The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India. Getzel M. Cohen

For the foundations attributed to Alexander one should consult in particular Fraser, Cities; and Billerbeck’s edition of Stephanos, as well as Droysen, Hist. 2:748–54; Berve, Alexanderreich 1:291–301; Tarn, Alexander 2:232–59; and below, pp. 35–38, 339.

      38. See, for example, Holt, Thundering Zeus 55–60.

      39. See, for example, Bopearachchi, SNG ANS 9; id., Monnaies gréco-bactriennes; id. in De l’Indus 81–108, 129–68; and id. in Greek Archaeology 109–26; Kritt, Bactria; Holt, Thundering Zeus 67–125; Cribb in Afghanistan ancien carrefour 207–26; and bibliographies in each of these.

      40. For archaeology in central Asia see, for example, Allchin and Hammond, Archaeology of Afghanistan; Ball and Gardin, Gazetteer Afghanistan; V. A. Gaibov, G. A. Koshelenko, G. V. Trebeleva, Parthica 12 (2010) 107–16; Mairs, Hellenistic Far East (central Asia and India).

      41. See, for example, Gardin in De l’Indus aux Balkans 447–60; id. in Akten XIII Kong. 187–93. See also Ball and Gardin, Gazetteer Afghanistan passim; Gardin, Prospections 3: passim; and B. Brentjes, Das Altertum 27 (1981) 133–46.

      42. See, for example, Abdullaev in Afghanistan ancien carrefour 227–57.

      43. P. 20.

      44. For collections of inscriptions see, for example, Canali De Rossi, I. Estremo Oriente; Merkelbach and Stauber, Steinepigramme; Coloru, Da Alessandro 287–93; Merkelbach and Stauber, Euphrat; and Rougement, IGIAC. In general, see the useful overview with bibliographic references by Bernard in Greek Archaeology 75–108; see also Rapin in De l’Indus aux Balkans 375–76; and Rougement in Afghanistan ancien carrefour 127–36.

      45. In Greek Archaeology 92–93.

      46. Narain, CAH² 8:415.

      47. See, for example, C. Rapin, BCH (1983) 347, no. 28.

      48. T’oung Pao 68.4–5 (1982) 264.

      49. In Afghanistan ancien carrefour 421–539, especially 421–46. For similar concerns, see also Fraser, Cities 232–34.

      An Overview

      ARMENIA

      Media Atropatene and Armenia were located on the northwest border of the Iranian plateau. Both regions were under Achaemenid control and, hence, will have nominally passed to Alexander after the Macedonian king conquered the Persian Empire.¹ Nevertheless, there is no firm evidence that Alexander founded any settlement in Armenia. Although Appian claimed (Syr. 55) that Armenia was one of the territories under Seleukos I Nikator’s rule, there is no general agreement as to its status.² In any event, the only settlement that can be attributed to a Seleucid monarch with any degree of probability is EPIPHANEIA on the Tigris.

      MESOPOTAMIA AND THE GULF REGION

      In many respects Hellenistic northern Mesopotamia represents an extension of Syria. Just as Macedonian regional names were transferred to Syria, so an area of northern Mesopotamia was renamed “Mygdonia,” a reflection of the strong Macedonian presence in the region (Strabo 16.1.23).³ By contrast, there is no area in southern Mesopotamia or in regions beyond the Tigris that was given a Macedonian regional name.⁴ Furthermore, the minting of quasi-municipal coinage, which is found under Antiochos IV Epiphanes and later in southeastern Anatolia, northern Syria, and Phoenicia, is also found in northern Mesopotamia (at EDESSA/ANTIOCH on the Kallirhoe and ANTIOCH in Mygdonia).⁵ This represents the farthest point east for the minting of these types of coin.⁶ The contrast with southern Mesopotamia and regions farther east is noteworthy. There certainly were Seleucid foundations in these areas. Furthermore, we do find evidence for royal Seleucid mints at various cities (e.g., SELEUKEIA on the Tigris, SELEUKEIA on the Eulaios, Persepolis, EKBATANA, and HEKATOMPYLOS). Nevertheless, there is no extant evidence that any town or settlement there minted any kind of local bronze coinage. As O. Mørkholm observed, this coin type “did not penetrate into the East.”⁷

