The Graeco-Bactrians were the heirs of Alexander’s Central Asian conquests. They forged a powerful, independent kingdom, centered in northern Afghanistan, which endured for over two centuries, At its height, this remarkable Hellenistic State encompassed an area comprising all of Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and some parts of Pakistan. Much of the history of the Graeco-Bactrians has been lost. Only fragments remain of the treatises of Apollodorus of Artemita, Trogus, and Polybius, writers who recorded the story of this far flung outpost of Hellenistic civilization and the kings who ruled it. The Greek kings of Bactria (most of whom are known to us only by their coins), left no surviving chronicles to recount their military campaigns, no monuments attesting to their victories and achievements, and not archives to inform us about the day-to-day administration of their governments, or the affairs of their people. Yet, as fragmentary as our sources may be, they speak of great kings, glorious campaigns, remarkable victories, and startling defeats.
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