On board the Persian fleet at Salamis in 480 B.C. the marines, a corps no doubt specially selected for their reliability, included Sakas as well as Medes and Persians. In addition the land army which Xerxes led to Greece in the same year contained many eastern Iranian contingents. The "Amyrgian" Sakas of Herodotus (who are called the Saka Haumavarga in the Old Persian inscriptions, and who, in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Darius I from the Suez Canal are defined as the "Sakas of the plains", as opposed to the "Sakas of the marshes") were then brigaded with the Bactrians under the command of Hystaspes, a son of Darius. Also present were the people of Aria (Herat), led by Sisamnes; Parthians and Chorasmians led by Artabazus; Sogdians under Azanes, and Sarangians (Drangians), from the country of the lower Helmand, under Pherendates.
The Chorasniian, Dargman b. Harshin, named in an Aramaic papyrus of 464 B.C. from Elephantine in Egypt, and engaged in litigation over land with one of the Jewish inhabitants, could thus have been a pensioned survivor from Xerxes' Grand Army. In this way, the principal eastern Iranian nations, both nomadic and sedentary, make their first appearance in the pages of history. At this early date they were naturally somewhat overshadowed by their rulers, the Medes and Persians, whose closer acquaintance with the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia had given them a lead in the techniques of centralized government, and so enabled them to dominate their eastern neighbours. Ultimately, however, the sedentary eastern Iranians, such as the Chorasmians and Sogdians, were able to achieve virtual or complete independence. The nomadic Sakas in their turn were even able to set up an extensive empire, including a large part of northern India, during the 1st century B.C.
It was during the campaigns of Alexander the Great, after the Macedonians had overrun the western provinces of the Persian empire, that the eastern Iranian element became especially prominent in the Persian camp. For the Persians at the battle of Gaugamela (331 B.C.) an important part was played by the Bactrian and Saka cavalry, whilst contingents from Parthia, Sogdia and Arachosia are also mentioned. The leader of the Sakas at this battle bore the name of Mauakes, which in its later form Maues was to become famous once again in the history of the Indo-Scythian empire (see below, p. 194). The majority of these eastern Iranian troops had been mustered by Bessus, who after the Persian defeat quickly emerged as the most powerful of the Persian leaders under Darius III. Thus after the assassination of the king, it was Bessus who assumed the royal prerogatives, and retired to his satrapy of Bactria to carry on the struggle against Alexander in eastern Iran.
Alexander's pursuit of Bessus thus brought about a Macedonian invasion of the eastern provinces, where a Macedonian influence was established more lasting than that which had been introduced into western Iran. From Artacoana, probably at the site of the modern city of Herat, a wide southward sweep led the conqueror across Drangiana and Arachosia to the valley of the Kabul river, and the foot of the Hindu Kush. To secure his communications in these provinces, many fortified cities were founded by Alexander; Artacoana was replaced by Alexandria-amongst-the-Arians; in Drangiana, Alexandria-Prophthasia provided a garrison centre; Alexandria-amongst-theArachosians was sited, as the recently discovered inscriptions of Asoka seem to imply, at the Old City of Qandahar; and Alexandria-of-theCaucasus stood probably on the Salang river at Jabal Suraj, not far from Charikar. It was from this last foundation that Alexander led his army northwards across the range, the speed of his movements baffling all attempts at resistance. The unhappy Bessus retreated to the north bank of the Oxus, but when Alexander threw his troops across the broad river on improvised rafts of hide, the satrap's followers turned against their leader, placing him under arrest, and handing him over to Alexander for execution.
Roots of Reed in Ancient Times
