The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s3.194

c10.s3.194

Before going further it will be well to try to establish the date of Eucratides’ death, which can be done with the help of the chronology of Mithridates I of Parthia. Soon after the death of Antiochus IV in 163 his elder brother Demetrius (I), who had been living in Rome as a hostage, escaped to Syria, set aside Antiochus’ young son (Antiochus V), and took the crown. He may have continued to claim to be Eucratides’ suzerain (p. 206), but certainly Eucratides did not recognise him, and there was a complete breach between West and East, though the final step in the plan of Antiochus IV and Eucratides, the conquest of Parthia, still remained to be carried out. It was in these circumstances that Timarchus, the Seleucid general of the Median satrapy, revolted in 162 and took the royal title as king of Media and Babylonia; he called himself ‘Great King’ in imitation of Eucratides and issued money which was a copy of his.² Obviously there was some connection between him and Eucratides, perhaps an alliance; it may be that Eucratides, regarded without any favour by the Seleucid Demetrius I as a man who had thrown off his allegiance, had incited Timarchus to revolt in order that, when the time came, he might have someone in the west who would co-operate with him in an attack on Parthia.¹ Certainly Mithridates believed this: his actions show that he thought that his best chance was to anticipate any co-operation between the two while Eucratides was still involved in India. He at once struck with all his strength at Timarchus,² and after a severe struggle, which is said to have been protracted and may therefore have occupied 160 as well as 161, took all Media up to the Zagros, which doubled his own strength and left Timarchus comparatively powerless. He did not wait to finish him off (Demetrius I did that presently), but at once turned upon Eucratides' kingdom, attacked Bactria, and recovered the one-time Bactrian conquests west of the Arius, the satrapies of Tapuria and Traxiane (p. 88 n. 1);³ Apollodorus shows that these satrapies were taken by force of arms and in Eucratides' lifetime.⁴ The date of this conquest then, if not 160, is almost certainly 159 (it cannot be *later*), and it was the occasion, as will be seen, of Eucratides returning from India to meet his death; his death therefore falls almost certainly in 159, though early in 158 may just be possible. Later it cannot be: the conventional date, *c.* 155, is not supported by anything⁵ and is quite impossible. For a reasonable time has to be allowed for Menander's undisturbed rule in India after Eucratides left, and Menander's own death must have taken place between 150 and 145 (p. 226).