Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

Examples of Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in the following topics:

• Expansion and Decline of the Kushan Empire

  • The Kushan Empire expanded from Greco-Bactrian lands into China and India, until its collapse in 375 CE.
  • The Yuezhi reached the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, located in northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, around 135 BCE, and displaced the Greek dynasties that resettled to the southeast in areas of the Hindu Kush and the Indus basin, in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • The eastern Kushan kingdom was based in the Punjab.
  • The last of the Kushan and Sassanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by the Hepthalites, another Indo-European people from the north.
  • The Kushans were influenced by the Hellenistic kingdoms and maintained a wide variety of faiths, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

• Zoroastrianism

  • In the Cappadocian kingdom (whose territory was formerly an Achaemenid possession), Persian colonists who were cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper continued to practice the Zoroastrianism of their forefathers.
  • Painted clay and alabaster head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a distinctive Bactrian-style headdress, Takhti-Sangin, Tajikistan, Greco-Bactrian kingdom, 3rd-2nd century BCE.

• Decline of the Maurya Empire

  • The Sunga Dynasty usurped the Maurya Dynasty, and parts of the empire were incorporated into the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
  • They conducted wars with both foreign and indigenous powers, including the Kalinga, the Satavahana Dynasty, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
  • The Greco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, capitalized on the break-up and conquered southern Afghanistan and parts of northwestern India around 180 BCE, forming the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
  • Buddhism was favored in the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
  • He converted to Buddhism and expanded the Indo-Greek Kingdom.

• Defeat of Persia by Alexander the Great

  • The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BCE and lasted until 449 BCE.
  • Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) was a king of the Greek kingdom of Macedon.
  • The Persian king was taken prisoner by Bessus, his Bactrian satrap and kinsman.
  • However, the Diadochi continued to jostle for supremacy and after 40 years of war, the Hellenistic world settled into four stable territories: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon.
  • Kingdoms of the Diadochi in 281 BC: the Ptolemaic Kingdom (dark blue), the Seleucid Empire (yellow), Kingdom of Pergamon (orange), and Macedonia (green).

• The Legacy of Alexander the Great

  • Four stable power blocks emerged following the death of Alexander the Great: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire, the Attalid dynasty of the Kingdom of Pergamon, and Macedon.
  • The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty, starting with Ptolemy I Soter’s accession to the throne following the death of Alexander the Great.
  • Within a century, Greek influence had spread throughout the country and intermarriage produced a large Greco-Egyptian educated class.
  • The Attalid kingdom began as a rump state, but was expanded by subsequent rulers.
  • The Kingdom of Macedon at the death of Philip II (336 BCE)

• Hellenization and the Spread of Greek Culture

  • Second, Alexander attempted to create a unified ruling class of Persians and Greeks bound by marriage ties.He used both Greeks and Persians in positions of power, although he depended more on Greeks in unstable positions, and also replaced many Persian satraps in a purge after his return from India.He also attempted to mix the two cultures by adopting elements of the Persian court (such as a version of the royal robes and some of the court ceremony and attendants) and attempting to insist on the practice of proskynesis for his Greek subjects.He likely had intentions to equalize the two races in their behavior towards Alexander as 'Great King', but his actions were bitterly resented by the Macedonians, as the Greek custom was reserved solely for the gods.This policy can be interpreted as an attempt to spread Greek culture, or to create a hybrid culture; however, again, it can also be seen as an attempt to help control the unwieldy empire, as Alexander required loyalty from Persian nobles as much as from his Macedonian officers.A hybrid court culture may have been created so as not to exclude the Persians.Furthermore, Alexander's marriage to, and child with the Bactrian princess Roxane can be interpreted as an attempt to create a royal dynasty which would be acceptable to both Asians and Greeks.
  • Despite their initial reluctance, the Diadochi seem to have later deliberately naturalized themselves to their different regions, presumably in order to help maintain control of the population.Thus, for instance, we find the Ptolemies, as early as Ptolemy I Soter, the first Hellenistic king of Egypt, portrayed as pharaohs.Similarly, in the Indo-Greek kingdom, kings who converted to Buddhism.The Greeks in the regions therefore gradually become "localized" and adopted local customs as appropriate.In this way, hybrid "Hellenistic" cultures naturally emerged, at least amongst the upper echelons of society.
  • Bust of Ptolemy I Soter, founder of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.