BACTRIA
Incorporating
the Balhikas
A Bronze Age culture emerged in Central Asia around 2200-1700 BC,
at the same time as city states were beginning to flourish in Anatolia.
It was known as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, or
Oxus civilisation, and Indo-European tribes soon integrated into
it. Probably these very same people were very shortly to be found
entering India, and those who remained behind appear to enter the
historical record in around the sixth century BC, when they came
up against the rapidly expanding Persian empire.
The ancient province of Bactria was located to the far north-east
of Persia. Prior to its late sixth century BC domination by the
Achaemenid Persians, Bactria seems to have formed part of a much
larger and more poorly-defined region known as Ariana, of which
the later province of Aria was the heartland. Barely recorded by
written history, its precise boundaries are impossible to pin down.
It may have encompassed much or all of Transoxiana, the region around
the River Oxus (the Amu Darya), and could have reached as far south
as the coastline of the Arabian Sea.
Known as Bhalika in Arabic and Indian languages, the territory which
formed it lay between the mountains of the Hindu Kush to the south-east
and the River Oxus in the north, and at times formed part of the
later Islamic region of Khorasan. Bactria was neighboured to the
south by Paropamisadae, to the west by Aria and Margiana, and to
the north by Sogdiana and Ferghana, with the Pamirs lying between
it and the north-western edge of the Himalayas. Today its territory
forms parts of northern Afghanistan, western Tajikistan, southern
Uzbekistan, and eastern Turkmenistan, and the name survives in the
Afghan province of Balkh. In its time it became famous for its warriors
and for being the birthplace of Zarathusta, the founder of Zoroastrianism.
The Balhikas are one of the border tribes in the ancient
Indian texts, Atharved, along with the Gandhar, both outlying
groups (as far as Indo-Aryan settlement is concerned) which were
useful as retreats for the fever-stricken.
(Additional information from The Marshals of Alexander's Empire,
Waldemar Heckel, and from Alexander the Great and Hernán Cortés:
Ambiguous Legacies of Leadership, Justin D Lyons.)
c.2200
- 2000 BC :
An
indigenous Bronze Age culture emerges in Central Asia between modern
Turkmenistan and down towards the Oxus, the somewhat nebulous region
known as Transoxiana. It is known as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological
Complex, or Oxus Civilisation (centred on the later provinces of
Bactria and Margiana). Indo-European tribes who have not taken part
in the exodus to the west or south soon integrate themselves into
it.
![The Karakum burial with a valuable horse sacrifice added](Prehistory_Karakum02_full.jpg)
This
king's tomb in the Indo-European settlement in the Karakum (modern
Turkmenistan) contains a valuable horse to accompany him into the
afterlife
2000
- 1700 BC :
Climate
change from around 2000 BC onwards greatly affects this civilisation,
denuding it of water as the rains decline. The people are forced
to migrate away, abandoning many of their cities. Indo-Iranian groups
become dominant here, and over time some of their descendants enter
Iran to found states such as that of the Mannaeans, the Median empire,
and early Persia. Some go even farther even earlier to form the
Mitanni empire. Others cross the rivers of modern Afghanistan and
the Hindu Kush mountains and enter India between 1700-1500 BC. They
eventually form their own kingdoms there such as Magadh, plus Kaling,
and the Kaurav state.
Kingdom
of Turan (Indo-Iranian) :
Later myth ascribed a dynasty of Indo-Iranian rulers to this period,
as described in the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings),
a poetic opus which was written about AD 1000 but which accessed
older works (such as the semi-official seventh century AD book called
the Ḵwadāy-nāmag), and perhaps elements of
an oral tradition. The Kayanian dynasty of kings of the Persians
were also the heroes of the Avesta, which forms the sacred
texts of Zoroastrianism. This faith itself had been founded along
the banks of the River Oxus, the great river which had probably
also formed part of the migratory route used by the Indo-European
Persians as they entered Iran.
The earliest of these mythical Indo-Iranian rulers was Fereydun,
king of a 'world empire'. His subjects were the Indo-Iranian tribes
of the region while his kingdom was apparently in the land of Tūr
(or Turaj, sometimes also shown without the accented 'u' as Tur).
This can be equated to territory in the heartland of Indo-Iranian
southern Central Asia and South Asia, focused mainly on the later
provinces of Bactria and Margiana, along with the Kopet Dag region
(a mountain range which serves to separate modern Turkmenistan and
Iran), the Atrek valley (which supplies an easy route into eastern
Iran and is a weak point in the country's defensive line), and the
eastern Alborz Mountains (stretching from modern Azerbaijan, along
the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, and into Hyrcania and the
edges of eastern Iran).
Judging by those borders, the land of Tūr stretched from Samarkand
to Tehran, although the kingdom of Turan was probably a good deal
smaller and more eastern-based (note the similarly between 'Turan'
and Tehran'). The Persians themselves may still have controlled
a good deal of the western section as they began to settle in southern
Iran. Curiously (and probably not coincidentally), these borders
would have placed it on the northern border of another ancient region,
that of Ariana. The land of Aryana Vaejah mentioned in the Avesta
is usually located to the north and west of both lands.
Fereydun became the father of three sons; Tūr, Salm, and Iraj.
Tūr murdered Iraj, thereby triggering an unending feud between
the two lines of their descendants. One of Tūr's descendants
(possibly a seven-times grandson) was Afrasaib, who ruled the kingdom
of Turan during the lifetime of the Persian Kai Kavoos of the seventh
century. The stories regarding Turan show it to be in competition
with the Persians for mastery of the eastern lands, with many battles
being fought. Ultimately it is the Persians who emerge victorious,
although the Shahnameh may be showing some bias - history
is written by the victorious, after all. Turan's kings are shown
with a shaded pink background to denote their legendary status.
(Additional information from Central Asia: A Historical Overview,
Edward A Allworth (Duke University Press, 1994), from The Paths
of History, I M Diakonoff (Cambridge University Press, 1999),
from Islamic Reference Desk, Emeri 'van' Donzel (Brill Academic
Publishers, 1994), from Farāmarz, the Sistāni Hero:
Texts and Traditions of the Farāmarznāme and the
Persian Epic Cycle, Marjolijn van Zutphen, and from External
Links: Encyclopaedia Iranica, and Iranians & Turanians in
the Avesta.)
Fereydun
/ Faridun / Fareidun : Ruled a 'world empire'. Abdicated
in favour of Manuchehr.
Tūr
: Son of Fereydun. Gifted Central Asia. Killed Iraj of
Persia.
Thanks
to the murder of Iraj by Tūr and Salm, the Persians retaliate
under the command of Iraj's grandson, Manuchehr. One of the leading
warriors under his command may be Garshāsp (possibly also known
as Karāsp), a figure of the Shahnameh or Shahnama,
the Book of Kings and a possible descendant of the mythical
Indo-Iranian King Jamshid. Tūr and Salm cross the Oxus to face
Manuchehr's army on the border between Iran and Turan. The ensuing
battle results in heavy casualties for the Turanians, and Tūr
is afterwards ambushed and beheaded. Salm is later captured and
also beheaded.
![Map of Central Asia & India c.700 BC](Map_Bactria-&-India-700BC_full.jpg)
Following
the climate-change-induced collapse of indigenous civilisations
and cultures in Iran and Central Asia between about 2200-1700 BC,
Indo-Iranian groups gradually migrated southwards to form two regions
- Tūr (yellow) and Ariana (white), with westward migrants forming
the early Parsua kingdom (lime green), and Indo-Aryans entering
India (green)
Pashang
: Grandson. Continued the war against the Persians.
7th
cent BC :
Afrasiab
: Son. Defeated and died.
The
story of Afrasiab's eventual defeat and death comes largely from
the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings). He is repeatedly
defeated by Kai Khosrow (his own grandson via his daughter, Farangis).
Forced out of his own lands he wanders wretchedly, taking refuge
in a cave known as the Hang-e Afrasiab (meaning the 'dying place
of Afrasiab'), on a mountain in Azerbaijan. Ultimately, he is killed
by the divine plant of Zoroastrianism, Haoma, near the Čīčhast
(location uncertain, but proposed as Lake Hamun in Sistan, which
contradicts his location in Azerbaijan). He meets his death in the
cave.
7th
cent BC :
Sijavus
/ Siyavash : Son of Kai Kavoos of Persia, and son-in-law
of Afrasiab.
Sijavus is a legendary Persian prince and the son-in-law of the
mythical Afrasiab, the hero and king of Turan. Due to the treachery
of his stepmother, Sudabeh, Sijavus exiles himself to Turan (presumably
well before the defeat and death of Afrasiab). There, he marries
Farangis, Afrasiab's daughter, but the king later orders Sijavus
to be killed. His death is avenged by his son, the very same Kai
Khosrow mentioned above, who inherits the early Persian throne.
c.546
- 540 BC :
The
defeat of the Medes opens the floodgates for Cyrus the Great with
a wave of conquests, beginning in the west from 549 BC but focussing
towards the east of the Persians from about 546 BC. Eastern Iran
falls during a more drawn-out campaign between about 546-540 BC,
which may be when Maka is taken (presumed to be the southern coastal
strip of the Arabian Sea). Further eastern regions now fall, namely
Arachosia, Aria, Bactria, Carmania, Chorasmia, Drangiana, Gandhar,
Gedrosia, Hyrcania, Margiana, Parthia, Saka (at least part of the
broad tribal lands of the Sakas), Sogdiana (with Ferghana), and
Thatagush - all added to the empire, although records for these
campaigns are characteristically sparse. The inference is very clear
- whatever control of Turan the Persians had enjoyed following the
death of Afrasiab, it did not last and the lands now have to be
conquered properly.
Persian
Satraps of Bakhtrish (Bactria) :
Incorporating the Satraps of the Barcanians
Conquered in the mid-sixth century BC by Cyrus the Great, the region
of Bactria was added to the Persian empire. Before that it was populated
by Indo-Iranian tribal groups, and especially by the region's largest
Indo-Iranian tribe, known as the Balhikas. Under the Persians it
was formed into an official great satrapy or province which, according
to the Behistun inscription of Darius the Great, was called Bakhtrish
(Bāxtri - Bactria is a Greek mangling of the name). Its capital
was Bactra, seemingly using the same name as the tribe itself, although
more likely it was a variation. An alternative name for it was Zariaspa,
on the site of modern Balkh.
These eastern regions of the new-found empire were ancestral homelands
for the Persians. They formed the Indo-Iranian melting pot from
which the Parsua had migrated west in the first place to reach Persis.
There would have been no language barriers for Cyrus' forces and
few cultural differences. Although details of his conquests are
relatively poor, he seemingly experienced few problems in uniting
the various tribes under his governance. He was the first to exert
any form of imperial control here, although his campaign may have
been driven partially by a desire to recreate the semi-mythical
kingdom of Turan in the land of Tūr, but now under Persian
control. Curiously the Persians had little knowledge of what lay
to the north of their eastern empire, with the result that Alexander
the Great was less well-informed about the region than earlier Ionian
settlers on the Black Sea coast had been.
