ways in sculptures and coins of these scanty remnants of the great invasion, a couple of centuries after it had flowed over the Kabul and re1

judge by the paucity of coins, was short. It is probable that he was reigning in the Kabul Valley, while- two other princes, Pantaleon and Agathocles, were holding
small frontier kingdoms on the west bank of the Indus.

Brahmi

script.

script

was used

See note in previous chapter. The Brahmi in India proper, the Kharoshthi being confined to

the

** foreign " population of the western frontier, where it was probably introduced by Darius. Kharoshthi, unlike Brahmi, reads from right to left.

hv
:l

98
ceded again.
of the

BACTKIA

OVERTHEOW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

99

A petty Yavana Raja, with little, probably,

perhaps Greek blood he boasted in his veins, and of which he is tongue the with acquaintance but little have a Hellenic grace so proud, can strike medals which traditions of Greek which would not shame the best of race, assert pride art, and which, with a curious
founders of the thJ striker's kinship with the heroic who was monarch Seleucid the and Bactrian kingdom, first of the series^ The ally. and friend their glad to be of the great Alexander is that bearing the portrait Diodotus, the " ** Son of Philip himself then comes title SflTHP, the with founder of the Bactrian Empire, own coins monarch's that of one which appears on
;

^ Gardner himself, quoting " from a passage of Malala," actually been have to appears title admits that the used by Antiochus III., and certainly he would appear most appropriately on Bactrian coins. These coins

bear on the reverse the striding Zeus, already familiar

to us as the crest of the Diodoti.

Two

curious coins

throw some

side-lights

upon the policy and tendencies

of the smaller Bactrian principalities.

On a coin of Pantaleon appears a spirited representation of a nautch girl, wearing trousers, and depicted as dancing, with a
Whether
this

flower in her hair.

was an attempt to

conciliate his Indian subjects, or to

commemorate a

Euthydemus

ancestor, no I.^ with the title Nicator. Antiochus lastly, and, monarch the doubt, of than other The latter, it appears, must be none Demetrius. married Aiatiochus III., whose daughter the royal Ime Agathocles is proud of his descent from prouder of far be naturally not he of Bactria. Would which, in family the Seleucids, the with his connection stm misrule, blundering and spite of two centuries of
;

eEOS

court favourite, it is impossible for us to tell.^ The vivid delineation of a typically eastern subject with some-

thing of the grace of the Greek is another landmark in the history of the Hellenic race in one phase of their
absorption into the country they had invaded. More remarkable in many respects is the purely Buddhist
coin (IV. 10, Gardner), where the Stupa or Dagaba, the Buddhist Rail are delineated.

and

their subjects, enjoyed a semi-divine reverence from himself ? Apollo from descended, as they claimed to be, very title the that hold authorities^ Gardner and other with Antiochus of identification the Nicator is against his extant on invariably assumes who Antiochus III.,

There is no doubt that Buddhism took a strong hold on the invaders of India from the north-west indeed, the Pan jab and the Gandhara district appear
to

corns the
1

title

of

BA2IAETS MEFAS.

However,

have become the centre of Buddhism in its palmiest Two of the most remarkable of the kings days. of that part of India, the Greek Menander and the Scythian Kaniska, were Buddhists, the latter ranking

They trace this 1-8. Figured in Gardner's Catalogue, IV. doubtless to impress the descent back to PhiUp of Macedon, importance. subjects with their monarch's
Notice the royal fillets and title BA2IAEY2. xxxviu, Gardner's Catalogue, Introduction, pp. Babelon, Boia de Syrie, XLII.
2

xxxix

Why should 1 John of Malala, the Byzantine, i., p. 261. Antiochus II. appear on Bactrian coins ? ' Agathocles issues the same type. Probably there is no personal reference in these types; they belong to different See Bapson, districts, of which they are the crest or symbol.
Coma of the Andhras,
Intro., p.

xi

100

BACTEIA

OVEETHKOW OF NOETHEKN KINGDOM

101

history of the creed of next to Asoka himself in the The inseek. Gautama. The reason is not far to adoption, their of the land vaders, quickly settling in conscious desire for of the prejudices, the

had none
isolation,

Euthydemus distributed his eastern domains among members of his family, probably reserving the capital, such S&gala, for himself and his direct descendants, conthe undertaken actually had who as Demetrius,
quest of the East.

between which creates so infinite a gulf were they to-day of East the rulers and ruled in country, the of gods and customs ready to adopt the
;

Among

the other princes of the

" after of Socrates enjoined, to worship, as the precept orthodox But dwelt in.^' the fashion of the state they

Brahmanism had no
foreign
cities,

casteless

place for the "barbarian," the their chieftain, who might enter
;

house of Euthydemus was Strato I. The figure of his the sedent Hercules upon his coins indicates probable seems It relationship to that monarch.^ that Strato I. was a son of Euthydemus by Agathoduring his cleia, and that the widow acted as regent One coin has been discovered which minority.2
apparently bears a portrait of the queen-mother.^ He a contemporary of Heliocles, and was succeeded

Buddhism, on the but seldom their ranks of the exclusiveness the of none other hand, had

Brahmin

creed

it

disregard of caste,
in India proper

boasted, on the contrary, of its and hence, when partly displaced

to far

its by Brahman influence, it retained spread and invaders, Greek hold on the Scythian and even to countries like Ceylon and Japan, and

Coins of apparently his grandson. with and square standard, Heliocles, of the Persian Valley, Kabul the in found are bi-lingual inscriptions,
II.,

was by Strato

the fastnesses of Thibet.^ with these Contemporary, or nearly contemporary,

and were probably issued after his expulsion from Bactria by the Scythians. Among this confused mass of petty princes, whose
it is coins are the only evidence for their existence, lines distinct two there possible to trace out here and

Antimachus Nicephorus princes appears to have been

Antimachus

II.,

as he

is

usually called, to distm-

of

prince of that name guish him from the mysterious Euthydemus when of rival a been who appears to have to have claimed and Diodotus, overthrew the latter successor to the throne rightful the be to way in some It would, then, seem that of the murdered king.
inscription {J.B.A.8.i This is not quite correct. A recent HeUodorus, son of Dion, a 1909 p 1092) tells us of the Greek votary of Krishna- Vasudeva. subject of AntiaJcidas, who was a far more cosmopolitan, and whole, the is, on
1

successionthe feudatories who claimed descent from Euthydemus, and those who based their royal the right upon their loyalty to, or kinsmanship with, usurper Eucratides. To the former group belong
1 Compare Gardner's demus type, I. 11.

representation, XI. 6, with the

Euthy-

and interesting discussion of the coins of Strato I. by Professor Bapson, will be found in the J.BA.S.j a (Oxford, 1906), p. 245. 1905, p. 164. Also Corolla Numismatic him ; The 'identification of Gardner's coin (XI. 2) is due to
2

An

Strato

II.,

But Buddhism more likely to make foreign

Gardner says

it

is

a head of Apollo.
^

But notice the Indian

Gardner, XI.
2.

converts.

queue, or hair-knot.

ri

At

102

BACTRIA

OVERTHROW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

the Indus.

103

and Pantaleon, Agathocles, Antimachus II., Strato, latter, the his descendant of the same name;^ to Their coins, exAntialcidas,2 Lysias, and Diomedes.
figured by cept one, bearing the figure of an elephant, and show bi-lingual, all are VII. (Catalogue, 9), Gardner unmistakable signs of deterioration from the artistic

The Saka who entered India Sai) doubt those Sai-Wang (princes of the
defeat
is

are

no whose

mentioned in the ninth chapter of the Han of the Saka annals.^ Even before this one body which Cophen, the of valley the in settled had the raid of they found an easy conquest, owing to Two important {circa 160 b.c.). I.
Mithradates
cities

point of view

they seem to be the work of artists to whom Greek tradition is little more than a meaningDioscuri less form, and are mostly bad copies of the
;

became the centres

of

Saka

(and doubtless the oldest, situated as it

type of Eucratides. The frequent recurrence of the Dioscuri on these struck coins leads to the opinion that the princes who them wished to intimate their association with the

country into which the Saka first town of Taxila, on the Cashmere borderland;

The first was in the entered) was the

rule.

the

house

of

Eucratides.

Lysias, too, appears

wearmg

of Mathura, or second, far inland, was the great city and the other which Muttra, on the Ganges, between Greek principalities, hostile Saka states lay various of Mathura and Indian. The earliest of the satraps to have appears clue any have we of whose date later coins appear to whose Rajavula, certain been a enable us imitate those of Strato II. This would year 120 b.c. the about to fix his date roughly at and Hagana satraps, two Now, Rajavula succeeded been have to appear predecessors Hagamasha, whose hence we native Indians, to judge by their names of Mathura at justified in placing the occupation
;

the **KauBia," or highland bonnet, which was, as we have already mentioned, affected by Eucratides.' Perhaps Plato, whose coin dates itself at 165 B.C.,

was the

first of this line.

To proceed
of

ever, with the list of

minor rulers
;

farther, howwhose achieve-

ments even

their coins can teach us

it is

little, is

useless

to all practical purposes to the history of

settled side

now

necessary to turn

those Saka chieftains

who were

by side with the Greeks in the Panjab

feel

and the surrounding districts. In all probability they had entered India from the north, as already related, passing through the country of the Byltai (little Thibet), into Ki-pin, or Cashmere, and thence down
the Also Menander, if we may judge by his adoption of Demetrius. See next chapter. a Antialcidas is perhaps the only Grseco-Bactrian king menfrom which tioned in contemporary mscriptions. See Appendix,
1

of Rajavula. about a generation before the accession a later date at occupied Mathura was very probably support in no us give coins than Taxila,* although
1

Biihler,

Ep. Ind.,

i.

86.

Also inscription

"P"

from Lion

^a^Taxila

styls of

(inscription quoted ancient centre of

Antialcidas (Takshasila) was in the dominion of on previous page). Takshasila was a very

we
3

learn that his headquarters was Taxila. Gardner, XI. 7. Kausia, a " sun hat " (xav<rta),

Buddhist leaming-a kind of -Umversity satraps see Rapson, Coins of theAndhraa, Saka the For town."
Intro., p.
ci.

first intro-

duced into the East by the Macedonians.

Vide

p. 84.

104
this view, the first

BACTRIA
known

OVEKTHEOW OF NOBTHEKN KINGDOM

expressly
of his

106

satrap of Taxila being the " grant," the inscripTaxila the of Liaka Kusuluka been tion engraved on a metal plate, which has found in the neighbourhood of the modern city. The
**

names this range kingdom to the East.

of

mountains as the limit

Probably this invasion of India took place soon death after the death of Eucratides, and, with the
of

mentioned (unless the reference is to Sakya,"i.e., Sakya-muni, a title of the Buddha), at in an mscription at Mathura, commonly dated

Saka are

also

the great Parthian monarch himself, no doubt the hold of Parthia on the Saka princedoms became more and more a nominal matter, till about the

f^'

about 100

B.C.,

or earlier. that these

**

The most remarkable, and from many aspects

inexplicable, fact is
satraps,*' as

year 120 b.c, or perhaps some twenty years later, cona very remarkable personage, whom we may
veniently call

their
to

very

title implies, are subordinate in

some way

Parthia.

The only explanation that can be

offered

occupation of the Taxila is that the Sakas were country somewhat earlier than the time when we

by the name of Moga, established himself as an independent monarch at Mathura, and assumed the overlordship of the Saka kingdoms of the the Panjab and the Kabul Valley. He assumes Mithradates overlord former very title which their

and that Mithradates in his Indian expedition actually annexed the old kingdom of Porus, as von Gutschmid infers.^
first find

traces of

their settlement there,

had vaunted, that

of

of " Great King of Kings," and appears to have been looked upon as the founder

new

era.^

The copper-plate

inscription from

"The Kingdom

of Porus"' included the nations be-

tween the Indus and the Hydaspes, and would also

include the princes of Taxila,

who had henceforth to be content with the title of " satrap," which it is improbable they would otherwise assume, it being the custom with their neighbours to assume a style, the grandeur of which appears to be in inverse proportion to the size of the petty realms they governed.
Mithradates appears to have exacted from them an allegiance, which was, however, more or less nominal, as there are no traces of a permanent Parthian
occupation south of the Hindu-Kush, and Justin*
1
2

shows that the rulers of that principality willingly acknowledged the overlordship of Moga. "Patika, son of the Chatrapa Liaka Kusuluka," it of reads, " re-enshrined a relic of Buddha, the Stupa
Taxila

which was in ruins ... in the seventy-eighth ^ year, the fifth day of the month Panemus, of the Maharaja Moga the Great (Maharajasa Mahantasa
of
October, See Fleet's articles, J,BA.8., 1905, p. ,156, and F. W. also V. A. Smith, J.B.A.S., 1903, pp. 46-58; Thomas, J.B.A.8.B.B., 1906. The date of Maues is fixed by For Dr. Bhandarkar at a.d. 154, J.B.Br.B.A.S., 20, p. 292 #.
1

P\

1907;

Maua-Kes compare Arsa-Kes.

2

year of (the It is ahnost certain that the seventy-eighth

From

Orosius, V. 4,

and Diod. Bic,

p. 597.

era of)

Moga

is

99

B.C.

Notice that

Moga

uses a Macedonian

XLI. 6. **He extended the Parthian Empire from the Euphrates to Mount Caucasus," i.e,, the Paropamisua.

month

{ndvrfixos=MerayiTvia>v in the Attic calendar).

Here we

see Parthian influence at work.

f.

106

BACTEIA

OVERTHROW OF NORTHERN KINGDOM

Madhyadesa.**!

107

" great " king Mogasa)." No coins, however, of this this would Moga name have been found bearing the difficulty the but fact, remarkable be in itself a very or Maues the with Moga identifying is solved by form genitive Mauas (we only know the name in its MATOT^), of whose coins we have a considerable
;

An echo of some forgotten war, perhaps against a Greek neighbour, perhaps against brilliant the Saka hordes, is commemorated in a
series

was well number. That the Saka name Mauakes at one race the of chiefs known, and held by the find we where Arrian, from know period at least, we conSaka the commanded name that of leader
that a

Antimachus (Gardner, V. 1-3), palm of in which Poseidon is figured with the victory, naval some won had Antimachus victory. a rival with Indus, broad the on fought possibly
of

coins

of

flotilla,

strivmg to

effect

a landing with troops in his

Recent researches tingent of archers at Gaugamela. " Kose-suffix," have proved that Kes is a common Mo-ga, or Hence and is frequent in the form-Gas. Maua, of or Mauas, the is very probably
Maua-kes,
the coins
difficult and, indeed, it would be extremely (particularly the circumstances many for to account " Moga the Greats amid the total absence of corns of many specimens of minor princes which have come
;

great king, however, arose, whose power was sufficient to enable him to knit together consistent the warring states into something like a recorded are valour and piety, brilliance, his

domains.

