The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s5.222

c10.s5.222

It is perhaps not difficult to see what happened. The Sacaraucae, after taking Merv, joined in the invasion of Parthia. Some may have remained with their kinsfolk in Sacastene, and a large body, doubtless the majority, went on into India in conjunction with other Sacas; but part of the horde, between 124 and 115, were rolled back northward by the Suren when he liquidated the Saca invasion (p. 499)⁵; he took Merv and drove them back across the Oxus, whereon they ‘perished’. But the ‘perishing’ of a horde does not mean that it was exterminated; it means that it ceased to exist as a separate horde by being absorbed into another horde, just as the Massagetae (that is, those of them who had remained in their original country) were absorbed soon afterwards; most of them had gone on into India, but those in the south of their original territory were seemingly absorbed by the Dahae¹ and those in the north by the Aorsi; the latter body were, with the Aorsi, ultimately absorbed by the Alans. In the same way, those of the Sacaraucae who were driven north were absorbed by the K’ang-kiu, who had occupied western Sogdiana behind them (pp. 280, 291); this may of course have been preceded by a destructive defeat, which left what remained of the Sacaraucae helpless between the victorious Parthians and the victorious K’ang-kiu. To Chang-k’ien, the K’ang-kiu in 128 were only a moderate-sized horde and not even fully independent,² but they appear in the Ch’ien-han-shu with a great accession of strength,³ for which their absorption of the returning Sacaraucae would account; it is supposed that their territory now stretched from Tashkent to Bokhara and from eastern Chorasmia to Samarcand,⁴ and Pan-ku not only makes them stronger than the Yueh-chi⁵ but dilates on their pride and insolence in a way which shows that the Chinese found them very difficult to handle.⁶ One reason why ‘Trogus’ source’ gave prominence to the end of the Sacaraucae as a separate people would be that they had long been well known to the Greek world; but it may also very well be that they had supplied the leaders for the invasion of Parthia. In any case, their ‘perishing’ does not conflict with the date already deduced for ‘Trogus’ source’ (p. 50).