|
Battle Of The Arius
The Battle of the Arius was an engagement that was fought in 208 BC between the Seleucid Empire and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The Seleucids were led by Antiochus III the Great, who launched an invasion of Bactria to recover his ancestor's past dominions. He would go on to be victorious in this battle, and would later go on to besiege the Bactrians at their capital of Bactra for three years. Location The location of the Arius was near the Arius River (now known Hari River). The river flows through the parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. It flows through the Hindu Kush Mountains. It forms the border between Afghanistan and Iran at one of its points. Prelude Antiochus III the Great was a ruler of the Seleucid Empire whose ancestor and namesake, Antiochus II, originally ruled much of the area that would then make up the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in 255 BC. He had been reconquering past dominions until he moved into Bactria in the year 209 BC. The year had seen Antioch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hari River, Afghanistan
The Hari River ( or ; ) or Herat River or Tejen River or Harirud is a river flowing from the mountains of central Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, where it forms the Tejen oasis and disappears in the Karakum Desert. In its lower course, the river forms a northern part of the border between Afghanistan and Iran, and a southeastern part of the border between Turkmenistan and Iran. The name of the river derives from the Old Persian word Harawaiah 'river rich in water'. In Turkmenistan, the Hari is known as the Tejen or Tedzhen river and passes close to the city of Tejen. To the ancient Greeks, it was known as the Arius. In Latin, it was known as the Tarius. History One theory suggests that the Rigvedic Sarayu and the Hari are the same river. A Buddhist monastery hand-carved in the bluff of the river Harirud existed in the first centuries during the prevalence of Buddhism. The artificial caves revealed testimony of daily life of the Buddhist monks. Course The river originat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diodotus II
Diodotus II Theos ( Greek: , ''Diódotos Theós'', "Diodotus the God"; ) was the son and successor of Diodotus I Soter, who rebelled against the Seleucid empire, establishing the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom. Diodotus II probably ruled alongside his father as co-regent, before succeeding him as sole king around 235 BC. He prevented Seleucid efforts to reincorporate Bactria back into the empire, by allying with the Parthians against them. He was murdered around 225 BC by Euthydemus I, who succeeded him as king. Diodotus’ career was recounted by Apollodorus of Artemita in the ''Parthian History'', but this text is lost, and surviving literary sources only mention him in passing. Thus, most details of Diodotus' life and career have to be reconstructed from numismatics. Background and co-regency The Seleucid empire gained control of Bactria and the surrounding regions between 308 and 305 BC and made it a satrapy (province) of their empire. Diodotus' father, Diodotus I ruled the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battles Involving The Seleucid Empire
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. An engagement with only limited commitment between the forces and without decisive results is sometimes called a skirmish. The word "battle" can also be used infrequently to refer to an entire operational campaign, although this usage greatly diverges from its conventional or customary meaning. Generally, the word "battle" is used for such campaigns if referring to a protracted combat encounter in which either one or both of the combatants had the same methods, resources, and strategic objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, and the Battle of France, all in World War II. Wars and military campaigns are guided by military strategy, whereas ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
208 BC
__NOTOC__ Year 208 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellus and Crispinus (or, less frequently, year 546 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 208 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Republic * The Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio defeat the Carthaginians under their commander Hasdrubal Barca at Baecula ( Bailen) in Baetica. As a result, Hasdrubal Barca decides to cross the Pyrenees with his remaining troops into Transalpine Gaul, with the intention of joining his brother Hannibal in Italy. * The Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus is killed in battle while fighting Hannibal near Venusia, Apulia. * Hannibal destroys a Roman force at the Battle of Petelia. Seleucid Empire * Antiochus III advances into Bactria, which is ruled by the Greco-Bactrian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Histories (Polybius)
Polybius' ''Histories'' ( ''Historíai'') were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work was passed down through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in the Byzantine Empire. Polybius, a historian from the Greek city of Megalopolis in Arcadia, was taken as a hostage to Rome after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), and there he began to write an account of the rise of Rome to a great power. Publication History Manuscripts Moore (1965) suggests a stemma whereby some 9 prototype manuscripts preserve the manuscript tradition, the oldest being Vaticanus Gr. 124 (dated A.D. 947). Content Polybius' ''Histories'' begin in the year 264 BC and end in 146 BC (Polybius was born around 200 BC and died around 117 BC). He is primarily concerned with the 53 years in which Ancient Rome became a dominant world power. This period, from 220–167 BC, saw Rome subjugate Carthag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polybius
Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 BC, recording in detail events in Italy, Iberia, Greece, Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Africa, and documented the Punic Wars and Macedonian Wars among many others. Polybius' ''Histories'' is important not only for being the only Hellenistic historical work to survive in any substantial form, but also for its analysis of constitutional change and the mixed constitution. Polybius' discussion of the separation of powers in government, of checks and balances to limit power, and his introduction of "the people", all influenced Montesquieu's '' The Spirit of the Laws'', John Locke's '' Two Treatises of Government'', and the framers of the United States Constitution. The leading expert on Polybius for nearly a century was F. W. Walbank (1909 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demetrius I Of Bactria
