Bactria
Bactria, or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian civilization in Central Asia, located in the area south of the Oxus River and north of the Hindu Kush mountains, within modern-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Bactria was strategically located south of Sogdia and west of the Pamir Mountains. These mountain ranges acted as "walls" protecting Bactria from three sides, with the Pamir mountains to the north and the Hindu Kush to the south forming a junction, and the Karakoram range towards the east.
Called "beautiful Bactria, crowned with flags" by the Avesta, the region is considered, in the Zoroastrian faith, to be one of the "sixteen perfect Iranian lands" that the supreme deity, Ahura Mazda, had created. It was once a small and independent kingdom struggling to survive against nomadic Turanians. One of the early centres of Zoroastrianism, and capital of the legendary Kayanian dynasty, Bactria is mentioned in the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great as one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire; it was a special satrapy, ruled by a crown prince or an intended heir. Bactria was the centre of Iranian resistance against the Greek Macedonian invaders after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire in the 4th century BC, but eventually fell to Alexander the Great.
After the death of Alexander, Bactria fell to his general, Seleucus I. The Seleucids lost the region to the satrap Diodotus I, when he declared independence; thus marking the beginning of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms. By the 2nd century BC, Bactria was conquered by the Parthian Empire, and, in the early 1st century, by the Kushan Empire, believed to have been founded by the Yuezhi. Bactrian, an Eastern Iranian language, was the common language of Bactria and the surroundings areas, from ancient until early medieval times.
Shapur I, the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran, conquered western parts of the Kushan Empire in the 3rd century, and the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom was established. The Sasanians lost Bactria in the 4th century, but reconquered it in the 6th century.
The Islamization of Bactria began with the Muslim conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The capital city of Bactra was the centre of an Iranian Renaissance in the 8th and 9th centuries, and New Persian as an independent literary language first emerged in this region. The Samanid Empire was formed in Eastern Iran by the descendants of Saman Khuda, a Persian from Bactria, leading to the spread of the Persian language in the region, and the decline of Bactrian.
Etymology
The modern English name of the region is Bactria. Historically, the region was first mentioned in Avestan as Bakhdi in Old Persian. This later developed into Bāxtriš in Middle Persian and Baxl in New Persian. The modern name is derived from the , which is the Hellenized version of the Bactrian endonym. Other cognates include βαχλο. بلخ, Chinese 大夏, Latin Bactriana. The region was mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts as बाह्लीक or Bāhlīka.Wilhelm Eilers proposed that the region was named after the Balkh River from underlying Bāxtri-, itself meaning 'she who divides', from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhag- 'to divide'.
Bactria is the geographic location after which Bactrian camels are named.
History
Bronze Age
The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age archaeological culture of Central Asia, dated to –1700 BC, located in present-day eastern Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centred on the upper Amu Darya, an area covering ancient Bactria. Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi. Bactria was the Greek name for Old Persian Bāxtriš , in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in today's Turkmenistan.The early Greek historian Ctesias, , alleged that the legendary Assyrian king Ninus had defeated a Bactrian king named Oxyartes in, or some 1000 years before the Trojan War. Since the decipherment of cuneiform script in the 19th century, however, which enabled actual Assyrian records to be read, historians have ascribed little value to the Greek account.
According to some writers, Bactria was the homeland of Indo-Iranians who moved south-west into Iran and the north-west of the South Asian subcontinent around 2500–2000 BC. Later, it became the northern province of the Achaemenid Empire in Central Asia. It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turan Depression, that the prophet Zoroaster was said to have been born and gained his first adherents. Avestan, the language of the oldest portions of the Zoroastrian Avesta, was one of the Old Iranian languages, and is the oldest attested member of the Eastern Iranian languages.