The appointed satraps were usually Achaemenid princes or members
of the highest social elite, with Bessus being the best-known example.
Information about the satrapy's administration comes predominantly
from the time of Alexander's campaign. The minor satrapy of Mergu
was also under the oversight of the satrap of Bakhtrish, as apparently
was much of the Central Asian region, as proven by the Behistun
inscription. The southern border with the province of Gadar was
formed by the Hindu Kush, which today still marks the frontier of
numerous Afghan provinces. To the north the River Oxus (Amu Darya)
marked the frontier with Suguda (Sogdiana), but the borders can
only roughly be estimated where they met Haraiva to the south-west,
Mergu to the west, and the minor satrapy of the Dyrbaeans to the
east.
The Barcanians were Greek members of the former colonial
city of Barce in Cyrenaica. The Greeks were always troublesome for
the Persians to govern, and around 515 BC they didn't even directly
- officially - govern the Greek cities of the Pentapolis on the
eastern Libyan coast. The rulers of Cyrene and Barce were killed
at this time and the satrap of Egypt, only recently conquered by
Persia, demanded that the assassins be handed over. When he was
refused, Barce was besieged, the assassins captured and executed,
and a large portion of the city's population was shipped over to
form a new city of Barce within the boundaries of Bakhtrish. It's
no wonder that Bactria became so heavily influenced by Greek culture
- even before Alexander's conquests.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from
From Democrats to Kings: The Brutal Dawn of a New World from
the Downfall of Athens to the Rise of Alexander the Great, Michael
Scott, from The Persian Empire, J M Cook (1983), from The
Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Persica, Ctesias
of Cnidus (original work lost but a section is repeated by Photius
in ninth century AD Constantinople), and from External Link:
Encyclopaedia Iranica.)
c.546
- 540 BC :
During
his campaigns in the east, Cyrus the Great initially takes the northern
route from Persis towards Bakhtrish and Suguda to reassure or subdue
the provinces. This route probably involves the 'militaris via'
by Rhagai to Parthawa. At some point Cyrus builds a line of seven
forts to defend his frontier in Suguda against the tribal Massagetae
to the north, the strongest of these being Kyra or Kyreskhata (Cyropolis
- the Greek form of its name). Then he takes the more difficult
southern route, destroying Capisa along the way (possibly Kapisa
on the Koh Daman plain to the north of Kabul - which is possibly
also the Kapishakanish named at Behistun as a fortress in Harahuwatish).
Cyrus
the Great freed the Indo-Iranian Parsua people from Median domination
to establish a nation that is recognisable to this day, and an empire
that provided the basis for the vast territories that were later
ruled by Alexander the Great
On
a fresh leg of the campaign, Cyrus enters the Dasht-i-Lut desert
(the modern Dasht-e Loot) on the eastern route out of Karmana towards
Harahuwatish. His army faces crippling loses but for the assistance
provided by the Ariaspae on the River Helmand. They are named 'the
Benefactors' (Greek 'Euergetai') by Cyrus in thanks. This route
appears to have been poorly reconnoitred, hinting at a lack of Persian
knowledge of this region (and therefore a lack of preceding Median
occupation if the existence of its eastern empire is to be believed).
520s
- 510s BC :
Dadarshish / Dādari / Dâdari : Satrap. Quelled
rebellion in Mergu.
522/521
BC :
Upon the execution of the Persian usurper, Smerdis, the Cyaxarid,
Fravarti, tries to restore Median independence. He is defeated
by Persian generals and is executed. The same happens in Armina,
Parthawa, and Verkâna whose inhabitants, as Darius the Great reports,
had also joined Fravarti. The quashing of the insurrections from
Armina to Parthawa is chronologically coordinated in Persian records
and occurs between May and June 521 BC.
Another
major rebellion takes place in Mergu (referred to as Margush in
this instance) towards the end of 522 or 521 BC (scholars disagree
over the year, although it is agreed that the rebellion is put down
in December). Darius sends against him Dadarshish, satrap of Bakhtrish,
and the rebellion is duly crushed.
516
- 515 BC :
Achaemenid ruler Darius embarks on a military campaign into the
lands east of the empire. He marches through Haraiva and Bakhtrish,
and then to Gandhar and Taxila. By 515 BC he is conquering lands
around the Indus Valley to incorporate into the new satrapy of Hindush
before returning via Harahuwatish and Zranka. Along the way the
Sakas are largely defeated and conquered, but probably only along
the borders.
![River Oxus / Amu Darya](River_AmuDarya01_full.jpg)
The
River Oxus - also known over the course of many centuries as the
Amu Darya - was used as a demarcation border throughout history
and was also a hub of activity in prehistoric times - but during
this period it flowed right through the heart of the region that
was known as Bactria
c.515 BC :
Both Arcesilaus of Cyrenaica and Alazeir, ruler of the sister city
of Barce, are murdered in that city. Help is requested of Satrap
Aryandes of Egypt who provides her with an army and strengthens
his own hold over the Pentapolis. Barce is besieged and captured,
the implicated murders of Arcesilaus are put to death, and a large
proportion of the population is carried off into Persian slavery
in a new settlement of Barce which is located in distant Bakhtrish.
Megabernes
: Son of Spitamenes. Satrap of the Barcanians.
c.515
BC :
The
unreliable Ctesias has Cyrus the Great in 530 BC appointing Cambyses
as his successor. He also makes two appointments to satrapies, placing
Spitaces in command over the Dyrbaeans and his brother Megabernes
over the Barcanians. Since the Barcanians are not moved to the region
until around fifteen years later, this appoint has to be a later
one, or to a different location. It may not be coincidental that
the same Megabernes can be found as satrap of Verkâna in or around
this time.
fl
500 BC :
Artabanos : Brother of Darius I. Satrap of Bakhtrish (&
Suguda?).
fl
480 BC :
Masistes : Brother of Xerxes I. Satrap of Bakhtrish (&
Suguda?).
?
- 464 BC :
Hystaspes : Son of Xerxes I. Satrap of Bakhtrish (&
Suguda?). Killed?
465
- 464 BC :
Artabanus the Hyrcanian kills Xerxes in collusion with the eunuch
of the bedside and subsequently takes control of the empire, ostensibly
as a regent for Xerxes' three sons. Artabanus has the murder pinned
on the eldest of these, Darius, and has him killed by the youngest
son, Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes accedes to the throne before Artabanus
attempts to murder him too. In the end, it is Artabanus who dies,
but Artaxerxes is forced to defeat the second of Xerxes' sons, Hystaspes,
satrap of Bakhtrish and his own brother. This brief civil war is
ended when Artaxerxes defeats the forces of Hystaspes in battle
during a sandstorm.
360s/350s
BC :
Artaxerxes II is occupied fighting the 'revolt of the satraps' in
the western part of the empire. Nothing is known of events in the
eastern half of the Persian empire at this time, but no word of
unrest is mentioned by Greek writers, however briefly. Given the
newsworthiness for Greeks of any rebellion against the Persian king,
this should be enough to show that the east remains solidly behind
the king. It seems that all of the empire's troubles hinge on the
Greeks during this period.
?
- 329 BC :
Bessus
/ Artaxerxes V : Satrap of Bakhtrish & Suguda. Murdered
Achaemenid Darius III.
330
- 328 BC :
In 330 BC Suguda becomes part of the Greek empire despite the efforts
of Bessus, self-styled 'king of Asia', to retain at least some of
the Persian territories. His claim is legal, since Bakhtrish is
traditionally commanded by the next-in-line to the throne and he
has already murdered the former holder, Darius, but Persia has already
been lost and his loose collection of eastern allies - which includes
the other two most senior officials, Barsaentes of Harahuwatish
and Satibarzanes of Haraiva - provides nothing more than a sideshow
to the main event - the fall of Achaemenid Persia. Still, it takes
Alexander the Great two more years to fully conquer the region.
![Hindu Kush mountains](Afghan_HinduKush01_full.jpg)
In
his Hannibal Barca moment of brilliant tactical manoeuvre, Alexander
the Great confounded expectations by entering Bakhtrish (Bactria)
from the southern side of the Hindu Kush mountain range
In
Bakhtrish, Bessus returns to his capital to organise the resistance
by the eastern satrapies. Alexander enters Bakhtrish in 329 BC via
the Hindu Kush, which has been left undefended. After burning the
crops, Bessus flees east, crossing the River Oxus. By now his own
mounted levies are deserting en masse, and he is seized by
several of his chieftains and handed over to the Macedonians. At
Hamadan, the traditional Persian punishment for rebels and regicides
is carried out on him, with his nose and earlobes being removed.
After this he is executed, possibly by crucifixion, decapitation,
or by being torn apart by two recoiling trees (sources differ).
From here, Alexander proceeds into Suguda.
Argead
Dynasty in Bactria :
The Argead were the ruling family and founders of Macedonia who
reached their greatest extent under Alexander the Great and his
two successors before the kingdom broke up into several Hellenic
sections. Following Alexander's conquest of central and eastern
Persia in 331-328 BC, the Greek empire ruled the region until Alexander's
death in 323 BC and the subsequent regency period which ended in
310 BC. Alexander's successors held no real power, being mere figureheads
for the generals who really held control of Alexander's empire.
Following that latter period and during the course of several wars,
Bactria was left in the hands of the Seleucid empire from 305 BC.
Bactria's appointed satraps during the Achaemenid period were usually
royal princes or members of the highest social elite. Information
about the satrapy's administration comes predominantly from the
time of Alexander's campaign. The minor satrapy of Margiana was
also under the oversight of the satrap of Bakhtrish, as apparently
was much of the Central Asian region, as proven by the Behistun
inscription. The southern border with the province of Gandhar
was formed by the Hindu Kush, which today still marks the frontier
of numerous Afghan provinces. To the north the River Oxus (Amu
Darya) marked the frontier with Sogdiana, but the borders can only
roughly be estimated where they met Aria to the south-west, Margiana
to the west, and a region to the east which had, in the earliest
phase of Achaemenid occupation, formed the minor satrapy of the
Dyrbaeans.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from
Alexander the Great and Bactria: The Formation of a Greek Frontier
in Central Asia, Frank Lee Holt, from The Generalship of
Alexander the Great, J F C Fuller, from the Historical Dictionary
of Ancient Greek Warfare, J Woronoff & I Spence, from A
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William
Smith (London, 1873), and from External Links: The Geography
of Strabo (Loeb Classical Library Edition, 1932), and Encyclopaedia
Britannica.)
330
- 323 BC :
Alexander III the Great : King of Macedonia. Conquered
Persia.
