These pages impart historical information about the Greek kingdom of Bactria and about the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus III. Alexander the Great passed through northern Afghanistan and made the area that became Bactria part of his empire. Greeks colonized this area, between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya, declared independence and conquered most of Afghanistan and part of northwest India. In 209 B.C., Antiochus III, trying to regain Bactria, defeated the Bactrian King Euthydemus and besieged his capital city, Bactra, but did not capture it. After a two year siege, he made peace and went south to try to conquer part of India, again unsuccessfully.
Antiochus III, known as "the Great," inherited a collapsing empire and recovered most of it, lost Phoenicia and Palestine to Ptolemy of Egypt at the Battle of Raphia but later regained them, checked the Parthians, campaigned as far as Greece, gave refuge to Hannibal after the Second Punic War and made important cultural and legal innovations.
An informative summary.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I can't help but think Antiochus was over extending himself. I think it would have been wiser of him to concentrate on rebuilding his kingdom closer to home and focusing on the long term threat posed by Rome.
Ad astra! Sean
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