Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/383

 BACTRIANA. 'tidtt(Strab.xLp.516; PtoLvi. II. §8; Steph. B.), named after the Bactrian king Encratides; Menapia (Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6, Menapila) ; Drepsa (Aimn. Marc, xziii. 6 ; Adrapsa and Darapsa, Strab. zi. p. 516; Dtapsaca, Arrian, iii. 39), probably the pre- sent AntMby in the NE. part of the province, towaids Sogdiana : it was one of the first cities taken hj Alexander after passing the mountain, and its position depends upon where this passage was effected. Akzandreia (according to Steph. B. the eleventh town of that name), probably in the neighbourhood of KktdtOy where Ibn Haukal (p. 226) places an lahanderiah. The Mancanda of Ptolemy is the modem Samarcand, and is situated beyond the boondaries of Bactriana in Sogdiana. Arrian (iii. 29) speaks of a town called Aomus, which he de- rignates as one of the principal cities of Bactria. Strabo (zi. p. 516), following Onesicritus, remarks that the manners of the people of Bactriana differed little from those of the Sogdians in their neighbour- hood; the old men, while yet alive, being abandoned to the dogs, who were thence called " Buriers of the Dead;" and the city itself being filled with human bones, though the suburbs were free. He adds that Alexander abolished this custom of exposure. Prof. Wilson (pi 163) suggests that, in this story, we have a relic of the practice prevalent among the fol- lowers of Zoroaster, of exposing bodies after death to spontaneous deoomposititHi in ^e air. (See Anquetil Dn Perron, Zend-Avesta, vol. i. pt 2, p. 332.) The province of Bactriana, with its principal town Bactra, was very early known in ancient history, and eoDuected more or less with fiibles that had an Indian origin or connection. Thus Euripdes {Bacch, 15) makes it one of the places to which Bacchus wan- dered. Diodorus (ii. 6), following Ctesias, makes Ntnns march with a vast army into Bactriana, and attack its capitlil Bactra, whidi, however, being de- fended by its king Oxyartes, he was unable to take till Semiramis came to his aid. (Justin., i. 2, calls the king ZonMster.) Again, Diodorus (IL 26) speaks of the revolt of the Bactriani from Sardanapalus, and of the march of a lai^ force to assist Arbaces in hb destruction of the dty of Ninus (Nineveh). Cte»as (ap. Phot. Cod, Ixxii. 2) states that Cyrus made war on the Bactrians, and that the first engagement was a drawn battle; but that, when they heard that Astyages had become the father of Gyrus (on Cyrus's manying Amytis, the daughter of Astyages), they gave themselves up willingly to Cyrus, who subse- quently, on his death-bed, made his younger B<m, Tanyoxaroes, satrap of the Bactrians, Choramnians (Chofa5mians),Parthian8, and Caimanians (Ixxii. 8). Dareius, too, gave a vilUige of Bactriana to the pri- soners taken at Barca in Africa, to which the cap- tives gave the same name. Herodotus adds, that it existed in his own time. (Herod, iv. 204.) Diuring the Persian war we have frequent notices of the power of this province. (Herod. iiL 92, vii. 64, 86, &c.; see also Aeschyl. Pert, 306, 718, 732.) It fonned, as we have stated, the twelfth satrapy of Darrins, and paid an annual tribute of 360 talents. In the army <i Xerxes the warriors from tliis country are placed beside the Sacae and the Caspii, they wear the same head-dress as the Medes. wid carry bows and short spears (vii. 64). Hystaspes, the son of Daretnii and Atoe^a, the daughter of Cyrus, was the general of the Bactriani and Sacae. (Cf. also Aeschyl. Pers. 782, for the belief of the Greeks that Bactriana was a province subject to the Persian em- pire.) Herodotua (ix. 113) mentions the attempt BACTRUNA. 365 of Masistes to raise a revolt against Xenes, but that it did not prove successful, as Xerxes intercepted him before be reached Bactriana. On the murder of Xerxes, and the succession of Artaxerxes I. Longi- manus to the throne, the Bactrians and their satrap, Artapanus, revolted again (Ctesias, ap. Phot. Cod, Ixxii. 31), and Artaxerxes was unable in the first battle to reduce them to their allegiance; somewhat later, however, the Bactrians were defeated, and com- pelled to submit, the historian stating that, during the action, the wind blew in their fiaoes, which was the cause of their overthrow. During the wars of Alexander the Great in Asia we have constant mention of Bactriana, and of its cavahy, for which it was, and is still, celebrated. At the battle of Gaugamela, the Bactnan hone fought on the side of Dareius (Arrian, iiL 2; § 3, and iii. 13. § 3), forming his escort to the numoer of 1000, under their chief Nabarzanes, on his subsequent flight from that field towards Transoxiana. (Arrian, iu. 21. §§ 1, 4.) When, a UtUe hiter, Alexinder gave chase to Bessus, who had proclaimed himself king after the murder of Dareius, he woat to Aomus and Bactra (An*, iii. 29. § 1), which be took (see also Alex, Itm. ap. ed. Didot), and, crossing the Oxus, the N£. boundary of Bactria (Curt. vii. 4), proceeded as far as Maracanda. It appears that, after the invasion and subjugation of Sogdiana, he returned to Bactra, where he subsequently passed a winter, as he advanced thence, in the spring, to attack India. (Arrian, iv. 22.) Several difi^nt satraps are mentioned at this period : Bessus, who murdered Dareius, Artabazus (Arr.iii. 29. § 1), and Amyntas (An*, iv. 17. § 3), who were both appointed by Alexander himself, and Stasanor of Soli, in Cy- prus, who held that rank probably a little later (ap. Arr. Suec Alex, No. 36, ed. Didot). Diodorus calls Stasanor, Philippus, who, according to Arrian, was governor of Parthia (op. PkoL xxvii.), and assigns to him the provinces of Aria and Drangiana. Justin (iii. 1) terms the satrap of the Bactrians, Amyntas. On the return of Seleucos from India, between b. c. 312 and b. c. 302, he appears to have reduced Bactria to a state of dependence on his Persian em- pire; A conclusion which is confirmed by the multi- tude of coins of Seleucus and Aiidochus which have been found at BaUeh and Bokhdrtt, In the reign of the third of the Seleucid princes, Antiochus Tbeus, Theodotus (or, as his name appears on his coins, Diodotus) threw off the Greek yoke, and prockumed himself king (Ju&tin, xli. 4; Prol. Trog. Pompeii, xh.), probably about b. c. 256. He was succeeded by several kings, whose names and titles appear on their coins, with Greek legends; the fabric and the types of the coins themselves being in imitation of those of the Seleucidae, till we come to Eucratides, whose reign commenced about B.C. 161, and who was contemporary with Mithradates (Justin, xli. 6); though, from the extent of the conquests of Mithra- dates in the direction of India, it is probable that the Parthian king survived the Bactrian ruler for several yearai The reign of Eucratides must have been long and prosperous, as is evinced by the great abun- dance of his coins which are found in Bactriana. Strabo (xvL p. 685) states, that he was lord of 1000 cities ; and that his sway extended over some part of India (Justin, xli. 6) is also confirmed by his cdns, the smaller and most abundant specimens of which bear duplicate legends, with the name and tide of the kmg on the obverse in Greek, and on the reverse in Bactnan PalL Eucratides was followed by several