BACTRIA was a kingdom of Asia, which, in ancient times, appears to have been distinguished by the extent of its territories, the number of its inha bitants, and the magnitude of its exploits. But the glory which the Bactrians merited, by the wisdom of their councils, and the valour of their arms, has been obscured in the depths of remote antiquity ; and the exalted station which their sages and heroes might hope to obtain on the page of history, has been occupied by the more fortunate candidates for fame which future ages have produced. Acquaint ed, as we are, with the uncertainty and contradiction of ancient annalists, it is with some hesitation that we attempt to mark the limits of this dynasty, which, being nearly the same with modern Chorasan, ap pears to have been separated, on the south, from In dia, by the lofty summits of the Paropamisus; on the west, from Margiana, by the hills which surround that province ; on the north, from Sogdiana, by the river Oxus ; and, on the east, from Asiatic Scythia, by a chain of mountains which rises as a barrier be tween the two countries. After employing some in vestigation, we imagine there are reasons for conclu ding, that this country was first peopled by the des cendants of Gomar, the grandson of Noah, and that, for some time, they were called Chomarians, and their metropolis Chomara, appellations derived, with very little corruption, from the name of that patriarch. Afterwards Bactria became the capital of the king dom ; and, if we believe Q. Curtius, both the king dom and its capital were denominated from the river Bactrus, which fertilized the fields through which it rolled, and washed the walls of that famous and al most impregnable city. But though we are inclined to follow Curtius, yet we are not ignorant, that the name of the river upon which Bactria was built, ac cording to Pliny, was Zariaspa, and, to Ptolemy, Dargidus. It will not, however, be im possible to reconcile the accounts of Curtius and Pliny, if what the latter affirms be allowed, that the ancient name of Bactria was Zariaspe, which is also affirmed by Strabo. In the same manner the river, upon which the city was built, may have also chan ged its name, or borne different names in different countries. Ptolemy's account, however, is inconsist ent with both ; for he places the city in the interior of the kingdom, while they assert, that it was situa ted at the foot of the Paropamisus, the southern boundary of the country. Bactria, in latter ages, was called Balk, a name which it bears at the present day.
At what time Bactria assumed the name and the glory of an independent kingdom, it is impossible to determine. If we admit the authority of Ctesias, which we hatie more than questioned in our account of Assyria, it must have been at a very early period. According to him, Oxyartes filled the throne of Bactria when Ninus and his Assyrians endeavoured to reduce all Asia under their power *. But though the progress of that monarch, to the universal empire of the East, was long checked by the wisdom and valour of the Bactrians, yet the walls of this capital, and the spirit of its inhabitants, yielded at last to the repeated attacks of their numerous foes, and that kingdom became a province of the Assyrian empire.
It is inconsistent with our plan to relate the various wars in which the Bactrians, as auxiliaries, engaged, while their governors were appointed by their con querors. In this state of degrading dependency, Bactria remained, till the Assyrian empire was itself overturned by the aspiring spirit and the fortunate arms of Cyrus the Great. To conduct that con summate warrior at the head of the confederate forces of Media and Persia, till the ascendency of his ge nius extinguished the glories of the Lydian and the Assyrian empires on the field of battle, and levelled the walls of Babylon with the ground, belongs to the historian of these nations. But though the Bac tnans might rejoice, that the kingdom which reduced. them to bondage was thus reduced to the same lux radiating dependency, yet, under the yoke of the Pcisians, they were still doomed to wear the fetters which the Assyrians had first forged for them,•and they soon found that they had changed their masters, hut not their state. The names of the governors of Bactria, Cyrus and his successors, arc unworthy of a place in the page of history; and our attention is not drawn to the subject which we are treating till the time of Darius Hystaspes. During the reign of that monarch, according to the most authentic accounts, flourished Zoroaster, the great restorer of that reli gion which bears his name, and which has extended ' its influence, not only over Persia, but over almost all the East. After he had established his opinions in NI(dia, where, as we shall narrate in our account of that kingdom, he first assumed the character of a divine teacher, he migrated into Bactria, and there propagated his opinions with singular success. It was in the capital of this country that he fixed his chief residence, and consecrated to the wor ship of ifire that magnificent temple to which every true disciple was bound to make a pilgrimage, once in. his life, to propitiate the deity which in a peculiar manner resided there. Having accomplished several journeys into the neighbouring nations for the pro pagation of his doctrines, he returned to Bactria, where, according to his own institutions, he was principally to reside, and. endeavoured to convert Argasp, .king of the Oriental Scythians, not so much by the force of reason, as by the dread of the arms of Darius. The indignation of that high spi rited monarch was roused against a man who thus dared to insult his understanding and his power, and at the head of his native bands he invaded Bactria, slew Zoroaster, and the priests who ad hered to him, and destroyed' all the temples which he had consecrated. Had he returned to his own country in safety, his triumph would have been complete ; but before he could reach his dominions, he was overtaken by Darius, and was doomed to be hold his forces annihilated by the Persian arms. Da rius immediately, by his example and authority, re stored the temples, and confirmed the religion of Zo, roaster in Bactria.