323
- 317 BC :
Philip III Arrhidaeus : Feeble-minded half-brother of Alexander
the Great.
317
- 310 BC :
Alexander IV of Macedonia : Infant son of Alexander the
Great and Roxana.
329
- 328 BC :
Persian resistance in the east to Alexander the Great's invasion
is primarily centred in Bactria. Alexander enters the province in
329 BC via the Hindu Kush, which has been left undefended. After
burning the crops its final Persian satrap, Bessus, flees east,
crossing the River Oxus where he is seized by several of his chieftains
and handed over to the Macedonians. Bactria has been taken and Sogdiana
is next. Artabazus is created satrap of Bactria.
![Map of Central Asia & Eastern Mediterranean 334-323 BC](Map_Bactria-&-India-334-324BC_full.jpg)
The
route of Alexander's ongoing campaigns are shown in this map, with
them leading him from Europe to Egypt, into Persia, and across the
vastness of eastern Iran as far as the Pamir mountain range
329
- 328 BC :
Artabazus
: Phrygian satrap of Bactria. Resigned his position.
328
BC :
Clitus
/ Cleitus the Black : Satrap. Killed by Alexander the Great
in a drunken quarrel.
328
BC :
Following the resignation of Artabazus, Clitus is given the post
of satrap of Bactria along with command of 16,000 Greeks who had
formerly fought under the Persians as mercenaries. He sees this
posting as a reduction of his influence and position with Alexander
and, at a banquet in the satrap's palace at Maracanda (the capital
of the satrapy of Sogdiana, modern Samarkand), the two get into
a drunken quarrel. Enduring gross insults from Clitus, in his rage
Alexander runs him through with a spear. Almost immediately he deeply
regrets the death of his former friend (the scene is well depicted
in the feature film, Alexander (2004), although the location
is transferred to India).
328
- 321 BC :
Amyntas
Nikolaos : Greek satrap of Chorasmia, Bactria, & Sogdiana.
328
- 321 BC :
Scythaeus
: Greek satrap of Chorasmia, Bactria, & Sogdiana.
323
- 321 BC :
Philip
/ Philippus : Greek satrap of Chorasmia, Bactria, &
Sogdiana, then Parthia.
321
BC :
With Philip being reassigned to Parthia, his replacement in the
east is Stasanor the Solian, former satrap of Aria and Drangiana.
This new satrap is the brother to Stasander, his replacement in
Aria and Drangiana. Perhaps he also has more of a focus towards
the Northern Indus territories than the eastern coast of the Caspian
Sea, as later suggested by events. His territory initially extends
as far north as Ferghana, which contains the city of Alexandria
Eschate ('the Furthest', possibly modern Khojend but see the Ferghana
introduction for more details), while Stasander also has ambitions.
![River Indus](Indus_River01_full.jpg)
The
various territories that made up the satrapy of the Northern Indus
(Punjab) which was centred over the mighty River Indus, alongside
those of Gandhara, would go on to form the heartland of Indo-Greek
control of the east in the remaining centuries BC
321
- 312 BC :
Stasanor
the Solian : Greek satrap of Chorasmia to Sogdiana, &
Nth Punjab (316 BC).
320s
BC :
In the 320s BC, the Greeks under Alexander, like the Persians before
them, place the Amyrgian Sakas beyond Sogdiana, across the River
Tanais (otherwise known as the Iaxartes, Jaxartes, or Syr Darya,
which forms the boundary between Sogdiana and Scythia). This is
thanks to their having encountered them after crossing Sogdiana
and the Syr Darya in the approximate region of Alexandria Eschate.
It is generally accepted that they control all of Ferghana (immediately
to the east of Sogdiana) and the Alai Valley. Indeed, they may have
been relocated onto the plain following their conquest by the Persians.
316
- 312 BC :
The Wars of the Diadochi decide how Alexander the Great's
empire is carved up between his generals, but the period is very
confused, especially in the east. These provinces appear to be invaded
and controlled by the Antigonids for a period, with General Antigonus
being responsible for the death of Eudamus, satrap of the Northern
Indus. However, at some point in 316 BC, Stasanor the Solian, satrap
of Chorasmia, Bactria, and Sogdiana (with Ferghana) seizes the Northern
Indus while his brother seizes Parthia. Clearly the two are either
working in unison with Seleucus of Babylonia from the beginning
or are attempting to stamp their own independent authority on much
of the east. Unfortunately, Stasander is removed from office in
315 BC.
315?
- 305? BC :
Sophytes
: Greek satrap of Bactria or vassal of Stanasor?
315
- 305 BC :
Proof of the growing independence of the Greek commanders in the
east of the empire is provided by numismatic (coin) evidence. Several
local issues of gold, silver, and bronze are struck in the names
of independent satraps, including Sophytes and Vakshuvar (possibly
Oxyartes of Paropamisus or his successor) between 315-305 BC. It
is impossible on the basis of the available evidence to say whether
this Sophytes has replaced Stanasor as satrap of Bactria or whether
he governs a neighbouring region as Stanasor's equal or vassal.
Perhaps most likely is the possibility that he becomes satrap, or
assistant satrap, of Bactria when Stasanor focuses his attention
on the Northern Punjab from 316 BC. The coinage of Sophytes is greatly
attributed to a Bactrian mint on the basis of its distribution and
evolution from earlier Greek coinage types, supporting that possibility.
![Battle of Ipsus](Macedonia_Ipsus01_full.jpg)
The
Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC ended the drawn-out and destructive Wars
of the Diadochi which decided how Alexander's empire would be divided
312
- 306 BC :
Bactria is taken by the Seleucids around 312 BC, and it is possibly
this event that serves to end the reign of Stasanor. Some areas
seem to have been lost to regional warlords, such as parts of Drangiana,
but by far the larger part remains under the control of the Greek
satrap of Bactria and Sogdiana and, after 256 BC, the kings of Bactria.
Macedonian
Bactria (Greco-Bactrian Kingdom) :
The unexpected death of Alexander in 323 BC changed the situation
dramatically within his vast Greek empire. Immediately his generals
divided the empire between them. Seleucus was able to expand his
holdings with some ruthlessness, building up his stock of Alexander's
far eastern regions as far as the borders of India and the River
Indus (Sindh). Appian's work, The Syrian Wars, provides a
detailed list of these regions, which included Arabia, Arachosia,
Aria, Armenia, Bactria, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia (as it was known)
by 301 BC, Carmania, Cilicia (eventually), Drangiana, Gedrosia,
Hyrcania, Media, Mesopotamia, Paropamisadae, Parthia, Persia, Sogdiana,
and Tapouria (a small satrapy beyond Hyrcania), plus eastern areas
of Phrygia.
Following
the conclusion of the Wars of the Diadochi between the generals,
Bactria (or Bactriana) was governed by Macedonian satraps. The descendants
of these satraps became independent kings after Bactria had been
cut off from the Seleucid heartland in Syria by Parthian incursion
into central Persia. The kingdom consisted of the core provinces
of Bactria and Sogdiana (to the north, reaching up to the southern
shore of the Aral Sea, mostly within modern Turkmenistan). The latter
of these two provinces also included Ferghana and the city of Alexandria
Eschate. Located in one of the richest and most urbanised of regions,
Macedonian Bactria quickly blossomed into a large, eastern Greek
empire, but continual internal discord and usurpations saw it progressively
fragmented and vulnerable to outside conquest. The easternmost section
was soon almost permanently separated from Bactria and came to be
known as the Indo-Greek kingdom. Ironically this outlived its mother
state following an invasion of barbarians from the north.
The
chronology of the Indo-Bactrian rulers is based largely on numismatic
evidence (coinage). There are few written accounts, and other records
are relatively sparse, while frequent internecine conflicts make
the facts even harder to pin down, so dates are rarely reliable.
Some possible kings are known only from a few coins, and the interpretation
of these can sometimes be very uncertain. The Chinese explorer,
Zhang Qian, recorded Bactria as Daxia to further complicate matters.
(Information
by David Kelleher and Peter Kessler, with additional information
from The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau,
Jeffrey D Lerner (1999), and from External Links: the Ancient
History Encyclopaedia (dead link), and Encyclopĉdia Britannica,
and Encyclopaedia Iranica, and Silk Road Seattle (Walter Chapin
Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington),
and Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus,
Marcus Junianus Justinus (Rev John Selby Watson, Trans, 1895), via
Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum, and Appian's History of Rome: The
Syrian Wars at Livius.org, and Turkic History. Where information
conflicts regarding the Indo-Greek territories, Osmund Bopearachchi's
Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné
(1991) has been followed.)
306
- 256 BC :
The
Fourth War of the Diadochi soon breaks out. In 306 BC Antigonus
proclaims himself king and governs territory known as the Empire
of Antigonus, so the following year the other generals do the same
in their domains. Polyperchon, otherwise quiet in his stronghold
in the Peloponnese, dies in 303 BC and Cassander of Macedonia claims
his territory. The war ends in the death of Antigonus at the Battle
of Ipsus in 301 BC. Seleucus is now king of all Hellenic territory
from Syria eastwards. For the next fifty years Bactria is governed
by his Seleucid satraps as one of the easternmost sections of the
empire.
![Ancient Bactra/Balkh city walls](Afghan_Balkh_Ruins01_full.jpg)
The
landscape around the walls of the ancient city of Bactra, capital
of Bactria (shown here - now known as Balkh in northern Afghanistan,
close to the border along the Amu Darya), was and still is very
diverse, offering both challenges and rewards to any settlers there,
including the newly arrived Greeks
305
BC :
Following the failure of Seleucus Nicator to reconquer Mauryan India,
the regions of Paropamisadae (immediately east of Bactria proper,
modern Kabul), Arachosia (modern southern Afghanistan and northern
and central Pakistan, and perhaps extending as far as the Indus),
northern Indus, and southern Indus are handed to the Mauryan empire
in India by the Seleucids as part of an alliance agreement.
Demodamas
: Seleucid satrap (governor-general) of Bactria & Sogdiana.
c.294
- 293 BC :
A
former general under Seleucid rulers Seleucus I Nicator and Antiochus
I Soter, Demodamas later serves twice as satrap of Bactria and Sogdiana.
During this time he undertakes military expeditions across the Syr
Darya (otherwise known as the River Tanais) to explore the lands
of the Sakas, repopulating Alexandria Eschate ('the furthest', modern
Khojend) in Ferghana in the process following its earlier destruction
by barbarians. His journeys of exploration take hum farther than
any other Greek, barring perhaps Alexander himself, and his records
of what he finds provide an important platform for later Roman writers.
c.293
- 281 BC :
?
: One or more unknown Seleucid satraps.
c.281
- 280 BC :
Demodamas
: Seleucid satrap for the second time.
c.280
- 256 BC :
?
: Unknown Seleucid satrap(s).
256
- 248 BC :
Diodotus
I Soter : Satrap. Declared the kingdom.
