Editing Bactria (section)

== History ==

=== Bronze Age ===
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| image1   = Seated Goddess, Western Central Asia, Bronze Age Bactria, late 3rd-early 2nd millenium BCE, chlorite and limestone, Miho Museum, Japan.jpg
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| image2 = Ancient bowl, Bactria, Central Asia, circa 3000 B.C. Khosrow Mahboubian Collection, London, UK.jpg
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| footer='''Left:''' Seated Goddess, an example of a "Bactrian princess", Bronze Age Bactria, [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]], {{Circa|2000 BC}}. [[Chlorite group|chlorite]] and [[limestone]]. [[Central Asian art]], [[Miho Museum]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inagaki |first1=Hajime |title=Galleries and Works of the MIHO MUSEUM |publisher=Miho Museum |page=45 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34579548}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tarzi |first1=Zémaryalaï |title=Les représentations portraitistes des donateurs laïcs dans l'imagerie bouddhique |journal=KTEMA |date=2009 |volume=34 |issue=1 |page=290 |doi=10.3406/ktema.2009.1754 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ktema_0221-5896_2009_num_34_1_1754}}</ref><br />'''Right:''' Ancient bowl with animals, Bactria, 3rd–2nd millennium BC.
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The [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]] (BMAC, also known as the "Oxus civilization") is the modern archaeological designation for a [[Bronze Age]] [[archaeological culture]] of [[Central Asia]], dated to {{Circa|2200}}–1700 BC, located in present-day eastern [[Turkmenistan]], northern [[Afghanistan]], southern [[Uzbekistan]] and western [[Tajikistan]], centred on the upper [[Amu Darya]] (known to the ancient Greeks as the Oxus River), an area covering ancient Bactria. Its sites were discovered and named by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] archaeologist [[Viktor Sarianidi]] (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for Old Persian ''Bāxtriš'' (from native *''Bāxçiš'')<ref>David Testen, "Old Persian and Avestan Phonology", ''Phonologies of Asia and Africa'', vol. II (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 583.</ref> (named for its capital Bactra, modern [[Balkh]]), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and ''Margiana'' was the Greek name for the Persian [[satrap]]y of [[Margu]], the capital of which was [[Merv]], in today's Turkmenistan.

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

According to some writers, {{who|date=March 2017}} Bactria was the homeland ([[Airyanem Vaejah]]) of [[Indo-Iranians]] who moved south-west into Iran and the north-west of the [[South Asian]] [[subcontinent]] around 2500–2000 BC. Later, it became the northern province of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] in [[Central Asia]].<ref>Cotterell (1998), p. 59</ref> It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the [[Turan Depression]], that the prophet [[Zoroaster]] was said to have been born and gained his first adherents. [[Avestan]], the language of the oldest portions of the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] ''[[Avesta]]'', was one of the [[Iranian languages#Proto-Iranian and Old Iranian languages|Old Iranian languages]], and is the oldest attested member of the [[Eastern Iranian languages]].

=== Achaemenid Empire ===
{{Main|Bactria (satrapy)}}
[[File:Xerxes I tomb Bactrian soldier circa 470 BCE.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Xerxes I]] tomb, Bactrian soldier {{circa|470 BC}}.]]

