Bactria

Bactria, a province of the ancient Persian empire, lying north of the Paropamisus (Hindu Kush) Mountains, on the Upper Oxus. A northern branch of the same range separated it from the Sacæ, and it had Sogdiana on the north and Ariana on the south. It thus corresponded pretty nearly with the modern Balkh. Here many scholars locate the original home of the Aryan or Indo-European family of nations (see ARYANS). Its capital, Bactra or Zariaspa, was also the cradle of the Zoroastrian religion. Originally a powerful kingdom, it maintained its independence until its subjugation by the great Cyrus about 540 B.C., when it became a satrapy of the Persian empire. It was included in the conquests of Alexander, and formed a part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae until the foundation, about 256 B.C., by Diodotus, of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, which extended to the Indus, and which after a long struggle was overthrown by the Parthians. Numerous coins with Greek legends have been found in the topes or burial-places to the north-east of Kabul. See also ASOKA, and ALPHABET, p. 188.