One

whole

in brief scraps of information

selves to his power, for

which

testify in

them-

he
a

is

the only Greek king of

the period
shall

who has
all.

literature at

mark upon contemporary This was Menander, to whom we

left

devote

the

succeeding

chapter.

Menander

down

to us) on any other hypothesis. engaged In the meantime the Greek kingdoms were same the does seldom Very wars. in numberless petty twice, in than more never and twice, name appear from the dates, the coins of these petty rulers and it appears that far as we can determine them,
;

appears to have not only consoUdated the Greeks to have into something like a coherent mass, but pushed the Scythians of Taxila and Mathura back while to the bounds of their original domains, and Surashtra of mysterious Saka settlements
the

the

lower

Indusan independent branch

overflow,

of

the
in

nation,

an

perhaps, of

the

settlers

as

succession frequent and often violent changes in the twentythan less No frequency. took place with great centurythe a of space the in three names occur

from the tribes who entered from the northwere apparently subdued altogether.*
Sacastene, quite separate
1

Qwrgi'ScmUta,

ed.

Kern,

p. 57.

The word *Yavana"

is

and an century after the conquests of Eucratides Indian authority speaks of the "fiercely-fighting ** there was cruelly Yavanas," and mentions that did not stay in they dreadful war among them ;
^

** Yavana must date the Sanskrit form ; Yona the Prakrit. Perhaps from tunes when the digamma was stUl in use (Idf v). Great. So the Darius through India in known first they were

* Javan " in Isaiah Ixvi. 19. a It is, however, not ascertained whether the Saka reached Kathiawar till after the reign of Menander.

Eharoshthi Moasa,

108

BACTEIA
of

The stupendous achievements

Menander, however,

in the were only a transitory flash of brightness overtaking gradually was which slowly settling gloom,

the Indo-Greek peoples.

AUTHORITIES.
of them. PrincipaUy the coins, and the books treating very scanty. References, even in Justin, our chief authority, are relate of The reason probably is that there was very Uttle to maintain incesthese petty semi-Greek rajas, who did Uttle but magniloquent inscriptions sant struggles and issue coins, whose variance with the insignificant princelings they

CHAPTEB
EAST

VII
IN

MENANDEB TO THE EXTINCTION OF GREEK RULE

THE

Menander, the Milinda of the Buddhist records,^

only Bactrian king after Eucratides of porary history really tells us anything.

is

the

are strikingly at

" Moga commemorate. I may add with regard to the names as merely dialectical " both regards Rapson Prof. that Moa," and " Moaa," variants of the same word. Moa-kes would become not "Moga."

"

whom

contemis

The reason

not far to seek.

Of the other Greek princes of the Panjab there is simply nothing to record. Amid the stirring events of the Middle East historians naturally neglected the doings of these petty rulers maintaining
a precarious existence on the banks of the distant Indus, and ruling a few square miles of barren desert. The pretentious titles assumed by these insignificant

and the likeafford no they clue to their real importance, though in many cases
potentatesSwttJp,
'Aw/ciyro?,
1^

li

bear eloquent testimony to the struggle for existence going on continuously among the Greeks themselves, and against Saka, Parthian, and Hindu invaders. The in so coins of these princes are really only important
far as

they show us

how

persistently the

artistic

instinct of the
1

Greek

survived, even in the

most un-

The

identity of

accepted.
courtiers,

Dr.

Menander and the Pali Milinda may be Rhys Davids identifies Milinda's Yavana

Devamantiya and Anantakaya, as Demetrius and

109

Antiochus.

110

BAGTRIA
Indian writers dismiss the

MENANDER TO END OF GREEK RULE

epithets
of

111

promising surroundings. "Yavanas" with the

contemptuous

"quarrelsome," or "viciously valiant," which suffinature of their ciently indicates their character and the
achievements such as they were. However, with Menander, the last of the great Bactrian monarchs, and the only one after the Greeks
crossed the

Apart from the great antecedent probability Buddhism Greeks should be involved in the spread of Norththe and among the foreign settlers of the Panjab

that the

west

Frontier,

clusive

we have the evidence of the coins, conenough when taken in conjunction with other

Hindu-Kush

to

show constructive

ability,

we come to deal with a different type of character. Menander was a worthy successor of his forerunners,
and echoes of his achievements even reached the distant West, and found a place in the pages of Greek and Roman historians. In the East, too, the increased activity of the Yavanas

Euthydemus and Eucratides,

Menander's factsnotably, the Siamese tradition of preserved by story the and Arhatship,i to attainment MAnan df^r'fl obse quies. wh ich are just such Pjjltiftrp.h of Buddhist monarch. as would be accorded to a great often bear Agathocles,^ of Menander's coins, like those or dharma-chakra, the as such Buddhist symbols, square the of many and Law,"^ "Wheel of the
bilingual

ones

bear

the

significant

Pali

epithet

brought them more and more into contact with their Hindu neighbours, and from more than one Indian

and other evidence under this Empire of the expansion of the Indo-Greek interestand curious most the But enterprising ruler. is to be Menander of reign the on bearing ing evidence sought, not in historical records at all, but in a Budsource

we gather records of

conflicts

"Dhramikasa,"*" follower of the be stated, appears to be a Buddhist epithet. It must merely a be may dhdrmika however, that the term " literal " translation of the Greek epithet AIKAIOT,
epithets which appears on the obverse, just as the other and Menander by used are like the and trdtdrasa the of equivalent kings, Greek and Indian, as the the that declares Dr. Rhys Davids title SriTHPOS.^

d/iama "which

'y,

dhist philosophical dialogue, t he Queationa of Milinda.

which
**

sets forth the teaching southern " Buddhist school in the form of a series of conversations between the Buddhist sage Nagasena and the Greek king. There is a good deal of difference
of

the

so-called

The Arhat is a saint who has attained the (extinction of desire) and conseinsight w>ich leads to Nirvaiia
1

supreme

spiritual

of opinion about the historical value of this book.

The

actual dialogues are, of course, as imaginary as the conversations of Socrates in the works of Plato, and its English translator, Dr. Rhys Davids, even thinks that

quent escape from future rebirth. common a A Buddhist stupa, or cairn, and the " rail," a very IV. 10). (see Gardner, decorative feature in Buddhist architecture 3 Gardner, XII. 7. The wheel " is a favourite Buddhist the progress of ihe Vishnaivite-signifying symbol-originally the world. For the dha/rma, or reUgion, of Gautama over Coxns of of this emblem see Cunningham,
favourite character ilncten^ Itkiia, p. 101, etc.
*

'li

Gardner,
16.

p.

50,

No. 74, and Wilson, Ar, Anhq.,

:

p. 287,
1

the evidence for the conversion of Menander to Buddhism at all is inconclusive. But this is going too far.

No.
6

The question

is briefly this

Is

dhrarmkasa a

.,

translation

X.

112
bulk of the coins are

BACTEIA
*'

MENANDEK TO END OF GREEK RULE

I

113

clearly pagan, not Buddhist."

combine Probability and evidence, however, appear to Menander's in pointing to the truth of the story of conversion. It is likely, too, that the Questions of

sought for Greek and other foreign converts, and recently discovered inscriptions show that Greeks were

even admitted to Hindu

sects.^

Menander contains a good deal of actual fact in its The book was written very likely historical setting. and a half after the great century a than not later
monarch's death, and, as the internal evidence clearly be able shows, in the Panjab, where the author would actual not if traditions, to become acquainted with
documents, relating to the reign of the famous Greek India. raja who reigned so widely in North-Western Menander was probably born about the year 180 b.c, throne soon after Pushyamitra Sunga had usurped the of holders of the Mauryas, and begun to drive the the of dominions Buddhist tenets into the foreign reversing the liberal policy of his unorthodox Panjab,

About 190 B.C., it will be remembered, Demetrius first descended upon the Panjab, and, profiting by the respite resulting from the Roman invasion of Syria, had seized the opportunity of overrunning and annexing a great kingdom in North-Western India. Probably Menander was a near relation of Demetrius.^ His coins show a striking resemblance to those issued by that monarch, and it was in the Indian territory which he reconquered
for the Greeks that the future prince, who so closely resembled him in military prowess, was born. " In

by

predecessors.

Owing

to this Brahminical reaction,

King ?" asks Nagasena ** There is an island of called Alasanda," replies Milinda " there I was born." ** And how far is Alasanda from here (Sagala)?" ** King, "In what town, About 200 yqjanas''
what
district

were you born,

Milinda, in the Questions,

distinguished the pro-Hellenic tendencies which had

the court of

Magadha under

its

late

rulers ^ were

drawn discontinued, and a sharp dividing-line was and North-West the between the foreign settlers of Ganges the Land Middle the of the orthodox kings
Valley and the adjacent country. The coins of many of the later Greek kings show themselves, they that, if not converted to Buddhism
ruled

Appendix IH. Menander's name twice occurs in conjunction with that of ApoUodotus, who is supposed to be the grandson of Demetrius. Perhaps the two kings were closely related. The passages are remarkable, as they indicate that ApoUodotus was a man of some ability. Pe apparently carried on his father's Indian conquests, and his coins had a wide circulation. They are as follows Scythicss gentes, Sarancse et Asian!, Bactra (a) " Deinde oocupaverunt et Sogdianos. Indicee quoque res additse, gestae
^

over Buddhist subjects.

Buddhism eagerly
the

per ApoUodotum (MSS. ApoUodorum) et Menandrum, reges eorum " (Trogus ap. Justin., Prologue, Ixxi.). (6) A<^* ol ft^XP* *'*'*' ^^ Bapvyd^ois TraXaiai irpoxtopcvo'i dpdxfiai,
ypdfifjMO-iv *EXX;viKOtf yKxapayp,V(u iiri(n)pxi rS>v fier

does not affect of AIKAIOY, or vice versa f But it became a question the inherent probability that Menander ten indoBuddhist. The epithet occurs on the corns of about

main

*AXe|ai/-

dpov ^e^aa-ikevKdrav chap,

xlvii.).
is

AnoWobdrov
else

Koi

Mevdv^pov "

(Peri/pl/USt

Greek and Indo- Scythian kings altogether. 1 Not so pronounced, however, after the death

ApoUodotus
of Asoka.

nowhere

mentioned except in these two

\

passages.

See

p. 86.

114
?" were you born answers the king

BACTRIA
"

MENANDEE TO END OF GREEK RULE

treat with a strong

116

" There is a village called Kalasi Un" it was there I was bom. very us given do not help fortunately, the details here at its lowest the Buddhist yojana even
;

Greek garrison. Its commandant, Eadamus, withdrew his men during the general evacuation of India in 317 b.c,

much.

Takmg

computation

seems quite

miles, it roughly, four and a half from miles 900 place impossible to find any
of.
(all of

and the town remained in Indian hands until reconquered by Demetrius. It then, presumably, remained a part of the Greek

which have been Sialkot. Shorkot. or Ghuniot. can possib y which Sftgala), ancient identified with the merely Very likely the author is fit this description. disthe greatly exaggerated writing loosely, and has one any be may Alasanda" tance. The "Island of the of course the dot the numerous islands which
of

dominions till the general downfall of the Indo-Greeks after the death of Menander. Its celebrity appears to have spread to distant lands. The Mahavamso, the chronicle of the kings of Ceylon, speaks of ** Alesadda
of

theYonas," referring, no doubt, to this great strong-

hold of their Greek co-religionists. We hear nothing more of the " town of Kalasi," standing on this island.

.V

1^
).'

t\

this part of India activity lower Indus. Alexander's trading of forts, towns, and was immense.^ and a string to the down Acesines, and centres extended along the changes constant mouth of the Indus. Owing to the to stream, it is now hopeless the of topography in the to-the referred island actual try and discover the forgotten exploit of Alexander. scene, no doubt, of some juncture of t^e Possibly it stood at the ^?f^f J^^ from the great city of Alexname its Indus, and took far from the not there, andria on Indus,' which stood its name to given modem TJtch. This town may have
.

Formerly

it

was

identified with a

supposed Karisi of a

coin of Eucratides, but this identification has been since

abandoned.^

One of the many puzzling problems connected with Menander is that of ascertaining the probable limits Von Gutschmid fixes the dates as of his reign.
approximately from 125-90 b.c, inferring this from the "lack of unity" of the Saka coins, which he
attributes to the disturbing influence of the

the neighbouring islands. importance, and had been

X

It

left

was strategically of great by Alexander on his re-

^B^y^ ^ Bhye 1012 So Fleet, J.B.A.8., 1906, p. Alasanda, 1,400 the "M"^ of maie would which mUes, in the In^an Oceaa 1 niUes from S&gala, somewhere Panjab, Sind, <* the in cities a

Df

Bactm which guarded the road to Alexandria under Caucasus, Aceames ad many Jhelum ; Bucephala on the below. Alexandria on Indus, mentioned othe,^, including

Some

of the

^^JT"
,

Greek Menander, however, can scarcely have been a contemporary of the powerful Saka monarchs, Maues and Azes, who were reigning in Taxila and Mathura between 100-50 b.o. The rise of the Sakas must have taken place after the Greeks had dwindled into insignificance. Maues would certainly have been an obstacle in the way of the Greek conquests. His rule extended as far as Kipin, while Azes appears to
invasion.
^

SroTthe
3

Questions.
Kipin,

See the introduction to Bhys Davids' translation of the Professor Rapson now reads Kavisa i.e., Eapisa,

Arrian, Anah.^ VI. 14, 16.

North-East (Appendix II.).

Afghanistan on the coin

in

question

l<

116

BACTRIA

MENANDEE TO END OF GKEEK BULE

The
capital
of

117

if we may judge by have been even more prosperous, been recovered. have which the number of his coins Saka probable that the independent

the Indo-Greek

Empire was the

fortress of Sagala, very probably to be identified with

It is also

more kingdoms came

into

existence

after

the death of

\\

they appear to have Mithradates L During his reign probably as Parthia, been under the overlordship of grounds, many On India. a result of his invasion of suppose to reasonable most then, it appears to be took place power Greek of expansion that the great the Saka Empire of Taxila, before the foundation of

the modern Sialkot. An interesting and vivid picture of this distant outpost of Greek civilization is given
Its wealth of detail seems to in the Questions. point to an historical foundation to the description. ** There is in the country of the Yonakas a great

centre of trade, a city that

in

is

called Sagala, situated

..V

after Menander s which could only possibly have arisen " more begun once " had Yavanas death, when the Saka and the both of The overthrow to decline. of the advance the to due Greek kingdoms was are We aUke. both absorbed finally Kushans, who was Menander in supposing that

watered and hilly, and groves and gardens abounding in parks and and mountains rivers of paradise tanks, a and lakes and woods. Wise architects have laid it out, and its people know of no oppression, since all their enemies
a
delightful

country

well

therefore justified

and adversaries have been put down. Brave is its defence, with many and various strong towers and ramparts, with superb gates and entrance archways,
and with the royal citadel in its midst, white-walled and deeply moated. Well laid out are its streets, squares, cross-roads, and market-places. Well displayed are the innumerable sorts of costly merchanIt is richly dise with which its shops are filled. adorned with hundreds of alms-halls of various kinds,

previous to Maues.

