The Ferghana Chronicles: A Baktrian AAR

[podoh]

Chapter 1: Deposition

It has been some years since Patrokles was appointed Satrap by the Syrian king. He was sent to Sogdiane, a border region ever under threat from Saka raiders. Determined to secure the borders, determined to win prestige holding off barbarians, determined to launch his career from this easternmost wilderness, he accepted. The city of Marakanda excelled his expectations. It was quite developed, for it lay on some major trade routes from the east. He lived there in great luxury.



It was springtime, some fifty years after the death of Alexandros. Patrokles of Marakanda had long abandonned his early ideals, his former ambitions. Unable to stop Saka raiding in northern Sogdiane, he was forced to look for allies. He allowed some other peoples, most notably the Alans and the Massagetae, to dwell the steppes of northern Sogdiane. Their warriors would now defend these lands. That way he would only have to spill Greek blood in defense of southern Sogdiane. But this clearly wasnʼt the way of the Syrian king.

Patrokles was up north, meeting with the most important Alan leaders, planning a possible joint counteroffensive against some Saka tribes, when an envoy of the king arrived to say he was Satrap of Sogdiane no more. A replacement had already settled in Marakanda, with the city garrison on his side. Patrokles' Hetaroi were disbanded and returned to serve the usurper, Molon of Marakanda.


Patrokles' meeting with the Alan Nobles

But Patrokles decided quickly...

Firstly, he sent an envoy to his father-in-law, Theodotos Baktrios, Satrap of Baktria, informing him of his recent sacking. It is said that for Theodotos this massive loss of influence for his family was a breaking point in his relation with the Syrian king; that it was the prime cause of the Baktrian secession a few years later.

Secondly, he still spoke to the Alan leaders, told them about the Seleucid intentions to rehellenize northern Sogdiane. Most of them immediately returned to their tribes and furiously started to raid Seleucid Sogdiane. Exactly what he wanted. But a few of them were convinced to join Patrokles himself. A mix of Greek colonists and Alan nobles would form his new bodyguard. Fighting in fine Greek equipment, but using nomadic tactics, the Hetaroi Hippotoxotai were born.



Lastly, he sent his respected diplomat and life-long friend, Dion Nysaios, eastward. His goal was to make peace with the Sakas in his name, and in the name of the Satrapy of Baktria. This would clear their hands for an effective anti-Seleucid policy.

Patrokles himself would go to Baktria, where his father-in-law would give him a temporary office. From there he would just wait for an opportunity. This wasnʼt the end of his carreer, it was a glorious new chance.