The Greco-Bactrian and
Indo-Greek Kingdoms
Nattapon Preedasak
The Greco-Bactrian
Kingdom
Before the Independence
● Political & power struggle after Alexander’s
death (323 BC).
● Conflict & wars happened.
● Caused several partitions of Alexander’s empire.
Martinez-Sève, Laurianne (2020) "Afghan Bactria"
Independence and Diodotid dynasty
● Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria took advantage of the
troubles and established his kingdom (250 BC).
● Highly urbanized and considered one of the richest of the
Orient.
● Grew in power and engaged in territorial expansion to the Diodotus I of Bactria, Cabinet des Medailles, Paris
east and the west.
● The independence of Parthian empire cut Bactria off from
contact with the Greek world.
● Overland trade decreased but sea trade with Greek Egypt
developed.
● Diodotus I (250 - 235 BC) → Diodotus II (235 - 225 BC)
Diodotus II of Bactria, Classical Numismatic Group
Euthydemid dynasty and Seleucid invasion
● Euthydemus of Magnesia (225 - 190 BC) overthrew the
dynasty of Diodotus II and started his own dynasty.
● Euthydemus negotiated peace with Antiochus III of the
Seleucid empire.
● Their children married.
Euthydemos I, Classical Numismatic Group
● After the Seleucid army left, the kingdom expanded.
● Some territories are possibly Tapuria and Traxiane.
Heliodotos inscription, Kuliab, 3rd century BCE,
modern Tajikistan
(2005) A New Inscription dated in the "Yona" (Greek)
Era of 186/5 B.C.
Expansion into the Indian subcontinent
● Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus, started an invasion of the
subcontinent from 180 BC.
○ few years after the Mauryan empire had been overthrown by
the Shunga dynasty.
● Demetrius may have been as far as the imperial capital
Demetrius I of Bactria, Bopearachchi & Rahman
Pataliputra in today's eastern India (today Patna). 124 (fourrée); SNG ANS 190
○ These campaigns are typically attributed to Menander.
● This established in the northwestern Indian Subcontinent
what is called the Indo-Greek Kingdom (Yavanarajya).
Defeats by Parthia
● Eucratides, a general of Demetrius or an ally of the Seleucids,
managed to overthrow the Euthydemid dynasty and
establish his own rule around 170 BC.
● During or after his Indian campaigns, Eucratides was
attacked and defeated by the Parthian king Mithridates I. Eucratides I, Musée Guimet, Paris
● Mithridates I gained Bactria's territory west of the Arius, the
regions of Tapuria and Traxiane.
● The defeat, both in the west and the east, may have left
Bactria very weakened and open to nomadic invasions.
Yuezhis, embroidered carpet of the Xiongnu
Noin-Ula burial site
The Indo-Greek
Kingdom
Expansion of Demetrius into India
● Demetrius I, the son of Euthydemus is generally considered
the Greco-Bactrian king who first launched the Greek
expansion into India.
● The elimination of the Maurya Empire by the Sunga greatly
encouraged this expansion. The coinage of Agathocles incorporated the Brahmi
● He probably conquered the Kabul valley, Arachosia and script and several deities from India.
perhaps Gandhara.
● Bactrian kings followed after Demetrius' death, and it seems
likely that the civil wars between them made it possible for
Apollodotus I to make himself independent as the first
proper Indo-Greek king. Kharoshthi legend on the
● Apollodotus I was succeeded by or ruled alongside reverse of a coin of
Indo-Greek king Artemidoros
Antimachus II, likely the son of the Bactrian king Antimachus Aniketos
I.
Rule of Menander I
● Menander I is considered to have been the most
successful of the Indo-Greek kings. Menander I, unknown
○ expanded the kingdom to its greatest extent by means of
his various conquests.
● Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature as
Milinda.
● The Indo-Greeks also had control over Mathura during
the period between 185 BCE and 85 BCE, and The Mathura Herakles. A
statue of Herakles
especially during the rule of Menander I (165–135 BC). strangling the Nemean
● After his death, the empire was greatly reduced due to lion from Mathura,
the emergence of new kingdoms and republics within Kolkota Indian Museum.
India.
Decline
● Philoxenus (100–95 BC) briefly occupied the whole Greek
territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab, after
what the territories fragmented again between smaller
Indo-Greek kings.
● Throughout the 1st century BC, the Indo-Greeks
progressively lost ground to the Indians in the east, and the
Scythians, the Yuezhi, and the Parthians in the West.