256
BC :
Diodotus
declares independence from Seleucid Greek rule at the same time
as the satrap of Parthia. It may even be the actions of Andragoras
of Parthia which force the hand of Diodotus I Soter, since there
is little immediate chance of Seleucid retaliation. However, although
the written evidence is confused and somewhat contradictory, it
is more likely to happen the other way around. Bactria declares
independence and Parthia follows. Diodotus now rules the former
provinces of Bactria, Sogdiana (to the north of Bactria), Ferghana
(modern eastern Uzbekistan), and Arachosia (modern Kandahar). It
is Strabo who confirms that Sogdiana at this time remains a Greco-Bactrian
possession.
![Seleucid war elephants](Greek_WarElephants01_full.jpg)
Seleucid
war elephants were first introduced into the empire thanks to an
exchange of gifts with the Mauryan emperor in India, these being
the larger Indian elephants rather than the slightly smaller, now-extinct
North African forest elephant used by Egyptians and Carthaginians
Diodotus
II : Son. Deposed by Euthydemus.
248
- 235 BC :
Antiochus
Nikator : Possible brother mentioned on coins but otherwise
unknown.
c.235/230
BC :
Diodotus is overthrown by Euthydemus, possibly the satrap of Sogdiana.
The date is uncertain and Strabo puts forward 223/221 BC as an alternative,
placing it within a period of internal Seleucid discord.
235
- 200/195 BC :
Euthydemus I Theos : Former satrap in Sogdiana? Founder
of the Euthydemids.
c.220
BC :
Euthydemus' realm is a large one, perhaps still including Sogdiana
and Ferghana to the north, and Margiana and Aria to the west. There
are indications that from Alexandria Eschate in Ferghana the Greco-Bactrians
may lead expeditions as far as Kashgar (a little under three hundred
and twenty kilometres due east of Ferghana), and Urumqi in Chinese
Turkestan. There they would be able to establish the first known
contacts between China and the West around 220 BC.
Even
more remarkably, recent examinations of the terracotta army have
established a startling new concept - the terracotta army may be
the product of western art forms and technology. An entire terracotta
army plus imperial court are manufactured using five workshops and
a form of human representation in sculpture that has never before
been seen in China. Archaeologists today continue the process of
discovering new pits and even a fan of roads leading out from the
emperor's burial mound, one of which, heading west, may be a sort
of proto-Silk Road along which Greek craftsmen may be travelling.
208
- 206 BC :
Euthydemus repulses an effort at the re-conquest of Bactria by the
Seleucid ruler, Antiochus III. Following defeat at the Battle of
the Arius, Euthydemus successfully resists a two year siege in the
fortified city of Bactra before Antiochus finally decides to recognise
his rule in 206 BC. He offers one of his daughters in marriage to
Euthydemus' son, Demetrius, but it may also be at this time that
Euthydemus refers to great hordes of nomads accumulating on the
northern borders, possibly meaning that Sogdiana has been removed
from his control, and posing a threat to both their domains - Bactria
and the Seleucid empire.
Antiochus
subsequently marches across the Hindu Kush into the Kabul Valley
and renews ties of friendship with an Indian king by the name of
Sophagasenos. This king is otherwise completely unknown and cannot
be matched with any more certain Indian rulers. Instead, given the
location it seems that he may be a local ruler, perhaps in post-Mauryan
Paropamisadae before it is seized by the Indo-Greek kingdom.
c.200
- 195 BC :
The
last years of Euthydemus' reign probably sees he and his son cross
the Hindu Kush and begin the conquest of what is now northern Afghanistan
and the Indus valley. A great Indo-Greek empire rises far in the
east.
![Map of Bactria and India 200 BC](Map_Bactria-&-India-200BC_full.jpg)
The
kingdom of Bactria (shown in white) was at the height of its power
around 200-180 BC, with fresh conquests being made in the south-east,
encroaching into India just as the Mauryan empire was on the verge
of collapse, while around the northern and eastern borders dwelt
various tribes that would eventually contribute to the downfall
of the Greeks - the Sakas and Greater Yuezhi
200/195
- c.180 BC :
Demetrius
I : Son. In Bactria & Indo-Greek territories.
185
BC :
The
Mauryan empire falls apart. Demetrius annexes the western half of
the empire, possibly as a show of support for the former allies,
and possibly in part to protect Greek populations there. The territory
gained includes Paropamisadae (northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan),
all of Arachosia (southern Afghanistan), and modern Punjab and Kashmir,
areas which could be included in the former satrapy of northern
Indus. He advances as far as the Ganges and Pataliputra (modern
Patna), although this advance is usually ascribed to the later king,
Menander I.
c.180
BC :
Placing
Demetrius' death (of unknown causes) on this date is generally accepted
but far from certain. It is used in an attempt to fit in his death
with the subsequent appearance of many successors in several regions
of the enlargened kingdom. At some point, Demetrius invades the
Sunga kingdom of Magadha from the west as Kharavela of Kaling is
attacking from the south. Rather than press home his own attack,
Kharavela turns on the Bactrian king and forces him to retreat.
This event must be towards the very end of Demetrius' reign and
at the beginning of Kharavela's for them to be ruling simultaneously.
Some
of Demetrius' successors may be co-regents, but civil wars and territorial
divisions are very likely. Pantaleon, Antimachus I, Agathocles,
and possibly Euthydemus II are all theoretically linked as relatives
to Demetrius. In Bactria, Euthydemus II rules, while in the Indo-Greek
territories, Agathocles rules in Paropamisadae while Pantaleon rules
in Arachosia.
190
- 185/180 BC :
Euthydemus
II : Son. Either ruled afterwards or as a sub-king to him.
180?
- 165? BC :
Antimachus
I Theos : Son or brother. In Bactria & Indo-Greek territories.
170?
BC :
Antimachus
is apparently defeated by the able newcomer and former general,
Eucratides (an alternative is that his territory is absorbed by
Eucratides upon his death). Eucratides is opposed by Demetrius II
from the Indo-Greek territories. who apparently returns to Bactria
with 60,000 men to oust the usurper, but he is defeated and killed
in the encounter. Antimachus I also fights against Eucratides, but
ultimately is defeated around 160 BC and Eucratides seems to occupy
territory as far as the Indus. The Euthydemids are pushed out of
Bactria, retaining only the Indo-Greek territories.
![A silver tetradrachm of Eucratides I of Bactria](Indo-Greeks_Coins04_full.jpg)
The
successor to Antimachus I of Bactria was Eucratides I, with this
silver tetradrachm being minted in his image at some point during
the twenty-six years or so of his reign
171
- c.145 BC :
Eucratides
I / Eukratides I : Bactrian. In Paropamisadae, Arachosia,
& W Indus.
167
BC :
Under
Mithradates the Parthians rise from obscurity to become a major
regional power, although a precise chronology is not possible. Their
first expansion takes the former province of Aria (now northern
Afghanistan) from the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. It seems possible
that Aria (and possibly a rebellious Drangiana too) had already
been conquered once by the Arsacids, with the Greco-Bactrians recapturing
it, probably during the reign of Euthydemus I Theos. During the
reign of Eucratides the Greco-Bactrians are also engaged in warfare
against the people of Sogdiana, showing that they have lost control
of that northern region too (and by inference Ferghana).
The last statement raises the question of who in Sogdiana is standing
against Eucratides. There exist a few coins which are minted under
the command of one Hyrcodes, an otherwise unknown individual. Despite
much speculation about whether he is based in Bactria or in Sogdiana
and whether he commands in the second or first century BC, it seems
most likely that he is an Indo-Greek opponent of Eucratides. However,
if true, and if placing him around this date is correct, then he
is unlikely to survive the imminent Saka and Greater Yuezhi invasions
of Sogdiana.
The other eastern provinces, all of which still appear to be in
Seleucid hands, must also fall to the Parthians very quickly after
this - including Carmania, Gedrosia, and Margiana - although firm
evidence to show a specific date appears to be lacking. Another
date which may be valid for these losses is 185 BC, when Seleucus
IV loses eastern Iran to Parthian expansion, but the fact that the
Parthians fail to expand out of their initial conquests until Mithradates
accedes makes this period a more likely one.
c.165
BC :
Defeated
by the Xiongnu, the Greater Yuezhi are forced to evacuate their
lands on the borders of the Chinese kingdom. They begin a migration
westwards that triggers a slow domino effect of barbarian movement.
However, Bactria seems to be at least a decade away from being affected
by this, and the Greek kings continue to focus more on their battles
against established rivals.
![](Map_China_200BC_Tocharians_full.jpg)
The
Greater Yuezhi were defeated and forced out of the Gansu region
by the Xiongnu, and their migratory route into Central Asia is pretty
easy to deduct from the fact that they chose to try and settle in
the Ili river valley below Lake Balkhash
c.155
BC :
In
the east, the Indo-Greek king, Menander, seems to repel the invasion
by Eucratides, and pushes him back as far as Paropamisadae, thereby
consolidating the rule of the Indo-Greek kings in northern India.
After this, the Indo-Greek kingdom is permanently divided from Bactria.
c.150
- 145 BC :
Plato
: Brother? In Bactria or Paropamisadae.
c.145
BC :
Under
pressure in their established homeland thanks to the migration of
the Greater Yuezhi, the Sakas enter the territory of Bactria around
this time. They burn to the ground the city of Alexandria on the
Oxus, an event which seemingly coincides with the death of Eucratides
I himself. Generally presumed to be the modern ruins known as Ay
Khanum (or Ai Khanum, literally 'Lady Moon' in Uzbek), the city
is possibly also known as Eucratidia during its last days - almost
certainly thanks to Eucratides I. The city goes into unrecoverable
decline and today is entirely uninhabited.
c.145
- 140 BC :
Eucratides
II : Son of Eucratides I?
c.140
BC :
Eucratides II is dethroned in a dynastic civil war which is sparked
by the murder of Eucratides I. His successor, Heliocles I, is forced
to face the reality of the kingdom's situation, with ever-increasing
pressure by Sakas and Greater Yuezhi on its shrinking northern border.
He moves the capital to the Kabul Valley, but it is only a temporary
stop-gap.
![Zhang Qian, ambassador and explorer](HanWestern_ZhangQian01_full.jpg)
Zhang
Qian was a Chinese ambassador and explorer who, between 138-126
BC, met and documented many of the steppe tribes, and referred to
Bactria as Daxia
c.140
- 130 BC :
Heliocles
I : Probably killed during the Greater Yuezhi invasion.
c.140
- 130 BC :
Sakas have long been pressing against Bactria's borders. Now, following
a long migration from the borders of the Chinese kingdoms, the Greater
Yuezhi start to invade Bactria from Sogdiana to the north. Initially,
Saka elements who are already in Bactria become vassals to the Greater
Yuezhi.
