THE ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM OF THE GRECO ~ BACTRIAN KINGDOM

The structure of the administration of Greco-Bactrian kingdom closely followed that set up by Alexander, who in his turn had based his on the Iranian model of Darius I. Darius I had established in his provinces, beside the army commander and the Satrap a third post, that of royal representative or viceroy, but this post was abolished by Alexander. The ruler of the province was now known as ‘Strategos’, Darius’s provinces had been very large. In an empire many times greater than that of the Selukans, he had thirty three provinces while the Selukan kings divided their kingdom into seventy-two. The provinces were again divided into districts and sub-divisions.

The Bactrians converted the districts  into provinces ruled by the Satraps. In addition there were the towns, which followed the pattern of the Greek Polis. Alexander had set up about seventy townships. The Seleucid townships were military cantonments. The Greek city was administered by a council and an assembly.

Seleucia, situated on the banks of the Tigris, had a council of 300 which met every month and a larger assembly which held annual sessions. Not only was the assembly required to administer the town, but also to attend to the physical and cultural needs of the citizens. To this end, playgrounds, gymnasiums and theatres had been established. The official language was Greek. The magistrate of the city  was elected by the council.

The town also had an elected treasurer. Elections were generally held once every three years. Bactria and Gandhara were counted among the main Greek cities.

There were often marriages between Greek and non-Greek families.

The Mauryas too made foreigners Governors of provinces, as was the case in Gujarat. Books written in the first and second centuries CE mention how the Greeks dwelt in the Indian cities of Dashpur. The position was similar in the case of Bactria and Sogdia. It is possible of course that in other parts of Central Asia, the Greeks were not so easily absorbed into the local population as they were in India.

We have seen how Apollodotus’ coins bore nothing but Indian inscriptions and some of the Indian Greek kings stamped their money with the images of Indian gods. Menander openly embraced Buddhism. It was difficult to maintain any racial distinctions in India, because after the time of Alexander the Greek cantonments ceased to exist and when Dimitri I came he too pursued a policy of eliminating differences.

Edited from historydiscussion.net

EUTHYDEMUS I

 

Euthydemus I (Greek: Εὐθύδημος, Euthydemos) c. 260 BCE – 200/195 BCE) was a Greco-Bactrian King and founder of the Euthydemid dynasty. He is thought to have originally been a satrap of Sogdia, who usurped power from Diodotus II in 224 BCE. Literary sources, notably Polybius, record how he and his son Demetrius resisted an invasion by the Seleucid King Antiochus III from 209 to 206 BCE. Euthydemus expanded the Bactrian territory into Sogdia, constructed several fortresses, including the Derbent Wall in the Iron Gate and issued a very substantial coinage.

                                                                BIOGRAPHY 

Euthydemus was an Ionian-Greek from one of the Magnesias in Ionia, though it is uncertain from which one (Magnesia on the Maeander or Magnesia ad Sipylum), and was the father of Demetrius I, according to Strabo and Polybius.William Woodthorpe Tarn proposed that Euthydemus was the son of a Greek general called Antimachus or Apollodotus, born c. 295 BCE, whom he considered to be the son of Sophytes, and that he married a sister of the Greco-Bactrian king Diodotus II.

                                               WAR WITH THE SELEUCID EMPIRE

Little is known of his reign until 208 BCE when he was attacked by Antiochus III the Great, whom he tried in vain to resist on the shores of the river Arius (Battle of the Arius), the modern Herirud. Although he commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius  and had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the fortified city of Bactra, before Antiochus finally decided to recognize the new ruler, and to offer one of his daughters to Euthydemus's son Demetrius around 206 BCE. As part of the peace treaty, Antiochus was given Indian war elephants by Euthydemus.

