The region of Bactria extended where Turkmenistan and Afghanistan are today. Because of its central location it played a leading role in all the historical events that shook Asia. Satraps of Bactria when Alexander was still alive were Artavazos, and then Amyntas, who in turn was succeeded by Philip. After the death of Alexander, the approximately 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry Greek mercenaries who were there mutinied, wishing to return home. The Macedonians limited them and the satrap Philip, who appeared too weak, was transferred to Parthia.
Then Stesanor, until then the satrap of Aria and Dragiana, took charge of Bactria and Sogdia. He was not particularly popular with either the locals or the Greeks. That is why, when he ascended from 306 BC. on the throne Seleucus I Nicator was forced to secure the occupation of Bactria and the eastern satrapies by military forces. Antiochus I's son Sotir continued his father's civilizing work by renewing friendly relations with the kingdom of India. But his successor Antiochus II the God had other visions. That is why in 250 B.C. defected and minted coins bearing the inscription KING OF ANTIOCH.
Thus he was named king, spreading his rule over Bactra and all the surrounding areas. Andragoras, the Parthian surveyor, followed in his footsteps. Very soon the Parthian hatred against the Greeks broke out, which led to the assassination of the satrap Pherecles in 248 BC. from the brothers Arsakis and Tiridatis. Thus during the reign of Seleucus II of Kallinikos between 242 – 241 BC. the Parthian kingdom was lost. Andragoras, however, was displaced by Tiridates, who was crowned by Arsakis king from whose name he was anointed as Arsakis I.
As soon as he received the scepter of power Tiridates conquered Hyrcania, but was afraid to advance into the kingdom of Bactria. Diodotus I, founder of the Greek dynasty in Bactria had in the meantime (about 250 BC) apostatized from the Syrian king Antiochus II. When he saw that Seleucus II was preparing to subdue the apostate Parthians (239 BC), Diodotus allied with him and was recognized as king of Bactria. The Parthian king, predictably, was still worried. But Diodotus I died before he could implement his plan, bequeathing power to his son Diodotus II.
In the meantime Seleucus Callinicus, king of Syria, decided to conquer the eastern provinces that had apostatized. Diodotus II then decided to ally with the Parthian king Arsakis Tiridates, thus contributing to the defeat of the Syrian king Seleucus. In 209 BC however, Antiochus III the Great, until then governor of the Persian provinces, campaigned against the Parthians who were thus forced to accept Macedonian suzerainty. A year later he turned against Bactra, where riots had previously broken out. During these disturbances, the Diodotid dynasty was soon overthrown by the usurper Euthydemus, who did not hesitate to assassinate Diodotus II.
Shortly before 210 BC therefore, Euthydemus, a Greek from Magnesia, proclaimed himself king of Bactria and minted coins with his bust on one side and Hercules on the other, wanting to declare his descent from Alexander's most distant ancestor. Then the Hellenic Bactrian kingdom was created which will make its presence felt as far as the Ganges River, known as "Euthydimou anassa". Antiochus recognized Euthydemus with the royal title, aspiring to use him as a counterweight to the growing Parthian power. Then Euthydemus, demanding a war indemnity, handed over his war elephants and supplied the Syrian army with fodder.
On the other hand, Antiochus renewed the bonds of friendship with the Indians, as well as with Arachosia and Drangiani. Around 190 BC Antiochus' nephew, Demetrius, conquered much of the northern Indies. As for Arachosia, both it as well as Aria and the country of the Paropamisids came under the control of the Hellenic Bactrian kingdom. During the 2nd century e.g. the western parts of the Indies and Bactria were divided into numerous small Greco-Indian principalities. As for the latter, it reached the culmination of its glory during the reign of Euthydemos and his son Demetrius.
The latter's coins brought to light by the excavations at Bactra bear the Greek inscription "King Demetriou", while those found in India are bilingual in Greek "King Anikitos Demetriou" and Indian "Maharagasa aparagitasa Deme(trigasa)". Euthydemos died in old age without having managed to secure his throne. A new usurper then appeared, Eucratides, who tried to seize the whole state for his own benefit. Despite the attack he received from Demetrius, he managed to conquer, according to tradition, a thousand of the cities of the kingdom, limiting the former to a small area of the territory.
For better control of the regions, he installed governors in Aria, Drangiani, Arachosia, Kofini and Gandaritida. After the death of Eukratides, the prefects declared themselves kings. However, fearing the forces of the king of Bactria, they submitted to him. In an attempt to legitimize their authority on the coins they minted, they made sure to add the names of the founders or co-founders of Greek rule in the East, such as "Alexander of Philip", "Diodotus Sotiros", etc. The earliest of the coins show Eucratides with the title of "King". In bilinguals he is also called "Maharaja", as the king is called in Hindi.
Heliocles, son of Eukratides was the last Greek king of the Indian Caucasus which was part of Bactria. From Euthydemus and Demetrius, the center of Greek power had shifted to the area of Kofini and to the main part of India, with the result that the northern provinces were damaged. The latter were commissioned by Eucratides under the protection of Heliocles. Then what Euthydemus feared happened. While the Greek rulers quarreled among themselves, hordes of people from the barbarian world began to make their way to Bactra. After the Huns, the Parthians attacked the state of Bactria. In the Chinese Chronicles, the Huns attacked the Vueh-chi in Tibet forcing them to migrate. The latter, following the sources of Iaxarti, reached the land of the northern Sakas.