Suvars
(or Subars), a horse husbandry tribe known from the environs of
Sumerian Mesopotamia (if in fact they are the same group - doubtful
given the time span involved), now gain renewed prominence when
they join the 'Tokhars' and Ases in the nomadic conquest of Sogdiana
and Bactria about this time. The Ases have been equated with the
Ases of the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the sixth century. They may
be the same group, although this is debatable. A case can be made,
however, by this nomadic group returning northwards to be swept
up in early Turkic migrations towards the Caspian Sea - the Suvars
seem to follow the very same course.
At around the time of the death of Indo-Greek King Menander in 130
BC, the Greater Yuezhi overrun Bactria and end Greek rule. Heliocles
may possibly invade the western part of the Indo-Greek kingdom (part
of the process of moving his capital to the Kabul Valley?), as there
are strong suggestions that the Eucratids continue to rule there,
especially in the form of Heliocles' presumed son, Lysias.
![](Indo-Greeks_Coins03_full.jpg)
This
photo depicts the single obverse side of a coin that was issued
by the Indo-Greek King Menander, known in India as the great King
Milinda
In
Bactria, Hellenic cities appear to survive for some time, as does
the well-organised agricultural system. On the northern bank of
the River Oxus the fortress religious centre of Takht-i Sangin (now
in southern Tajikistan) survives and flourishes until the late Kushan
period. The general region of Bactria comes to be called Tokharistan
before one of the Greater Yuezhi tribes unites all of them under
one banner to create the Kushan empire. Areas of Bactria later form
parts of Afghanistan and most of eastern Turkmenistan.
Tokharistan
/ Tushara Kingdom (Bactria) :
Following the decline of Greek power in the region, Bactria became
easy pickings for every successive nomadic invader who took a fancy
to it. Takeovers by warrior elites of a subject population after
any conquest are characteristic of steppe nomads of every flavour,
and it is not surprising that the region witnessed various masters
over the next seven centuries. The instability of dynasties here
was very characteristic of nomads who came from open plains with
no fixed borders, with their organisation consisting of mobile clans
with their own leaders. Such a background demanded ruthless aggression,
and alliances which were understood to be temporary in nature, this
being the only way to survive.
When the Greater Yuezhi suffered yet another defeat at the hands
of the Xiongu, this time with the latter allied to the previously
subservient Wusun, they had no choice but to follow a migratory
route away from their enemies. This route delivered them onto the
Saka plains of the Ili river valley to the immediate south of Lake
Balqash (the modern Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan). From there they
were forced to move again, entering Transoxiana from the direction
of Da Yuan (the Chinese term for Ferghana). They penetrated Sogdiana
from its northern reaches, initially dominating the Sakas who were
already there.
Soon
afterwards they followed the Sakas in invading the former Greek
empire region of Bactria (Ta-hia or Ta-Hsia in Chinese records),
by around 140 BC. This is where Chinese and western Classical records
converge, allowing the Greater Yuezhi to be identified as Tocharians
and for confusion to be created for modern scholars. At about the
time of the death of the Indo-Greek King Menander around 130 BC
they managed to terminate Greek rule in Bactria. Hellenic cities
there appear to have survived for some time, as did the well-organised
agricultural system, but the general area of Bactria soon came to
be referred to as Tokharistan after its new masters. As a recognisable
entity by that name, Tokharistan survived at least as far as the
sixth century AD.
Tokharistan could also be equated with the Tushara kingdom of Indian
literature which includes the Mahabharata. Tushara lies beyond
north-western India itself, and is populated by mlechchas
- barbarians - but more than enough time had passed since the great
Indo-European migratory period that the Vedic Hindus would have
no idea about the origins of these barbarians. Puranic texts equate
them with the Sakas (Shakas), clearly seeing little difference between
the dominating Greater Yuezhi and the dominated Sakas to the north
of the Hindu Kush. In fact, such texts tend to find it hard to differentiate
between any of the peoples to the north of the Hindu Kush. The Tibetan
chronicle, Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah (The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa)
references the Greater Yuezhi as the Tho-gar (seemingly another
reference to Tokharians).
(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional
information from Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius
Trogus: Books 11-12, Volume 1, Marcus Junianus Justinus, John
Yardley, & Waldemar Heckel, from Migration and Settlement
of the Yuezhi-Kushan. Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic
and Sedentary Societies, Xinru Liu (Journal of World History
12, 2001), from The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery
of the Earliest Peoples from the West, J P Mallory & Victor
H Mair (2000), from Sogdiana, its Christians, and Byzantium,
Aleksandr Naymark (Indiana University, 2001), and from External
Links: Peering at the Tocharians through Language, and The United
Sites of Indo-Europeans, and Studies in the History and Language
of the Sarmatians, and Linguistics Research Center, University of
Texas at Austin, and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples,
and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (J Pokorny), and the Ancient
History Encyclopaedia (dead link), and Tocharian Online: Series
Introduction, Todd B Krause & Jonathan Slocum (University of
Texas at Austin), and Silk Road Seattle, Walter Chapin Simpson Center
for the Humanities at the University of Washington, and Afghan Gold,
Treasures from the East (World Archaeology).)
![Tocharian sculpture](Features_Tocharian02_long.jpg)
126
BC :
The
Chinese envoy, Chang-kien or Zhang Qian, visits the newly-established
Greater Yuezhi capital of Kian-she in Ta-Hsia (otherwise shown
as Daxia to the Chinese, and Bactria to western writers) and the
rich and fertile country of the Bukhara region of Sogdiana. His
mission is to obtain help for the Chinese emperor against the
Xiongnu, but the Greater Yuezhi leader - the son of their leader
who had been killed about 166 BC - refuses the request. Kian-she
can reasonably be equated with Lan-shih or Lanshi, but the question
of whether this is the Bactrian capital of Bactra (modern Balkh)
seems to be much more controversial. It does seem to be likely
though, despite scholarly objections.
However, although some modern scholars label the Bactra of this
period as the Greater Yuezhi 'capital', Zhang Qian's own contemporary
account makes it quite clear that the country is not ruled by
a single king who is based in Bactra. Nor does the city contain
a central administration. He carefully notes that: 'It [Bactria]
has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the
various cities'. The Chinese word used to describe the status
of Lanshi can refer either to the capital (of a country) or, preferably
here, a large town, city, or metropolis. The sense in which it
is used clearly edges towards the latter sense.
Instead the Greater Yuezhi territory has been divided into five
principalities, one for each of the main five Greater Yuezhi tribes
(although there is the possibility that one or more may instead
be formed of Sakas who had been there before the Greater Yuezhi
and have now been absorbed into their ranks). These are the the
Xiūmì (Hieu-mi), Guishuang (Kuei-shung or Kushan), Shuangmi
(Shuang-mi), Xidun (Hi-tun), and Dūmì (Tumi). Although they
are independently governed by their own allied prince or xihou,
they act together as a confederation. It is also during this period
that the Greater Yuezhi become literate, quickly progressing to
become able administrators, traders, and scholars.
![Map of Central Asia & India c.50 BC](Map_Bactria-&-India-50BC_full.jpg)
By
the period between 100-50 BC the Greek kingdom of Bactria had
fallen and the remaining Indo-Greek territories (shown in white)
had been squeezed towards Eastern Punjab. India was partially
fragmented, and the once tribal Sakas were coming to the end of
a period of domination of a large swathe of territory in modern
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north-western India. The dates within
their lands (shown in yellow) show their defeats of the Greeks
that had gained them those lands, but they were very soon to be
overthrown in the north by the Kushans while still battling for
survival against the Satvahanas of India
115
- 100 BC :
With Parthian territory having been harried for years by the Sakas,
King Mithridates II is finally able to take control of the situation.
First he defeats the Greater Yuezhi in Sogdiana in 115 BC, and
then he defeats the Sakas in Parthia and Seistan (in Drangiana)
around 100 BC. After their defeat, the Greater Yuezhi tribes concentrate
on consolidation in Bactria-Tokharistan while the Sakas are diverted
into Indo-Greek Gandhar. The western territories of Aria, Drangiana,
and Margiana would appear to remain Parthian dependencies. Although
Carmania doesn't seem to be mentioned directly, its position between
Drangiana and Persia would make it likely that this too is still
in Parthian hands.
c.50?
BC :
The Kushan tribe of Greater Yuezhi captures the territory of the
Sakas in what will one day become Afghanistan, and have probably
already caused the downfall of Indo-Greek King Hermaeus, conquering
Paropamisadae in the process. The Kushans are becoming the dominant
tribe of the Greater Yuezhi confederation, soon beginning the
process of uniting the tribes under a single ruler in the process
of creating the Kushan empire.
It
is in the west of Bactria in this century that the 'Bactrian Gold'
horde of Tillia Tepe is buried, in the graves of 'princely nomads'.
At the heart of the horde is a glorious selection of objects from
six richly-furnished graves (five women and one man) which are
later excavated by an Afghan-Soviet team in 1978. A notable level
of Greek influence can be felt in some of the finds, revealing
the fact that Greek culture has had a lasting impact on the region,
nearly three centuries after the death of Alexander the Great.
1st
century AD :
A few coins have been found which are minted (probably) in the
first century AD by one Phseigaharis. The coins all come from
the prosperous Kashka-Darya valley of the western Pamir mountain
range immediately south of Marakanda (Samarkand, with the valley
now being in the region of Qashqadaryo in eastern Uzbekistan).
Otherwise unknown except for these coin finds, Phseigaharis can
be classed as a local ruler in Sogdiana, possibly a member of
the Greater Yuezhi or one of their regional vassals.
Kushan
Empire / Guishang Kingdom :
Incorporating the Dūmì, Guishuang, Shuangmi,
Xidun, & Xiūmì
The
Kushan (or Kushans) founded an empire across southern areas of
Central Asia and northern South Asia (reaching into north and
west of India) at the very end of the first century BC. As a tribal
people who were only just becoming infused with the prevailing
local Indo-Greek culture and writing, their origins are somewhat
murky and the foundation of their empire is just as indistinct.
Contemporary records (mostly written by ethnic Greeks and Indians)
show that they were a branch of the Indo-European Yueh Chi or
Greater Yuezhi tribes following the mass exodus of that group
from Chinese lands around 165 BC (see feature link for a broad
overview of the Kushans).
According
to J P Mallory, the native name for the historical Greater Yuezhi
of Central Asia in the sixth to eighth centuries AD was possibly
'kuśiññe', meaning 'kuchean' in Tocharian B, 'of the kingdom
of Kucha and Agni'. One of the Tocharian A texts refers to ārśi-käntwā,
supposedly meaning 'in the tongue of Arsi'. The word 'ārśi'
has been suggested as being cognate to 'argenteus', meaning 'shining,
brilliant', but this is ridiculous. It is much more likely to
refer to the verb 'to be', personified as 'truth'. Akni is simply
the deity of fire, Agni. Kucha is suspected of being a tribal
name which later became better known as 'kushan'. If 'arsi' is
indeed 'to be' then this links the Kushans and Greater Yuezhi
to the Germanic Indo-Europeans and their asura (Os, Aesir - see
feature link, right, for more information) who were called Istvae.
