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    (Wikipedia) - Bactria   (Redirected from Bakhtar) Not to be confused with Bacteria. "Bakhtar" redirects here. For the former airline from Afghanistan, see Bakhtar Afghan Airlines.Ancient cities of Bactria

    Bactria (from Βακτριανή, the Hellenized version of Old Persian Bāxtriš; Bactrian: Baktra; Persian: باختر Bākhtar; Tajik: Бохтар; Chinese: 大夏 Dàxià; Sanskrit बाह्लीक Bāhlika) is the ancient name of a historical region located south of the Amu Darya and west of Gandhara, covering the modern-day flat region that straddles Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Ancient Bactria was in present-day northern Afghanistan, between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya. Once Zoroastrian, this region subsequently hosted Buddhism before becoming Muslim after the arrival of the Rashiduns and Umayyads in the 7th century. Bactria was also sometimes referred to by the Greeks as Bactriana.



    According to P. Leriche:

    Bactria, the territory of which Bactra was the capital, originally consisted of the area south of the Āmū Daryā with its string of agricultural oases dependent on water taken from the rivers of Balḵ (Bactra), Tashkurgan, Kondūz, Sar-e Pol, and Šīrīn Tagāō. This region played a major role in Central Asian history. At certain times the political limits of Bactria stretched far beyond the geographic frame of the Bactrian plain.

    History Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)Goddesses, Bactria, Afghanistan, 2000–1800 BC.


    The early Greek historian Ctesias, c. 400 BCE (followed by Diodorus Siculus), alleged that the legendary Assyrian king Ninus had defeated a Bactrian king named Oxyartes in ca. 2140 BCE, or some 1000 years before the Trojan War. Since the decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century, however, which enabled actual Assyrian records to be read, historians have ascribed little value to the Greek account.


    Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian male clothing). Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian female clothing). Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian female clothing). Kafirnigan from Tajikistan (traditional Bactrian male clothing).
    Cyrus the Great Main article: Bactria (satrapy)

    It is suggested by E. Herzfeld that, prior to its annexation to the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great in 6th century BCE, Bactria belonged to the Median empire and together with Margiana formed the twelfth satrapy of Persia. After Darius III had been defeated by Alexander the Great, the satrap of Bactria, Bessus attempted to organize a national resistance but was captured by other warlords and delivered to Alexander. He was then tortured and killed.

    Alexander the Great History of Afghanistan
    Indus valley civilization 2200–1800 BC
    Oxus civilization 2100–1800 BC
    Aryans 1700–700 BC
    Medes 728–550 BC
    Achaemenids 550–330 BC
    Seleucids 330–150 BC
    Mauryans 305–180 BC
    Greco-Bactrians 256–125 BC
    Indo-Greeks 180–130 BC
    Indo-Scythians (Sakas) 155–80? BC
    Indo-Parthians 20 BC – 50? AD
    Kushans 135 BC – 248 AD
    Sasanians 230–651
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    Alexander conquered Sogdiana and Iran. However, in the south, beyond the Oxus, he met strong resistance. After two years of war and a strong insurgency campaign, Alexander managed to establish little control over Bactria. After Alexander''s death, the Macedonian empire was eventually divided up between generals in Alexander''s army. Bactria became a part of the Seleucid Empire, named after its founder, Seleucus I.

    Seleucid Empire

    The Macedonians, especially Seleucus I and his son Antiochus I, established the Seleucid Empire and founded a great many Greek towns. The Greek language became dominant for some time there.

    The paradox that Greek presence was more prominent in Bactria than in areas far closer to Greece can possibly be explained by past deportations of Greeks to Bactria. For instance, during the reign of Darius I, the inhabitants of the Greek city of Barca, in Cyrenaica, were deported to Bactria for refusing to surrender assassins. In addition, Xerxes also settled the "Branchidae" in Bactria; they were the descendants of Greek priests who had once lived near Didyma (western Asia Minor) and betrayed the temple to him. Herodotus also records a Persian commander threatening to enslave daughters of the revolting Ionians and send them to Bactria. However, these few examples are not indicative of massive deportations of Greeks to central Asia.

    Greco-Bactrian KingdomGold stater of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides, the largest gold coin of Antiquity.Map of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom at its maximum extent, circa 180 BCMain article: Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

    "That extremely wealthy Bactrian empire of 1000 cities (opulentissimum illud mille urbium Bactrianum imperium)"

    Considerable difficulties faced by the Seleucid kings and the attacks of Ptolemy II of Egypt gave Diodotus, satrap of Bactria, the opportunity to declare independence (about 255 BC) and conquer Sogdiana. He was the founder of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Diodotus and his successors were able to maintain themselves against the attacks of the Seleucids—particularly from Antiochus III the Great, who was ultimately defeated by the Romans (190 BC).




    Indo-Greek Kingdom Main article: Indo-Greek KingdomThe founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom Demetrius I (205–171 BC), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of India.


    Most of them we know only by their coins, a great many of which are found in Afghanistan. By these wars, the dominant position of the Greeks was undermined even more quickly than would otherwise have been the case. After Demetrius and Eucratides, the kings abandoned the Attic standard of coinage and introduced a native standard, no doubt to gain support from outside the Greek minority.

