Euthydemus I (c. 260 BC – 200/195 BC), Greco-Bactrian king in about 230 or 223 BCE according to Polybius

Polybius

Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

., he is thought to have originally been a Satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

 of Sogdiana

Sogdiana

Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...

, who overturned the dynasty of Diodotus of Bactria and became a Greco-Bactrian king. Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

, on the other hand, correlates his accession with internal Seleucid

Seleucid dynasty

The Seleucid dynasty or the Seleucidae was a Greek Macedonian royal family, founded by Seleucus I Nicator , which ruled the Seleucid Kingdom centered in the Near East and regions of the Asian part of the earlier Achaemenid Persian Empire during the Hellenistic period.-History:Seleucus was an...

 wars in 223/221 BCE. His kingdom seems to have been substantial, including probably Sogdiana

Sogdiana

Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...

 to the north, and Margiana and Ariana

Ariana

Ariana was a region of the eastern countries of ancient Iran, next to India.Ariana may also refer to:* Ariana In places:*Ariana Governorate, a governorate in Tunisia*Ariana, Tunisia*Lake Ariana, a lake in Sofia, Bulgaria...

 to the south or east of Bactria.

Biography

Euthydemus was allegedly a native of Magnesia

Magnesia Prefecture

Magnesia Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. Its capital was Volos. It was established in 1899 from the Larissa Prefecture. The prefecture was disbanded on 1 January 2011 by the Kallikratis programme, and split into the peripheral units of Magnesia and the Sporades.The toponym is...

 (though the exact site is unknown), son of the Greek General Apollodotus, born c. 295 BC, who might have been son of Sophytes

Sophytes

Sophytes is a figure whose origin is subject to much debate. There is an Indian king "Sophytes", described as ruling along the Indus during the campaigns of Alexander the Great, in the Bibliotheca of Diodorus Siculus...

, and by his marriage to a sister of Diodotus II and daughter of Diodotus I, born c. 250 BC, was the father of Demetrius I

Demetrius I of Bactria

Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...

 according to Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

 and Polybius

Polybius

Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

; he could possibly have had other royal descendants, such as sons Antimachus I

Antimachus I

Anthimachus I Theos was one of the Greco-Bactrian kings, generally dated from around 185 to 170 BC.-Rule:...

, Apollodotus I

Apollodotus I

Apollodotus I Soter was an Indo-Greek king between 180 and 160 BCE or between 174 and 165 BCE who ruled the western and southern parts of the Indo-Greek kingdom, from Taxila in Punjab to the areas of Sindh and possibly Gujarat.-Ruler of the Indo-Greek...

 and Pantaleon

Pantaleon

Pantaleon was a Greek king who reigned some time between 190–180 BCE in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, and is sometimes believed to have been his brother and/or subking...

.

Little is known of his reign until 208 BCE when he was attacked by Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great

Antiochus III the Great Seleucid Greek king who became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Antiochus was an ambitious ruler who ruled over Greater Syria and western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC...

, whom he tried in vain to resist on the shores of the river Arius, the modern Herirud. Although he commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius and had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the fortified city of Bactra, before Antiochus finally decided to recognize the new ruler, and to offer one of his daughters to Euthydemus's son Demetrius

Demetrius I of Bactria

Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...

 around 206 BCE.

Classical accounts also relate that Euthydemus negotiated peace with Antiochus III by suggesting that he deserved credit for overthrowing the descendants of the original rebel Diodotus, and that he was protecting Central Asia from nomadic invasions thanks to his defensive efforts:

"...for if he did not yield to this demand, neither of them would be safe: seeing that great hords of Nomads were close at hand, who were a danger to both; and that if they admitted them into the country, it would certainly be utterly barbarised." (Polybius

Polybius

Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

, 11.34).

The war lasted altogether three years and after the Seleucid army left, the kingdom seems to have recovered quickly from the assault. The death of Euthydemus has been roughly estimated to 200 BCE-195 BCE, and the last years of his reign probably saw the beginning of the Bactrian invasion of India.

There exist many coins of Euthydemus, portraying him as a young, middle-aged and old man. He is also featured on no less than three commemorative issues by later kings, Agathocles

Agathocles of Bactria

Agathocles Dikaios was a Buddhist Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BCE. He might have been a son of Demetrius and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and India...

, Antimachus I

Antimachus I

Anthimachus I Theos was one of the Greco-Bactrian kings, generally dated from around 185 to 170 BC.-Rule:...

 and one anonymous series. He was succeeded by Demetrius, who went on to invade northwestern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. His coins were imitated by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia for decades after his death; these imitations are called "barbaric" because of their crude style.

External links

• Coins of Euthydemus

Preceded by: Diodotus II Diodotus II Diodotus II was a Greco-Bactrian king from c. 239 BC, son of Diodotus I. He is known for concluding a peace treaty with the Parthian king Arsaces, in order to forestall the Seleucid reconquest of both Parthia and Bactria:...

Greco-Bactrian Ruler

Succeeded by: Demetrius I Demetrius I of Bactria Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...