If nothing else, this would serve to further confirm the Greater
Yuezhi as satem-speaking Indo-Iranians, something that
is already fully evident in their regard. Examining more speculatively,
could 'kuśiññe' have on the end of it the Celtic and Germanic
plural suffix in yet another form, '-iññe'? In British (Belgic?)
this was '-aun', in ancient German and common Celtic it was '-on',
in modern German it is '-en', and in modern Welsh is it '-ion'.
This would provide another link to other Indo-Europeans.
The Kushans may not have represented all Greater Yuezhi, but they
certainly emerged as a powerful component of the confederation.
The Greater Yuezhi entered Transoxiana and then started to invade
Bactria by about 140 BC. At around the time of the death of Indo-Greek
King Menander about 130 BC, they ended Greek rule in Bactria.
Then they settled their conquered territory and the region became
known as Tokharistan. There were five tribes which made up the
Greater Yuezhi - although there is the possibility that one or
more may instead have been formed of Sakas, a sister-group who
had been there before the Greater Yuezhi arrival and who were
now easily absorbed into their ranks. These five tribes are known
in Chinese history as Xiūmì (Hieu-mi), Guishuang
(Kuei-shung or Kushan), Shuangmi (Shuang-mi), Xidun
(Hi-tun), and Dūmì (Tumi). Each of these seem to have
settled their own territory around the start of the first century
BC, although some uncertainty is including when assigning these,
with the Xiūmì possibly taking Wakhan between the Pamirs
and the Hindu Kush (on the eastern edge of what can be termed
'eastern Iran'), the Shuangmi taking Chitral, to the south of
Wakhan and the Hindu Kush, the Guishuang creating a principality
between Chitral and the Panjshir region, the Xidun taking Parwan
on the Panjshir, and the Dūmì in Kabul.
A little over a century later, the Guishuang tribe - or Kushans
as they are better known to western scholars - began to unite
the other tribes together under one banner. The identification
of Kujula Kadphises, the leader of this new confederation, with
the Kieou-tsieu-kio, ruler of Kuei-shung, of Chinese records is
pretty certain (also referred to as Kadphises I in English texts).
Following the unification of the tribes, he secured the area from
the rival Saka tribes, and then expanded his territory to include
Gandhar (Indo-Greek Paropamisadae). Next he pushed on into central
India, extending his borders as far as the Indus, with Indian
sources referring to his kingdom as Kuśana. The empire's
borders later reached China, whose scholars had raised what they
knew as the Guishuang tribe to the Guishuang kingdom.
Dating for the Kushan empire is approximate, considerably uncertain
(especially in its later years), and has been interpreted quite
differently by some scholars. For example, some place its greatest
ruler, Kanishka at AD 78-101 while others give him a starting
date of AD 127, easily two generations later. The Chinese chronicle,
Sanguozhi, can be used to date a late Kushan event to AD
229 while the Kushan king mentioned is shown by the prevailing
chronology as having died in AD 207. If the Chinese dating is
correct then the reign of this king, Vasudeva I, should clearly
be put back by at least two decades.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by
Abhijit Rajadhyaksha and Edward Dawson, from Foreign Impact
on Indian Life and Culture (c.326 BC to c.300 AD), Satyendra
Nath Naskar, from The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the
Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, J P Mallory
& Victor H Mair (2008), from Osservazione sulla monetazione
Indo-Partica. Sanabares I e Sanabares II incertezze ed ipotesie,
F Chiesa (1982), from Ancient Indian History and Civilization,
Sailendra Nath Sen, from Sogdiana, its Christians, and Byzantium,
Aleksandr Naymark (Indiana University, 2001), from Life of
Apollonius Tyana, Philostratus, from A New Bactrian Inscription
of Kanishka the Great, J Cribb & N Sims-Williams (Silk
Road Art and Archaeology 4: 75-142, 1995), from The Dynastic
Arts of the Kushans, J M Rosenfield (University of California
Press, 1967), from King of the Seven Climes: A History of the
Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE), Khodadad Rezakhani
(Touraj Daryaee, Ed, Ancient Iran Series Vol IV, 2017),
from King of the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian
World (3000 BCE - 651 CE), Khodadad Rezakhani (Touraj Daryaee,
Ed, Ancient Iran Series Vol IV, 2017), from The Fragmentary
Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire, R C Blockley
(Francis Cairns, Oxford, 1983), and from External Links:
Talessman's Atlas (World History Maps), and Bactrian Chronology
(SOAS, University of London).)
c.AD
1 - 30 :
Heraios / Heraus / Miaos : Kushan clan chief. Of (partial?)
Indo-Greek descent?
c.AD
1 :
Heraios is the first recognisable Kushan ruler, gaining mastery
within the Greater Yuezhi confederation and minting his own coins.
His precise identity is open to some interpretation, with some
scholars promoting the theory that he is a father or grandfather
of Kujula Kadphises, the man who really unifies the confederation
and leads it to conquest. Heraios is apparently confused by some
scholars with one of the later Indo-Greek kings, Hermaeus Soter,
and it is always possible that in the century and-a-half since
their arrival in the region that the Kushan elite have already
intermarried with the surviving Indo-Greek nobility and have adopted
and adapted Indo-Greek names.
![Map of Central Asia & India c.50 BC](Map_Bactria-&-India-50BC_full.jpg)
By
the period between 100-50 BC the Greek kingdom of Bactria had
fallen and the remaining Indo-Greek territories (shown in white)
had been squeezed towards Eastern Punjab. India was partially
fragmented, and the once tribal Sakas were coming to the end of
a period of domination of a large swathe of territory in modern
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north-western India. The dates within
their lands (shown in yellow) show their defeats of the Greeks
that had gained them those lands, but they were very soon to be
overthrown in the north by the Kushans while still battling for
survival against the Satvahanas of India
10
:
The Indo-Greek kingdom disappears under Saka pressure. It seems
to be Rajuvula, the Saka kshatrapa of Mathura, who invades
what is virtually the last free Indo-Greek territory in eastern
Indus (Punjab), and kills the Greek ruler, Strato II, and his
son. Pockets of Greek population probably remain for some centuries
under the subsequent rule of the Kushans and Indo-Parthians. By
now the Parthians already seem to have captured Kashmir from the
Sakas, relieving them of an important prize.
Kujula
Kadphises / Kadphises I : Descendant of Heraios or perhaps
even the same person?
c.30
- 80 :
Kujula Kadphises is the first Kushan chieftain to refer to himself
as Kushan, and is therefore considered the first Kushan king.
He may be a descendant of Heraios but he may instead be the same
person. He also shares his name with some of the last Saka rulers,
suggesting a possible family connection there.
During his reign, Kadphises subdues the Sakas and establishes
his kingdom in Bactria-Tokharistan and the valley of the River
Oxus (the Amu Darya), defeating the Indo-Parthians. Then he captures
Paropamisadae, although its capital of Taxila may still remain
in Indo-Parthian hands for a time. An Indo-Greek ruler by the
name of Phraotes is noted as ruling there around AD 46.
![Kadphises I coin from Tokharistan](Kushans_Coins01_full.jpg)
This
photo illustrates a Kadphises I coin which was discovered in the
Bactria-Tokharistan region and which has on it a corrupt Greek
legend
c.30
- 50 :
At the founding of the Kushan empire, a long corridor of territory
is seized by the Kushans between Bactria-Tokharistan and the middle
course of the Amu Darya. This serves to create a Kushan barrier
along the entire southern and western Sogdian border. The inference
that can be drawn from the lack of Kushan empire coinage in Sogdiana
(extremely rare), and the lack of any other apparent benefits
of empire, is that Sogdiana is isolated deliberately or otherwise
by this barrier, cut off from the Parthian empire and the west.
A Kushan fortification wall which shuts the Iron Gates, a narrow
path in the Baba-tag Mountains which is a popular connecting route,
would suggest that the barrier is deliberate.
Vima
/ Wima Takto : Son. Aided his father on his campaigns.
c.80
- 90 :
Wima
Takto, the son of Kujula Kadphises, is for a long time known only
to scholars by the Greek legends on his coins - Soter Megas ('the
Great Saviour'). However, the translation of an inscription by
Kanishka I in Rabatak leads to the discovery that his name is
in fact Wima Takto (the 'w' is pronounced in English as a 'v').
His other inscriptions and statues are known from further south
and east in India, confirming his control of Gandhar and north-western
India.
Wema
Kadphises/ Kadphises II : Son (or nephew, and son of
Sadakshana). No heir.
c.90
- 112 :
Kadphises II is another conquering Kushan, like his grandfather.
He expands Kushan territory to the bordering provinces of China
by following and controlling the Silk Road, and later ventures
into India where he establishes holdings as far as Punjab and
parts of modern Uttar Pradesh, being the first to introduce gold
coinage there. By this time, the Kushans have also fully adopted
the local Bactrian language, and its cursive Greek script, as
the language and script of their empire. The empire itself, however,
is large and fully multi-cultural and multilingual.
A
staunch supporter of Buddhism without seemingly becoming one himself,
Wema Kadphises apparently dies without an heir, and the kingdom
is thrown into confusion as his kshatrapas (governors -
the Indian form of 'satrap') fight amongst themselves. Kanishka,
the kshatrapa of the kingdom's eastern province, wins the
struggle and declares himself the successor.
![Marco Polo on the Silk Road](Tajikistan_SilkRoad01_full.jpg)
Marco
Polo's journey into China along the Silk Road made use of a network
of east-west trade routes that had been developed since the time
of Greek control of Bactria
c.100
:
The Kushans capture former Indo-Greek Arachosia from the Indo-Parthians
and expand their borders right up to the edge of the Parthian
empire. With pretenders to the Parthian throne regularly basing
themselves in eastern Parthia, King Pacorus is unable to do anything
about it.
Kanishka
I 'the Great' : Former governor and possible grandson
of Kadphises I.
c.112
- 132 :
Kanishka
expands the empire even further, gaining himself the epithet of
'the Great'. He annexes various regions of India; Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Kashmir, Malwa, Rajputana, and Saurashtra, and extends
his rule as far as Khotan (southern India). He also campaigns
northwards to capture Transoxiana (now Tajikistan and southern
Uzbekistan) and apparently dominates the Tocharians of the Tarim
Basin on the route towards China. He makes Purushpura his capital
(modern Peshawar in Pakistan) and appoints kshatrapas to
rule his vast territories including in the former territory of
the Sakas (Saka officials remain in office in Mathura). He may
also use Greek script on his earlier coins, inherited from influences
in former Bactria which may still be evident in his day.
c.132
:
Despite
being a successful king and general, Kanishka is apparently killed
by his own soldiers during one of his military expeditions to
China. The Saka Western Kshatraps in India take advantage of the
empire's momentary weakness and begin to re-establish their independence.
