The Hellenistic kingdoms of Indo-Bactria in the 2nd and 1st cents. BC
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The region of Bactria in north-eastern Iran, an old cultural centre of Iranian population with an urban culture that developed at an early stage, was richly endowed by nature (grain, livestock, resources, e.g. gold). Its capital, Bactra, lay on what later became the Silk Road. Another long-distance trade route followed the course of the Oxus and its tributary the Bactrus west to the Caspian Sea. To the south, yet anoth…