      In 1927 M. Rostovtzeff observed that “the centre of the Seleucid Empire was made up of the former kingdoms of Babylonia and Assyria” and that the intense colonization of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Parapotamia was “intended to transform the kernel of their kingdom into a new Macedonia.”⁸ In the latter part of the twentieth century the centrality of Mesopotamia for the Seleucids was reemphasized by, among others, Susan Sherwin-White and Amélie Kuhrt as well as Pierre Briant.⁹ They focused on the Middle Eastern context. In the introduction to their book, From Samarkhand to Sardis, Sherwin-White and Kuhrt commented: “The title of this book expresses our firmly held view that the Seleucid empire was an eastern empire centered in the middle east, particularly the ‘Fertile Crescent’, i.e., Mesopotamia and north Syria and western Iran. These areas formed . . . the core of the Seleucid kings’ huge realm. From this perspective, Asia Minor in the west and Central Asia in the east constituted the outer frontiers of the kingdom, as had been the case for the Achaemenids.”¹⁰ And Briant pointed out: “Seleucus chose to set up the centre of his power in Babylonia, thus clearly declaring . . . that his priorities were not located on the Mediterranean. This represents an indisputable continuity with the Achaemenid period.”¹¹ While there has been much discussion about Sherwin-White and Kuhrt’s book and its conclusions, the fundamental thesis about the importance and centrality of the area of the Fertile Crescent for the Seleucid realm is especially noteworthy.¹² And in this context, Mesopotamia—whether as a “new Macedonia” or as the heart of a new “eastern empire”—will have taken pride of place.

      Strabo described northern Mesopotamia as “quite fertile” (16.1.23), but it was southern Mesopotamia—that is, Babylonia—that, according to Strabo, was a particularly rich agricultural area and quite populous (16.1.14, 15.3.5). Trade was also a significant revenue source for Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia, after all, was a crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Iranian plateau as well as the Persian Gulf. Not surprisingly, important transit routes—both east-west and north-south—crisscrossed the region.¹³ But here a caveat is in order: we have relatively little direct literary information about travel routes in and through Mesopotamia during the Hellenistic period. If the direct literary evidence for Hellenistic routes in this region is sparse, we can look backward and forward to try to get some idea of the situation as it existed both before and after. Of course in doing so we must remain aware that over time—because of, for example, a changed geopolitical environment or new trading patterns—the routes themselves could change. Let us first review briefly the evidence for trade routes to and through Mesopotamia in the periods before and after the Hellenistic age.

      There is cuneiform evidence from the second and first millennia B.C. for trade routes in Mesopotamia.¹⁴ In this connection, A. L. Oppenheim has suggested that the embarkation point for Euphrates river traffic originating on the Mediterranean coast was Emar in the second millennium and possibly Carchemish during the first.¹⁵ In the neo-Assyrian period a road ran west from Nisibis to Gozan and Karrhai and then on to Arpad in north Syria. Another road ran south from Nisibis along the Khabour River and joined the road along the Euphrates to Babylon.¹⁶ We also have some information about the Persian Royal Road system. The exact route of the great Persian Royal Road from Sardis to Susa is still unclear. Depending on whether one adheres to the “northern route” or the “southern route” hypothesis, the road will apparently have crossed the Euphrates either at SAMOSATA or (the later) SELEUKEIA on the Euphrates/Zeugma.¹⁷ In addition to the great road, there were, of course, other routes. For example, an Aramaic document provides information about an itinerary that encompassed travel from Arbela to Damascus.¹⁸

      Strabo, who lived in the latter part of the first century B.C./early first century A.D., described a route from Syria to Seleukeia and Babylon that crossed the Euphrates near ANTHEMOUSIAS.¹⁹ From the Parthian period we get information for transit routes from Isidore of Charax, who apparently lived in the early first century A.D. He described a caravan route that ran southward from Zeugma to ANTHEMOUSIAS, ALAGMA, and ICHNAI and then down along the Euphrates to Seleukeia on the Tigris.²⁰ In the later Roman period we find evidence in, among