to block the wells in the enemy's line of march, and himself evacuated his capital, Hecatompylus, and fell back upon Hyrcania. Antiochus detached a body of horse under Nicomedes of Cos, who dispersed the Parthians at the wells and secured the road. The Seleucid army advanced without hindrance across the wilderness and quietly took possession of Hecatompylus.1 After halting to rest the army in the Parthian capital, Antiochus determined to follow up the retreating foe into Hyrcania itself. He first moved to Tagae. There he learnt from the natives the enormous difficulties of a march through the mountains. But his resolution held. In the force he had at his disposal were Cretans and Aetolians, accustomed from childhood to mountain warfare. He knew that among the narrow gorges and defiles the valuable arm would be, not the heavy phalanx, but the light troops, archers, javelineers, slingers, who could scale precipices inaccessible to the heavily armed soldier, and by irregular attacks dislodge the enemy from the posts which commanded the passage. These troops he formed into an advanced guard under Diogenes, the satrap of Media. They were to be supported by 2000 Cretans, whose armament was something between that of the light skirmishers and the phalanx (they carried small shields), under the command of a Rhodian exile, Polyxenidas, of whom more is heard by and by. Last of all were to come the heavy troops under Nicomedes of Cos and an Aetolian Nicolaus.2 The difficulties of the road proved even greater than the King had expected. It wound for the most part through deep gorges, into which many boulders and trees had fallen, making the passage painful." Up on the rocks above, too, were perched the barbarians, with piles of stones and trunks at all convenient places to roll down upon the labouring train below. Their calculations were, however, disconcerted by the tactics of the light skirmishers. The troops of Diogenes could scale the "white face of the cliff" itself, and the barbarians in their ambush suddenly found themselves exposed from unexpected quarters to a hail of stones and darts. As soon as a post had been 1 Polyb. x. 28. 2 Ibid. 29. occupied by the light troops it was a short matter for the engineers to make the road for the heavy troops below. In this way the ascent was successfully, though slowly, accomplished. Post after post of the barbarians was driven back. At the pass of Labus, which marked the summit of the mountain barrier, they determined to make a stand. In eight days from beginning the ascent the army reached the pass, and here the phalanx came for the first time into action. In a pitched battle, however, the barbarian mountaineers could do it little harm, and the light troops had secretly before dawn crept round and occupied strong posts in the enemy's rear. At the discovery of this the barbarians broke and fled. The King was concerned to prevent an incautious pursuit, and soon sounded a halt. With closed ranks and imposing order the Seleucid army descended into Hyrcania.1 Tambraca was first occupied, a city considerable enough to contain one of the residences of the Parthian king. It was unfortified, and the inhabitants, after Antiochus' victory on the pass, had mostly taken refuge in the neighbouring Syrinca, "the royal city as it were" of Hyrcania. of Hyrcania. Unlike Tambraca, Sirynca was a place of exceptional strength and included a Greek population. Antiochus proceeded to invest it, and against the highly developed siege tactics of the western race the defenders could not maintain themselves. As soon as a breach was made, there was a massacre of the resident Greeks and a stampede. They were, however, driven back again by the mercenaries under Hyperbasas, and, giving up all hope, surrendered.2 And now the cloud falls again. Of the subsequent course of the war we know nothing. The end was probably a victory of the Seleucid arms, after which Antiochus, following the same policy as in Atropatene (Lesser Media) and Armenia, demanded only a recognition of his supremacy and a payment of tribute, and received Arsaces into favour. So much at least may be gathered from the loose statement of Justin that Arsaces fought with extraordinary valour against the overwhelming numbers of Antiochus, and was finally admitted to an alliance. 1 Polyb. x. 30-31, 4. 2 Ibid. 31, 5 f. 3 xli. 5, 7. In the year following the invasion of Hyrcania (209-208) Antiochus moved upon Bactria. Diodotus, the son of the original rebel, no longer reigned there. His house had been overthrown by another upstart, Euthydemus, a man from one of the Magnesias. It was he who now bore the name of king. The high-road to Bactria crossed the river Arius (mod. HarêRûd), and Euthydemus encamped at some place1 on his own side of the river and detached a large body of his excellent Bactrian cavalry, 10,000 strong, to defend the fords. The intelligence of his position was carried to Antiochus whilst he was still three days' march from the river. He at once pressed forward, and with a select body of cavalry, light-armed troops and peltasts, reached the river before the third day dawned. The main part of the enemy's cavalry had retired from the bank during the night, as their habit was, leaving only a few patrols. Antiochus was thus able to throw the majority of his detachment across before he was discovered. Of course, daybreak brought the enemy's cavalry to the attack, and an engagement ensued. This battle on the Arius did more than anything else to make the reputation of Antiochus