The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.270

v1.c26.270

Our authorities give us no hint as to who Euthydemus was, or as to how he reached a position of such influence as to be able to make a successful bid for the crown. The claim of the Lydian city to be the Magnesia of his birth is perhaps slightly stronger than that of the Ionian one; for, when he came to strike money, he chose a remarkable type whose selection can be most simply explained by supposing that it had been familiar to him in his youth, as it would be if he were brought up in the Hermus valley. The first real glimpse we get of him is when he comes into conflict with Antiochus the Great. The Parthian campaign of the latter had been arduous, to judge from the picture which Polybius (x, 28 ff.) has preserved of some of its incidents. But Arsaces III seems at length to have been driven to yield upon terms, and by the year 208 Antiochus was at liberty to turn his arms against Bactria. To enter it, he had to ford the river Arius (Hari Rūd), the passage of which Euthydemus was prepared to dispute. When the critical moment came, the Bactrians allowed themselves to be outmanœuvred. Antiochus made a night-march with a picked body of cavalry, the majority of whom he succeeded in getting over the stream before the dawn was bright enough for the enemy's vedettes to discover them. The footing thus gained was stubbornly held, in the teeth of a singularly fierce attack. From the narrative of Polybius (x, 49) we learn that Antiochus displayed great personal courage, and that Euthydemus was so perturbed by the lesson his troops had received that he retreated at once to his capital of Zariaspa or Bactra, the modern Balkh. A siege presumably followed, and it is generally taken for granted that this was the famous siege of Bactra, casually mentioned by Polybius in quite another context (XXIX, 6 A). However that may be, the struggle was a prolonged one. By 206 two years had elapsed without either side having gained a decisive advantage. Meanwhile barbarian swarms were hovering ominously along the northern frontier of the kingdom. If the internecine strife continued, they might at any moment descend upon the country and ruthlessly destroy every vestige of Hellenic civilisation.