The kingdom of Bactria (c. 250-130 B.C.E.) was an important Hellenistic state, based on a substantial settlement of Greeks who inhabited the fertile valleys of northern Afghanistan and apparently became well integrated with its original Iranian population. Due to the lack of written sources its history has however been obscure and the chronology, at least after the third century B.C.E., reconstructed primarily from coins. It is however generally agreed that soon after 200 B.C.E., the weakening of the Indian Maurya Empire enabled the Bactrian Greeks led by Demetrius I (c. 200-185 B.C.E.), the son of Euthydemus I, to cross the Hindu Kush and make conquests as far as Punjab and the Indian coast. 1 After the death of Demetrius I, who left only a young heir Euthydemus II, a number of kings emerged rapidly in Bactria and an independent kingdom was established outside of the Hindu Kush, in ancient 'India'. Bactria collapsed around 130 B.C.E. under the combined pressure of nomad incursions and wars with the Parthians, while some Indo-Greeks-despite their isolation from the Hellenistic world-remained independent for more than another century. The most important Indo-Greek 2 king, Menander I (c. 155-130 B.C.E.), presumably even led a second wave of conquests and converted to Buddhism. Demetrius I himself never issued any Indian coins. This does however not belie his Indian conquests: neither did Alexander the Great, and issuing coins is the task of an administrator, not a conqueror. The Bactrian kings Pantaleon and Agathocles, both adjacent to Demetrius, were the first to issue bilingual coins in the Kabul valley and Gandhara, mostly bronzes meant for local circulation. Agathocles was challenged in Bactria by Antimachus I: the datings are uncertain enough to allow for all of these kings to have ruled in 185 B.C.E.or closely afterwards. DATED INDO-GREEK INSCRIPTIONS There were in fact no exact datings until the finding of a Buddhist reliquary which was dated as belonging to year 201 of the Yonana (Kharosthi for Greek) era (see R. Salomon [2005]). As the inscription also gave the year 73 of the era of the Saka king Azes from 57 B.C.E., it was established that a so-called Indo-Greek era was inaugurated in 186/5 B.C.E.. The finding place of the reliquary was unfortunately unknown, but there are unambiguous examples of this era being used in the first

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From luxury spice to medical cure-all, silphium was a product coveted throughout the ancient world and occupied an essential place in the export economy of ancient Cyrene. The mysterious extinction of the silphium plant in the 1st century CE leaves us with little evidence as to the exact nature of this important agricultural product. In this paper, an historical background on the kingdom of Cyrene is provided, evidence for the nature of the silphium plant is reviewed, how and why it was consumed and traded is discussed. Possible causes of extinction are considered in the context of plant genetics, biometrics, and soil geochemistry. Next, we demonstrate how modern medical studies conducted on possible living relatives can inform us about claims made by ancient authors as to the medical uses of the silphium plant, including its use as a contraceptive and abortifacient. Finally, methods for recovering silphium are explored. We show how underwater archaeology and the search for ancient shipwrecks off the northern coast of Libya may offer our best chance for the recovery of botanical remains of ancient silphium, and how ancient DNA may be able to establish the genetic makeup of this elusive plant.