Bactria (satrapy)

Bactria (satrapy)
Eastern territories of the Achaemenid Empire, including Bactria.
Xerxes I tomb, Bactrian soldier circa 470 BC.
Representation of Bactria on the Egyptian Statue of Darius I.[1][2]

Bactria (Old Persian: 𐎲𐎠𐎧𐎫𐎼𐎡𐏁 Bāxtriš) was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. It was conquered between 545–540 BC by Cyrus the Great.[3]

Bactria is attested in 520 BC at the Behistun inscription. Bactria was a special satrapy in that it was ruled by a crown prince or an intended heir. The capital of Bactria was Bactra, and the region also sometimes included Sogdia. During the reign of Darius the Great, the Bactrians and the Aeglians were placed in one tax district, which was supposed to pay 360 talents every year.[4] Greeks communities and language became common in the area since the reign of Darius I, when the inhabitants of the Greek city of Barca, in Cyrenaica, were deported to Bactria for refusing to surrender assassins.[5] Other exiled Greeks, most of them prisoners of war, were deported to Bactria up until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 328 BC. These settlers later established the hellenistic Kingdom of Bactria.[6]

  1. ^ "Susa, Statue of Darius - Livius". www.livius.org.
  2. ^ Yar-Shater, Ehsan (1982). Encyclopaedia Iranica. Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 10. ISBN 9780933273955.
  3. ^ Olbrycht 2021, p. 45.
  4. ^ "Bactria". Archived from the original on 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  5. ^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  6. ^ "Afghanistan: Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom". 2020-12-23. Archived from the original on 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2023-10-06.