For Euthydemus himself was a native of Magnesia, and he now, in defending himself to Teleas, said that Antiochus was not justified in attempting to deprive him of his kingdom, as he himself had never revolted against the king, but after others had revolted he had possessed himself of the throne of Bactria by destroying their descendants. (...) finally Euthydemus sent off his son Demetrius to ratify the agreement. Antiochus, on receiving the young man and judging him from his appearance, conversation, and dignity of bearing to be worthy of royal rank, in the first place promised to give him one of his daughters in marriage and next gave permission to his father to style himself king

— Polybius, 11.34, 2 

Polybius also relates that Euthydemus negotiated peace with Antiochus III by suggesting that he deserved credit for overthrowing the descendants of the original rebel Diodotus, and that he was protecting Central Asia from nomadic invasions thanks to his defensive efforts.

The war lasted three years and after the Seleucid army left, the Kingdom seems to have recovered quickly from the assault. The death of Euthydemus has been roughly estimated to 200 BCE or perhaps 195 BCE. He was succeeded by Demetrius, who went on to invade northwestern regions of South Asia.

SOURCE : Activities on the Central Asian Steppe

Polybius claims that Euthydemus justified his kingship during his peace negotiations with Antiochus III in 206 BC by reference to the threat of attack by nomads on the Central Asian steppe:

"...[he said that] if [Antiochus] did not yield to this demand, neither of them would be safe: seeing that great hoards of Nomads were close at hand, who were a danger to both; and that if they admitted them into the country, it would certainly be utterly barbarised." (Polybius, 11.34).

Archaeological evidence from coin finds shows that Euthydemus' reign saw extensive activity at fortresses in northwestern Bactria (the modern Surkhan Darya region of Uzbekistan), especially in the Gissar and Köýtendag mountains. The Seleucid fortress at Uzundara was expanded and large numbers of Euthydemus' bronze coins have been found there, as was as hundreds of arrowheads and other remains indicating a violent assault.[8] Coin finds also seem to indicate that Euthydemus was responsible for the first construction of the Derbent Wall, otherwise known as the "Iron Gate", a 1.6-1.7 km long stone wall with towers and a central fortress guarding a key pass.[9] Landislav Stančo tentatively links the archaeological evidence with the nomad threat.[10] However, Stančo also notes that Derbent wall seems to have been designed not to defend against an attack from Sogdia to the northwest, but from Bactria to the southeast. Hundreds of arrowheads also seem to indicate an attack on the wall from the southeast. Stančo proposes that Euthydemus was originally based in Sogdia and built the fortifications to protect himself from Bactria, before seizing control of the latter.[11] Lucas Christopoulos goes further, proposing that he controlled a large area going from Sogdiana to Gansu and the Tarim basin walled cities together with enrolled Hellenized Saka horsemen even before he ascended the throne of Bactria in 250-230 BC.

In an inscription found in the Kuliab area of Tajikistan, northeastern Greco-Bactria, and dated to 200-195 BC,[13] a Greek by the name of Heliodotos, dedicating an altar to Hestia, mentions Euthydemus as the greatest of all kings, and his son Demetrius I.

This fragrant altar to you, Hestia, most honoured among the gods, Heliodotus established in the grove of Zeus with its fair trees, furnishing it with libations and burnt-offerings, so that you may graciously preserve free from care, together with divine good fortune, Euthydemus, greatest of all kings and his outstanding son Demetrius, renowned for fine victories

This is a further indication, alongside the passages from Polybius, that Euthydemus had made his son Demetrius a junior partner in his rule during his lifetime. The reference to Demetrius as a "glorious conqueror" might refer to a specific victory, in the conflict with Antiochus III[17] or in India, or look forward to future victories

