The Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum was at the doorstep of India and known for its high level of Hellenistic sophistication. Greek art travelled from Bactria with the Indo-Greeks and influenced Indian art, religion and culture, leading to new syncretic art called Greco-Buddhist art.

Apr 28, 2011 · The Greco-Bactrian kingdom had a unique place in the Greek imagination, being a Hellenistic kingdom at the border of the known world. This kingdom had frequent contacts with Indian and nomad neighbors, and possibly also the Chinese, which is evident in the spread of their goods and coins.

Sep 26, 2023 · Remarkably, Diodotus, the first king of an independent Bactrian realm, was a Bactrian-born Greek. This kingdom expanded beyond Bactria proper, approaching the Caspian Sea in the west and India in the east at its peak, and covering much of modern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Nov 1, 2024 · Greek culture, language, art, and architecture spread throughout the region, influencing not only the local Bactrian population but also the nomadic groups who settled in Bactria after the kingdom’s collapse.

Oct 18, 2024 · Bactria initially became part of the Seleucid Empire, but around 250 BCE, the local satrap (governor) Diodotus I declared independence, establishing the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Key Historical Texts and Sources. Strabo: The Greek geographer Strabo provides important information about the Bactrian region and its political landscape. He mentions ...

Bactria was the Greek name for Old Persian Bāxtriš (from native *Bāxçiš) [12] (named for its capital Bactra, modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in today's Turkmenistan.

May 26, 2024 · Here, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a unique Hellenistic state arose that blended Greek political and artistic traditions with local customs and beliefs: the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Bactria had a long and rich history before the arrival of Alexander the Great.

Aug 3, 2024 · Many Greek settlers – both retired soldiers and adventurers from old Greece – settled in the fertile lands of Bactria following Alexander the Great’s conquest. There were a substantial number of cities with Greek names and hegemonic Greek culture, and many ethnically Greek inhabitants were scattered from central Asia to India .

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was, along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 256 to 125 BC. It was centered on the north of present-day Afghanistan.

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (Greek: Βασιλεία τῆς Βακτριανῆς, romanized: Basileía tês Baktrianês, lit. 'Kingdom of Bactria') was a Greek state of the Hellenistic period located in Central Asia.