His great invasion

of India is

referred to by Patanjali,
;

who

appears to

have written

1^

about 150 B.C. and he seems to the usurping general tact with Pushyamitra Sunga, dynasty about Maurya the of throne who seized the suppose that roughly may we Hence 184 B.O. 165-130 B.C., about reigned at Sagala from

have come

con-

Menander and was a contemporary

1

of

Mithradates

I.^

Menander came

into collision.

Mithradates had (probably in

" to indicate the line of kings " I have used the word Saka Mr. V. A. Smith gives the whom to Gondophares, from Azes to I do not thmk they were PersonaUy, title of Indo.Parthian. vassals of Parthia for a brief Parthian at all, and were only
112) ^^a^The passage quoted from the PeripUs (p. (ace. 156 B.C.), and Menander a contemporary of Apollodotus mvasion of the period of the Scythian

the reign of Heliocles) penetrated as far as the Hydaspes, and had forced the Saka satraps to do him homage. But the expedition was only a military demonstration (so unimportant that Justin does not mention it), and Parthia, unlike Bactria,
wisely confined herself to affairs north of the Hindu-Kush. Hence Menander's conquests provoked no opposition from Mithradates and his successors, who had their hands already

makes

connects both with ^ Bactria (160-130 B.C.). I. and Mithradates that suppose 3 There is no reason to

In the same way, I infer that Menander and the great Saka monarchs could hardly have been contemporaries, or else one would have quickly crushed out the other. But Menander's campaigns were against Magadha, not against the Sakas.
full.

Hi

i;i8

BACTRIA

MENANDER TO END OF GBEEK RULE

teachers o! every creed."

119

magniof thousands of and splendid with hundreds moimtamthe like aloft rise ficent mansions, which streets are filled with peaks of the Himalayas. Its and foot-passengers, and elephants, horses, carriages,
crowded by men
cries of

The author

of the Ques-

tions certainly preserves a tradition of the phenomenal prosperity of the Bactrian Greeks of his day, and constant references are made to their high social

of all sorts

nobles, artificers,

'\^

to the men of each o the resort of the leading for the sale of there are the different sects. Shops stuffs, and of other Benares muslin, of Kotumbara sweet odours are exhaled cloths of various kinds ; and

welcome

and conditions-Brahmins with and servants. They resound and creed, every teachers of

the city is

Hindu contemporaries. "Wifes of Yonakas, nobles, and Brahmins," are classed together as "delicate women'' in more than one passage. Evidently the " Yonaka " was no barbarian, but had secured a high rank in Indian society. It is not known, of course, when the Milinda embraced Buddhism, but the evidence of the coins, and the
status

among

their

o>

of flowers and from the bazaars, where all sorts Jewels are there in fumes are tastefully set out. in all sorts o finery plenty, and guilds of traders which face all bazaars goods^ in the

per-

flourishing state of his capital at the time, seems to indicate that he was already a great conqueror, ruling

over a far larger empire than his immediate predePerhaps we may suppose the conversion to cessors.

display their ^ quarters of the sky." exaggerates, This description

of

have taken place after his conquest

of

Western India,

no doubt, the wealth

uable any rate preserves a va As capital. the Greek tradition of the splendour of tradmg opulent an as we should expect, it is described and of Bactra, where east centre, like the parent city and Chma, Alexandria. west travellers from Europe, an refers writer the and ; India, met to barter knowfor eagerness interesting way to the proverbial to with his " cries of welcome
Sagala, but
it

at

but prior to his expedition into the Gangetic plain. A realistic touch is added to the account of the coming describes of the Buddhist mission to Sagala ; the writer white the among fro and the monks as they flitted to
Ionic pillars of the citadel of the great Indo-Greek, ** lighting up the glistenmg in the tropical sun, as
city with their yellow robes like

lamps, and bringing

down upon

it

the breezes from the heights where

ledge of the Greek,

1

iiv., PP. 2. . I* " POWe Sacred BooJcs of the East, voL and Menander that memories of ^'^f^^^'^'^'l^^^^ Kus&vatl and >* of the royal city of

descriptions
r, a Sudassana.

man who ruled a righteous ' '''^ j^^j^ Sudaisana Kshatriya. anomted , -^^ an righteousness, >f Such 8*?'^ descnp the Ea,t, vol xi.).
u a .

w kmg

nf kines of

to&^fm ^
.

the sages dwell." Probably the earliest of Menander's achievements was to recover the Indian domains of Demetrius, and Strabo refers to an account given by Apollodorus of

Artemita of
1

this.^
xi.,

Sutta (Sacred Booh, of

however, not tions of the Ideal City are,

uncommon

m Buddh.t

territory in India

conquered more (i.e., Demetrius and Menander) got possession not only of Pattalene (Sind), but
Geog., XI.
1
:

"The

chiefs of Bactria
.

than Alexander.

They

and Jain

literature.

^'M

120

BAOTEIA

MENANDER TO END OF GREEK RULE

frontier troubles.

121

numerous Greek

against the This involved, no doubt, a campaign and Saka princelings of the Panjab,

With the Scythians on the one hand and the Syrians on the other, he wisely resisted
the temptation to prosecute further conquests beyond the Hindu-Kush. On the other hand, the great Saka kingdom, which became so powerful in the next generation,

who were

overlordship of forced to acknowledge the

transferrmg to Menander Sagala, the latter probably nominal) as " satraps less their allegiance (more or of Menander's early important most The of Parthia. of Pattalene and reduction the was undertakings

Kachh), and Another campaign Surashtra (the Kathiawar coast). of Kapisa and annexation the to the north led to in the regions Khotan, of borders territory on the " Seres and Phrynoi." The object Mongolian of the merely the acquisition of these expeditions was not ; by the extension of his power to
of fresh territory

to the Gulf of Sigerdis (the coast-line from Karachi settlement of of the solitary Saka

had not yet arisen. The scattered Saka tribes, shaken by the invasion of Mithradates, to whom they had sworn a more or less nominal allegiance, remained to a in a semi-independent condition, an easy prey
conqueror.

harder task, however, awaited Menander in Central and Eastern India. Pushyamitra, the commander-in-chief of the Mauryas, had already been which nearly thirty years at the head of the kingdom had wrested from the degenerate successors of the

he

important trade the north Menander secured the plan of Alexander's followed he with China, while and at bank Indus the along tribes the conquering

great Chandragupta.

During this time he had considerably restored the ancient glories of the kingdom was more of PataUputra, which, though less extensive,
compact than in the days of Asoka. Its frontier forts on the south lined the banks of the Narmada ;^ on the west it was bounded by the Saka satrapy of Mathura. was Bhilsa, where the king's son ruled as viceroy,
probably the frontier town of the south-west border. b.o. that It appears to have been about the year 155 of kingdom great the Menander determined to invade Asoka of achievement the emulate the west, and try to
in conquering the whole of Northern Hindustan.

mouth of the river The possession reasons.

the

for

of

commercial is always seaport a

similar

and the trade indispensable to industrial prosperity, the Persian and Indus between the mouth of the of Darius I. days the since considerable Gulf had been the oputhis wise policy is visible in

The

result of

passage of the lence of Sagala, referred to in the Questions already quoted. rival in the Mithradates I., Menander 's only serious
^

west,
of the

was

fully

occupied

by inter nal

reform and

motive was partly a religious one.

deserted

His Pushyamitra had

Buddhism

for the older religion of his ancesis

kingdoms

of Saraostos

coast-line (of Bind).

of the

and Sigerdis and the rest of the ApoUodorus caQs Bactria the ornament

The Nerbudda, which

3).

Arian land.

They extended their empire to the Seres

of the

Mal<wikagnirmtra

(see

usually taken to be the Madakin V. A. Smith, Hist. India,

ohap. viil, note

and Phrynoi."

'

122
tors,

BACTEIA

MENANDER TO END OF GEEEK RULE

country where
it
;

123

rallying-point of a and made his kingdom the all the zeal of a recent great Brahminical revival. With been inspired with a convert, Menander must have

ascendancy of the creed of desire to restore the ancient and the proselytizing Land, Gautama in the Middle
character of
desire.

Buddhism naturally accentuated

if

that

lenge the ruler's On this particular occasion the to seize the animal. to have strayed as far as appears consecrated beast have crossed the stream. to and Sindhu, the river his aggresMenander had probably by this time begun
sions by laying siege to

wandered any rival wishing to chalsupremacy might do so by attempting

Pushyamitra, driven them out of or insulted the Buddhists, had

Central India.
.

he had not actually persecuted

Madhyamik^

(near Chitor,

was viewed the other hand, Menander's advance of the subjects with apprehension by the orthodox remarkin a Gargi-samhitd, monarch. The

On

Sunga

then: forebodings able passage, gives utterance to after reducing ** Yavanas, valiant When the viciously

no doubt, Rajputana).* A party of Greeks, belonging, up the take to temerity the had to the investing army, party, defending The horse. the challenge by attacking to managed grandson, king's the under Vasumitra, the and barbarians, beat off the " viciously valiant " acquitted themhundred young Rajput nobles evidently The dramatist leader. their youthful

Mathura reach the Saketa, the Panchala country, and will be reduced kingdom the Pataliputra, at seat royal
to chaos."

selves well under enthusiastically to represents the old king as writing at Bhilsa. mformmarches the of his son, the warden

ing

between curious reference to an early encounter monarch Indian the and the advancing Greeks Malavikagnimitra. occurs in the historical drama, the man, had deterold an now was who Pushyamitra, the completion of his conquest of Central

mined to mark

of BudIndia (and, incidently, his utter renunciation Brahminiancient the of dhist principles) by a revival of the "horse sacrifice," the Asva-medha.

and bidding him to been so manfully the sacrifice of the horse, which had does not appear to preserved. Menander, however, his meteoric proin have received any serious checks kingdom of ancient the and Oude (Saketa) gress. this must and advance, Yavana the Mathura fell before of the Sunga withdrawal speedy the have necessitated evacuafrom the frontier town of Bhilsa, and the

him

of the boy's achievement,

forces

cal

ceremony The ceremony consisted

letting
it

of consecrating a horse

and

guard.

mounted loose for a year, attended by a The horse roamed at will, and thereby sym-

Bharut country. Menander;sjk5^ ^^^^ "^^^^ tS-tha^suro to ho wevei^-iid nnt ntnp had pene--SS^^dhirrealms farther than any Greek ambition the by perhaps, animated, trated before, and
tion of the
PatanjaJi gives The contemporary grammarian " The Yavana was besieging Saketa the Yavana was tences,
1
:

over the bolized the entire control of the consecrator

" Like all 1 See Cunningham, Num. Chron., 1870, p. 224. relating to the Puranio references, it is in the future, though Ixiii.). past " (Bapson, Coins of the Andhras,

two sen-

examples of the Imperfect Tense, besieging Madhyamik^," as just taken place. which indicates an event which has

MENANDER TO END OF GREEK RULE

124

125

BACTRIA

prototype Asoka and to rival the exploits of hie great in the empire of restore the supremacy of Buddhism
Pataliputra itself. the Maury as, he pushed on to Son, but it is imthe Tradition says that he crossed historic capital the attacked probable that he actually far as he did as got only he Probably of Middle India. by various other troubles (notably an attack

conquered Strabo, rather incredulously, **he must have himself." Alexander more nations than
achievement Strabo rightly reckons Menander's real of Demekingdom the of reconquest the to have been mouth of triusthe Panjab, Pattalene (Sind), and the
writing, perthe Indus. The author of the Periplus, Menander's that haps, a couple of centuries later, says in Broach, circulation in were still
silver

owing

to

drachm

distracted /the Raja of Kalinga upon Magadha), which attempt an of fate The usual / Pushyamitra's attention. Men-j overtook Greeks the at imperial policy among

ander.

"

The

fiercely-fighting Greeks,"
:

we are

comwhich shows that he fully developed the seaward seems He up. opened had conquests his merce which advantages of reopento have appreciated equally the
ing the trading routes with China.^ end Menander died some years later. Towards the example the followed have of his life he appears to made his model, and of Asoka, whom he apparently to have taken the throne, the without reliquishing is not uncommon It monk.^ Buddhist the robes of Buddhist countries for a man to devote
in

told,|

a fierce strifel \ " did not stay long in the Middle Land miserable^ The country." own their in out \ had broken
princelings of the

Pan jab, incapable

of appreciating

had, as the magnificent schemes of their overlord, faction suicidal their into one of \ usual, broken out giving been have may The Saka satrapies ^fights. heteroa that likely hardly was It trouble as well.

Hindu and

would geneous and scattered realm like Menander's Menanits ruler. of absence the in rest at long remain Pushyamitra did der beat a hasty retreat. The veteran f orces,~-the Yavana 'cnot long survive his repulse of the 1 invaders of India till Vasco da Gama, last European Menander was Calicut. 1 ,500 years later, appeared off monarchs ; Bactrian the of powerful one of the most of any indeed, there are only four of them who are Euthydemus, real historical importanceDiodotus I.,
1
ll

his later years

in

this

way

to

religious exercises.

Death found him in the

field,

engaged no doubt in

order among the the interminable task of keeping asserts that Tradition Panjab. petty rajas of the of an Arhat, the rank the attained he death before Buddhist reUgion, highest degree of sainthood of the
Paropamisus. lomanea would hardly mix them up with the however, Soanua, (Jumna) is a plausible conjecture. I prefer, great distance would The PataUputra. on raid the to referring " Hypanis " is apparently the account for Strabo's surprise. Appendix Y. (e), Beas (Hyphasis). For the original passage see
pp. 163-164.

the Demetrius, and Menander. '* If he really crossed says Soanus,"* the reached Hypanis to the east, and

Menander a European 2 Qeog., XI. xi., 1. MSS. read laamus. Some conjecture crossed the Hinudayas. Strabo never Menander but ImoMs;
1

If

we can

call

The Phrynoi and Seres of Strabo. The Chinese Emperor, Hsiao Yen,
p. 138.

did the same.