    In India, this went even further. The Indo-Greek king Menander I (known as Milinda in India), recognized as a great conqueror, converted to Buddhism. His successors managed to cling to power until the last known Indo-Greek ruler, a king named Strato II, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 55 BC. Other sources, however, place the end of Strato II''s reign as late as 10 AD.

    Sakas, Yuezhi and SassanidsThe treasure of the royal burial Tillia tepe is attributed to 1st century BCE Sakas in Bactria.

    The weakness of the Greco-Bactrian empire was shown by its sudden and complete overthrow, first by the Sakas, and then by the Yuezhi (who later became known as Kushans), who had conquered Bactria by the time of the visit of the Chinese envoy Zhang Qian (circa 127 BC), who had been sent by the Han emperor to investigate lands to the west of China.

    Kujula Kadphises, the Guishuang xihou (or prince) of the Da Yuezhi, united the region in the early 1st century and laid the foundations for the powerful, but short-lived, Kushan Empire (1st to 3rd century AD), which was then overcome by the Sasanians from Persia.

    Contacts with ChinaZhang Qian taking leave from emperor Han Wudi, for his expedition to Central Asia from 138 to 126 BC, Mogao Caves mural, 618–712 AD.Further information: Daxia

    The name Daxia appears in Chinese from the 3rd century BC to designate a mythical kingdom to the West, possibly a consequence of the first contacts with the expansion of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and then is used by the explorer Zhang Qian in 126 BC to designate Bactria.

    The reports of Zhang Qian were put in writing in the Shiji ("Records of the Grand Historian") by Sima Qian in the 1st century BC. They describe an important urban civilization of about one million people, living in walled cities under small city kings or magistrates. Daxia was an affluent country with rich markets, trading in an incredible variety of objects, coming from as far as Southern China. By the time Zhang Qian visited Daxia, there was no longer a major king, and the Bactrian were suzerains to the nomadic Yuezhi, who were settled to the north of their territory beyond the Oxus (Amu Darya). Overall Zhang Qian depicted a rather sophisticated but demoralized people who were afraid of war.




    TokharistanKushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century AD.Kushan worshipper with Pharro, Bactria, 3rd century AD.

    Following the settlement of the Yuezhi (referred to by the Greeks as Tókharoi), the general area of Bactria came to be called Tokharistan. The territory of Tokharistan was identical with Kushan Bactria, including the areas of Surkhandarya, Southern Tajikistan and Northern Afghanistan.

    The first literary mentions of Tokharistan appear at the end of the 4th century in Chinese Buddhist sources (the Vibhasa-sastra). However, the first mention of the Tókharoi appear much earlier, in the 1st century BC, when Strabo mentions that "the Tókharoi, together with the Assianis, Passianis and Sakaraulis, took part in the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom" in the second half of the 2nd century BC. Ptolemy also mentions a large Tokharian tribe in Bactria, describing the central role of the Tokharians among other tribes in Bactria. (Through an accident of naming, the term "Tocharian" now commonly refers to a branch of Indo-European languages spoken in the Tarim Basin between the 3rd and 9th centuries AD, and quite distinct from the Bactrian language spoken by the Tókharoi.)

    From the 1st century AD to the 3rd century AD, Tokharistan was under the rule of the Kushans. They were followed by the Sassanids (Indo-Sassanids). Later, in the 5th century, it was controlled by the Xionites and the Hephthalites but was reconquered by the Sassanids, it was later conquered by the Arabs and then the Mongols.

    Onset of Islam

    Thirty years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the Arabs defeated the Persian Sassanids during the Rashidun Caliphate. The Muslim Umayyad Caliphate, which was founded in 661, ruled over Iran and much of the Middle East, including Bactrian lands.

    Advancing further the Muslims faced off with the Turk Shahis ruling in Bactria and defeated them. In 663, they attacked Bactria, which the Turki Shahis had taken from the Western Turks by this time. The Umayyad forces captured the area around Balkh, including Nava Vihara Monastery, causing the Turki Shahis to retreat to the Kabul Valley.

    Bactrian people

    The Bactrians were the inhabitants of Bactria. Several important trade routes from India and China (including the Silk Road) passed through Bactria and, as early as the Bronze Age, this had allowed the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth by the mostly nomadic population. The first proto-urban civilization in the area arose during the 2nd millennium BC. Control of these lucrative trade routes, however, attracted foreign interest, and in the 6th century BC the Bactrians were conquered by the Persians, and in the 4th century BC by the Ancient Macedonians. These conquests marked the end of the Bactrian independence. From around 304 BC the area formed part of the Seleucid Empire, and from around 250 BC it was the centre of a Greco-Bactrian kingdom, ruled by the descendants of Greeks who had settled there following the conquest of Alexander the Great.

    These people, also known in Sanskrit as Yavanas, worked in cooperation with the native Bactrian aristocracy. By the early 2nd century BC the Greco-Bactrians had created an impressive empire that stretched southwards to include northwest India. By about 135 BC, however, this kingdom had been overrun by invading Yuezhi tribes, an invasion that later brought about the rise of the powerful Kushan Empire. From this point the Bactrians tend to disappear from the historical record, a disappearance made final by the Arab invasion of the 8th century AD.



    The principal religions of the area before Islam were Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. The Bactrian people are primarily the ancestors of modern-day Tajiks Regarding Tajiks, the Encyclopædia Britannica states:


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