III for personal courage. The King himself headed the troop of horse which received the brunt of the leading Bactrian squadron, and fought in the thick of it till relieved by Panaetolus. After a hot action the Bactrian cavalry was beaten off with severe loss, and only a remnant of the force made its way back to the camp of Euthydemus. A large number remained as prisoners in the hands of the victor. The King himself had had his horse killed under him, and received a blow in the face which knocked out several teeth. His detachment bivouacked the following night on the field, awaiting the arrival of the main body. Euthydemus, without risking a second encounter, withdrew upon his capital Zariaspa.2 Of the further course of the war we know only that the siege laid to Zariaspa or Bactra (Balkh) by Antiochus was a famous episode which popular historians loved to embroider.3 Before the summer of 206 was out, both belligerents were 1 ΤΑΓΟΥΡΙΑΝ MS., Ταπουρίαν Hultsch, τὰ Γουρίανα Gutschmid. Polyb. x. 49. anxious for peace. To the Bactrian Greeks indeed the war must have seemed something like a civil war in the face of the alien foe. Surrounded as they were by barbarians, the outposts of Hellenic civilization against the hordes of the great wilderness, they realized intensely their solidarity with the Hellenism of the West. The man who was king in Central Asia still felt himself a Magnesian, still thought of some city 2000 miles away as his home. A fellowcountryman of his, the Magnesian Teleas, was among the persons of influence about Antiochus. Euthydemus besought his good offices to effect a reconciliation. What indeed, he urged, was his offence? It could not be rebellion. The Seleucid power had already ceased to be effective in Further Irân when he made himself a kingdom. It was the rebellious house of Diodotus, not the ministers of the Great King, whom he had replaced. Or was it his crime to have assumed the royal name? For justification he had but to point eastwards, to the innumerable shifting peoples of the wilderness, who loomed like an ominous cloud over Irânian Hellenism. There could be no vacancy in Hellenic sovereignty here without hazarding such an irruption from that quarter as would without question submerge the country in barbarism (ἐκβαρβαρωθήσεσθαι τὴν χώραν ὁμολογουμένως). The Bactrian kingdom was a dam, which the interests of Antiochus should impel him, not to weaken, but to make as strong as possible. These representations, conveyed by Teleas to the ears of Antiochus, were not without weight. He had long desired to be rid of the Bactrian entanglement, protracting as it did his absence from the West to a dangerous duration. Teleas was now entrusted with the conduct of the negotiations, and a satisfactory settlement was reached. Euthydemus, no doubt, recognized the Seleucid suzerainty; he ceded at any rate to Antiochus his elephants of war and furnished supplies for the army. Antiochus, on the other hand, authorized Euthydemus to bear the title of king. The other points at issue were determined in detail by a written treaty, and a 1 There is nothing in the text of Polybius to imply, as Gutschmid (Gesch. Irans) seems to have understood, that Euthydemus threatened to call the Nomads into the country as his allies. formal alliance was concluded. This happy result was greatly facilitated by the favourable impression made upon Antiochus by the person and bearing of Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus. Antiochus promised him the hand of one of his own daughters. This was the Demetrius who was to be known one day as the conqueror of western India. From Bactria the imperial army moved south. Antiochus crossed the Hindû-Kush and descended the Kabul valley. Once more a Macedonian king at the head of his army stood at the door of India. The great Asoka was no longer alive, and his death had been followed by the break-up of the realm. No certain knowledge of the period of confusion can be got from Indian sources, nor do we know with which of the kings they mention, if with any, the Sophagasenus spoken of by Polybius is to be identified, or whether he belonged to the house of Asoka. With this Indian ruler, whoever he was, Antiochus III had to do. Sophagasenus recognized the superior power of the Seleucid. He gave Antiochus more elephants and provisions for his army. He also promised a large quantity of treasure. Antiochus now turned homewards. Androsthenes of Cyzicus was left to convey the treasure when Sophagasenus had collected the required amount. The King went by way of Arachosia, across the Erymanthus (mod. Hilmend), and thence through Drangiana (mod. Seistân) to Carmania, where he encamped for the winter (206-205). He thus passed south of the great Irânian desert, not by the ordinary traderoute, which went north of it, and by which he had come.1 In the following year he was once more in the eastern capital on the Tigris.2 Like Alexander when he had completed the circuit of his Empire, Antiochus III, as soon as he had returned to Babylonia, turned his thoughts to the still unattempted Arab country to the south. The principal commercial centre of the nearer part of Arabia was the town of Gerrha, a point in the great caravan route from the spice regions beyond, from 1 Polyb. xi. 34. 2 Niese (ii. p. 401) ascribes to Antiochus III at this moment the restoration of Alexandria (Charax), which I follow Gutschmid in giving to Antiochus IV, though it is true there is very little evidence to support either view against the other. |