Giles,

Chinese Lit,

126

BACTRIA
his ashes, like those of the

MENANDER TO END OF GREEK RULE

His
coins,

127

Buddha, were eagerly disputed for by the states over which he had ruled. Finally, as in the former case, a compromise was Buddhist effected, and, according to the common

and

which are found all over Western and North- Western India in great quantities/ testify to His. favourite emblem seems to be his prosperity. the goddess Pallas,^ who appears on eighty-four out
of

practice, the relics

were divided, and carried away stupas in the districts of the under to be deposited
recipients.

ninety-five

of

the

specimens

in

the

Calcutta

Plutarch^ has, curiously, preserved an account of oriental his death, which is in agreement with the

Museum. Pallas, who also figures on the coins of Demetrius, may have been the family emblem, as Zeus was of the Diodoti. At any rate, she is appropriate

story

" A certain Menander mled

p^fttflfl

mth_ea^^
.daangLA, cam-

the^Jactrians -ajnl digd in the

field

paiga^ Tk

in Qther_,reapectfl^4Q^^Q^ together

enough to the powerful monarch, famed both as a soldier and a scholar. She appears in various guises sometimes armed, or hurling the thunderbolt at the king's enemies ; while on the reverse victory
:

in_celebratin^is obse<gLuies,_Ml^o^^^
dispjita_arofle^which was^ jJter_sp^^^^ difficulty^settled

each was to take back an equal share of his ashes, that memorials ^ of the man might be set up among them all." Thus perished

on the following terms

the **soldier-samt" of Bactria, renowned alike for his equity, his statesmanship, his military prowess,

holds out a wreath for the victorious general. Many device, of the coins, especially those of the elephant resemble Hercules,^ of figure the or those bearing appears very closely those of Demetrius.^* Menander and to have to have been a descendant of Demetrius, The inherited his soldierly abilities and ambitions.

and his learning in matters secular and sacred.

" In

t
\

the whole of the Jambu-dipa," says the author of

king himself generally appears armed. His features a man are coarse, and do not appear to be those of have coins Buddhist His descent. of pure Hellenic

the Questions,

there was none to be compared to He was endowed with riches Milinda Raja. ... power in a state of the military and guarded by
*'

been already mentioned. His death, as may be well supposed, was a signal kingdom. A for a general disruption of the Bactrian
host of petty princes,
1

known only by

their coins,

utmost efl&ciency."
Gerenda, p. 821. This aocomit In the tract similar story found at JB, strangely enough^ corro bprMed by_a the end of a Siamese version on the MilindaTPanEa. This it also the authority for Milinda being an Arhat at his death. Certainly his fimeral was such as a reputed Arhat would enjoy. Others, however, find a parallel in the obsequies of Alexander.

De Bepuhliea

This is the There are seventy-four in the British Museum. is next (Eucratides Greeks Bactrian the highest number among coins the British with sixty-two), but far short of Azes, of whose Museum has over two hundred. Ninety-five of Menander'a
coins are at Calcutta.
E.g.j
s *

9 Mpr)filai.e.t

stupas or d&gabas (for the original text, see

8-18. Gardner, British Museum Catalogue^ Plate XI. Gardner, op. citj XII. 6. Gardner, III. 2.

Appendix

V.).

128

BACTRIA

MENANDER TO END OF GREEK RULE

AUTHOBITIES.

129

ruled in different parts of the Panjab ; and eventually the paramount power in the north-west passed from " the Greeks to the so-called " Indo-Parthian princes
of

Taxila,

who
is

attained

a considerable degree of

prosperity under their

prince Maues,

"Moga

the

has been written about the great See Vincent Smith, Early x., and Th^ Questions of and ix., viii., chaps, India, History of Books of the Milinda, translated by Dr. Rhys Davids, Sacred
It is curious

how

Uttle

Bactrian

monarch Menander.

Great," as he

styled in a contemporary inscription. Greek rule lingered faintly on for about two centuries Inscriptions in Buddhist after Menander*s death.

Eduard Meyer's article in the new edition East, xxv.-xxvi. useful summary. of the Encyclopcedm Britannica is a

caves up to the second century a.d. mention gifts by Yavana converts, who, significantly enough, bear

Indian names.

which had

finally

Finally, the Yue-chi, the Turki tribe become the masters of Bactria,

driving their Saka predecessors before them, began Long residence to advance towards the Hindu-Kush.
in a settled habitation
i

had converted these wandering nomads into a powerful and well-organized nation. They had adopted Buddhism, and acquired a veneer The Bactrian Greeks of Indo-Greek civilization.
were the
first to

submit.

Hermseus, " the

last of the

Bactrians," gladly put himself under the sovereignty of the Kushan leader, Kadphises.^ For his lifetime he remained a roi faindant, and coins were struck at
titles of the Scythian on the one and the portrait of the Greek on the other. The latest coins Lastly, the Greek ruler disappears. of Kadphises, bearing on the one side the Bactrian camel, and on the other the Indian bull, mark significantly enough the final absorption of the Bactrian Greek kings of India by their ancient enemies of

Sagala bearing the

side

the northern steppes.^

*

Kadphifees

I.

(Kujulakarakadphises).

Circa

a.d. 50.

EFFECTS OF GREEK OCCUPATION

clutches of

131

men whose trade was war, and who cared understood less of, any other. The Greeks and little for, had been forced to abandon their territories north of the Hindu-Kush because they had been " drained dry of blood *' by incessant war, and the same process was repeated in India. They suffered the same fate which

CHAPTER
I

VIII

had overtaken Sparta some four centuries

earlier.

THE EFFECTS OF THE GREEK OCCUPATION ON INDIA

" The East

bowed low before the blast In patient, deep disdain She let the legions thunder past, And plunged in thought again."

than three centuries after the Macedonian legionaries first struck terror into the Aryans of the Panjab, the last traces of Greek rule in India disappear

And

so, less

Another equally powerful factor in obliterating Greek rule in India was the gradual process of absorption to which the coins bear such vivid witness. From Eucratides to HermsBus we perceive a steady decline of the Greek element in these records of artistic and national feeling. Greek weights and standards give place to Indian inscriptions become more Indian systems usual, while their Greek equivalents begin to show
;

signs of corruption

the figures betray, with increasing

It

from the page of history. dwmdling for us the melancholy story of the gradual and final extinction of the miserable remnants of the
once
irresistible soldiery of

No

written records preserve

frequency, the handiwork of the native craftsman.

is

Alexander

but

it is

not

what was happening the Greek, cut off from his home and all chance of intercourse with his countrymen, was intermarrying with
tolerably easy to conjecture
his neighbours, with the usual effect.^

Grsecodifficult to reconstruct from the numerous their of history the Indian coins handed down to us cause. the partly was fighting Uownfall. Incessant
^

biter

m arriage

Jhe "viciously valiant Yavanas," to use the contemptuous phrase of a Sanskrit writer, were for ever at war with their neighbours, when not engaged in the equally absorbing pastime of flying at one
another's throats.

This inherent vice of the successors empire caused its disintegration vast to Alexander's everywhere. The great conqueror's premature death had prevented him from undertaking any kind of constructive
policy,

between conqueror and conquered nearly always results in the absorption of the former (who are generally, as in this case, a mere handful compared with the original inhabitants), as may be seen by a glance at the remnants of Dutch and Portuguese rule in the East to-day. The very fact that Kadphises shared the throne with Hermseus seems to indicate that Scythian and Greek
^ Alexander, it will be remembered, encouraged intermarriage with the natives and set the example himself. It is noteworthy that inscriptions from Buddhist caves of the first century a.d. always refer to " Yavanas " with Hindu names (Appendix III.).

and his possessions

180

fell

into

the

132

BACTBIA
readily.

EFFECTS OF GEEEK OCCUPATION

none
of the

133

amalgamated

The cosmopolitan descendants

course, of Alexander's colonists had, of

all nonHellenic exclusiveness which formerly dubbed kind of '* any shunned and barbarians," Greeks as hand, other the On them. with intercourse

influence of formed a very exaggerated opinion of the course, to of easy, is It the EastTJ Greek culture upon legends the between close, less or more find parallels,

social

the respectable the conservatism which distinguishes in Hindu of to-day was probably very much less enalmost dates evidence in the first century a.d. ; it
tirely

the and speculations of both countries. The story of resemblance rape of Helen in the Iliad bears a general the Orphic to the central theme of theJSamo^a; justice are retributive ancT doctrines of metempsychosis the basis formed have which very similar to the theories
of

Brahminical reactioq? of some two speaking. centuries after the time of which we are now so disappeared have races few that It is a curious fact

from

^e

Hindu

Upanishads.

the religious speculation since the time of There is no solid ground, however, for

utterly in India as the Greeks.

We have,

very prob-

Hindu supposing that during the Bactrian period either of literature or Greek knew much of the language or
the other.

I'

in the Jats^ of ably, representatives of the Scythians few of their the Panjab. The Parsees, who brought very

The Greeks were notoriously

scornful of

their mdifemales in their flight from Iran, retain

viduality completely.*

The Greeks,
from Indian

soil

then, as a political factor, disappeared before the end of the first century a.d.
to a further question
:

and for an the achievements of the "barbarians,"^ have would days those in Sanskrit outsider to learn Brahminical to owing impossibility, been a sheer in that opposition to and the lack of written works
language.

We now
West
)

come

Bid the

Grftflk

ojscupation

h^Q

Indian art ULJitarature ?

affect, to

anv effect^upon ibflLiieyelopment^f Did the contact with the

of

was the real knowledge about India, resident in the even of a Greek who had been long as that of remarks such from gathered country, may be

How superficial

any appreciable degree, the progress

East ?

civilization in the

On

this subject there

has

long been a difference of opinion,

discoveries
of
similarities,

^riters like Weber of their enthusiasm the by away carried Niese, and
often

purely

fortuitous,

Megasthenes that the Indians worshipped Hercules to and Dionysus.2 The Hindus were equally indifferent to repugnant Greek influence, which was essentially made only and tradition, the exclusive Brahminical dwellers in the Panfelt among the cosmopolitan
itself

have between the art and literature of India and Greece,

same word as " Getee," in aU probability. Others, them with the Zanthii of Strabo, or the Cnnningham, Arch. Survey Beports, II., 54/. latii of Pliny. 2 For foreign elements in India and the process by which
1

Jat

is

the

less plausibly, identify

Though resident for 1 Ctesias is another notorious instance. unwilling, to learn years at the Persian Court, he was unable, or documents enough of the Avesta tongue to read the invaluable
history

Bhandarkar's able paper in the they were absorbed, see Mr. Indian Antiquary, January, 1911.

consequence his which must have then been accessible. In is a valueless mass of legends. The legend connect2 Hercules was the mace-bearing Shiva. persistent. most was India with ing Dionysus

184
jab.

BACTEIA
Considerably later, probably in the second and

EFFECTS OF GEEEK OCCUPATION

Hindu
writers be-

135

third centuries after Christ,

we

find

traying a certain acquaintance with Greek astronomy but it is doubtful whether this implies a knowledge of

the prominent, have been disposed to deny that mfluence appreciable any Bactrian Greeks exerted occupaupon India whatever. They contend that the Eucratides followed who Greeks the by India
tion of

Greek by Indian philosophers, as no other branches of Indian learning (Logic for instance), show any signs
of western influence.^

Professor

Weber quotes

in sup-

port of his contention a statement of St. Chrysostom (a.d. 117). St. Chrysostom writes as follows: "It is
said that the poetry of

commercial and Menander was purely a military and just as matter; and the invaders were swept away, swept been had the relics of Alexander's invasion behind traces permanent away, without leaving any
them.
Writers
.

Homer

who had
modes
of
i

translated

it

sung by the Indians, into their own language and

is

who hold

this view argue that

it is

not likely

of expression.

with the woes

of

They are not unacquainted . . . Priam, and the weeping and wailing
heroic feats of

and their that rough and illiterate Macedonian descendants half-caste) (probably in many instances
soldiers

Andromache and Hecuba, and the

Achilles and Hector, so potent was the influence of

what man had sung."^

Hi

This assertion, however, need not be taken very seriously it is probably based upon travellers' stories of the general resemblances of the Hindu epics to Greek tales. Similar statements, of no greater value, are found in Plutarch and ^lian.*
;

would have any great knowledge of Greek literature, much less imbue their neighbours with a taste for it. They inscription point out, moreover, that not a single Greek unearthed in belonging to the Bactrian period has been
India,

Plutarch
civilized

says that

through

Alexander

Asia

was

and they come to the conclusion that palpable been found evidences of an active Hellenism have not dynasties," Greek " these of history The in the East. subject this on article important an of says the writer and Encyclopedia, " is for us almost a blank,
in the

new

and Homer became known there; -^lian asserts that the Indians and Persians have translated the poems of Homer, **if we may believe those who have written on these subjects." The extravagant theories of Weber, Windisch, Niese,

for estimating the

amount and
is

quality of Hellenism in

Bactria,

hypotheses upon true; the undeniably the scantiest data." This like a hang unhappily which thick mists of obscurity,

we are reduced

to building

pall

upon the early history

of India,

make anythmg
But this very Greek influence and one or two
that

and

others, led to a natural reaction.

is

Later writers,

among whom Mr. Vincent Smith

*

perhaps the most

approaching to certainty impossible. deny fact makes it almost as rash to

in toto as to
;

Apparently the Hindus knew something about Greek medicine at an earlier date. a Or,y LIII., McCrindle, Ancient India, p. 177. 554. 8 Fer. Hw^., XII., 48.
X

make too much of it probable considerations make it appear highly

not altogether the the Greek settlers in India were " illiterate military colonists" that the anti-Hellenists

136

BACTKIA
to

EFFECTS OF GREEK OCCUPATION

137

have been. First and distinguish the which coins foremost, the splendid the work of an been have only can Bactrian empire Tarn,i one of the W. Mr. W. race. cultivated extremely opponents of the Hellenic theory, is driven to the somewould have us suppose them

many valuable twelve months have brought to light views upon our considerably modifying discoveries, The famous Gandhara sculptures art.
Grffico-Indian

Greek occupabelong, of course, not to the period of the rule of prosperous and the more settled
tion,

but to

what desperate expedient

\l

of declaring

them

to be a

" sport," the result of a spasmodic outburst of genius. That they were, on the contrary, the product of a
highly
1,1

succeeded them. the powerful Scythian mpnarcbs who of indigenous product the of art But were these works

\\
i/

workmen, descendants

of the Bactrian

Greeks whose

artistic

nation

is

far

more probable.

The

traditions of

Menander and

his capital at Sagala, as

preserved in the Milinda Panha, appear to indicate that the Bactrian Greeks were a cultured nation
at the time of their greatest prosperity.