![](Indus_River01_full.jpg)
The
various territories that made up the Southern Indus (Sindh) had
long been fought over as a form of gateway into India 'proper'
c.132
- 136 :
Vashishka
: Son? Little-known ruler with a very short reign.
c.136
- 168 :
Huvishka
: Son or brother of Kanishka.
c.136
:
Having
secured the throne, Huvishka continues to issue gold coins, greatly
expanding the variety of coin designs and producing more gold
coins than all other Kushan authorities combined. These are produced
mainly in Bactra (Balkh), to the north of the Hindu Kush, and
Purushapura (Peshawar) to the south in Gandhar, as well as in
smaller centres in Kashmir and Mathura. The reign of Huvishka
appears in general to be largely peaceful, spent on consolidating
Kushan control over northern India and largely moving the centre
of power to the southern capital of Mathura.
Vasudeva
I / Bodiao : Last great ruler. 'King of the Da Yuezhi
Intimate with Wei'.
c.168
- 207 :
A
Chinese chronicle known as Sanguozhi records that Vasudeva
sends tribute to the Chinese emperor, Cao Rui of Wei. Chinese
records know Vasudeva better as as Bodiao, while they still refer
to the Kushans as Da Yuezhi, their name for Greater Yuezhi who
earlier lived along the borders of the Chinese kingdom. The date
recorded for the arrival of the Kushan envoy in China is on Guimao
of the twelfth month, in the third year of Taihe which has been
equated to AD 229, clearly a little late for the chronology used
here. This could be used as confirmation that the later dating
for all Kushan rulers is more viable (see the introduction).
![Cao Wei coin](CaoWei_Coin01_full.jpg)
Cao
Wei coinage is comparatively rare - unsurprisingly for a dynasty
that replaced itself after less than half a century - and surviving
issuances show a decline in quality during that period
The
vacuum created by the Chinese retreat in Central Asia is apparently
filled by Vasudeva. He may also be the Indian king who transfers
the relics of the apostle St Thomas from India to Mesopotamia.
It is during this late second century period (or early in the
third century) that the Kushan empire captures the province of
Aria from the Parthians.
c.207
- 221 :
Kanishka
II : Lost Bactria/Tokharistan to Sassanids.
c.221
- 231 :
Vashishka
223
:
The
results of the SOAS's Bactrian chronology project are announced
in 2008. The project has determined that the starting point of
what is known in ancient documents as the 'Bactrian era', which
has its own dating, is the foundation of the Sassanid dynasty
in AD 223. In many cases, it is now possible to calculate the
exact year of a Bactrian era document, even down to the exact
day on which a document was written (simply add 223 to the Bactrian
era date).
c.230
- 250 :
The
end of Vasudeva's reign in AD 207 apparently coincides with the
rise of the Sassanids and the commencement of their invasion of
north-western India, although the dating for the main invasion
fits with Vashiska and his successor around 230-250. Perhaps there
is a first, preliminary invasion followed by a much greater second,
or perhaps again the later Kushan dating fits better with external
events.
The Kushans are toppled in former Arachosia, Aria, and Bactria
(more recently better known as Tokharistan) and are forced to
accept Sassanid suzerainty, being replaced by Sassanid vassals
known as the Kushanshahs or Indo-Sassanids. There is a split in
Kushan rule, so that a separate, eastern section rules independent
of the Sassanids, while some of the nobility remain in the west
as Sassanid vassals. Even so, Kushan power still gradually wanes
in India. If the Western Kshatrapas have remained under Kushan
domination to this point then they are almost certainly released
from it now.
c.231
- 241 :
Kanishka
III : Eastern king in Punjab. Stamped coins with 'kaisaro'
(Caesar).
c.241
- 261 :
Vasudeva
II : Eastern king in Punjab.
c.241
:
Very
little is known of Vasudeva II, and his successors are even more
uncertain, making it clear that Kushan authority and influence
is fast diminishing even in the limited parts of India which they
still govern. The very last Kushans who claim to rule seem to
do so further to the west according to numismatic evidence, in
Arachosia and Gandhar, where they probably fall under the overlordship
of the Kushanshahs.
![Coin issued by Vasudeva II](Kushans_Coin01_full.jpg)
Two
sides of a coin issued by Vasudeva II, a gold stater showing the
king standing at the altar (on the left), while honouring the
Central Asian (Indo-Iranian) goddess, Ardoksho who is seated facing
outwards (on the right)
c.245
:
Around
this year, Shapur I devolves direct Sassanid rule in what is now
Afghanistan by creating a buffer state which is governed by the
Kushanshahs. They replace the Kushan nobility as the holders of
power in the east. Kushanshah coins, initially issued mainly to
the north of the Hindu Kush, are also soon to be found to the
south in the Begram/Kapiśa area alongside issues by Kushan
King Vasishka, suggesting a period of competition between the
two sides in this region. With the next Kushanshah, Pēroz
I, the Kushanshahs start to displace the later Kushans from Gandhar,
confining them to Mathura in northern India, where they are reduced
to local princes.
c.260
:
This
could be the point at which Shapur seizes Sogdiana and makes it
part of the Sassanid empire. Much of it is occupied for a time
(Marakanda, for instance (modern Samarkand), while part is occupied
for a longer period (Bukhara especially). It seems that the new
masters of Iran have, at the same time as Kushan power is on the
wane, broken through a Kushan barrier that has until now isolated
Sogdiana. If the Kushans had indeed still been holding onto Bactria-Tokharistan,
they have now certainly lost it.
Vasudeva
III? : Son?
Vasudeva IV? : Son? Possibly governing in Gandhar.
c.261
- ? :
Vasudeva
of Kabul : Son? Possibly ruling in Kabul.
c.300
:
The
Guptas have established themselves in Bihar in northern India
and rule a few small Hindu kingdoms within the territory of the
ancient kingdom of Magadh. One Chandragupta succeeds his father
as a local chief within Magadha (covering parts of the modern
Bihar state). He increases his power and territory through marriage,
gradually incorporating more and more of northern India under
his control.
c.310
- 325 :
Chhu
: Governor in Taxila region (Northern Indus) under the
Guptas.
c.321
:
By
now the Guptas have confirmed their control over the northern
plains of India. Kushan rule is definitely ended, with what remains
of their later core territory - around Purushapura (Peshawar)
to the south in Gandhar, and Taxila - being governed by Kushan
figures who may well represent the tail end of the former ruling
nobility. However, they do maintain the Kushan coinage style in
greatly reduced values.
![Coins issued by Chandragupta I](Guptas_ChandraCoins01_full.jpg)
The
now-dominant Guptas of northern India issued a large number of
gold coins, the two sides of this example being of a 'King &
Queen on Couch / Vaikunth' type from the reign of Chandragupta
I
c.325
- 345 :
Shaka
: Governor in Taxila region (Northern Indus) under the
Guptas.
c.350
- 375 :
Kipunada
/ Kipunandha : Governor in Taxila region (Northern Indus)
under the Guptas.
c.360s
- 380s :
Scholarly interest in a new name in Central Asia at this time
- the Kidarites - is greatly revived in the early twenty-first
century by the discovery of a whole new series of Kidarite copper
coins, from the Bhimadevi/Shiva shrine at Kashmir Smast in the
mountains of northern Pakistan. The Kidarite leader, Kidara, who
is active in the 390s is used to name this group of coins but
he is only one of several Xionite rulers in Bactria and Gandhar
during the fourth and fifth centuries (albeit the best-known of
them).
Coinage issues in the names of Kirada, Hanaka, Yosada, and Peroz
all appear on coins which are issued before those in the name
of Kidara, highlighting several previously unknown Kidarite leaders
(Peroz aside). Only approximate dates can be assigned to them,
however, as coins usually lack the more precise dating of the
written record.
c.375
:
There is no evidence of any Kushans after Kipunada. Having been
subjugated by the Gupta kings, the rump eastern Kushan state is
soon conquered by the invading Kidarites. They, in turn, claim
to be the rightful successors of the Kushans and Kushanshahs.
Any possible survivors in the west are probably displaced by the
Hephthalites. This is the next wave of barbarians to invade
the territory of the Kushanshahs, where they conquer former Bactria
and Gandhar to form their own kingdom.
Xionite
Bactria / Tokharistan :
Starting in the fourth century AD, a general invasion of nomadic
tribes began to overwhelm southern Central Asia and northern South
Asia (a region which can be combined under the label of 'eastern
Iran'). This wave of barbarian invasions is attributed to tribal
confederations which originated on the Central Asian steppe. The
route southwards from there was not a new one though. It had been
followed two millennia before by the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians,
and also in part by the Tocharians who gave their name to Tokharistan.
Ptolemy in the second century AD is one of the first European
writers to mention the Huns (Xionites), with Marcellinus and Priscus
also doing so. They likewise suggest that the Huns were an inner
Asian people - although it appears that not all Huns were of the
same stock. The White Huns (Hephthalites) especially appear to
have been formed of a very different group of people. The other
two Xionite groups, the Alchons and Nezak, are much harder to
pin down but there is a chance that they were of the same stock.
These various Xionite groups made their presence felt in Tokharistan
and much farther afield, creating several large kingdoms in their
time and dominating the region at the expense of the now-diminished
Kushans.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by
Edward Dawson, from King of the Seven Climes: A History of
the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE), Khodadad Rezakhani
(Touraj Daryaee, Ed, Ancient Iran Series Vol IV, 2017),
from Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins, D Jongeward
& J Cribb (American Numismatic Society, 2015), from Xiiaona-
and Xyôn in Zoroastrian Texts, C G Cereti (Coins, Art,
and Chronology II, Michael Alram & Deborah E Klimburg-Salter,
Eds, 2010), from Res Gestae, Ammianus Marcellinus, from
The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman
Empire, R C Blockley (Francis Cairns, Oxford, 1983), from
India's Agony Over Religion, Gerald James Larson (State
University of New York Press, 1995), from The Religious Traditions
of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture, Joseph Kitagawa (Routledge,
2013), from Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy
at the End of Antiquity, Anthony Kaldellis (University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2012), from Staying Roman: Conquest and
Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, Jonathan Conant
(Cambridge University Press, 2012), from Journal of the Oriental
Numismatic Society No 230, Robert Bracey & Karan Singh
(Eds, Winter 2017), and from External Links: History of
the Wars, Procopius (Wikisource), and Kidarites (Encyclopaedia
Iranica).)
fl
462 - 484/96? :
Meyam
/ Mehama : Hephthalo-Alchon governor of Kadag (in Bactria?).