[[Ernst Herzfeld]] suggested that Bactria belonged to the [[Medes]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Herzfeld|first=Ernst|title=The Persian Empire: Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient Near East|publisher=F. Steiner|year=1968|page=344}}</ref> before its annexation to the [[Achaemenid Empire]] by [[Cyrus the Great]] in [[sixth century BC]], after which it and [[Margiana]] formed the twelfth satrapy of Persia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bactria|title=BACTRIA – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=www.iranicaonline.org|access-date=7 August 2019|quote=After annexation to the Persian empire by Cyrus in the sixth century, Bactria together with Margiana formed the Twelfth Satrapy.}}</ref> 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.<ref>Holt (2005), pp. 41–43.</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Under Persian rule, many Greeks were deported to Bactria, so that their communities and language became common in the area. During the reign of [[Darius I]], the inhabitants of the Greek city of [[Barca (ancient city)|Barca]], in [[Cyrenaica]], were deported to Bactria for refusing to surrender assassins.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/4G*.html#200 Herodotus, 4.200–204]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11K*.html#11.4 Strabo, 11.11.4]</ref> Herodotus also records a Persian commander threatening to enslave daughters of the [[Ionian Revolt|revolting Ionians]] and send them to Bactria.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/6A*.html#9 Herodotus 6.9]</ref> Persia subsequently conscripted Greek men from these settlements in Bactria into their military, as did Alexander later.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html| title = Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom| website = www.cemml.colostate.edu| access-date = 12 December 2020| archive-date = 23 December 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201223080249/https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html}}</ref>

=== Alexander The Great ===
[[File:Bactrian imitation of an Athenian drachme.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Pre-Seleucid Athenian owl imitation from Bactria, possibly from the time of [[Sophytes]].]]
[[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] conquered [[Sogdia]]na. In the south, beyond the Oxus, he met strong resistance, but ultimately conquered the region through both military force and diplomacy, marrying [[Roxana]], daughter of the defeated Satrap of Bactria, [[Oxyartes]]. He founded two Greek cities in Bactria, including his easternmost, [[Alexandria Eschate]] (Alexandria the Furthest).

After Alexander's death, [[Diodorus Siculus]] tells us that Philip received dominion over Bactria, but [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] names [[Amyntas (son of Nicolaus)|Amyntas]] to that role. At the Treaty of [[Triparadisus]], both Diodorus Siculus and [[Arrian]] agree that the satrap [[Stasanor]] gained control over Bactria. Eventually, Alexander's empire was divided up among the generals in Alexander's army. Bactria became a part of the [[Seleucid Empire]], named after its founder, [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus I]].

=== Seleucid Empire ===
The [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonians]], especially Seleucus I and his son [[Antiochus I Soter|Antiochus I]], established the [[Seleucid Empire]] and founded a number of Greek [[town]]s. 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.<ref>Walbank, 30</ref> When Alexander's troops entered Bactria they discovered communities of Greeks who appeared to have been deported to the region by the Persians in previous centuries.

=== Greco-Bactrian Kingdom ===
{{Main|Greco-Bactrian Kingdom}}
[[File:Monnaie de Bactriane, Eucratide I, 2 faces.jpg|thumb|Gold [[stater]] of the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Eucratides I|Eucratides]]]]
[[File:Greco-BactrianKingdomMap.jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] at its maximum extent, circa 180 BC.]]

Considerable difficulties faced by the Seleucid kings and the attacks of Pharaoh [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]] gave the satrap of Bactria, [[Diodotus I]], the opportunity to declare independence about 245 BC and conquer [[Sogdia]]. 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 [[Roman Republic|Romans]] (190 BC).

The Greco-Bactrians were so powerful that they were able to expand their territory as far as [[South Asia]]:
{{blockquote|As for Bactria, a part of it lies alongside Aria towards the north, though most of it lies above Aria and to the east of it. And much of it produces everything except oil. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Bactria and beyond, but also of India, as [[Apollodorus of Artemita]] says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander...."<ref>[[Strabo]] {{cite web| url = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+11.11.1&redirect=true| title = Geography, Book 11, chapter 11, section 1}}</ref>}}

The last Greco-Bactrian king [[Heliocles I]] lost control of Bactria to nomadic invaders near the end of the 2nd century BC, at which point Greek political power ceased in Bactria, but Greek cultural influence continued for many more centuries.<ref>Jakobsson, Jens. "The Greeks of Afghanistan Revisited." Nomismatika Khronika (2007): page 17.</ref> The Greco-Bactrians used the [[Greek language]] for administrative purposes, and the local [[Bactrian language]] was also Hellenized, as suggested by its adoption of the Greek alphabet and Greek loanwords.<ref>UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile: [http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004 Pashto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103185916/http://lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=64&menu=004 |date=3 January 2009 }}</ref>

=== Indo-Greek Kingdom ===
{{Main|Indo-Greek Kingdom}}
[[File:Demetrius I of Bactria.jpg|right|thumb|The founder of the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius I]] (205–171 BC), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of the Indus valley.]]