Demetrius I Anicetus (, "Demetrius the Unconquered"), also called Dimetriya in Indian sources, was a Greco-Bactrian king and the founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, Indo-Greek kingdom, who ruled areas from Bactria to ancient northwestern of Subcontinent. He was the son of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Greco-Bactrian ruler Euthydemus I and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what is now southern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. He was never defeated in battle and was posthumously referred to as "the Unconquered" (Ἀνίκητος, ''Aniketos'') on the pedigree coins of his successor Agathocles of Bactria. Demetrius I may have been the initiator of the Yavana era, starting in 186–185 BC, which was used for several centuries thereafter. Demetrius was the name of at least two and probably three Bactrian Greek kings. The much debated Demetrius II of India, Demetrius II was a possible relative, whereas Demetrius III Aniketos, Demetrius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Bactra
The siege of Bactra was a siege of the Hellenistic period that lasted from 208 to 206 BC. It was a siege of the city of Balkh, Bactra by the Seleucid Empire after they defeated the Greco-Bactrians at the Battle of the Arius. The Seleucid Empire, Seleucids besieged the capital of Bactria until concerning news from the west of his dominions and lack of progress against the city led the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III the Great, Antiochus III to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bactrian king Euthydemus I, Euthydemus and lift the siege. It was agreed that Antiochus would recognize Euthydemus as an ally, and he gave one of his daughters as a wife to Demetrius I of Bactria, Demetrius, Euthydemus' heir. Siege and peace The Greco-Bactrians had recently been defeated at the Battle of the Arius by Antiochus III. After this defeat, Euthydemus retreated to Zariaspa, a district of Bactra. The Greco-Bactrians were able to hold out long enough against Antiochus until his fortunes in the west d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapuria
Tabaristan or Tabarestan (; ; from , ), was a mountainous region located on the Caspian coast of northern Iran. It corresponded to the present-day province of Mazandaran, which became the predominant name of the area from the 11th-century onwards. History Pre-Islamic era Tabaristan was named after the Tapurians, who had been deported there from Parthia by the Parthian king Phraates I (). At the advent of the Sasanians, the region, along with Gilan and Daylam, was part of the Padishkhwargar kingdom of king Gushnasp, who is mentioned in the Letter of Tansar. He submitted to the first Sasanian King of Kings () Ardashir I () after being guaranteed to keep his kingdom. His line would continue ruling Padishkhwargar until the second reign of Kavad I (), who removed the dynasty from power and appointed his son Kawus in its stead. Under the Sasanians, Tabaristan enjoyed considerable autonomy. They most likely left most of the affairs to the locals. The mint signature of "AM" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cataphract
A cataphract was a form of armoured heavy cavalry that originated in Persia and was fielded in ancient warfare throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. Historically, the cataphract was a very heavily armoured horseman, with both the rider and mount almost completely covered in scale or lamellar armour over chain mail, and typically wielding a kontos (lance) as his primary weapon. Cataphracts served as the elite cavalry force for most empires and nations that fielded them, primarily used for charges to break through opposing heavy cavalry and infantry formations. Chronicled by many historians from the earliest days of antiquity up until the High Middle Ages, they may have influenced the later European knights, through contact with the Eastern Roman Empire.Nell, Grant S. (1995) ''The Savaran: The Original Knights''. University of Oklahoma Press. Peoples and states deploying cataphracts at some point in their history included: the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Medes, Parthi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiochus II
Antiochus II Theos (, , meaning "Antiochus the God"; 286 – July 246 BC) was a Greek king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire who reigned from 261 to 246 BC. He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC. He was the younger son of Antiochus I and princess Stratonice, the daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes. Antiochus II was a forceful personality who in his lifetime largely succeeded to hold the sprawling Seleucid realm intact. However his fateful decision to repudiate his first wife Laodice and marry a Ptolemaic princess Berenice as part of a peace treaty led to a succession struggle after his death that would shake the empire's foundations and cause large territorial losses. Early life Antiochus II was the younger son of Antiochus I Soter and his famous queen Stratonice. Antiochus was initially not expected to inherit the throne, but in 267 BC his father had his elder brother Seleucus executed on charges of rebellion. Reign He inherited lastin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, and ruled by the Seleucid dynasty until its annexation by the Roman Republic under Pompey in 63 BC. After receiving the Mesopotamian regions of Babylonia and Assyria in 321 BC, Seleucus I began expanding his dominions to include the Near Eastern territories that encompass modern-day Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon, all of which had been under Macedonian control after the fall of the former Achaemenid Empire. At the Seleucid Empire's height, it had consisted of territory that covered Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what are now modern Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Turkmenistan. The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture. Greek customs and language were privileged; the wide vari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
