Battle of the Arius

Battle of the Arius
Date208 BC
LocationArius River (Modern day Hari River, Afghanistan)
Result Seleucid victory
Belligerents
Seleucid Empire Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Antiochus III the Great Euthydemus I
Strength
Cavalry, light-armed troops, 10,000 peltasts 10,000 horsemen

The Battle of the Arius was fought in 208 BC between the Seleucids and the Bactrians. The Seleucids were led by Antiochus III the Great, who launched an invasion of Bactria. He was victorious, and went on to besiege the capital of Bactra (modern-day Balkh.) After a siege lasting three years, a peace was agreed in which Euthydemus was recognized as an ally, obtaining one of Antiochus's daughters as a wife.[1]

Location

The location of the Battle of Arius happened on the Arius River or the now Hari River or known as Heray Rud River or even the Tejen river in some places. The river flows through the parts of modern day Afghanistan to Turkmenistan. It flows through the Hindu Kush Mountains. It even creates the Afghanistan and Iran border at one of its points.

Kingdom\Empires involved

Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid Empire is one that originates from great prestige of the Achaemenid Empire. It comes from the division of Alexander the Great Empire after his untimely death. It had two capitals in Antioch and Seleucia. Selecusus ruled until 281 B.C. after his death they began to lose eastern territories which Antiochus the Great reconquers during his reign. They were not on good terms with the Romans and in due time the Romans take over and the last ruler is dethroned in 64 B.C.[2]

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

A kingdom that originated from the Persian Empire but would later become under the control of the Greek Empire when Alexander the Great invasion. They would later gain independence from them and remained this way until it was subdued and became under the rule of the Kushan Empire. The capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was Bactra which is located in modern day Balkh Afghanistan. This capital was founded by Alexander The Great. This is were the city thrived for a little time. The place is pretty much now abandoned except for a city located a little bit away which is mostly rural.

Leaders of the battle

Antiochus the third

Antiochus the third also known as Antiochus the Great the leader of the Seleucid Empire during the battle of Arius. He is the successor of his brother Seleucus the third. The empire was on its brink when he took over as ruler in 222 B.C. He tried his best to regain the former glory of the empire but even though he didn’t succeed completely he didn’t completely fail either as he did reconquer places they had previously lost. He was ruler of the Empire until 187 B.C. when he was killed trying to obtain money from a temple.

Ethydemus 1

Ethydemus is the founder of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. He begins to rule in 230 B.C. has a son named Demetrius 1. He is the leader at the battle of Arius. He also had impressive of coinage that he was displayed on as well during his reign.[3]

The Battle

The battle of Arius was fought in 208 B.C. The battle was between the Seleucid Empire and The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The battle took place at the Arius River at day break as the Seleucids had been on a mission to gain back land lost after Alexander's death. getting wind of this Ethydemus was soon on hand leading 10,000 horsemen marching three days from Tapuria to meet the soldiers that he got wind was guarding the Arius River. Since they didn’t guard the river at night they crossed during the night to meet them at the river at daybreak. What they meet was The Seleucid Empire made up of 10,000 lightly armed peltasts. The battle then pursued and the Seleucid Empire gets the best of the Bactrians who were forced to retreat to the safety of Bactra.

After the Battle

Although Antiochus the Great won the battle he didn’t win the war with the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom as he was stopped on his mission of the Siege of Bactra where he was stopped in Bactra the capital which is now modern day Balkh, Afghanistan. This is were Antiochus gave Ethydemus his respect and they preceded to agree on conditions of a treaty. To do this Ethydemus sent his son Demetrius the first to negotiate. In the treaty Ethydemus wanted to be acknowledged as the royal he believed he was. Antiochus was so impressed by Demetrius character that he agreed to this and even went as far as to send his daughter for Demetrius. In exchange Antiochus got Ethydemus elephants.

Arius River [4]

Notes

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Lendering, Jona. "Seleucids". Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Euthydemus". ENCYCLOPÆDIA IRANICA. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Adamec, David. "Chaghcharan bridge.jpg". Retrieved November 21, 2016.

References

See also

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