Chapter VII - THE NOMAD CONQUEST OF BACTRIA

Summary

After the death of Eucratides his eldest son Heliocles ultimately acquired control of the Bactrian kingdom. It may be supposed that the country rallied to him as the one effective force against the Parthians; the fact that the title on his coins, δίκαιος, The Just, was adopted from the Euthydemids may conceivably mean that he tried to reconcile the Euthydemid partisans. Doubtless the return of the rest of Eucratides' army from India gave him an accession of strength; but whether Mithridates of Parthia was expelled or bought off, or whether the virtual defection of his Sacas (Chap. v) induced him to quit the hostile country which he could hardly have held, and make sure of Seistan and Arachosia which he could hold, does not appear. Certainly the outlying provinces of the Bactrian empire in Iran were lost; the Parthian frontier was again the Arius, and (though there is no evidence) Mithridates presumably retained Herat, or he would have had no through communication between Parthia proper and Seistan. Heliocles probably retained Merv; otherwise his kingdom was apparently reduced to Bactria and southern Sogdiana. What happened to northern Sogdiana, the plain of the Jaxartes, will be considered later.

Justin, speaking of the result of the wars of Eucratides, says that Bactria bled to death; the statement may be true, though it is put too early, for Heliocles' conquests in India show that the country must still have possessed a fair degree of strength; he would of course retain Eucratides' mercenaries.