The Seleucid province of Bactria, a vast…

The Seleucid province of Bactria, a vast country of a “thousand cities,” is located at the junction of the routes to China and India, and it is rich in cultivable land.

Diodotus, a Greek who finds himself at the head of the Bactrian satrapy, leads a revolt that brings independence in about 250 BCE; he takes the title of king.

The motivating force behind the rebellion in Bactria is an association—or perhaps even a collaboration—between the local nobility (large landholders who dominate the whole indigenous population) and the local Greek community.

Both groups are opposed to the Macedonian domination represented by the Seleucid dynasty.

The preserved ancient sources are contradictory and the exact date of Bactrian independence has not been settled.

There is a high chronology (circa 255 BCE) and a low chronology (circa 246 BCE) for Diodotos’ secession.

The high chronology has the advantage of explaining why the Seleucid king Antiochus II issued very few coins in Bactria, as Diodotos would have become independent there early in Antiochus' reign.

On the other hand, the low chronology, from the mid-240s BCE, has the advantage of connecting the secession of Diodotus I with the Third Syrian War, a catastrophic conflict for the Seleucid Empire.

During this time of chaos in the Seleucid Empire, the new Seleucid king, in order to secure the friendship of King Diodotus of breakaway Bactria, (according to some scholars) marries one of his sisters to him in 246.