The Bactrian king [[Euthydemus I]] and his son [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius I]] crossed the [[Hindu Kush]] mountains and began the conquest of the [[Indus valley]]. For a short time, they wielded great power: a great Greek empire seemed to have arisen far in the East. But this empire was torn by internal dissension and continual usurpations. When Demetrius advanced far east of the [[Indus]] River, one of his generals, [[Eucratides]], made himself king of Bactria, and soon in every province there arose new usurpers, who proclaimed themselves kings and fought against each other. For example Eucratides is known to have battled another king named Demetrius of India, probably [[Demetrius II of India|Demetrius II]], the latter ultimately being defeated according to the historian [[Justin (historian)|Justin]].<ref>Justin on Demetrius: "Multa tamen Eucratides bella magna uirtute gessit, quibus adtritus cum obsidionem Demetrii, regis Indorum, pateretur, cum CCC militibus LX milia hostium adsiduis eruptionibus uicit. Quinto itaque mense liberatus Indiam in potestatem redegit." {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030828143459/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/texte41.html Justin XLI,6]}}</ref>

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 the [[Indus valley]], this went even further. The Indo-Greek king [[Menander I]] (known as Milinda in [[South Asia]]), recognized as a great conqueror, [[Greco-Buddhism|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.<ref>Bernard (1994), p. 126.</ref> Other sources, however, place the end of Strato II's reign as late as 10 AD.

===Daxia, Tukhara and Tokharistan===
''[[Daxia]]'', ''Ta-Hsia'', or ''Ta-Hia'' ({{zh|c=大夏|p=Dàxià}}) was the name given in antiquity by the [[Han Chinese]] to '''Tukhara''' or '''Tokhara''':{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}} the central part of Bactria. The name "Daxia" appears in Chinese from the 3rd century BC to designate a little-known kingdom located somewhere west of China. This was possibly a consequence of the first contacts between China and the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]].

During the 2nd century BC, the Greco-Bactrians were conquered by nomadic [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] tribes from the north, beginning with the [[Sakas]] (160 BC). The Sakas were overthrown in turn by the [[Da Yuezhi]] ("Greater Yuezhi") during subsequent decades. The Yuezhi 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 dynasty|Han]] emperor to investigate lands to the west of China.<ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 ''Silk Road, North China''] C. Michael Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, 19 November 2007, ed. Andy Burnham</ref><ref name=Rene>{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=0-8135-1304-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/29 29–31] |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/29 }}</ref> The first mention of these events in European literature appeared in the 1st century BC, when [[Strabo]] described how "the Asii, Pasiani, Tokhari, and Sakarauli" had taken part in the "destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom".<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11H*.html#8.2 Strabo, 1.8.2]</ref> [[Ptolemy]] subsequently mentioned the central role of the Tokhari among other tribes in Bactria. As ''Tukhara'' or ''Tokhara'' it included areas that were later part of [[Surxondaryo Region]] in Uzbekistan, southern [[Tajikistan]] and northern Afghanistan. The Tokhari spoke a language known later as [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] – an [[Iranian language]]. (The Tokhari and their language should not be confused with the [[Tocharians|Tocharian people]] who lived in the [[Tarim Basin]] between the 3rd and 9th centuries AD, or the [[Tocharian languages]] that form another branch of [[Indo-European languages]].)

[[File:MenWithDragons.jpg|thumb|left|The treasure of the royal burial [[Tillia tepe]] is attributed to 1st century BC Sakas in Bactria.]]
[[File:ZhangQianTravels.jpg|thumb|[[Zhang Qian]] taking leave from emperor [[Han Wudi]], for his expedition to [[Central Asia]] from 138 to 126 BC, [[Mogao Caves]] mural, 618–712 AD.]]