The

descrip-

show tion of the Greek monarch's court seems to conqueror, semi-barbarous mere that he was not a but a ruler who, if he did not seek to rival the
!

expression in artistic powers found such magnificent outsiders, called their coins, or were they the work of Perhaps purpose ? in from distant countries for the than generally more Bactrian Greeks were employed underthese with connection is usually supposed in that imIt does not appear to be likely
takings.^

great numbers ported artists were employed in the the numthat would have been required to execute
berless
friezes,

!l

Ptolemies or the Seleucids, at any rate upheld the traditions of Hellenic civilizaThe fact that long tion in a not unworthy manner. after the extinction of Greek rule their Scythian
great
cities

statues,

and

bas-reliefs

which have

of the

inscription been discovered. On the other hand, an ^ shows 1909 in Bhilsa near discovered by Mr. Marshall Bactrian the of rule the during very clearly that
in India, kings Bactro-Greek workmen were employed protechnical being lent, no doubt, on account of their is which inscription, This ficiency, to Indian rajas. question the of study the in the utmost importance
of of
pillar Greek influence on Indian art, was found on a follows : as runs It Garud. of image an surmounted by *' On behalf of Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Saviour, this King of Samkasya, King Chandradasa caused the by made be pillar of Vasudeva, God of Gods, to

h
A

use Greek or semi-Greek seems to show that the coins their on inscriptions
successors continued
to

language had considerable prestige in Sagala, and perhaps other towns of Western India it may even have been the court language of the Indo- Scythian and IndoParthian rulers. The paucity of Greek inscriptions of the period does, indeed, lend some colour to Mr. Tarn's
;

assertions

too

much
is

of

but even here, though we must not' make the fact, we should remember that
is still

Garud

archeology in India
Valley

in its

infancy the Kabul

even the"
last

practically

untouched

and

See Appendix III.

Appendix III. J.B.A.8., 1909, p. 1053/.; vide

-^

J.E,S., vol. xxu., p. 268.

3 Ibid., p. 1092.

188

BACTKIA
effect

EFFECTS OF GREEK OCCDPATION

that
it

139
at

Greek, Heliodorus, son of Dion, of Taxila, a worshipper

of

was made by "Agesilaos, overseer

Bhagavat, who had been sent by the Maharaja

Here, then, we have very strong evidence of the

Antialkidas."
existence of Bactro-Greek sculptors.

Heliodorus

is

no outsider

from the West. He is a subject of Antialkidas,^ and, what id still more remarkable, a convert to Hinduism, which points unmistakably to his eastern origin. Further proof is found in the likeness between much of the Gandhara work and the A Triton group coins of the later Bactrian kings.
called in

Kaniska Vihara."! Kaniska was a fervent supporter of Buddhism. direcDuring his reign shrines sprang up in every adaptable the and India, tion in North-Western his Greek workman of the East was as ready to use scenes, technical skill for the portrayal of Buddhist accommodate themas his western kinsmen were to Isis, and the selves to the foreign deities, Mithra, find a place to began time rest, who about the same Indo-Greek the Moreover, Pantheon.^ in the Roman
culture which thus

with serpent legs (evidently a reminiscence of the

Pergamene
'!

sculptures), in the

Lahore Museum,

re-

sembles very remarkably a similar design on coins

of Hippostratus.*

became associated with Buddhism Recent spread far beyond the borders of Hindustan. present at explorations have unearthed, in what are
remains of vast sandy^steppes in distant Khotan,

Marine subjects, Tritons fighting with gods, and so forth, are commonly used for decorative purposes, just as Poseidon and other
maritime subjects appear on Bactrian coins. Antimachus, it will be remembered, struck coins bearing
the figure of Poseidon.
It is curious to find sculptures

"once populous

where fragments of Buddhist character are mingled Kharoshthi manuscripts in the of an unmistakbas-reliefs and with seals, carvings,
cities,

ably Greek type.^

It
is

difficult to

estimate, with

the evidence

we

\
I

of this character in

miles from the coast.

kingdoms so many hundreds of It has been suggested that the

Indian art have, the precise nature of the debt of

to

Greece.

It

is

true

that

we have no

artistic

ii
I

of the

Greeks never got over their first surprise at the sight mighty Indus, which appeared to them more A peculiarly like an inland sea than a river. beautiful example of Grseco-Indian workmanship was the priceless reliquary discovered by Dr. Spooner in the remains of the great Stupa of Kaniska, near
Peshawar, in 1909.
a Greek
artist,

Alexandrian remains in India which belong to the pre(272Asoka of time the before The truth is, period.
1

Gandhara adapt^rent

This, again,
it

was the work

of

for
B.C.
e.g.t

bears an inscription to the

le benefice des pieux donateurs du type d'ApoUon ^ la representation des les petits-cousms de ceux divinit^s bouddhiques, semblent bien persan au bonnet Mithra le coiffaient ^poque qui vers le meme et donnaient au J^sus des Cata. phrygien de Ganymede Pasteur" (Foucher, UArt les traits d'Orph^e ou du bon

"

J.BA.8., 1909, p. 1058. Lea sculpteurs qui pour

le

combs

170
See,

du Oa/ndharat
Gardner, Plate XIV.
6.

I.

Kkotan, Aurel Stein, Scmd-hv/ried Cities of

p. 396, etc.

Ll

^
140
231
B.C.)

BACTEIA
stone was very
little
;

EFFECTS OF GEEEK OCCUPATION

141
shock,

used for sculpture in the Bhilsa carvings and other early Buddhist work we can still plainly trace the influence of wood-carving The " Buddhist rail in the treatment of the stone.^
pattern,
for

electric impetus to India; it was like an of life, after the lethargy new to land th "waking vigorous The peace. countless years of undisturbed which saw the beginrule of the Maurya monarchs,

instance,

is

an imitation in stone

of

an actual wooden

railing,

used in earlier times for

was nings of a great Indian renaissance, the Gandhara, But invasion. the result of Alexander's
architecture and sculpture, or Indo-Greek school of and influenced India very is almost entirely foreign, artists, patronized It was the work of foreign little. swept away in completely by foreign kings, and was century a.d. fourth the of the Brahminical revival high art, very not are sculptures The Gandhara point of ^aew, Indian the or Greek from either the to the student though they are of immense interest the legends do, as they of Buddhism, recording, a unique in Gautama and episodes of the life of

indirectly

{
^

fencing in the stupa. On the other hand, it would be impossible to say that the Greeks taught India the art of carving in stone, as the earliest stone

monunfents, the Bhilsa carvings and the Asoka pillar at Sarnath, show no signs whatever of Greek influence ; the latter is obviously Persian rather than Greek.

The same

applies to Indian architecture

the earliest

Karla caves, show no traces of The Indo-Greek school of the Greek influence.^ Kushan period, with its Corinthian and Ionic pillars and stucco ornaments, is a purely local and exotic
structures, like the
t

product.
perly

The

practice of using regular coins, pro-

stamped and shaped, in the place of rude punch-marked ingots, may have been introduced by the Indians, however, never excelled in the Greeks the art of coining, and their best coins were only clumsy imitations of Greek models. While, then, we may safely deny that the Bactrian Greeks, or other **Yavana*' settlers, exercised any appreciable in;

manner.^ , are confronted Turning from art to literature, we post-Grecian literature with the question whether the with the influenced by the contact
of

India was already shown how Bactrian invaders. It has been any traces of detect to futile have been the efforts often claimed is it but times such influence in earlier
;

1.

shows that the Indian drama, at least,

much

clearer

fluence

on Indian

art, it is

important to realize that

the contact with

1

the West imparted an

still

immense

perfectly possible that signs of western contact. It is and perhaps other Greek plays were acted at S^gala, been occasionhave may even

Indo-Greek
1

citieB,^

and

Wooden And

groins of great antiquity

span the roof of the

Chaitya
2

at Karle.
yet, curiously

No

Greece? idoUtry come to India from Did the are found gods, Hindu any of or sculptures of Buddha,
the practice of

pious
'lit

gifts, if

enough, they were largely due to the not the actual work, of '* Yavanas," vide Appen-

early

dix III.
is

In the same

way

the

Garud

pillar,

aheady

referred to,

quite Indian in style.

Hindu or Buddhist remains. after Alexander's myasion, Plutarch (Vit. Alex.) states that, and Susians, sang the Gedrosians, .' Persians, of the children Sophocles." tragedies of Euripides and

"

!l

1;

'J

r<

EFFECTS OF GEEEK OCCUPATION

142
ally

143

BACTEIA
often sent to India as presents, or by way of tribute. Weber's attempt to trace in the Mricchakatika the influence of Menander, is about on a par with his

performed in the presence of the Kushan kings, who affected Greek culture. Any a priori arguments as to the improbabilty of the Bactrian Greeks having

"any time
science,
) 1

or energy left for such things as art,

to the anti-

and culture,"^ apply equally well

Hellenic and semi-civilized Parthians; yet everyone knows the story of the company which was acting the

endeavour to connect the Ramayana and the Iliad. As a matter of fact, the florid classical drama of India is no more like the severe austerity of the Greek stage than a Dravidian shrine is like a Greek
temple.

"Bacchse'" before the court when the news of the Battle of CarrhsB arrived. Unfortunately, the evidence Dramas for any direct influence is extremely slight.

Their only point of similarity is the avoidance by both of violent action on the stage. Indian dramas, with then: prologues, their mixture of comic

,-''

were known in India, as we learn from the Mahdhhdshya of Patanjali, at the time when Bactro-Greek rule was flourishing ; but the only plays which have

and pathetic

(the

"clown"

is

a regular feature in

come down
is

to us belong to a

much
**

later period.

The

Indian plays), and their disregard of the " unities," are really far more like the Elizabethan dramas of England. This, as Professor Macdonell remarks, is

introduction of the Yavanikd, or

Greek Curtain," ^

an instructive instance

of

how
It

similar developments

it is

probably due to later Graeco-Roman influence, as improbable that a curtain was used at all on the Greek stage. Similarly, the frequent appearance of

should serve as a warning to those who seize upon every chance coincidence " in to try and detect traces of Hellenic " influence

can arise independently.

India.

"Yavani slaves" on the stage as the attendants of princes represents an everyday feature of Indian Greek girls (from Syria and Egypt) were court-life. 1 W. W. Tarn, J.H.8., 1902, p. 292.
* The term Yavcmikd probably means a curtain made of Greek fabric. The curtain may have been suggested by someone who had seen Boman plays. Yavanls are usually armourthe term, like the French SuisseSt is quite vague. bearers These terms do not indicate Greek influence, but merely that the Yavanas were in India at the time of the rise of the drama.
;

We

are not

now concerned with

the effects of the

later Eoman close intercourse between India and the frequent the by indicated is extent Its empire.

M-

{.
r

references to India by Greek

and Eoman

writers,

and

by the great numbers

ferent

of

Eoman

coins found in dif-

parts

of

the

country.

An

unmistakably

in Oriental cast of thought may be distinguished Chrisearly of phases Neo-Platonism, and in many
tianity.

The drama

certainly flourished at the time of Patanjali, the

;

Alexandria, the

emporium

of eastern trade,

contemporary of Menander it may be as old as Panini (850 B.C.), Fragments of a Buddhist drama, by Asvaghosa, Kaniskha*8 court-poet, have been unearthed in Central Asia (Bapson, Art. Indian Dramat in Hastings* Dictiona/ry of Religion and
Ethics),

was

especially a point of contact.

The anchorites

of

the Egyptian deserts were not very far from the Hylobioi and Sramanaioi, the Brahman and Buddhist On ascetics, mentioned by Clement of Alexandria.

144
<

BACTEIA
On

EFFECTS OF GREEK OCCUPATION

the other hand, the

145
re-

1!

betrays the fact the other hand, Indian astronomy one side. Two on all that the borrowing was not systems, come or Siddhantas, out of five of the Indian is obviously Siddhmta Eomaka The from the West. based on probably is Siddhanta Paulisa western the At (circa a.d. 378). the works of Paul of Alexandria the mto passed one Greek astronomical term has
;

Maurya monarchs, who

no vohitionized the Indian system of government, had been overdealings with the Persian empire, which had thrown before their advent ; with the Hellenic world,
on the contrary, the Mauryas were always in the closest Some of the semi-Hellenic monarchs of the touch.
Middle East in the post-Alexandrian period, were in " to show " the habit of assuming the title of Philhellen might title This their sympathies with Greek culture. and Chandragupta have been appropriately borne by
his successors.

least

classical

language

of India.^

political inDid the Greek invasion exercise any interesting least the not is This ? fluence upon India

within the scope of the present of the questions falling

probable that Alexander discussion. It seems more than demonstrated to the taught India what he had already a great world-wide of West, and that is, the idea
to

with

pride, it is said, his

Chandragupta himself used to recall meeting with the great con-

which appear monarchy replacing the petty city-states Aryan comprimitive in universal almost
munities.

may be argued, of course, that Chandrathe of the Maurya dynasty, and founder gupta, the Chakkavattt great ideal of the first to try and realize the " Universal King," did not need the example the Raja, He might have obtained his ideas from of Alexander. and the use of Perthe older Achremenian monarchy, on Indian coins, (satrap) chhatrapa as sian terms, such
It

have been

of how queror in his youth, and a significant story tells the Macewhich altars gigantic the at worshipped he Hyphasis donians had erected on the banks of the a married before they turned back. Chandragupta Megasthenes writer Greek Greek princess, and the the was a resident at his court, as Deimachus was at been have Stories Bindusara. successor court of his Indian preserved indicating the intimacy between the and Syrian courts, and exchanges of presents and gifts

wine and drugs are mentioned. that Greek teachers were sent
of

It is

even possible
these

to

instruct

may
1

point in this direction.^

enlightened monarchs
All things considered,

in the

wisdom

of the West.^

KaUdas

pi

on the horoscope, says MaUmath the zodiac-the seventh place 4r<i ( ^pr,l),UeC^ is full of Greek terme-e.fl-.,
Indian astronomy
(HX.OS),

It is used by ^ntini. obviously the Greek Sid^pov. sign f (Kumwrmambhava, Canto VII.) in the sense of

it is

difficult to escape the con-

Jyan

(Z^is),

kriya

(p.'ot),

tdvun. (rovpo,

pathona

word Chakravwrti is, of course, as old as the time of Gautama Buddha. Older monarchs had partially succeeded in subduing like the same then- neighboursc.gr., Ajat&satru, but to nothing
extent as Chandragupta. * The influence of the V^est was strongest under Chandragupta, and died out after Asoka. Of course the court of Chandragupta was no more western than that of an enlightened eastern
prince of to-day
is.

\rpiy<ovo,), etc.

See

Von

Schroeder, Indiens Uteratur

,
.

and

Cultur, p. 726.
a

But

this

in close touch with Bactria,

who were word was borrowed from the Parthians, and not du-ect from Persia. The

10

f
_i.^
f-,

[/

146

BACTEIA
more

have penetrated elusion that Greek ideas must the into India supposed freely than is usually to impossible almost seems it Maurya dynasty, and probability that these rulers owed

>

,i

deny the extreme conceptions. The great to Alexander their imperial all over the East, conqueror's name is stUl remembered have failed hardly can and the magic of his personality his Indian of emulation and to excite the admiration
contemporaries and successors.*

',

H
AUTHORITIES.
by Professor MacdoneD, These are summarized exhaustively Notes to (BibUographical Uteratwre Eiotory of Bamihnt {Ewrly Eutory of InAia) w one chap. xvi.). Mr. V. A. Smith India. theory of Greek influence of the chief opponents of the the Tam. W. W. by article important See also the highly "Notes on HeUenmn Journal of HelUmic Studies, vol. xxU. Foucher Qandhara sculptures, in Bactria and India." For the Bur LaFronMre authority (L'Art du Gamdhara,

APPENDICES

See also Sir W. W. Hunter, Zti,rta Jndo-Afghane, etc.). A ^igUy >mpof ^' Gazetteer of India, 1881. vol. iv., p. 261
article

the leading

on "HeUenism" appears in the eleventh

edition of tne

MneyeloptBdia Britamnica,
1

that Alexander's It should be added, however,

name

is

unknown in Hindu Uterature. It was brought to only touched Mahommedans. Alexander subdued Persia. He
the fringe of India
-jlif

India by the

i,

APPENDIX

EULERS OF BACTRIA
I.