A section of them settled in Taxila, Punjab, Mathura. And in their new homeland, however, they received the raids of the Y-Shun Huns, who forced them to cross Yaxarti and conquer Sogdiana, which until then belonged to the state of Bactria. The Parthian king Mithridates I, seeing the attacks that the kingdom of Bactria was receiving, wanted to take advantage of the disturbances. So he was separated from Eukratides, who had his interest in the Indies, part of Margiani, Aria and Dragiani. Eukratides, seeing the unexpected developments for his state, decided to return to Bactra. On the way, however, he was murdered by his son and co-king, Heliocles.
The nomadic tribes that lived in the north then found the opportunity to conquer the capital of Zariaspi, thus occupying Bactra, which until then belonged to the Greeks. In the 1st century e.g. the once glorious kingdom will lose its dominance as its last ruler Hermaeus succumbs in 30 BC. to the Kustan invaders who from the 1st c. A.D. and henceforth create their own kingdom. Even they, however, will continue to mint coins with Greek inscriptions and depictions of Greek deities. When during the 2nd c. A.D. the geographer Ptolemy Claudius visits Bactria and reports that the country is now inhabited by the Yue-Chi.
The legend of Salaxa
The Greek presence is still widespread in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and India. After all, even the locals in the Indokukh mountain of Afghanistan point to a cave, in which, according to tradition, Prometheus of Greek mythology was martyred. According to the Afghans, due to a misunderstanding, the rock of Prometheus is placed in the Caucasus. According to them, it is the Indian Caucasus (Indokukh). They even show the slit through which the mythical vulture that ate the hero's liver entered. As for the Indies, thanks to the civilizing work of Alexander, they came into direct contact with the West.
In fact, the king of India, Hadragupta, was one of the devotees of the development of Greco-Indian culture. From the time of the circumnavigation of the Indies by Nearchus (4th century BC) and Ctesias (end of the 5th – beginning of the 4th century BC) until the geographer Megasthenes (300 BC) who stayed as ambassador at the Court of Sandrocottus in Patna, and until the creation of the Indo-Bactrian kingdom, the contribution of Greek culture to the Indies was significant. From the contact of the Greeks with the Indians arose a strange mixed culture, expressed in the art of Gandhara, which was most vividly embodied in the statues of the Buddha that are diffused by the Apollonian light.
The Greeks spread their conquests in the field of architecture, sculpture, theater and even medicine. To this day, "Ionic Medicine" (Yunani Tib), a medical system of Greek origin, is still used in India, mainly in primary health care. Brahmanical astronomy also owes a lot to the Greeks, according to some researchers. The Greeks themselves, in turn, within the context of cultural exchanges, embraced Buddhism and Indian customs. It seems, however, that the Greek influence was not only intense but also long-lasting, as up to the 12th century. A.D. we meet her in the temple of Helios at Karanak, on the distant coast of Orissa.
Similarly, the influence of the Greek kingdom of Bactria was very strong in Central Asia, which is why the traces of the Bactrian kingdom are abundant in today's Afghanistan, confirming the historical tradition. The ruins of numerous Hellenistic cities are still preserved, some of which are identified with the seven Alexandrias. The one located near the town of Poole i Buri was considered the most important of all. In recent years, the archaeological dig of the expatriate professor Viktoros Sarigiannidis and the French archaeological mission brought to light, in addition to valuable coins, amazing gold treasures in Ai-Khanum (northern Afghanistan), and even further north, near the border with the Soviet Union, in Tilia – Tepe ("Golden Tomb").
However, the most important evidence of the timeless cultural work of the Ecumenical Alexander are the oral traditions of the locals, as preserved in the Indian tale of King Cade and the wise Mehran. The tale begins like this:“Golden time, golden age for every power. King Alexander travels through Asia. The beauty and fame of justice is a crown, it adorns with its glory, it honors peoples and spirit". High on the Indo-Caucasus plateau, where the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas separate Pakistan from Afghanistan, the legend of Sikandar Mahdouni, i.e. Alexander, lives on through the traditions of the Kala tribe. A race that invokes its Greek-Macedonian roots with almost holy reverence and emotion.
"Sikander Mahduni, the conqueror of the world, campaigned and conquered innumerable countries including India. When he captured Kabul and invaded Nuristan (NE. Afghanistan) he found there a people of brave warriors, admired their valor and proposed that they accompany him on his campaign. But behind him he left wounded and tired soldiers, who settled in the area, married local women and taught the inhabitants how to sacrifice and perform ceremonies to the gods." With these words Sherbek from the Birir Valley of the NW. Pakistan, tells one of the legends of the origin of the Kalas.
The Pathan tribe between Afghanistan and Pakistan has the same concept of Greek origin as the Kalas. It is indeed surprising that through the oral tradition of their heroic-historical songs, details of the narrative of the conquests of M. Alexander's army are preserved which we only find in the historiographers of the campaign of the soldier. The American ethnologist Cail Trail identifies one of the ancestors of the Kalas, Salaksas, with Seleucus Nikatorus, general of M. Alexander, and founder of the Seleucid empire. In the living tradition of the Kalas, Salaksa is mentioned as one of the generals of M. Alexander, who together with Haiau, Kasivai and Kalasa, were the most prominent of the Greeks that the soldier left in their place.