The name Daxia was used in the ''[[Shiji]]'' ("Records of the Grand Historian") by [[Sima Qian]]. Based on the reports of Zhang Qian, the ''Shiji'' describe Daxia as 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, there was no longer a major king, and the Bactrians were under the suzerainty of the Yuezhi. Zhang Qian depicted a rather sophisticated but demoralised people who were afraid of war. Following these reports, the Chinese emperor [[Emperor Wu of Han China|Wu Di]] was informed of the level of sophistication of the urban civilizations of [[Ferghana]], Bactria and [[Parthia]], and became interested in developing commercial relationship with them: {{blockquote|The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: [[Dayuan]] and the possessions of Daxia and Anxi [[Parthia]]  are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the people of [[Han Chinese|Han]], but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China.<ref>[[Hanshu]], Former Han History</ref>}} These contacts immediately led to the dispatch of multiple embassies from the Chinese, which helped to develop trade along the [[Silk Roads]].

[[File:ZeusSerapisOhrmazdWithWorshipperBactria3rdCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|[[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] worshipper with [[Zeus]]/[[Serapis]]/[[Ohrmazd]], Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref name="ReferenceA">Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition</ref>]]
[[File:PharroAndWorshipperBactria3rdCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|Kushan worshipper with [[Khvarenah|Pharro]], Bactria, 3rd century AD.<ref name="ReferenceA" />]]

[[Kujula Kadphises]], the ''xihou'' (prince) of the Yuezhi, united the region in the early 1st century and laid the foundations for the powerful, but short-lived, [[Kushan Empire]]. In the 3rd century AD, Tukhara was under the rule of the ''[[Indo-Sasanians|Kushanshas]]'' (Indo-Sasanians).

====Tokharistan====
{{main|Tokharistan}}
The form [[Tokharistan]] – the suffix ''-stan'' means "place of" in Persian – appeared for the first time in the 4th century, in [[Buddhist]] texts, such as the ''Vibhasa-sastra''. '''Tokhara''' was known in Chinese sources as ''Tuhuluo'' (吐呼羅) which is first mentioned during the [[Northern Wei]] era. In the Tang dynasty, the name is transcribed as Tuhuoluo (土豁羅). Other Chinese names are Doushaluo 兜沙羅, Douquluo 兜佉羅 or Duhuoluo 覩貨羅.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}} During the 5th century AD, Bactria was controlled by the [[Xionites]] and the [[Hephthalite]]s, but was subsequently reconquered by the Sassanid Empire.

=== Introduction of Islam ===
{{Main|Muslim conquests of Afghanistan|Umayyad Caliphate|Abbasid Caliphate|Anarchy at Samarra}}
By the mid-7th century AD, [[Islam]] under the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] had come to rule much of the Middle East and western areas of Central Asia.<ref name="ReferenceB">[http://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-mongolia-central-asia/history-of-buddhism-in-afghanistan History of Buddhism in Afghanistan] by Dr. Alexander Berzin, ''Study Buddhism''</ref>

In 663 AD, the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] attacked the Buddhist [[Turk Shahi|Shahi]] dynasty ruling in Tokharistan. The Umayyad forces captured the area around [[Balkh]], including the Buddhist monastery at [[Nava Vihara]], causing the Shahis to retreat to the Kabul Valley.<ref name="ReferenceB" />

In the 8th century AD, a Persian from Balkh known as Saman Khuda left Zoroastrianism for Islam while living under the Umayyads. His children founded the Samanid Empire (875–999 AD). Persian became the official language and had a higher status than Bactrian, because it was the language of Muslim rulers. It eventually replaced the latter as the common language due to the preferential treatment as well as colonization.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.transoxiana.org/0110/kamoliddin_bahram_chobin.html|title=Origin of the Samanids – Kamoliddin – Transoxiana 10|website=www.transoxiana.org|access-date=7 September 2017}}</ref>