Prehistoric Dynasties of Eastern Iran,

II.

Persian Empire.
Satraps of Bactria,

~^

Persian Kings,

Cyrus,

650629

b.c.

Smerdis,
?

son of

Cyrus,

executed by Cambyses.

Cambyses, 629622

b.o.

Hystaspes
of

(Yistaspa),

father of Darius, satrap

Eastern Iran.

Darius
Xerxes

I.,

I.,

521485 B.C. 486464 b.c.

Dardases.
i.

Masistes (murdered),

ii.

Hystaspes (revolts on
accession
xerxes).
of

A
Artaxerxes
B
C.

Arta-

I.,

464424
B.C.

Xerxes IL,

424423

Secydianus

or

Sog-

dianus, brother of the king, who eventually

murders him.
Darius
II.,

423404

b.c.

149

160
Persim Kings.
Artaxerxes
B.C.
II.,

BACTBIA
Satraps of Bactria.

APPENDIX

161

Kingdom. IV. Bactria as an Independent

M^

404358
358336
b.c.
B.O.

J
? ?

(a)

Kings of Bactria Proper.

I.,

Diodotus

250245

b.c.^

Artaxerxes
B.C.

III.,

Oarees, ?

336335

:\

Darius

III.,

335 330

Bessus,
rius

cousin

of

Da-

Diodotus 11, 245230 b.c. (Antimachus Theos, a pretender.) Euthydemus of Magnesia, 230200
(5)

b.c.

(?).

Kivigs of Bactria

and Sdgala.

Oxyartes (Sogdia) cousin of Darius (?).

IV., and (Bessus assumes the title of Artaxerxes Iran; Eastern of princes the acknowledged by
b.o.)

Demetrius,
Eucratides,

200160 b.c. 160156 b.c.

b.c. (?)

ApoUodotus, 156
Heliocles,

is

156136
B.C.)

B.C.

(Evacuation of Bactria

captured 329328

about 135

(c)
-^^

Kings of Sdgala.

\i^

III.

Bactria under Alexander and his Successors.

Governors of Bactria*

Heliocles, 135 b.c.

?.

'Artabazus.
(Clitus.)
\
I

Menander, Emperor of the whole and Kabul, circa 165130 b.c.

{d)

of the

Panjab

Alexander,
I

328323

b.c.

Amyntas.

Ty riaspes, \ Governors
Oxyartes,
Partition of Triparadisus,
i

of

subordinate Subordinate Monarchs^ (petty rulers principalities small to Bactria or Sdgala, owning
in

Paropamisus.
Soli.

Kabul or Panjab) 160 b.ca.d.

Kabul.
11.

45.

Stasanor of
? I'liiliP? Nicanor.

321

B.C.

Euthydemus
Archebius.

Amyntas.
Hermseus,
last

Greek ruler

Seleucus

I.,

Antiochus
BC

312281 b.c L, 280-261

II.,

Antimachus
?
1

II.

in India, circa a.d. 45.

are mostly purely oonjectiiral
;

The dates here given

authori-

Antiochus
B.C.
iffil

261246

Theodotue (revolted 250

B.C.).

ties differ widely on the subject. try and 2 It is really futile in our present state of knowledge to princes, only known by arrange, still less to date, these petty Vincent Smith, Ea/rly History of India,

their coins.

See Appendices to chap.

ix.

te

:>

152
\\\

BACTRIA
Panjab.

Pantaleon.
Agathocles.
Agathocleia.
Strato

Dionysius.

Artemidorus.

Apollophanes.
Lysias.

Epander.
Nicias.

I
B.C.).

Theophilus.
Hippostratus.
Peucelaus.

Telephus.
Antialcidas.

Strato II.

APPENDIX

II

Plato (165
Zoilus.

Philoxenus.

Diomedes.

COINAGE SOME PROBLEMS RAISED BY THE

OF EUCRATIDES

l<

(Catalogue, etc., p. 19) COIN figured by Gardner trouble to numismatists. has caused a good deal of mscription the older authorities read the

Gardner and

on

" God of the City Of as KARISIYB NAGARA DBVATA, "City of Karisi mysterious Karisi." The identity of the
it

h
!
f

Von Gutschmid caused much expenditure of ingenuity. {Encyclopcedia Aria" in ^'Charis identified it with
Britannica, vol.
xviiL, p. 591, footnote,

column

1).

Questions oj his introduction to the Rhys Davids, " philologically possible Milinda, showed that it was Kalasi on the Indus, the birthto connect it with Professor Rapson,i how! place of Milinda-Menander on the com is not reading the ever, has shown that

This simplifies the problem KARisiYE, but KAvisiYB. given to " is kapisa, the name immensely. " Kavisi

north of the North-Eastern Afghanistan, the country

The suggestion Bapson, J.B.A.8., 1905, p. 784. ApoUocoins were also issued by These Maj-quaxdt. made by comphcates matters This Eucratides. by restruck
1

was

first

Totus

predecessor of Eucratides, who was ApoUodotus ? If he was the he seems to have been have been his murderer. Yet

Id

he cinot a contemporary of Menander.

Cf. pp. 85, 112 n.

153

<;

r ft

.f

t '

till

164

BACTRIA
It is

APPENDIX

n
;

165

'tr
i

Kabul River.

roughly equivalent to the Ki-pin seems to of the Chinese annalists, though Ki-pin Smith, A. p. 220 include part of Kashmir as well (V.
note).

own right, is crowned that Laodice,^ a princess in her Heliocles, bemg on the coins with the royal fillet
merely a prince, has no
in with the views of
insignia.^^

This seems to

fit

hi

The coin in this case was merely struck to celebrate some conquest of Eucratides over the
;

von SaUet and von Gutschmid

and others.
(6)

country to the south of the Parapamisus

perhaps

it

to Gardner, however, has a strong argument

was issued when he had won his great victory over Demetrius for local circulation, to emphasize the change of rulers. the series 2. A more difficult problem is raised by
(Gardner,
Plate
VII.,

urge against this view.

Can we possibly interpret the supposing the inscription in any other way but by stated above view elUpse of the usual TIOS ? The
would be most compels us to supply HATHP, which mutt inscription the if It seems as unnatural. son of "Eucratides, interpretation, bear its natural Laodice," and this view is supported
Heliocles
in the fact that the people figured Heliocles that fact coins are both elderly, and by the lived and died a private citizen,

9-10)
'

bearing

the
'

inscrip-

tions: ETKPATIAHS AAOAIKH2.

It

HAIOKAEOTS

KAI

seems fairly clear that Laodice is princess, and the most reasonable supposition is that she was the daughter of Demetrius by his marriage with the daughter of Antiochus III. This seems fairly
probable
;

a Seleucid

strongly

and by the

is

not

crownedhe

though husband
extremely

and, supposing for the

for granted,
\

moment we take it we are confronted by the problem, Who is

?

The theory is further in Greece xt was that remember confirmed when we

of a princess.

common

to

name a

child after its grand-

the Heliocles of the coins

Perhaps it would be better to classify the views which have been, or may be, held on the subject
I !

We are pretty certain that Eucratides had a father. lends additional probBon named Heliocles, and that
his father ability to the supposition that

was named
^

(a)

Heliocles

is

the son of Eucratides,^

who

after-

Heliocles too.

wards succeeded

It is possible that after him. deposing Demetrius, Eucratides attempted to conprince ciliate his rivals by marrying his daughter to a

If we take of Eucratides represented on the coins are the parents to pomt most seems evidence cumulative the and we are left to curiously in favour of that conclusion
it

as proved that the persons

IMI

of the fallen house,

and

this policy, too,

might prevent

will label choose between two views, which we

(d) respectively.

(c)

and

any trouble with the Seleucid kings.

It is noticeable

1 Professor Ed. Meyer, in the new " probably his son," and the corns celesays that Heliocles is brate his marriage to Laodice, " who may have been a Seleucid

Encyclopedia Britannica^

nval and Eucratides was the grandson of his Laodici, the latter's through Demetrius predecessor the This is a bold view, but may be
(c)

daughur.

princess."

Vide Catalogs, Plate V.,

6-9.

VM.,

Plate VI., 6, 7.

ii
3^.,^^^-|<"-."^'-->.

156
ill'

BACTEIA
Demetrius was married soon
after the

APPENDIX
scribed on p. 98.

II

157

these Agathocles apparently issues

true one.

siege of Bactria,

and Laodic6,

if

she

is

his daughter,
b.o.

might have been born as early as 206

But

in

^Ill^

could hardly that case Eucratides, at the earliest, have strong b.c. have been born before 192 the throne to accession his that grounds for believing of the date the was that as b.c, 174 took place in expressly tells Justin and ; Mithradates of accession throne us (XLI. 6, 1) that they both came to the theory, this to according about the same time. But final only eighteen when he achieved his

We

and commemoration of his royal ancestors medals and Great the Alexander amongst these (they include superand image the bears Diodotus) is one which tried to *' Antiochus Nicator." I have scription of IIL; Antiochus is this that prove on pp. 98-99, descent his Agathocles traces and if so, it seems that kings back to Antiochusof line long through a his Seleucid wife children of Demetrius and

i.e.,

that throne. actually occupied the

he was
victory,

11

This would after a long conflict. mere boy. for a achievement remarkable a certainly be date Again, if this be the case, we must put back the could certainly of the death of Eucratides, as he him and not have had a son old enough to murder XLL 6) Justin, by described declare himself king (as himself was Eucratides date which in 165 B.C., at may date the But hypothesis. this on thirty

and that

under be wrong. theory (d) Perhaps the most tenable

is,

that the

and Heliocles of the corns i the father of Eucratides, the not was latter the that Laodice his mother ; but a but wife, Seleucid his by of Demetrius
daughter
i.

connection relation sister, cousin, or some such when perhaps, Bactria, to her accompanied who had the other On prince. young the to married was she would point hand, Laodice is certainly a name which (the first king Seleucid to direct descent from a of the founder the of mother Laodice was the this of favour in point striking dynasty); and a deAgathocles, of medals the in found is theory (c)

ill

APPENDIX
Besnagar, in Malwa.
I

III
is

159
Dr. Fleet's.

(The translation

For the original see J.R.A.S., 1909,

Buddha

APPENDIX
GKEEK WOKKMEN
Of
ji!

III

Another interesting inscription casket found in Kanishka's stupa at Peshawar, (J.R.A.S., 1909, p. 1058), recording that it was made by ** Agesilaos, overseer of works at Kanishka's {Dasa vihara, in the Sangarama of Mahasena." SangaMahasenasa vihare kaniskasa agisala navakarmi
rdme.)
tion of

p. 1092.) was that on the

IN INDIA

Though this was actually after the extincGreek rule, there were evidently many Greek craftsmen employed in the raja's courts. The stupa
has Corinthian
caves in the
pillars.^

late years it

influence of Greek Art on India.

has been the fashion to minimize the Messrs. Havell and

vindicated the independence of

It is interesting to notice in the various

Buddhist

Coomaraswamy have

Bombay
of

Presidency that the names of

the Indian artistic tradition ; and it has been shown that the Gandhara sculptures belonged to the IndoMr. Scythian, and not to the Bactrian dynasties. V. A. Smith looks upon the Greek occupation of the

Yavana donors
some
of

frequently occur.^

sculptures, cisterns, pillars, etc., In the case of the Karla caves,

these inscriptions

date

from the second

Panjab as purely military. An important inscription, however, has just been discovered which records that Greek workmen did work in India in the times of the Bactrian kings, and may, therefore, have influenced
native craftsmen very considerably. The inscription is unique because it is the only contemporary Indian

century a.d., and point to the continuance of GrsecoBuddhist settlements at quite a late date. Inscriptions Nos. 7
to pillars, the^gifts of

and 10 {Bombay Gazeteer, vol. xviii.), refer Sihadhaya and Dhama, Yavanas from Dhenukakata.^ Perhaps these Yavanas took
1 It should be noticed that while the Peshawar casket is Greek like the or Indo-Greek in type, the Garud piUar from Bhilsa, is purely so-called Yavana work in the Buddhist caves, Indian. The reading Agisala has been questioned.

record of the Bactrian kings

Saviour, king of

''For the sake of Kashiputra-Bhagabhadra, the Samkasya ; King Chandadasa caused

pillar of

II

the^Garud

Vasudeva, God of Gods, to be made here by Heliodorus son of Dion, a votary of Bhagavat, a Yona-data^ (Greek) of Takhasila, who came from the Maharaja Antalkidas.** The inscription is in Kharoshthi. It was found by Dr. Marshall at
^

The earUest mention of Yavana workmanship appears to be records that the in the Girnar inscription in Kathiawar, which Gimar Lake was " furmshed with conduits by the Yavana Raja

Tushaspa for Asoka." Tushaspa appears by his name to have been a Persian, a relic of the Alexandrian conquest. See Rapson, Andhra Ben&katakA in the Nasik district. Cat, Introd., xxix., xlvii.

m
f

DMa

i.0.,

an emissary from the Greeks.

168

i'

160
Buddhist

BACTEIA
names
the

Yavanas in

Indian names. a tradition of then: birth. of their Greek origin except one Una owned by In the Nasik caves we find a Yonaka from Dhammadeva, ' Indr^gnidatta, son of father and both Here Dattamitra." the north, from Their residence, names. Hindu have son appear to to have been founded Dattamitra, in Bind, is thought

So the on their conversion.^ Milinda-Panha have (apparently) Uttle Or perhaps they retained very

APPENDIX IV
THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM IN THE NORTH-WEST OF INDIA
Therb
is

by Demetrius. three mscriptions In the Junnar caves we have named " Irila," is them of one referring to Greeks name, perhaps Greek a like which sounds suspiciously
.

no proof

positive that

Buddhism hecame the

kind. Euryalus, or something of that 1911, pp. 12January, Antiquary, Indian (See the

There is, religion of the Bactrian kings of Sagala. the supposition; a such against nothmg however, indeed, are in its favour. That conprobabilities,

verts were made,

14
1

etc.)

So the Chinese pUgrims took the

Arch. Sur.

titie of

Sakyaputra (Shih

m Chinese).
8

W.

