Euthydemid dynasty and Seleucid invasionĬoin depicting the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus 230–200 BC. Soon after, relieved by the death of Diodotus, Arsaces made peace and concluded an alliance with his son, also by the name of Diodotus some time later he fought against Seleucos who came to punish the rebels, and he prevailed: the Parthians celebrated this day as the one that marked the beginning of their freedom. Overland trade continued at a reduced rate, while sea trade between Greek Egypt and Bactria developed.ĭiodotus was succeeded by his son Diodotus II, who allied himself with the Parthian Arsaces in his fight against Seleucus II: This cut Bactria off from contact with the Greek world. A decade later, he was defeated and killed by Arsaces of Parthia, leading to the rise of a Parthian Empire. In the resulting power vacuum, Andragoras, the Seleucid satrap of Parthia, proclaimed independence from the Seleucids, declaring himself king. In 247 BC, the Ptolemaic empire (the Greek rulers of Egypt following the death of Alexander the Great) captured the Seleucid capital, Antioch. Among these was Eucratidia, which was named after its ruler. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander… Their cities were Bactra (also called Zariaspa, through which flows a river bearing the same name and emptying into the Oxus), and Darapsa, and several others. Remains of a Hellenistic capital found in Balkh, ancient Bactra. The new kingdom, highly urbanized and considered one of the richest of the Orient ( opulentissimum illud mille urbium Bactrianum imperium "The extremely prosperous Bactrian empire of the thousand cities"), was to further grow in power and engage in territorial expansion to the east and the west: On the other hand, the low chronology, from the mid-240s BC, has the advantage of connecting the secession of Diodotus I with the Third Syrian War, a catastrophic conflict for the Seleucid Empire.ĭiodotus, the governor of the thousand cities of Bactria ( Latin: Theodotus, mille urbium Bactrianarum praefectus), defected and proclaimed himself king all the other people of the Orient followed his example and seceded from the Macedonians. The high chronology has the advantage of explaining why the Seleucid king Antiochus II issued very few coins in Bactria, as Diodotos would have become independent there early in Antiochus' reign. Somewhat simplified, there is a high chronology ( c. The preserved ancient sources (see below) are somewhat contradictory, and the exact date of Bactrian independence has not been settled.
The Greek inscription reads: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΟΔΟΤΟΥ – "(of) King Diodotus".ĭiodotus, the satrap of Bactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom when he seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC and became King Diodotus I of Bactria.
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