ABSTRACT
In rugged and still remote regions of Central Asia lie the scattered remains of a remarkable episode in the history of ancient Greece. Silent cities and countless coins bear witness there to kings and colonists who broadened the Greek world beyond Bactria. Alexander's settlements in Central Asia were the source for this development, but the survival of these colonies as a Hellenistic kingdom must not obscure their difficult origins. During Alexander's lifetime and soon thereafter, these settlements showed few signs of permanent success. In fact, to the extent that Alexander's colonies were meant to insure this king's control over Bactria-Sogdiana, they were one of the worst failures of Macedonian foreign policy in the fourth century B.C.