Coinage

Euthydemus minted coins in gold, silver and bronze at two mints, known as 'Mint A' and 'Mint B'. He produced significantly more coins than any of his successors and was the last Greco-Bactrian coinage to include gold denominations until the time of Eucratides I (ca. 170-145 BC). Euthydemus' gold and silver issues are all minted on the Attic weight standard with a tetradrachm of ca. 16.13 g and all have the same basic design. On the obverse, his face is depicted in profile, clean-shaven, with unruly hair, and a diadem - this iconography is typical of Hellenistic kings, ultimately deriving from depictions of Alexander the Great. The reverse shows Heracles, naked, seated on a rock, resting his club on a neighbouring rock or on his knee, with a legend reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΘΥΔΗΜΟΥ ('of King Euthydemos').[18] Heracles was apparently a popular deity in Bactria, associated with Alexander the Great, but this reverse type is very similar to coins minted by the Seleucids in western Asia Minor, near Euthydemus' home city of Magnesia.[17][19] Heracles continues to appear on the coinage of Euthydemus' immediate successors, Demetrius and Euthydemus II.

Posthumous coinage

Euthydemus is also featured on the 'pedigree' coinage produced by the later kings Agathocles and Antimachus I. On this coinage he bears the royal epithet, Theos ('God'); it is unclear whether he used this title in life or if it was assigned to him by Agathocles.[44] His coins were imitated by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia for decades after his death; these imitations are called "barbaric" because of their crude style. Lyonnet proposes that these coins were produced by refugees fleeing the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom by the Yuezhi in the mid-second century BC

coinindia  kai wikipedia

TANAIS A GREEK COLONY IN THE SEA OF AZOF

Tanais, (Greek Τάναϊς) is the ancient name for the River Don. In antiquity, it was also the name of the city situated in the Don river delta that reaches into the northeasternmost part of the Sea of Azov, which the Greeks called Lake Maeotis. The site of ancient Tanais is situated near the Russian town of Azov, about 40 km west of modern Rostov on Don.

The central city site lies on a plateau with a difference up to 20m in elevation in the south. It is bordered by a natural valley on the east, and an artificial ditch on the west.

History of Tanais

The site of Tanais was occupied long before the Miletans founded an emporium there. A necropolis of burial mounds, over 300 of them, near the ancient city show that the site had already been occupied since the Bronze Age, and that mound burials were carried on through Greek and into even Roman times.

Greek traders were meeting nomads in the district as early as the 7th century BCE without a formal, permanent settlement, apparently. Greek colonies had two kinds of origins, apoikiai of citizens from the mother city-state, and emporia, which were strictly trading stations. Founded late, in the 3rd century BCE, by merchant adventurers from Miletus, Tanais quickly developed into an emporium at the farthest northeastern extension of the Hellenic cultural sphere, a natural post first for the trade of the steppes reaching away eastwards in an unbroken grass sea to the Altai, the Scythian Holy Land, second for the trade of the Black Sea, ringed with Greek-dominated ports and entrepots, and third for trade from the impenetrable north, furs and slaves brought down the Don. Strabo mentions Tanais in his Geography .

The site for the city, ruled by an archon, was at the eastern edge of the territory of the kings of Cimmerian Bosporus.

Tanais prospered. A major shift in social emphasis is represented in the archaeological site when the propylea gate that linked the port section with the agora was removed, and the open center of public life was occupied by a palatial dwelling in Roman times for the kings of Bosporus. For the first time there were client kings at Tanais: Sauromates (175-211 CE.) and his son Rescuporides (ca 220 CE) both left public inscriptions.

In 330 CE Tanais was devastated by the Goths, but the site was occupied continuously up to the second half of the 5th century CE. Increasingly the channel was silting, probably the result of deforestation, and the center of active life shifted, perhaps to the small city of Azov, halfway to Rostov.

Archaeology of Tanais

I. A. Stempkovsky first made the connection between the visible remains— which were mostly Roman in date— with the Greek "Tanais" mentioned in literature; that was in 1823. Systematic modern excavations began in 1955.

A cooperative Russian-German team has been opening Tanais, with the objectives of revealing the heart of the city the agora, to define the degree of Hellenistic influence on the urbanism of a city founded by Bosporan Greeks, and to study the defensive responses to the increasing pressure of the surrounding nomadic cultures.

ource ACADEMIC KIDS