Editing Sogdia (section)

=== Hellenistic period (327–145 BC)===
{{further|Wars of Alexander the Great|Chronology of the expedition of Alexander the Great into Asia|Hellenistic civilization}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = vertical | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = '''Top''': painted clay and [[alabaster]] head of a [[Mobad|Zoroastrian priest]] wearing a distinctive [[Bactria]]n-style headdress, [[Takhti-Sangin]], Tajikistan, 3rd–2nd century BC.<br>'''Bottom''': a [[barbaric]] copy of a coin of the [[Greco-Bactrian]] king [[Euthydemus I]], from the region of Sogdiana; the legend on [[Obverse and reverse|the reverse]] is in [[Aramaic]] script.| footer_align = left | image2 = Sogdian barbaric copy of a coin of Euthydemus.jpg | total_width = 250 | caption1 = | image1 = Head of Bactrian ruler (Satrap), Temple of the Oxus, Takht-i-Sangin, 3rd-2nd century BCE (left side).jpg | caption2 = }}
A now-independent and warlike Sogdiana formed a border region insulating the Achaemenid Persians from the nomadic [[Scythians]] to the north and east.<ref>"The province of Sogdia was to Asia what Macedonia was to Greece: a buffer between a brittle civilization and the restless barbarians beyond, whether the Scyths of Alexander's day and later or the [[White Huns]], Turks and Mongols who eventually poured south to wreck the thin veneer of Iranian society" ([[Robin Lane Fox]], ''Alexander the Great'' (1973) 1986:301).</ref> It was led at first by [[Bessus]], the Achaemenid [[satrap]] of [[Bactria]]. After assassinating [[Darius III]] in his flight from the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian Greek]] army,<ref>John Prevas (2004), ''Envy of the Gods: Alexander the Great's Ill-Fated Journey across Asia'', Da Capo Press, pp 60–69.</ref><ref>Independent Sogdiana: Lane Fox (1973, 1986:533) notes [[Quintus Curtius]], vi.3.9: with no satrap to rule them, they were under the command of [[Bessus]] at [[Gaugamela]], according to [[Arrian]], iii.8.3.</ref> he became claimant to the Achaemenid throne. The [[Sogdian Rock]] or Rock of Ariamazes, a fortress in Sogdiana, was captured in 327 BC by the forces of [[Alexander the Great]], the ''[[basileus]]'' of Macedonian Greece, and conqueror of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.<ref>Horn, LT Bernd; Spencer, Emily, eds. (2012), ''No Easy Task: Fighting in Afghanistan'', Dundurn Press Ltd, p. 40, {{ISBN|978-1-4597-0164-9}}.</ref> [[Oxyartes]], a Sogdian nobleman of Bactria, had hoped to keep his daughter [[Roxana]] safe at the fortress of the Sogdian Rock, yet after its fall Roxana was soon wed to Alexander as one of his several wives.<ref name="ahmed 2004 p61">Ahmed, S. Z. (2004), ''Chaghatai: the Fabulous Cities and People of the Silk Road'', West Conshokoken: Infinity Publishing, p. 61.</ref> Roxana, a Sogdian whose name ''Roshanak'' means "little star",<ref name="livius roxane">Livius.org. "[https://www.livius.org/articles/person/roxane/ Roxane]." ''Articles on Ancient History''. Page last modified 17 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2016.</ref><ref name="strachan 2008 p87">Strachan, Edward and Roy Bolton (2008), ''Russia and Europe in the Nineteenth Century'', London: Sphinx Fine Art, p. 87, {{ISBN|978-1-907200-02-1}}.</ref><ref>For another publication calling her "Sogdian", see Christopoulos, Lucas (August 2012), "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)", in Victor H. Mair (ed), ''Sino-Platonic Papers'', No. 230, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, p. 4, {{ISSN|2157-9687}}.</ref> was the mother of [[Alexander IV of Macedon]], who inherited his late father's throne in 323 BC (although the empire was soon divided in the [[Wars of the Diadochi]]).<ref>William Smith, eds et al. (1873), ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Volume 1'', London: John Murray, p. 122.</ref>

After an extended campaign putting down Sogdian resistance and founding military outposts manned by his Macedonian veterans, Alexander united Sogdiana with Bactria into one satrapy. The Sogdian nobleman and warlord [[Spitamenes]] (370–328 BC), allied with Scythian tribes, led an uprising against Alexander's forces. This revolt was put down by Alexander and his generals [[Amyntas (son of Andromenes)|Amyntas]], [[Craterus]], and [[Coenus (general)|Coenus]], with the aid of native Bactrian and Sogdian troops.<ref name="holt 1989 pp64-65">Holt, Frank L. (1989), ''Alexander the Great and Bactria: the Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia'', Leiden, New York, Copenhagen, Cologne: E. J. Brill, pp 64–65 (see also footnote #62 for mention of Sogdian troops), {{ISBN|90-04-08612-9}}.</ref> With the Scythian and Sogdian rebels defeated, Spitamenes was allegedly betrayed by his own wife and beheaded.<ref>Holt, Frank L. (1989), ''Alexander the Great and Bactria: the Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia'', Leiden, New York, Copenhagen, Cologne: E. J. Brill, p. 65 (see footnote #63), {{ISBN|90-04-08612-9}}.</ref> Pursuant with his own marriage to Roxana, Alexander encouraged his men to marry Sogdian women in order to discourage further revolt.<ref name="ahmed 2004 p61" /><ref>Holt, Frank L. (1989), ''Alexander the Great and Bactria: the Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia'', Leiden, New York, Copenhagen, Cologne: E. J. Brill, pp 67–8, {{ISBN|90-04-08612-9}}.</ref> This included [[Apama]], daughter of the rebel Spitamenes, who wed [[Seleucus I Nicator]] and bore him [[Antiochus I Soter|a son and future heir]] to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid throne]].<ref name="magill et al 1998 p1010">Magill, Frank N. et al. (1998), ''The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 1'', Pasadena, Chicago, London,: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Salem Press, p. 1010, {{ISBN|0-89356-313-7}}.</ref> According to the Roman historian [[Appian]], Seleucus I named three new Hellenistic cities in Asia after her (see ''[[Apamea (disambiguation)|Apamea]]''<!--intentional link to DAB page-->).<ref name="magill et al 1998 p1010" /><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Apamea}}</ref>

The military power of the Sogdians never recovered. Subsequently, Sogdiana formed part of the [[Hellenistic]] [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]], a breakaway state from the Seleucid Empire founded in 248 BC by [[Diodotus I]], for roughly a century.<ref>Christopoulos, Lucas (August 2012), "Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD)", in Victor H. Mair (ed), ''Sino-Platonic Papers'', No. 230, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, University of Pennsylvania Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, pp 8–9, {{ISSN|2157-9687}}.</ref><ref>Mark J. Dresden (1981), "Introductory Note", in Guitty Azarpay, ''Sogdian Painting: the Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art'', Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, pp 3–5, {{ISBN|0-520-03765-0}}.</ref> [[Euthydemus I]], a former satrap of Sogdiana, seems to have held the Sogdian territory as a rival claimant to the Greco-Bactrian throne; [[Ancient Greek coinage|his coins]] were later copied locally and bore [[Aramaic language|Aramaic inscriptions]].<ref>Jeffrey D. Lerner (1999), ''The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau: the Foundations of Arsacid Parthia and Graeco-Bactria'', Stuttgart: Steiner, pp 82–84, {{ISBN|3-515-07417-1}}.</ref> The Greco-Bactrian king [[Eucratides I]] may have recovered sovereignty of Sogdia temporarily.