Alexander’s campaign, the Seleucids and Greco-Bactria

Central Asian warriors wore armour and helmets and were armed with a dagger (akinakes), a battle axe (sagaris), spears and bows; they fought on horseback and on foot, and cities were defended by walls with towers and ditches. Alexander of Macedon became king in 336 BCE at the age of 20, began his eastern campaign in 334 BCE and in 330 BCE defeated Darius III, the last Achaemenid king. He then entered Central Asia: Bessus, satrap of Bactria, fled; Alexander took Bactra, in 329 BCE crossed the Amu Darya and took Maracanda (Samarkand), and built the fortress of Alexandria Eschate (“Alexandria the Farthest”) near Khujand on the Syr Darya. The local peoples resisted: the revolt was led by the Sogdian leader Spitamenes, joined by Bactrians and Sakas. Spitamenes ambushed the Macedonians near the Zarafshan (Polytimetus) and destroyed their detachment, but in 328 BCE he was defeated and, while retreating, was killed. Alexander took Sogdian fortresses and married Roxana, daughter of the Sogdian noble Oxyartes (327 BCE). The conquest lasted three years and caused heavy losses and destruction; Khorezm, the Tashkent oasis and Fergana remained independent. Later crafts and trade recovered, and local and Greek cultures blended.