India,

iv.,

No.

5, p. 92.

even to the more conservative the Hinduism, among the Greeks has been proved by was Asoka III. Appendix inscription quoted in days anxious to make Greek converts, and in later ** as the Buddhists, Yavana " of colonies there were
Karla Cave inscriptions show.
Agathocles
is

the

first

Menprince to mint coins with Buddhist symbols. dhramiepithet ander, curiously enough, besides the
I,'

Buddhist kdsa (AiKalov), has nothing very definitely conversion his for evidence the in his coinage ; but
seems, to
is

my

the which, I think,

tradition

Firstly, there mind, overwhelmmg. embodied in the MUinda Panha,

is

a mere romance Secondly of the type of Xenophon's Cryopadia. tract Plutarch's In there is the story of his funeral. the occurs 821, Prcecepta, p. ReipuUica Gerenda
certainly not

following passage
161
f'l:.

11

K^

,.iiii

.'-i

-^.- **,;*

-"^"""*"^^

162
lit

BACTRIA

APPENDIX IV

168

\f

Menander ruled with equity among the during a campaign. Bactrians, and died in the field together m celejoined respects The states in other
**

certain

Buddhism among the Scythian tribes from Peshawar to Balkh and Khotan, raises the interesting question whether Gautama himself did not belong to a clan
which was Scythian by origin. If the Sakyas were originally Sakas (SacsB or Scythians), it would
account for
creed
:

his relics a dispute brating his obsequies, but over

after some difficulty arose among them, which was terms each was to take settled upon the following ashes, that memorials his back an equal share of dagabas) might be set up among
:

its

many of the puzzling features of that unmetaphysical and un-Indian character,

Indian garb in which
it

Oii/^Wa-stupas,
all." ^

(in spite of the

was, naturally

them

which was accorded

funeral Now, this is precisely the kind of described Gautama Buddha, as

to

enough, put forward), its attack on caste, abhorrence The ddgaba, or of bloodshed, worship of relics, etc.
stupa,

{S,B.E. XI., p. 131). in the Maha-Parinihhana-autta quarrelled over his There, too, seven tribes met and

which

is

such a feature of Buddhism, has been

by an agreement that ashes, and were finally pacified were taken by the These part. each should take a and enshrmed in countries own recipients to their
dagabas.
to
.

traced to the conical Tartar tents by Fergusson and The " ancestral temples " of the Scythians others.^

This practice is practically peculiar of Menander s and confirms the Siamese tradition of Arhatship.* attainment conversion, and even of his made Buddhism that granted for It make be taken various foreign the among freely pretty converts
tribes
It finally on the North-Western Frontier.* under and Kushans, became the religion of the of popularity This Kaniska reached its cUmax.
^atTiXe^xTavTos ?r' ii TivSs v BdKTpois cVtftKWff cVot^icravro Ktib^tav SK\r)v r^v fUv arparonibov, dnoeav6vro, inl tS>v \i^lrdv<ov airrov KaTa<rravr, Kara r6 koiv6v ai TrcJXeif irepl di laov Ttjs r<(>paf frvvi^rjirav, &<tt vn^fitvoi fitpos ay&va, fi6\LS U Tracri rov avbp6i. irapa fivtifieXa ycveV^oi d'ir\e:v Koi
1

Buddhism,

1/

described by Herodotus (IV. 62, 72, 124, etc.) may have been rude dagabas erected to cover the body of the semi-divine chieftain and the victims who accompanied him. One of the keenest of the clans who strove for relics of the Buddha were the Vaggi of VesalL Beal (Life of Hiuen Tsang, 5-7, J.R,A,S,, XIV. 39, etc.) has tried to show that these are none other than the Yue-Chi, and as such appear in regular Scythic garb on the Sanchi sculptures. If this is so, there were Scythians in India in the days of Gautama, and there is no reason to doubt that the Sakyas, like the Vaggi, were two clans of this nation.
^

mv&vbpw

Or

to the shape of the funeral pyre.

fl

happened on Von Gutschmid, however, compares what

U*^

death of Alexander. and the a E.g., the Greeks, the Indo-Parthians (so-called),
Yue-Chi.

HI

APPENDIX V

165

Ifl

ad postremum ab invalidioribus Parthis, velut exsangues, oppressi sunt. Multa tamen Eucratides bella magna virtute gessit, quibus attritus, cum obsidionem
Demetrii, regis Indorum,pateretur,cum CCC.militibus,

APPENDIX V
PASSAGES REFEEEING TO BACTRIA
I.

IN ANCIENT ATJTHOES

LX. millia hostium assiduis eruptionibus vicit. Quinto mense liberatus, Indiam in potestatem redegit. Unde cum se reciperet, a filio quern socium regni qui, non dissimulato parricidio, fecerat, interficitur velut hostem non patrem inter! ecisset, et per sanguinem
itaque
:

\\m

eius

currum
haec

egit, et

corpus abici insepultum

iussit.

Dum

Justin.

^m

(a) Opulentissimum imperium. XLI. 1.

illud mille

urbium Bactrianum
,,

apud Bactros geruntur, interim inter Parthos et Medos bellum oritur. (XLI. iv.) (d) (Seleucus) principle Babylona cepit, inde, auctis

ex victoria rebus, Bactrianos expugnavit.

diductis

(6)

Hi

(Parthi)

postea,

Macedombus
Asise

-t.

in

-^

(XV.

iv.)

bellum

civile

cum

ceteris superioris

populis,
II. (a)

Eumenem

ac mox ab Post hunc a Nicatore Seleuco, transiere. a cuius possessi: Antiocho et successoribus eius

secuti

sunt;

quo victo

ad

Antigonum
NfCDTpw^ci/TO)!/

Strabo.
1^0)

Twv

Tov Tavpov

Stot

rh Trpbs

aA-Aots^ cTvai rovs rrj^ 2v/)tas Kal Trjs MrjSlas ^atrtXeas, tovs
)(0VTas Kal ravra, rrpCirov /lev OLTrea-Trjcrav ol
Treir L(rTVfiVOL rrjv

defecere, primo Punico pronepote Seleuco primum Kegulo Consulibus. Attilio M. bello, L. Manlio Vulsone, mille urbium BacTheodotus, Eodem tempore defecit, regemque se appellan pr^fectus, trianarum
jussit
;

BaKTpiavrjVj koI ttjv cyyvs avTiJs iraxrav oi inpl Ev^vSt^/aov.

,
,
.

*A<I>l\ovto Sc (ot UapOvatoi) Kal rrjs BaKTpiavrjs filpos

Piaa-dfievoi.

rovs '^Kvdas, Kal

In

Trporcpov rovs Trepl 'EvK/a-

i;

quod exemplum

secuti totius Orientis populi

{b) ol Si

(XLI. iv.). a Macedonibus defecere. tempore, sicut in Parthis Mithri(c) Eodem ferme viriregna Bactris Eucratides,magni uterque
^

BaKTpcavhv

X.yov<riV

avrhv (Arsaces), <^vyovTa

diroarTrj(rai

rriv av^rja-iv

twv

irepl

AloSotov,

t^v Ilap^vatav.

(Geog.,
(c)

XL

dates ita in

ix, 2-3.)

III

ineunt

Sed Parthorum fortuna

felicior

ad

summum,
Bactriani

Trjs 8c BaKT/otas fi^prj fiev riva

Ttt TToAXot 8' VTTC/OKCtTat

ry

A/ot^i

'jrapaPkpX'qraL

eos perduxit. hoc duce, imperii fastigium

:

Vpbs dpKTOV
Kal
7rdfi<l>opos

TTphs (0'

TToWrj 8

COTii

non regnum tantum, autem per varia bella jactati siquidem Sogdianverum etiam libertatem amiserunt

ttA^v eXaiov.

Tocrovrov 8k wrxvcrav ol diroarrjttjv a/oc-n^v rrjs

<ravTS

"EWrfves avrrjv Sid

^

X^P^^* wjt

rrjs

ill
>

'1 J'

orum

et

Drangianorum Indorumque
164

bellis

fatigati,

MSS.

irpos dKkr)Kovs.

l_

1,

1!

1
^

'

APPENDIX V
166

167

BACTEIA
tcov Iv85v,
ItOvrj

Aptav^s ^wKpdrri<rav, Kal 6 AfrrafXLTTjvhs, Kal ttXc^

Kal /xd^Xtcrra M^vavSpos'

&s <h<riv

WXo^pos

Karccrrp^^avTO ^ 'AXcgavSpos,

BaKTpiov^ Kal T^ SoyStav^ KTurai^ rivas S* KaTao-Ka^ai <Sv KaptaTas /xcv t^s BaKTptav^s, ev KaXXwr^cvrys (n;vXi7<^^i7
Kal 7rap866rf <t>vXaKy,

Kal

/li^XP'

-ro^

Ar;/xi}Tptos 5 E^(9i;87}/xov vJbs

fxh ^odvov^ wporjXOe' tov BaKxpt'o)!/ ^aoraecos, oi /lovov

aAXTjs TrapaXtas

efyc Kal rbv ^Yiracrtv^ 8tl^7/ ^p^S ^ yap avrbs,^ ra 8^ r^

MapaKdvSa
KTurfw.

Be Trjs 2oy8tav^s
cttI

Kal

to,

Kvpa

<rxaTOV

ov

Kvpov

Ty 'la^dpry

irorafu}

8c t^ Keifuvov, OTTCp i}v optov T^s Ilcpcrwv apX^s' KaToa-Kaypai

aTroo-KTia-fm TOVTO, KatVcp ovta </)tXoKvpov, 8ta Tas iruKvas

Sk

Kal T^S r^v UaTraXrjv^v Kar^crxov, dXXa 2ty^pTi8os PoxriUiav. r^v Kal KaXovfxcvrjv, SapaoVrovS T^v T irpStrxW^ 6\ov 8 <^>?o-tv cKcivos, T^s (rvfx'7rd(rn^ Apiav^S

Tijv Too-cis* cXctv 8 Kal TTCTpas pv/ivas (r<f>68pa k 7rpo8oo-a)S,

T Iv

T^ BaKTptaVy T^V
*Pa>^avr;v,

^LO-LflCdpOV V
ti^v

Ka&

dvai T^v BaKTptavr}v. ^Ttvav T^v apx^^''

((?)

Kal 8^ Kal

Kal >p'5va)V /x^XP' ^rypiSv Kal Zapiotnrov,

^ ,

dvyarkpa

Kal

T^V J ?XV 'OgvapTTyS t^ 2oy8tav^ Kal ti)v tov

ftcv

"fi^ov, ot 8c 'AptajSafov

</>aori.

T^v

ovv 2urifiiOpov fftvTC-

HoXcis

8'

?xov Ta tc BciKxpa

i^vTTcp

^ r?v

8ta^pe

6/txaJi/v/iOS

Kal TT^ra/xos l/ijSaXXtuv c2s T^v^'O^i',

Toi5t(uv
8'

A<(pa^av

Kai8Ka o'Ta8Mov to-Topoixri to r^os oy8oi]KOVTa 8c t^v kvkXoV dv(o Se 7rMrc8ov Kal cvycwv, oo-ov TrcvTaKoo-tovs dvSpas rp<l>iv
SvvafUvrfv, kv

Kal

aXas

TrXctW.

ijv

Kal

17

EvKpariSta tov

Sp^avTos
Is

7ra)Vv/xos.

01

"EXXtjvcs Kat 8^ ^aTa<rxovTS aiSr^v

ayayciv Twjav^s

y Kal ^cvtas rvx^'^v ttoXvtcXovs Kal ya/xovs rrjs 'O^vdprov OvyaTphs rhv AXc^av8pov.
IIcpl tovtovs
avcXctv.
eKwliTTeiv cts

o-aTpaTTCt'as

8^p^KKacrtv, 5v

TovptoiJav

d<t>xiprjvro

r^v tc 'Acnrtwvov Kal ,1^1/ 8 EvKparl^n^ ol Hap^iaioi. ''Eo'XOV

t^s BaKTpiav^s.
.^

T^v
8c

8c T^s 2oy8tav>}9 8t7rXa<rtav t6 v<^os <^a(rt.

Tovs TOTTOVS Kal T^ Twv Bpayx'Swv ooTv

(g)

Thv

8k 8ta ttJs

2oy8tav^ pcovTa iroraphv

xi.,

. . 0) Kal T^v 2oy8tai/^v vKpKip.kv7]v irpbs ov ttoXv 8t<^pov tois /3tots Kal (e) Tb /xV o^J/ TraXatov 2oy8tavol Kal ot BaKTptavoi. TOis -nOeaL Twv No/ia8a>v o? re aXXa Kal 8' i5v T^ Twv BaKTptavwV

cpiy/xov

Kal dfifKuSrj yrjv, KaTamveaSal tc ctS ti)v

8t'

dfifiov,

ws Kat

Tov^Apiov t6v

'Apiwv pcovTa {Geog., XI.

1-5).

^tKpbv

5/xa)S

i5/xpo5Tpa

TTCpl ^OvT^CrrKp'^O" TTCplTOUTWV OV Ta pkXTKTTa XcyOWiV ol Trapa^aXXccr^ai y^pas, i? v^ov 81^ Tovs y^lp (jTreipTyK^Tas

HE. QUINTUS CURTIUS.

(a)

rp<t>ofikvoLS kv(tIv, l7rlTrj8S 8^ Trpbs

tovto,

oi5s

'EvTa<^ia(rras"

BactriansB terra multiplex et varia natura est.

KaXcto-^at T^ ^arpo)^

T^s /x^rpoTToXccos
<5(rT(i)v

Tcui/

yXwTT^ Kal 6pa(r(9ai BdKTpwv Ktt^apa T(uv

tA /x^v

>

tcixovs

Alibi
;

8' ii/rbs

rh jrXcov

av8pov.

vo/xov 'AXef 7rX^ps dvdp<o7rLV(ov' KaraXvo-ai 8 rbv Kal t^ Trcpl Tois Kacnrrovs IrTopoxkrr

ToiavTa

8c ttws

multa arbor et vitis largos multosque fructus solum pingue crebri fontes rigant qui mitiora alit caetera armentorum sunt, frumento conseruntur partem ejusdem deinde Magnam pabulo cedunt.
;

ycyovores TvyxavaHrtv Tovs y^p yovcas iireiSav JjSSo/xT^KOvra In; oZv avcKTOTcpov Kal TovTO luv XiiioKTOviUTOaL. lyKXcto-^evTCS

terrge steriles arensB

tenent: squalida siccitate regio

ry otKCty

vo/x(i)

Trapa7rXri(Tiov

KatVcp ov 2KV<?tKbi/- iroXv

/xV

TOt 2Kv^tKa)Tpov TO Twv BaKTptavwv.

(/) *ao-l
8'

o5i/
J

OKTO) TToXcts
.
.

