Greco-Bactrian Kingdom: A Visual History

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was created around 256 BC when the Seleucid satrap Diodotus declared independence in Bactria (northern Afghanistan and southern Central Asia). Its kings, Euthydemus, Demetrius and Eucratides, ruled a rich, urbanised Hellenistic state, struck some of the finest coins of antiquity, and expanded across the Hindu Kush into India, founding the Indo-Greek kingdoms. Nomad invasions by the Sakas and Yuezhi destroyed Bactrian Greek rule around 125 BC.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Greco-Bactrian territory

Timeline of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

1. 256 BC
   Diodotus declares independence
2. 208 BC
   Antiochus III besieges BactraPeace in 206.
3. 180 BC
   Demetrius invades India
4. 170 BC
   Eucratides usurps
5. 145 BC
   Ai-Khanoum destroyed
6. 125 BC
   Bactria lost to the nomads

Independence

Bactria was the richest eastern satrapy, settled with Greek veterans by Alexander and Seleucus. Diodotus broke away as the Seleucids fought Egypt, and Euthydemus withstood a two-year siege by Antiochus III at Bactra around 208-206 BC, winning recognition. The excavated city of Ai-Khanoum on the Oxus had a gymnasium, theatre and Greek inscriptions from Delphi.

Into India

Around 180 BC Demetrius crossed into India as the Mauryan Empire collapsed, taking Gandhara and the Punjab; Greek rule reached the Ganges plain, and Menander later became a Buddhist figure. Eucratides usurped the Bactrian throne around 170 BC and issued the largest gold coin of antiquity, but wars between the two Greek dynasties weakened both.

Nomad conquest

The Yuezhi, driven west by the Xiongnu, and the Sakas they displaced overran Bactria between about 145 and 125 BC. Ai-Khanoum was abandoned; Heliocles was the last Greek king north of the Hindu Kush. Greek dynasties survived in India for another century, and Bactria's Greek heritage flowed into the Kushan Empire and Gandharan art.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Seleucid Empire (312 BC to 63 BC)
• Macedonian Empire (359 BC to 323 BC)
• Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BC to 10)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom (150 BC to 400)
• Kushan Empire (30 to 375)
• Maurya Empire (322 BC to 185 BC)
• Parthian Empire (247 BC to 224)
• Xiongnu Empire (209 BC to 93)
• Western Han dynasty (202 BC to 9)

Wars of the same era and region

• Kalinga War (262 BC to 261 BC)

8 surprising things about the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

1. Eucratides struck a 20-stater gold coin weighing 169 grams, the largest gold coin of antiquity, now in Paris.
2. The Han envoy Zhang Qian visited Bactria around 128 BC just after the Greeks fell and reported goods from India and Sichuan in its markets.
3. Ai-Khanoum's excavated inscriptions include the Delphic maxims copied out by a philosopher named Clearchus.
4. Greek writers called Bactria 'the land of a thousand cities' and 'the pride of Iran'.
5. Bactrian Greek coins are among the most realistic portraits in ancient art, unusually showing kings ageing.
6. The Greek alphabet was used to write the Bactrian language for centuries after the kingdom fell.
7. The Yuezhi who conquered Bactria became the Kushans, whose emperors were depicted in Greek-style dress.
8. Bactria's Greek theatre could seat about 6,000 people, larger than many in Greece itself.

Sources

• Bactria Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Wikipedia
• Bactria World History Encyclopedia
• Frank L. Holt, Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria (1999) University of California Press

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