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The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was – along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom – the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BC. It was centered around the north of present-day Afghanistan. The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians into present-day northern India and Pakistan from 180 BC established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which was to last until around 10 AD.〔Doumanis, Nicholas. (''A History of Greece'' ) Palgrave Macmillan, 16 dec. 2009 ISBN 978-1137013675 p 64〕〔Baumer, Christoph. (''The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors'' ) Vol. 1 I.B.Tauris, 11 dec. 2012 ISBN 978-1780760605 p 289〕〔Kaushik Roy. (''Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia'' ) Routledge, 28 jul. 2015 ISBN 978-1317321279〕 ==Independence (around 250 BC)== Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom when he seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC and became King Diodotus I of Bactria. The preserved ancient sources (see below) are somewhat contradictory, and the exact date of Bactrian independence has not been settled. Somewhat simplified, there is a high chronology (c. 255 BC) and a low chronology (c. 246 BC) for Diodotos’ secession.〔J. D. Lerner, The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau: the Foundations of Arsacid Parthia and Graeco-Bactria, (Stuttgart 1999)〕 The high chronology has the advantage of explaining why the Seleucid king Antiochus II issued very few coins in Bactria, as Diodotos would have become independent there early in Antiochus' reign.〔F. L. Holt, Thundering Zeus (Berkeley 1999)〕 On the other hand, the low chronology, from the mid-240s BC, has the advantage of connecting the secession of Diodotus I with the Third Syrian War, a catastrophic conflict for the Seleucid Empire. :Diodotus, the governor of the thousand cities of Bactria ((ラテン語:Theodotus, mille urbium Bactrianarum praefectus)), defected and proclaimed himself king; all the other people of the Orient followed his example and seceded from the Macedonians. (Justin, XLI,4 〔(Justin XLI, paragraph 4 )〕) The new kingdom, highly urbanized and considered as one of the richest of the Orient (''opulentissimum illud mille urbium Bactrianum imperium'' "The extremely prosperous Bactrian empire of the thousand cities" Justin, XLI,1 〔(Justin XLI, paragraph 1 )〕), was to further grow in power and engage into territorial expansion to the east and the west: :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 Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander... Their cities were Bactra (also called Zariaspa, through which flows a river bearing the same name and emptying into the Oxus), and Darapsa, and several others. Among these was Eucratidia,〔possibly present day Qarshi; Encyclopaedia Metropolitana: Or Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, Volume 23, edited by Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose, 1923, page 260, states: "Eucratidia, named from its ruler, (Strabo, xi. p. 516.) was, according to Ptolemy, 2° North and 1° West of Bactra." As these coordinates are relative to, and close to, Bactra, it is reasonable to disregard the imprecision in Ptolemy's coordinates and accept them without adjustment. If the coordinates for Bactra are taken to be , then the coordinates can be seen to be close to the modern day city of Qarshi.〕 which was named after its ruler. (Strabo, XI.XI.I 〔(Strabo XI.XI.I )〕) In 247 BC, the Ptolemaic empire (the Greek rulers of Egypt following the death of Alexander the Great) captured the Selucid capital, Antioch. In the resulting power vacuum, the satrap of Parthia proclaimed independence from the Selucids, declaring himself king. A decade later, he was defeated and killed by Arsaces of Parthia, leading to the rise of a Parthian Empire. This cut Bactria off from contact with the Greek world. Overland trade continued at a reduced rate, while sea trade between Greek Egypt and Bactria developed. Diodotus was succeeded by his son Diodotus II, who allied himself with the Parthian Arsaces in his fight against Seleucus II: :Soon after, relieved by the death of Diodotus, Arsaces made peace and concluded an alliance with his son, also by the name of Diodotus; some time later he fought against Seleucos who came to punish the rebels, and he prevailed: the Parthians celebrated this day as the one that marked the beginning of their freedom. (Justin, XLI,4)〔(Justin XLI )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Greco-Bactrian Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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