T?>v

'AXfav8poy Iv T

T2?

non hominem, non frugem alit: cum vero venti a Pontico mari spirant, quidquid sabuli in campis jacet, converrunt. Quod ubi cumulatum est, magnorum collium procul species est, omniaque pristini itineris
vestigia

Tr
,

'

MSS. *Yrai^iv MSS. TecrcraptooTOv.

.

^(rdpxiv,

intereunt.

Itaque, qui transeunt campos,

168

BACTBIA
dirigunt
et

APPENDIX V
IV. Miscellaneous.
(a)

169

ad quorum navigantium modo noctu sidera observant,

cursum
noctis

iter

sequantur mvenmnt regie, quia nee vestigium quod Ceterum, si absconditur. et nitor siderum caligine deprehendit, exoritur, mari quos ille ventus, qui a

umbra quam

lux.

propemodum clarior Ergo interdiu mvia

est
est

'H BaKT/Jtav^ X^/^^ iroXXah koX

fJLv

fieydXais

olKovjuevrf

TToAco-t fjilav

c?XV 7ri<l>av(rTdT7jv V
8'

y (Tvvkpaivv
fieyeOei 8e
8t</>/)

ctvat

ra

^oo-tXcta* avTTi

CKaActro

filv

BaKTpa

koI ry

Kara aKpoirokiv oxvpoTrjTL iroXv Traxrm

Siculus, II. 6).
(6)
1^

(Diodorus

Sed qua mitior terra est, mgens multitude gignitur. [Itaque equorumque hominum expleverunt.] Bactriani equites XXX mUlia
arena obruit.
sita sunt sub Ipsa Bactra, regionis eius caput, moenia praeterit amnis monte Paropamisso. Bactrus AlexGestis Rebws {De nomen urbi et regioni dedit
is

*A^* o5 p^xpi vvv v Bapvyd^OLS TraXaial irpoxtopovcri

C7rwrr;/ia

Spdxfiai ypdfxpLOxriv *EXA7;vtKots eyKcxapayfihoL

fiT*

twv

*AX^av8pov fic/Saa-ikevKOToyv AttoWoSotov kol MevdvSpov

(Periplus Maris Erythrcei,

(c)

XL VII.).

MevdvSpov

Ttvos v BctKTpots cTTtciKws ^oo-iXevcravTos

iirl

cit'

aTToOavovros

(rrpaTOTreSoVy ttjv fiev dX,krjv c7rot^(ravTO

ttoAcis
*

andri Magni^ VII.

(b)

4).

KTjSiiav

Kara rh KOivhv at
els

Trcpt Se

twv Act^avwv avrov

wrre
veifidfuvoi

est; Sogdiana regie maiori ex parte deserta

Karaa-rdpTes
fxepos
iraxTi

aywva, TrdAts

(rvvkpr^arav,

vastae solitudmes octingenta fere stadia in latitudinem

la-ov

rrjs T<f>pas acrcA^ctv

Kat yevkoSaL

fjLvrjficta

irapa

tenent.

quam Ingens spatium rectsB regionis est, per torrens. lertur incolse), amnis (Polytimetum vocant Eum rip in tenuem alveum cogunt deinde caverna Cursus absconditi inaccipit, et sub terram rapit. cum ipsum solum, sonus meantis aquse dicium est quidem resudet sub quo tantus amnis flint, ne medico
;

Tov dvhpos (Plutarch, Bejmblicce Gerendce, p. 821).

humore
(c)

{Ibid,, VII. 10).

Sunt autem Bactriani

horridis
ingeniis,
;

inter illas gentes

promp-

tissimi,

luxu abhorrentibus

siti

multumque a Persarum baud procul Scytharum

sem-

assueti; gente bellicosissima, et rapto vivere

perque in armis erant (Jhid^^ IV. 6).

BACTRIAN COINS PLATE I

EUTHYDEMUS

EUTHYDEMUS

EUTHYDEMUS

DEMETRIUS

BACTRIAN COINS PLATE II

KUTHYDEMUS

II

ELXKATiDKS

ANTIMACHUS

ANT M AC H US
I

HELIOCLES

HELIOCLES

o
HELIOCLES

rt

a*

yi?

^"T-

;^iiaiY'^

BACTRIAN COINS PLATE III

MKXAXDEK

Y^>

MEXAXDER

MEXAXDEK
>$!^'^^>.

."^^

MEXAXDEH

MEXAXDER

MEXAXDER

PHILOXEMUS

PHILOXEMUS

AZES

ELEVATION
OF

KHAMBABABA COLUMN
AT

BESNAGAR
^CALC IFX =iin:
Sai^ARE

TENON

llXil

/I*

ft

RE ABACUS 1-7X1-7X1-3

V.

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INDEX
ACILISENB, 8
Agathocleia, 101, 152 Agathocles, 97, 152 Agni, 23

Ahriman, 23 Alasanda, 118

Alexander MgVLB CAX\os\ 47 Alexander the Great, 84-50, 61, 146
Alexandria-on-Indus, 62, 77, 114 Alexandria Ultima, 42 Amyntas, 48, 151 Anabasis of Arrian, xvi (Int.) Ancyra, battle of, 57 Andragoras, 57 Androsthenes of Cyzious, 72 Angra Mainyu, 23 An-si (Parthia), 94 Antialcidas, 102, 152, 158 Antigonus, 51-58, 55

ApoUodotus, 85, 118 w., 151 Apollophanes, 152 Aral Sea, 6 Archebius, 151 Ardvisura (Oxus), 9 n. Arhat (Buddhist saint), 110, 126
Aria, 1

Ariana Antiqua^
Arimazes,
7,

xx. (Int.)

44 Aiistobulus, 16 Armenia, 13, 19 Arsaces I., 56 Arsaces II., 60 Artabanus, 65, 67, 93 Artabazus, 43, 45 Artaxerxes I. (Longimanus), 32, 149
Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon), 9,

Antimachus
151

I.

(Theos),

62,

Antimachus

II.

(Nicephorus),

150 Artaxerxes III., 150 Artaxerxes IV. (Bessus), 16, 34, 35, 41, 150 Artemidorus, 152 Artocoana (Herat), 37 Asoka, 71, 100, 121
Assafoetida (silphium), 2 Assyria, 25

100, 102, 151

Antiochus II., 54, 58 Antiochus III. (the Great), 61

65-71 Antipater, 47

7,

Asura, 21

Asva-medha (Horse
122 Athenodorus, 48 Atropatene, 23

Sacrifice),

bis invasion of Bactria,

Aomus, 88 Apama, 47

Avesta,
171

xv

(Int.)

Azes, 115, 127 n.

172

BACTRIA
B
Cunningham,
(Int.)

INDEX
Sir
A.,

178

xxii

G
Gandhara
141 Gaugamela, 15, 106 Gedrosia, 27, 38, 141 n. Gustaspa, 24
art,

Lade, battle
Laodice, 155 Lydia, 25 Lysias, 102

of,

32

Babelon, M., xx (Int.)

Bactra, description of, 6-12 revolt of, 55-58
sieges of, 7, 69 Bactria, derivation, 1 n,

Curtius, Q., xvii (Int.) CyropoUs, 26, 42

Cyrus the Great,

8,

25-27

D
D&gaba, 163
Dahfle,

M
Hadrian, xvi (Int.) Hari-rud (Arius), 2 Havell, Mr., xxiii, 158 HeHocles, 84, 85, 89-93, 101, 154-155 Helmund, 38 Hercules, 77 Hermseus, 128 Herodotus, xvi (Int.) Hindu-Kush, 1, 2, 38 Hippostratus, 138

Bactriana, 2 n. Bactrus Biver, 6

18
12,

Balkhj 1 n. Barca, 32 Barsaentes, 37 Barygaza, 112 Bayer, xx (Int.) Behistun Inscr. 1, 29 Berosus, xvi (Int.) Bevan, Mr. E. B., xx (Int.) Bhilsa, 123, 137 Bico, 48 Bindueara, 73 Brahmi script, 82 n., 97 n. Buddhism, 99 - 100, 120 - 121, 127, 162-163 Buddhist Bail, 99, 140

Dakhma,

40

Dardases, 29 Darius the Great, 28-31 Darius Codomannus, 84 Dataphernes, 41 Deccan, the, 6, 27, 43 Demetrius, 76-81, 152 Devas, the, 21

Madhyamika, 128 Magadha, 53 Magi, Magu, 23, 28 Maharaja (Mcyay ^acrtXcvf), 8283

Mahavamso, 115 Malala, John of, 100

n.

Diodorus Siculus, xvi (Int.) Diodotus L, 56 63, 151 Diodotus II., 58-63, 151 Diomedes, 102
(patron sfdnts Dioscuri Eucratides), 82, 83
of

Hiuen Tsiang,

xix (Int.)

Hyphasis (Hypanis), 125 Hystaspes, 28

Drangiana, 87 Drapsaea, 38 Du Bois, Abb^, 8

Iran, 19 Ipsus, battle of, 54

Cambyses, 27, 28 Camels (Bactrian), 3

E
n.

Oarmanian

desert, 1

Ecbatana, 8 Elymais, 8
**

Gassander, 47 Caucasus, 8

Entombers "
dogs

(^vra<t>i.acrrai\

Jaxartes, 27, 42 Justin, xvii (Int.)

MalaviJcagnimitra, 122 Maracanda, 7, 42, 45 Marathas, 6 Mardonius, 81 Margiana, 29 Masistes, 30, 31 Massagetse, 27 Mathura, 103 Maues. See Moga Maurya dynasty, 63, 74 McCrindle, xviii (Int.) Mazda, Ahura, 21 Medes, 25, 26 Medic herb (lucerne), 2 Megasthenes, 74 Mekran, 6, 27

who devour

the dead,

Chandragupta Maurya, 49,

73 Chang-Kien, 94
China, 42, 75, 91-92 Chinese pilgrims, xix (Ini)

53,

11-12, 39 Epitome of Justin, xvii (Int.) Equestrian Order in Bactria,

Menander=Milinda, 108^. Milinda Panha {Questions of MiUnda)f xix (Int.), Ill,

Kabul, 53, 71-74 Eadphises I., 128 Kalasi (Karisi), 115, 153 Kandahar, 38 Kaniska, 99, 138, 139 Karachi, 6 Karla Caves, 140 Kausia (sun-hat), 84, 102 Kavisi (Kapisa), 153 Kharoshthi script, 80, 82 139 Ki-pin, 154 Kushan, 128 112 Mithra, Mitra, 20, 139 Mithradates I., 79, 116 Moga (Maues), 105, 114-115, 128 Mycale, battle of, xvi (Int.), 31

14
Erygius, 40 Eucratides, 79-89, 101, 153 Eudamus, 52, 115 Eumenes, 51

Cleitarchus, xviii (Int.) Clement of Alexandria, xvii

(Int.), 10 Clementine BecognitionSf 11-

Euthydemia, 76

MyUtta, 9

12
Clitus, 45

Euthydemus I., 64-74, 101 Euthydemus II., 96

N
n.,

Cobares, 15

" Conspiracy of the Pages," 47 Cophen, 76 Ctesias, xv, 26 n., 27 n.

P
Firdousi,

Nagasena, 118

xv

(Int.),

25

Nanda dynasty, 53 Narmada (Nerbudda) 121

Foucher, M.,

xxiii (Int.)

174

BACTEIA
Saka (Sans.), Sacse (Lat.), 103 Sakya tribe, 163 Sallet, Von, xxii (Int.)
Saraostos, 75-76

INDEX
Trogus Pompius, xvii n.
Turanians, xv Tyriaspes, 49
(Int.), 12,

175

22

Xenophon, xix

(Int.),

32

Ochus, 44 Oxus, 1, 6, 40, 44

Oxyartes, 43, 46, 49-52

Xerxes, 30-33, 149

Pallas, 127

Pantaleon, 97, 99, 102, 152 Paraetacene, 45

Parapamisus, 142

3,

49

Parthia, 49, 54-67, 90-98, 120,

Sarnath, Asokan pillar at, 140 Satibarzanes, 37 Satrap (Chhatrapa), 78, 82-83 Scylax of Caryanda, 30 Scythian. See Saka Seleucus Nicator, 47, 49, 51 Seleuces Callinicus 60, 61, 71

U
Utch, 114

Y
Tama, 20 Yavana, Yona
160
(Ionian), 106, 114, 115, 119, 122, 123, 159(stage curtain),

Semiramis, xvi (Int.)

Seres, 74-75

Varuna, 20 Vasumitra, 128 Vayu, 20 Vendidad, 11, 24 Vistaspa, 28

Vulso, L. M., consul, 55

Yavanika

142

Yojana, 113 Yue-chi, 92, 128

Pasargadse, 24 Pataliputra, 121, 122

Patanjali, 123 n., 142 n.

Z
Zadracarta, 37 Zarafshan, xvii (Int.), 6, 17 Zarathustra (Zoroaster), xv (Int.), 8, 11, 22-26

Shahnama, xv

(Int.)

Pattalene, 75, 76 Peithon, 49 Perdiccas, 50 Periplus, 113 Persia, 19 Philip of Macedon, 98 Philip the PrsBtor, 49 Philippic History of Trogus,
xviii (Int.)

Sigerdis, 75, 76 Sisimithres, 6, 45, 47 Smerdis, 26, 28 Smith, V. A., xx, xxiii (Int.),
etc.

W
Wilson,

H.H., XX

(Int.)
(Int.)

Wroth, Mr. W., xxi

Zela,8

Soanus

(son), 124 Sogd, B. (Polytimetus), 5 Sogdian Bock, 45 Sogdiana. 2, 26, 43-49

Photius, xvi (Int.)

Soma, 20 Sophagasena (Subhagasenus),

71 Spitamenes, 41, 48, 44 Stasanor of Soli, 49, 52
Stein, Aurel, xxii (Int.)

Phrynoi, 75 Porus, kingdom of, 104 Pushyamitra, 112, 116, 121

Q
Questions Milinda
of

Strabo, xviii (Int.)

etpaaaim

Milinda.

See

Strato, 101,

Panha

152 Surashtra, 120

THE ENP

B
Baghee, Bai, 23, 36 Bajavula, 103 Begulus, consul, 55 Boxane, 103/., 167

T
Tayovpia (Th Tpvpiava), 68 Ta-hia (Parthia), 94 Tarn, Mr. W. W., xxii n. Taxila, 103 Teiend, 53, 58 Teleas of Magnesia, 69

S
Sacsea, 8-16

Sacastene, 107 Sagala, 74, 76, 79, 113-114

Sai, Sse,

Theodotus (Diodotus), 66
Tiridates, 61 Towers of Silence, 12

S6k

(Chin.), Scythian

tribes, 2, 14, 69, 70, 77, 87,

Triparadisus,

conference

at,

BILUMO AMD

SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD

88, 101-106, 109-120

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