The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s3.165

c10.s3.165

After Susa he is next heard of at Gabae, which gives his route; he followed the main road from Seleuceia through Susa to Persepolis and then the main road from Persepolis which went by Gabae to Ecbatana.¹ If there was a king in Elymais at this time he was Antiochus’ vassal (App. 7), while as to Persis there is nothing to show that her kings became independent till after his death²; probably all that he was doing was showing his power to his vassals on his way eastward. For at Gabae he was on the main road to Ecbatana and Hekatompylos, that is, he was on his way to attack Parthia.³ Certainly Eucratides, involved in India, was not ready to co-operate, but possibly Antiochus had no trustworthy information about his position; one may recall how entirely Alexander when in India vanished from the purview of the West.⁴ But Eucratides’ governor in Bactria could have co-operated; not that it mattered, for Parthia at the time could no more have withstood Antiochus IV alone than she had withstood Antiochus III. But at Gabae Antiochus died prematurely of consumption of the lungs,¹ of which several kings of Macedonian blood—Cassander, his son Philip IV, and Antigonus Doson—had died prematurely before him. Consumption in the ancient world was incurable; but the disease often works slowly, and if Antiochus had known for some time that he was doomed that would explain the nervous haste (if it existed) which has been thought to characterise his last years;² it was the desire to get something done before the end came.