Kingdom of Bactria | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
256 BC–c. 120 BC | |||||||||||||
Capital | Bactra Ai-Khanoum | ||||||||||||
Common languages | Greek (official) Bactrian Sanskrit Aramaic Parthian Sogdian | ||||||||||||
Religion | Hellenism Greco-Buddhism Zoroastrianism | ||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
Basileus | |||||||||||||
• 256–239 BC | Diodotus I (first) | ||||||||||||
• 117–100 BC | Heliocles I (last) | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||||||
• Established | 256 BC | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 120 BC | ||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
184 BC[1] | 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
|
Greco-Bactria was a Hellenistic-era Greek state,[2][3][4] and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It was founded c. 256 BC by the Seleucid satrap Diodotus I Soter and lasted until its fall c. 120 BC.[a] It was ruled for most of its history by the Diodotid dynasty and Euthydemid dynasty.
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom covered much of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, and some parts of Kazakhstan and Iran. An extension further east, with military campaigns and settlements, may have reached the borders of the Qin State in 230 BC.[5][6] Its cities were among the largest and richest of antiquity; indeed, Bactria was known as the 'land of a thousand cities.'[7][8][9]
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