{{Short description|Territory of the Achaemenid Empire}} {{multiple image | title=Bactria (satrapy) | caption_align = center | align = right | image1 = Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg | width1 = 200 | caption1 = Eastern territories of the [[Achaemenid Empire]], including Bactria. | image2 = Xerxes I tomb Bactrian soldier circa 470 BCE.jpg | width2 = 149 | caption2 = [[Xerxes I]] tomb, Bactrian soldier circa 470 BC. }} [[File:Darius I statue Bactria.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|{{center|Representation of Bactria on the Egyptian [[:Commons:Category:Statue of Darius I|Statue of Darius I]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Susa, Statue of Darius - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/place/susa/susa-photos/susa-statue-of-darius/ |website=www.livius.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=EI>{{cite book |last1=Yar-Shater |first1=Ehsan |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica |date=1982 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=9780933273955 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBQZAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>}}]] '''Bactria''' ({{langx|peo|𐎲𐎠𐎧𐎫𐎼𐎡𐏁}} ''Bāxtriš'') was a [[satrap]]y of the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. It was conquered between 545–540 BC by [[Cyrus the Great]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2021|p=45}}
Bactria is attested in 520 BC at the [[Behistun inscription]]. Bactria was a special satrapy in that it was ruled by a crown prince or an intended heir. The capital of Bactria was [[Bactra]], and the region also sometimes included [[Sogdia]]. During the reign of [[Darius the Great]], the [[Bactrians]] and the [[Aeglians]] were placed in one tax district, which was supposed to pay 360 talents every year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/ba-bd/bactria/bactria.html |title=Bactria |access-date=2020-03-26 |archive-date=2014-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140731195511/https://www.livius.org/ba-bd/bactria/bactria.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Greeks communities and language became common in the area since the reign of [[Darius I]], when the inhabitants of the Greek city of [[Barca (ancient city)|Barca]], in [[Cyrenaica]], were deported to Bactria for refusing to surrender assassins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/deportations#pt1}}</ref> Other exiled Greeks, most of them prisoners of war, were deported to Bactria up until the arrival of [[Alexander the Great]] in 328 BC. These settlers later established the [[Hellenistic period|hellenistic]] [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Kingdom of Bactria]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-12-23 |title=Afghanistan: Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom |url=https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html |access-date=2023-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223080249/https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh02-06enl.html |archive-date=2020-12-23 }}</ref>
==See also== *[[Bactria]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Olbrycht|first=Marek Jan|year=2021|title=Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.)|publisher=Brill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHkxEAAAQBAJ|isbn=978-9004460751}}
{{Achaemenid Provinces}}
[[Category:Achaemenid satrapies]] [[Category:Bactria]]