The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s5.182

c10.s5.182

The important thing in his account is of course the 'walled towns' and their government, the majority of these 'walled towns' being, as we have seen (pp. 121 *sq.*), fortified villages. In such few cities as existed the 'petty chiefs' would be either magistrates or the city-governors, *ἐπιστάται*, formerly appointed by the Greek king and now left masterless; on the analogy of the Parthian empire the city-governor might sometimes combine the two functions of representative of the royal power and head of the magistracy (p. 25) and, judging by what happened in Syria and Parthia, might sometimes take advantage of the absence of effective supervision to make himself tyrant or dynast. But in the mass of walled villages the 'petty chief' would be the head of the village community. This most important piece of observation has been discussed at length in chapter III, to which I must refer (pp. 120-4); the light thrown on the nature of the Bactrian village is Chang-k'ien's outstanding service to Greek history.