183 



B A C T R I A. 



Bactria. 



Zoror.stcr 



establishes 

 his religion 



in Bartoa. 



I 'Iain by 

 Ug..<p. 

 B. C 7. 



US gO- 

 \i-riii Bac- 

 tna. 



it, tl.cy were (.till donated to wear the fetters 

 which the Assyrians had first forged for them, and 

 they soon found that they had changed their masters, 

 but not their state. The names of the governors of 

 Bactria* under Cyrus and his successors, are unworthy 

 of a place in the page of history ; and our attention is 

 not drawn to the subject which we are treating till the 

 time of Darius Hystaspes. During the reign of that 

 monarch, according to the most authentic accounts, 

 bee, the great restorer of that reli- 

 gion which bears his name, and which has extended 

 , not only over Persia, but over almost 

 all the East. After he had established his opinions 

 in Mediai where, as we shall narrate in our account 

 of that kingdom, he first assumed the character 

 of a divine teacher, lie migrated into Bactria, and 

 there propagated his opinions with singular success. 



ft was in the capital of this country that he fixed 

 his chief residence, and consecrated to the wor- 

 ship of tfire that magnificent temple to which every 

 true disciple was bound to make a pilgrimage, once 

 hi his life, to propitiate the deity which in a peculiar 

 manner resided there. Having accomplished several 

 journeys into the neighbouring nations for the pro- 

 pagation of his doctrines, he returned to Bactria, 

 where, according to his own institutions, he was 

 principally to reside, and endeavoured to convert 

 Argasp, king of the Oriental Scythians, not so 

 much by the force of reason, as by the dread of the 

 arms of Darius. The indignation of that high spi- 

 rited monarch was roused against a man who thus 

 dared to insult his understanding and his power, 

 and at the head of his native bands he invaded 

 Bactria, slew Zoroaster, and the priests who ad- 

 hered to him, and destroyed all the temples which 

 he had consecrated. Had he returned to his own 

 country in safety, his triumph would have been 

 complete ; but before he could reach his dominions, 

 lie was overtaken by Darius, and was doomed to bc- 

 huld iiis forces annihilated by the Persian arms. Da- 

 rius immediately, by his example and authority, re- 

 stored the temples, and confirmed the religion of Zo- 

 roaster in Bactria. 



Under the dominion of Persia, Bactria remained 

 till the reign of Darius III. surnamed Codomannus. 

 When that monarch beheld his mighty army dissi- 

 pated, on the plains of Arbcla, by-the consummate 



kill of Alexander the Great, and the irresistible 

 valour of his hardy veterans, he tied from the last 

 and the mcRt disastrous of his fields to Media, where, 

 collecting tli> wrecks of his conquered forces, he re- 

 solved to make another effort to prop his falling for- 

 tunes. But when he heard that Alexander was ad- 

 vancing to give him battle, he shrunk from the une- 

 qual contest,, and determined to retire into Bactria, to 

 augment his army with tl e brave inhabitants of that 

 province. Bessus, a Persian nobleman, to whom the 

 government of that province was committed, was 

 then in the army of Darius, at the head of the Bac- 

 trians, , of 4000 slingers, and 8000 horse. 



When he perceived that the spirit and the power of 

 Darius yielded to the rising fortunes of the Macedo- 

 nian hero, instead of supporting his lord and bene- 

 :'.ictor, he formed a conspiracy against him, and 

 hoped to rise on his ruins to the empire of the East. 



No sooner did the Persian prince set out from Ecba- 

 tana, than, dead to gratitude and justice, and re- 

 i future fame, Bessus seized the person of 

 unate monarch, and carried him to Bac- 

 tria. Finding, however, that he was pursued bv 

 Alexandcr, with implacable resentment, he put Da- 

 rius to death, assumed the sovereignty of the East, 

 and collected an army to defend his throne. But, 

 though to excuse his treason, and to advance his am- 

 bition, he had formerly condemned the flight of Da- 

 rius, and imputed the misfortunes of that monarch 

 to his pusillanimity, yet he now trembled at the ap- 

 proach of Alexander, imitated the most indefensible 

 part of Darius's conduct, detroyed the country 

 through which his enemies had to pass in pursuit of 

 him, transported his army over the Oxus, and, after 

 burning his vessels, lest they should fall into the hands 

 of Alexander, fled to Nautaca, a city of Sogdiana, 

 where he imagined he would be secure. But oat. 

 ther the. ravages of Bactria, nor the breadth of the 

 Oxus, nor the bulwarks of Nautaca, could protect 

 the usurper. Bessus was delivered into the hands of 

 Alexander by his own officers when they could no 

 longer defend him ; and Alexander, detesting the trai- 

 tor, though he reaped the harvest of his treachery, 

 yielded him, to the revenge of Oxatres, the brother 

 of Darius, and the regicide expiated his crimes by a 

 death embittered with every torture which ingenuity 

 could invent, or cruelty execute. 



The conquered kingdoms, which formed the ex- 

 tensive empire of Alexander, were united only by- 

 the terror of his arms. At his death the chain was 

 broken, and the chiefs, who governed the provinces 

 by his authority, aspired at independence, and each 

 claimed the sovereignty of his own state. Diodorus 

 Siculus advances Philip to the throne of Bactria at 

 that time ; while Justin gives the sceptre to the hand 

 of Amyntas. But the Bactrian prince, whatever 

 was his name, was not long able to vindicate the 

 fame and the freedom of his country. Seleucus, who 

 had ascended the throne of Syria, having gained pos- 

 session of Babylon, and subdued Media, carried his 

 victorious arms into Bactria, and ugain reduced it to 

 slavery.. In this state of degradation the nation 

 groaned till Antiochus Theos gave the government 

 of the province into the hands of Theodotus, a man 

 nqt more distinguished by the greatness of his ambi- 

 tion, and the magnitude of his designs, than by 

 the wisdom and valour which he displayed in accom- 

 plishing them. Perceiving that his master was en- 

 gaged in a bloody war with Ptolemy Philadelphia, 

 king of Egypt, and that all the resources of his king- 

 dom were employed, he determined to shake olf his 

 allegiance, and vindicate the freedom of the country 

 which he governed. We may reasonablyconclude that, 

 preparatory to the discovery of his great design, lie 

 employed his administration to establish the discipline 

 and power of his army, to promote the cultivation 

 and prosperity of his country, and to repair the for- 

 tifications of its cities. But we shall hesitate to be- 

 lieve, upon the authority of Justin, that the king- 

 dom which Theodotus claimed could boast of a 

 thousand cities; yet certainly whatever were the en- 

 ergies of that country, they were employed with 

 singular ability by the illustrious usurper. His ex- 



B.ictr 



Murder* 

 Darius, 

 B. C. 130, 



ami is pul 

 to death. 



B. C. 9$t 



B. C. .112. 



Thodi>tu. 

 B. C. 230. 



