According to Tacitus (Annales xi. 8-10), Vardanes I was expelled temporarily from the throne by Gotarzes II, and fled to take refuge "in the plains of the Bactrians" (possibly the Yuezhi, who occupied Bactria at that time).
Yuezhi |
When Lao Shang (reigned c. 174–161 BCE), ruler of the Xiongnu (a powerful people of North China), defeated them and killed their king, the main body of the Yuezhi moved westward into Sogdiana and Bactria, putting an end to Greek rule in both regions.
Iaroslav Lebedynsky and Victor Mair speculate that some Scythians may also have migrated to the area of Yunnan in southern China following their expulsion by the Yuezhi in the 2nd century BC.
Reference to the Yuezhi name in Guanzi was made around 7th century BCE by the Chinese economist Guan Zhong, though the book is generally considered to be a forgery of later generations.
The Yuezhi migration was not limited to the "storm" of Greco-Bactria, a main part of Yuezhi remained in the newly found lands, including the basin of the Syr-Darya and the Aral Sea area.
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Later, Uokils united with a Nan Shan branch of the Yuezhi in their movement, initially to the Aral area, and then on to Bactria and Sogdiana.