The Bactrian language is an extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria, also called Tocharistan, in northern Afghanistan. The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south "Bactrian" redirects here For the camel see Bactrian camel. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Linguistically, it is classified as belonging to the Northeastern Iranian branch. The Eastern Iranian languages are a subgroup of the Iranian languages emerging in Middle Iranian times (from ca It was written using the Greek alphabet with the additional letter ϸ. The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Sho (Ϸ was a letter added to the Greek alphabet in order to write the Bactrian language.

Bactrian was probably spoken by the local populations of Bactria when Alexander the Great invaded the area around 323 BCE, inaugurating a two-century period of Hellenistic rule by the Seleucid Empire and the then the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Events By place Macedonian Empire 10 June — In Babylon, Alexander the Great dies ten days after being taken ill This article focuses on the cultural aspects of the Hellenistic age for the historical aspects see Hellenistic period. The Seleucid Empire /sə'lusɪd/ ( 312 - 63 BC) was a Hellenistic empire i The Gr(aeco-Bactrian Kingdom was the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250

Greek rule ended around 123 BCE with the invasions of the Yuezhi from the North, who adopted the Greek alphabet to write the local Bactrian language, a case which is unique among Iranian languages. The Yuezhi or Rouzhi ( Chinese: 月支 Pinyin: yuè zhī or ròu zhī; also 月氏 Pinyin: yuè shì Before that time, Bactrian was written in the Aramaic alphabet. The Aramaic alphabet is an Abjad, a Consonantal Alphabet, used for writing Aramaic.

The Kushan writing system used the Greek alphabet, with the addition of the letter Sho (here in majuscule and minuscule), used to represent the Kushan sound "Sh". The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Sho (Ϸ was a letter added to the Greek alphabet in order to write the Bactrian language.

Bactrian seems to have been, together with Greek, the official language of the Kushans, descendant of the Yuezhi, and was used in their coins and inscriptions. The Kushan Empire (c 1st &ndash 3rd centuries) was a Bactrian state that at its cultural zenith Circa 105 &ndash 250 In 1993, the Bactrian Rabatak inscription was discovered, recording that under the Kushan king Kanishka (c. The Rabatak inscription is an inscription written on a rock in the Bactrian language and the Greek script, which was found in 1993 at the site of Rabatak Kanishka (Kushan language Κανηϸκι, Middle Chinese: 迦腻色伽 was a king of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia, ruling an empire extending 120 CE), use of the Greek language was officially discontinued. The territorial expansion of the Kushans helped propagate Bactrian to Northern India and parts of Central Asia, as far as Turfan where Buddhist and Manichean inscriptions in Bactrian can be found. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Turfan or Tulufan (تۇرپان|Turpan|Turpan Modern Chinese: 吐魯番, Pinyin: Tǔlǔfān is an Oasis city in the Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Manichaeism (in Modern Persian fa-Arab آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese zh 摩尼教 was one of the major Gnostic Religions originating

Remains of the language are found as late as the 9th century CE.

See also

• Tocharian languages

External links

• A Bactrian text from the Hephthalite period
• Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams: "Bactrian Documents from Ancient Afghanistan"
• "Bactrian Language" in Encyclopedia Iranica by N. Sims-Williams