The Baktria issue

[Eucarionte]

Yesterday I read something I believe should be interesting for you guys.

According to the author Victor Barreiro, in his book "la guerra en el mundo antiguo", Baktria was a part of the seleucid kingdom/empire until 244 b.C. This means that including Baktria as an independent faction by 270-280 b.C. as I think the mod starts, would be historically wrong! This author mentions as his source the book the seleucid army (Bar-Kochva, B., 1976)

You may consider this little "contribution" as a way of somehow redeem my previous stupidity

[KingOfTheIsles]

The Parthians also didn't exist until 250bc, it is a problem. The EB team are going to represent this (I think) by having Parthia/Bactria allied to the Seleucids but with lands that historically represent the "heartlands" of the factions when they emerged. Not perfect, but reasonable.

[The Wizard]

It is indeed true that Baktria did not assert its independence until a later date than our starting date. The same is true for the Parthians, although the Arsacids lead their people, the Parni tribe of the Dahae confederation, in to the satrapies of Parthia and Hyrkania (Gurgan) within a decade of our starting date.

However, in EB the Parthians you control are the Parni tribe, still living outside the borders of Iran proper, in Central Asia. This is known, as you have seen on the newest publicly available map. It is up to you to decide to follow the real Parthians into Iran, or establish your hegemony over the other tribes of Central Asia and the Russian steppes!

Meanwhile, Baktria is a region which was, paradoxically, quite densely populated with Greeks (relative to the other eastern satrapies). It was so far away from the Seleukid power base, that its satraps always had a great degree of independence, especially in light of the Mauryan empire undermining Seleucid authority nearby (the Mauryans also controlled the Greek colonies of the Indus valley, hence the Indohellenikoi hoplitai). In 244 BC, they essentially asserted their statehood, but the Baktrians had been left to their devices virtually since their ancestors were settled there by Alexander, especially since the Seleukids only asserted their power over the eastern satrapies in the final stages of the Wars of the Diadochi, and were mostly concerned with their western satrapies anyways. In that light, Antiochus the Great's anabasis to the eastern satrapies was the exception rather than the rule.

Hope this helps,



~Wiz

[hoom]

the Mauryans also controlled the Greek colonies of the Indus valley

Wow! Never had any inkling that the Greeks spread so far. Least of all East

[Shrapnel]

THey went all the way to India and Baktria! I just thought they went as far east as the eastern mediteranian coast!

[The Wizard]

Yes, it is simply pure Romanticism, isn't it? All those Greek colonies, far away in the Hindu Kush...



~Wiz

[Dux Corvanus]

Wow! Never had any inkling that the Greeks spread so far. Least of all East

THey went all the way to India and Baktria! I just thought they went as far east as the eastern mediteranian coast!

He.

[Jebus]

Alexander's so dreamy