MILITARY SETTLEMENTS AND FORTIFICATION FACILITIES OF THE HELINIST BACTRIA

Abstract

After the conquest of Bactria by Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic period begins in the country, which lasted until the invasion of the Yuejian tribes. Written sources mainly in the person of the Greco-Roman tradition have preserved rather scarce information about the history of Bactria in the aforementioned period of time. However, they represented it as a country of thousands of cities and glorified the power of the Greco-Bactrian Basileus. The materials obtained in the course of numerous studies allow us to distinguish various types of settlements of the Hellenistic Bactria. Among them Greek city, city center, private estate. A special role in the structure of settlements belonged to fortresses and fortifications. The Fortresses performed not only defensive functions, but were also erected in strategically important places in order to control ferries and trade routes. A striking example of such structures is the mountain Fortress of Uzundara and Kampyrtepa. If Uzundara was obviously a military fortress in the full sense of the word, then Kampyrtepa had other tasks. It was built to control the crossing of the Oxus, probably in the last quarter of the 4th century BC, and over time began to serve the trade caravans passing through its territory and turned into a small two-part settlement. In Bactria of the Hellenistic period, the construction of powerful fortification walls was also recorded, the main purpose of which was to defend the northern borders of the state and the Balkh oasis, where the capital of the state was located. Their appearance, apparently, is associated with direct influence from the Greek building tradition.

Keywords

• bactria
• the hellenism
• military fortresses
• fortresses at the crossings
• darband and balkh defensive walls