462
:
The
presence of an Hephthalo-Alchon figure known as Meyam or Mehama
is probably a good indication of the progress of Hephthalite power
during and after the reign of Shah Peroz. At this point he is
first mentioned in two documents (BD ea 1-2 and ed 1-2,
dated to 239 and 252 in the Bactrian Era, AD 462 and 475 respectively).
He is acting as a local administrator under the Sassanid Shah
Peroz, in a somewhat nebulous and hard-to-locate region known
as Kadag which would appear to fall within the general bounds
of Bactria. In the period in which Peroz is finally defeated and
during the political vacuum which follows in and after 484, Meyam
is soon raised to the position of Mahāṣāhi Mehama.
The power vacuum allows various local authorities to claim independence,
and the situation remains the same in Tokharistan, and farther
south and east around Kabul in Gandhar and across Gandhara itself,
until the destruction of Hephthalite power.
![Lower Swat Valley, Pakistan](Pakistan_SwatValley01_full.jpg)
Kadag
may have been the same location as today's Kadang in the lower
Swat Valley in Pakistan, in which case Meyam would have governed
a region consisting of challenging terrain and fractious tribes
467/468
:
It
is Priscus who reports the name of the current Kidarite king as
Kunkhas (see Brockley for details). With the Sassanids suffering
a seven year famine between 464-471 and unable to launch a serious
military offensive, the Kidarites cease making tribute payments.
Then both Kunkhas and Shah Peroz attempt diplomacy through trickery
until the latter is finally able to go on the attack, possibly
motivated by the help rendered to him by the Hephthalites when
fighting for his crown against his brother, Hormuzd III. The Kidarites
are permanently driven out, finding refuge in Gandhar. The Sassanids
may temporarily control the former Kushan heartland but it is
soon a Hephthalite possession.
469
:
The Hephthalites apparently betray the trust of Shah Peroz by
seizing the Bactrian capital of Bactra which has so recently been
restored from Kidarite rule. This triggers the First Sassanid-Hephthalite
War, but it does not go well for Peroz. The Sassanids are
badly mauled at the third battle in this conflict and Peroz is
captured by the Hephthalites. He is forced to pay a hefty ransom
to ensure his release.
484
:
Shah
Peroz again chases the Hephthalites out of Bactra in 484 and towards
Arion in Aria (Alexandria Ariana, modern Herat). Along the way
he destroys the tower built by Bahram V which marks the border
between Sassanid and Hephthalite. On the other side of the border,
Hephthalite King Khushnavaz sets a trap into which Peroz falls
(literally), along with around thirty of his sons and about 100,000
troops. Their bodies are never recovered by the Sassanids. The
eastern empire is overrun and is largely occupied by the Hephthalites
until their final fall - this includes regions such as Margiana
and its rich capital at Merv, with the Hephthalites setting up
puppet governors.
484
- ? :
Meyam
/ Mehama : Raised to semi-independent position of mahasahi
of Kadag.
484 - 490s? :
Kushano-Sassanid style gold coins are issued in the name of Meyam
in Bactria, and Sassanid-style silver coins are issued for him
in the Kabul region and Gandhar. Meyam is also known from a late
fifth century Buddhist inscription, written during his reign and
dated to the year 68, either of the Laukika era (AD 492/3) or
the Kushan era (AD 495/6). Possibly the Laukika and Kushan eras
are the same, but either way they suggest that Meyam remains prominent
for a good decade later then his estimated dates as governor of
Kadag (see above for 462 - 484/96).
![Map of Central Asia and India AD 500](Map_Bactria-&-India-AD500_full.jpg)
By
the late 400s the eastern sections of the Sassanid empire had
been overrun and to an extent occupied by the Hephthalites (Xionites)
after they had killed Shah Peroz
565
- 652 :
The Hephthalites
are defeated by an alliance of Göktürks and the Sassanids, and
a level of Indo-Sassanid authority is re-established in the region
for the next century. The Western Göktürks set up rival states
in Bamiyan, Kabul, and Kapisa under the authority of the viceroy
in Tokharistan, strengthening their hold on the Silk Road.
588
- 589 :
The Göktürk
khagan, Çur Bagha, leads his Hephthalite vassals into the First
Perso-Turkic War by invading Sassanid territory. The invasion
has been threatening for several years as these former allies
had vied for regional power in the hinterland between their two
empires. A senior Sassanid army commander by the name of Bahram
Chobin (later to be enthroned as Bahram VI) leads an army of hand-picked
Savaran elite troops to ambush a large army of Turks and Hephthalites
in April 588, at the Battle of Hyrcanian Rock. Another attack
in 589 captures Balkh. Then he crosses Oxus and repulses the Turkic
Invasion, capturing Hephthalite territory which had been occupied
by the Turks. Çur Bagha is killed during this fight. Even so,
by around 625-635 the Göktürks seize Bactria/Tokharistan to create
the governorship of Göktürk Bactria.
Göktürk
Bactria / Tokharistan :
Of the territories
annexed by the western Göktürk empire between about AD 625-635,
Khuttal and Kapisa-Gandhar remained independent regional kingdoms
after the disintegration of the Hephthalite empire (Kapisa being
the city of Alexandria on the Caucasus, modern Bagram). Hephthalite
or Alchon kings who bore the title xingil in Kapisa-Gandhara
continued the coinage of the great Hephthalite kings. Several
names can be gathered together thanks to this coinage, albeit
without any formal idea of dates or order of succession. These
are shown under the Alchon banner.
Despite having
endured a series of short-lived rulers between 630-635, some semblance
of order was restored to the western khaganate by 635. Even so,
Khagan İşbara Teriş Tunga was weaker than some
of his subjects. He sent arrows to ten tribes which meant legitimatising
them as shads (semi-independent governor princes), but
he was careful to keep the delicate balance between the two main
rival factions by appointing five from the Dulo clan and five
from the Nushibi.
At about the
same time, the first western Göktürk ruler of what had been Bactria
and was now Tokharistan, along with various neighbouring petty
kingdoms which had been subjugated, was Tardu shad, son
of İşbara Teriş Tunga. When he was poisoned a few
years later by his wife, their son Ishbara ruled in his place.
As the most powerful Göktürk south of the River Oxus (and possibly
even north of it as the western Göktürk empire began to fragment),
he minted his own coins. These showed him bearing a crown decorated
with two wings and a bull's head. The legend on one of his coins
states 'İşbara yabgu, [minted in his] fifteenth [reignal
year at] Khusp' (Khusp being a town in Kuhistan). Another coin
was minted in his thirteenth year at Herat, and another in his
twentieth year at Shuburgan. All three mints were located in western
Tokharistan.
(Information
by Peter Kessler, with additional information from King of
the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000
BCE - 651 CE), Khodadad Rezakhani (Touraj Daryaee, Ed, Ancient
Iran Series Vol IV, 2017), from The Religious Traditions
of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture, Joseph Kitagawa (Routledge,
2013), from History of Civilizations of Central Asia, B
A Litvinsky (Ed, Motilal Banarsidass Publications, Delhi, 1999),
and from Zāwulistān, Kāwulistān and the
Land of Bosi, Domenico Agostini & Sören Stark (Studia
Iranica, Tome 45, Fascicule 1, 2016).)
c.625?
- c.630? :
Tardu
: Son of Göktürk İşbara. Yabgu of Tokharistan.
Poisoned.
627
- 630 :
During the
early years of his reign, Eastern khagan Khieli makes the mistake
of attacking the powerful Tang empire and is defeated by a revolt
of the Tiele tribes that is led by the Uyghurs and the Xueyantuo.
In 627, as he begins the Third Perso-Turkic War alongside
the Byzantines and against the Sassanids, he attempts to levy
horses from the vassal Tiele tribes after all his livestock are
killed during a summer snowstorm. The Tiele revolt as part of
a Xueyantuo coalition, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang wastes
no time in allying himself with the Tiele and the Khitans in a
joint attack.
![](Map_CentralAsia_AD700_full.jpg)
By
the beginning of the seventh century AD, Göktürk power
in southern Central Asia was waning while the Sassanids had established
a degree of control over the southernmost parts of this region,
and various city states had emerged in Sogdiana
630
:
Having murdered his nephew for the Western khaganate, Baghatur
Sepi faces the collapse of that very khaganate. The Göktürk princes
begin struggling against each other for power. The Tang eventually
intervene, and not to the benefit of the Göktürks themselves.
They already dominate the Eastern khaganate and now wish to extend
the area under their control.
c.630?
- c.650 :
İşbara
/ Ishbara : Son. Yabgu of Tokharistan.
631
- 651 :
Sassanid Mesopotamia is lost to the Arabs in 637. The Sassanids
are defeated at the Battle of Nahāvand by Caliph Umar in
642. Persia is overrun by Islam by 651. Retreating into Margiana,
Sassanid King Yazdagird finds few allies and is forced to retreat
again. Organising a hurried alliance with the Hephthalites, he
advances back towards Margiana, only to be defeated at the Battle
of the Oxus. Yazdagird takes refuge in a mill, where the owner
kills him while his family flee to Turkestan. The Sassanid empire
has fallen and with it any notion of Hephthalite independence
in petty kingdoms.
c.650
- 661 :
?
: Unknown final yabgu of Tokharistan.
651
- 662 :
Yazdagird's son and heir-apparent, Peroz (Pērōz), is
one of those who flees eastwards. He reaches the yabgu,
the Göktürk viceroy in Tokharistan. From there he soon turns for
support to the Tang court. The date of his first embassy to the
Tang is before 661, before the formal submission of the yabgu
to the Tang after the downfall of the western Göktürks. A second
embassy is received shortly after April 661.
![](Mongols_Gokturks01_full.jpg)
In
2012 archaeologists were able to examine the previously-untouched
tomb of a Göktürk khagan, which contained amongst many
other delights these mounted figurines
As
a result of the 661 embassy, during the largely nominal reorganisation
of the former Göktürk dominions into 'area commands' by the Tang
in the same year, Peroz is appointed head of the 'Persia area
command' which exists on paper only, with a seat that is claimed
to be in Zaranj in Sakastan. Finally, in 662, Peroz is formally
invested as 'king of Bosi' by the Tang.
661
- c.675 :
Peroz
: Son of Sassanid Yazdagird III. Fled to Tang court.
679
- c.706 :
Narse
: Son. Eventually disappears from history, perhaps with
Tang.
665
- c.706 :
Increasingly
frequent embassies sent by Peroz between 665-671 show his increasing
desperation at being able to hold back the encroaching Islamic
armies in Sakastan. By 673-675 his position has become untenable
and he flees to the Tang court. In 679 his son, Narse, returns
west to Tokharistan until about 705-706. He may be coordinating
his efforts with the kingdoms of Kabulistan and Zabulistan, which
staunchly resist the Islamic advance for a century.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsFarEast/
AsiaBactria.htm#Persians