Demetrius I of Bactria

Demetrius I († 182 BC or 175 BC ) was a Greek- Bactrian king who ruled from around 200 BC. He was the son of his predecessor Euthydemus I. After the first Bactrian rulers had established their empire and had to maintain their independence above all against the Seleucids, it was Demetrius I, who greatly expanded the young kingdom.

We are about the history of the Greco -Bactrian kings informed only in outline, mainly because of problem coins found, and it is controversial, as many rulers with the name Demetrios there. Part is also assumed that Demetrius II, a son of Demetrios I, in India led campaigns. All of the following information should therefore be used with some caution, since the reconstruction of the history of the Greco -Bactrian kingdom is speculative to a large extent.

Demetrius fell to 184/183 BC, the Kabultal in North-West India and conquered the western provinces of the former Mauryan Empire, which had been destroyed by General Pushyamitra Shunga. Demetrios occupied Taxila and the Indus marched downhill to Patala; He named the city into Demetria. Then he penetrated to Central India, and finally to the Ganges, where he Pataliputras the siege, the old Mauryahauptstadt began. Demetrios ' rapid results are partly explained by the fact that a Shunga (although probably moderate ) anti- Buddhist policy operation, so that many welcomed the Greeks as liberators. On silver coins he had, as Alexander the Great, reproduce, wearing an elephant and call Aniketos ( " the Invincible ").

But before Pataliputra learned Demetrios that the Bactrian heartland of a rebellion had broken out. A certain Eukratides, which seems to have been loyal to the Seleucids against rose. Demetrios was then on the majority of his conquests in India, only in the West he Apollodotos Reserve left his brother and his general Menander as governor. However, Demetrius himself was subject Eukratides who also defeated Apollodotos. Only Menander could stay in India and founded the Indo- Greek kingdom.