Achaemenid Empire
suggested that Bactria belonged to the Medes before its annexation to the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great in sixth century BC, after which it and Margiana formed the twelfth satrapy of Persia. After Darius III had been defeated by Alexander the Great, the satrap of Bactria, Bessus, attempted to organize a national resistance but was captured by other warlords and delivered to Alexander. He was then tortured and killed.Under Persian rule, many Greeks were deported to Bactria, so that their communities and language became common in the area. During the reign of Darius I, the inhabitants of the Greek city of Barca, in Cyrenaica, were deported to Bactria for refusing to surrender assassins. In addition, Xerxes also settled the "Branchidae" in Bactria; they were the descendants of Greek priests who had once lived near Didyma and betrayed the temple to him. Herodotus also records a Persian commander threatening to enslave daughters of the revolting Ionians and send them to Bactria. Persia subsequently conscripted Greek men from these settlements in Bactria into their military, as did Alexander later.
Alexander the Great
conquered Sogdiana. In the south, beyond the Oxus, he met strong resistance, but ultimately conquered the region through both military force and diplomacy, marrying Roxana, daughter of the defeated Satrap of Bactria, Oxyartes. He founded two Greek cities in Bactria, including his easternmost, Alexandria Eschate.After Alexander's death, Diodorus Siculus tells us that Philip received dominion over Bactria, but Justin names Amyntas to that role. At the Treaty of Triparadisus, both Diodorus Siculus and Arrian agree that the satrap Stasanor gained control over Bactria. Eventually, Alexander's empire was divided up among the generals in Alexander's army. Bactria became a part of the Seleucid Empire, named after its founder, Seleucus I.
Seleucid Empire
The Macedonians, especially Seleucus I and his son Antiochus I, established the Seleucid Empire and founded a number of Greek towns. The Greek language became dominant for some time there.The paradox that Greek presence was more prominent in Bactria than in areas far closer to Greece can possibly be explained by past deportations of Greeks to Bactria. When Alexander's troops entered Bactria they discovered communities of Greeks who appeared to have been deported to the region by the Persians in previous centuries.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Considerable difficulties faced by the Seleucid kings and the attacks of Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus gave the satrap of Bactria, Diodotus I, the opportunity to declare independence about 245 BC and conquer Sogdia. He was the founder of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Diodotus and his successors were able to maintain themselves against the attacks of the Seleucids—particularly from Antiochus III the Great, who was ultimately defeated by the Romans.The Greco-Bactrians were so powerful that they were able to expand their territory as far as South Asia:
The last Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles I lost control of Bactria to nomadic invaders near the end of the 2nd century BC, at which point Greek political power ceased in Bactria, but Greek cultural influence continued for many more centuries. The Greco-Bactrians used the Greek language for administrative purposes, and the local Bactrian language was also Hellenized, as suggested by its adoption of the Greek alphabet and Greek loanwords.
Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Bactrian king Euthydemus I and his son Demetrius I crossed the Hindu Kush mountains and began the conquest of the Indus valley. For a short time, they wielded great power: a great Greek empire seemed to have arisen far in the East. But this empire was torn by internal dissension and continual usurpations. When Demetrius advanced far east of the Indus River, one of his generals, Eucratides, made himself king of Bactria, and soon in every province there arose new usurpers, who proclaimed themselves kings and fought against each other. For example Eucratides is known to have battled another king named Demetrius of India, probably Demetrius II, the latter ultimately being defeated according to the historian Justin.Most of them we know only by their coins, a great many of which are found in Afghanistan. By these wars, the dominant position of the Greeks was undermined even more quickly than would otherwise have been the case. After Demetrius and Eucratides, the kings abandoned the Attic standard of coinage and introduced a native standard, no doubt to gain support from outside the Greek minority.
In the Indus valley, this went even further. The Indo-Greek king Menander I, recognized as a great conqueror, converted to Buddhism. His successors managed to cling to power until the last known Indo-Greek ruler, a king named Strato II, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 55 BC. Other sources, however, place the end of Strato II's reign as late as 10 AD.