Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom,^[a] was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Indo-Greek Kingdom
200 BC–10 AD
The Elephant and the Caduceus on a coin of Demetrius I, the founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom.
Territory of the Indo-Greeks during the time of Menander I, with farthest expeditions shown in blue dashed lines.
Capital	Alexandria in the Caucasus[1] Taxila Sagala
Common languages	Koine Greek Pali Sanskrit Prakrit
Religion	Greco-Buddhism Ancient Greek religion Buddhism Hinduism Zoroastrianism
Government	Monarchy
Basileus
• 200–180 BC	Demetrius I (first)
• 25 BC–10 AD	Strato III (last)
Historical era	Antiquity
• Established	200 BC
• Disestablished	10 AD
Area
150 BC[2]	1,100,000 km2 (420,000 sq mi)
Preceded by Succeeded by Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Maurya Empire Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians
Today part of	Afghanistan Pakistan India

The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various Hellenistic states, ruling from regional capitals like Taxila, Sagala, Pushkalavati, and Alexandria in the Caucasus (now Bagram).^[10][11][12] Other centers are only hinted at; e.g. Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophilus in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have been a royal seat at one time.

The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius I of Bactria invaded India from Bactria in about 200 BC.^[13] The Greeks to the east of the Seleucid Empire were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms in the North Western Indian Subcontinent.^[14]

During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Greek and Indian ideas, as seen in the archaeological remains.^[15] The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco-Buddhist art.^[16] The ethnicity of the Indo-Greek may also have been hybrid to some degree. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius,^[17] a Magnesian Greek. His son, Demetrius I, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek ethnicity at least by his father. A marriage treaty was arranged for the same Demetrius with a daughter of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III. The ethnicity of later Indo-Greek rulers is sometimes less clear.^[18] For example, Artemidoros (80 BC) was supposed to have been of Indo-Scythian descent, although he is now seen as a regular Indo-Greek king.^[19]

Menander I Soter, being the most well known amongst the Indo-Greek kings, is often referred to simply as "Menander," despite the fact that there was indeed another Indo-Greek King known as Menander II. Menander I's capital was at Sagala in the Punjab (present-day Sialkot). Following the death of Menander, most of his empire splintered and Indo-Greek influence was considerably reduced. Many new kingdoms and republics east of the Ravi River began to mint new coinage depicting military victories.^[20] The most prominent entities to form were the Yaudheya Republic, Arjunayanas, and the Audumbaras. The Yaudheyas and Arjunayanas both are said to have won "victory by the sword".^[21] The Datta dynasty and Mitra dynasty soon followed in Mathura.

The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 AD following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer under the subsequent rule of the Indo-Parthians, the Kushans,^[b] and the Indo-Scythians, whose Western Satraps state lingered on encompassing local Greeks, up to 415 CE.

Background

Initial Greek presence in the Indian subcontinent

Pataliputra Palace capital, showing Greek and Persian influence, early Mauryan Empire period, 3rd century BC.

Greeks first began to settle the Northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Persian Achaemenid empire. Darius the Great conquered the area, but along with his successors also conquered much of the Greek world, which at the time included all of the western Anatolian peninsula. When Greek villages rebelled under the Persian yoke, they were sometimes ethnically cleansed, by relocation to the far side of the empire. Thus there came to be many Greek communities in the Indian parts of the Persian empire.^{[citation needed]}

In the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great defeated and conquered the Persian empire. In 326 BC, this included the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis River. Alexander established satrapies and founded several settlements, including Bucephala; he turned south when his troops refused to go further east.^[22] The Indian satrapies of the Punjab were left to the rule of Porus and Taxiles, who were confirmed again at the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BC, and the remaining Greek troops in these satrapies were left under the command of Alexander's general Eudemus. After 321 BC Eudemus toppled Taxiles, until he left India in 316 BC. To the south, another general also ruled over the Greek colonies of the Indus: Peithon, son of Agenor,^[23] until his departure for Babylon in 316 BC.

Around 322 BC, the Greeks (described as Yona or Yavana in Indian sources) may then have participated, together with other groups, in the uprising of Chandragupta Maurya against the Nanda dynasty, and gone as far as Pataliputra for the capture of the city from the Nandas. The Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, often identified with Porus,^[24] and according to these accounts, this alliance gave Chandragupta a composite and powerful army made up of Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas (Nepalese), Parasikas (Persians) and Bahlikas (Bactrians) who took Pataliputra.^[25][26][27]

In 305 BC, Seleucus I led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta. The confrontation ended with a peace treaty, and "an intermarriage agreement" (Epigamia, Greek: Ἐπιγαμία), meaning either a dynastic marriage or an agreement for intermarriage between Indians and Greeks. Accordingly, Seleucus ceded his eastern territories to Chandragupta, possibly as far as Arachosia and received 500 war elephants (which played a key role in Seleucus's victory at the Battle of Ipsus):^[28]

The Indians occupy in part some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants.

— Strabo 15.2.1(9)^[29]

The details of the marriage agreement are not known,^[30] but since the extensive sources available on Seleucus never mention an Indian princess, it is thought that the marital alliance went the other way, with Chandragupta himself or his son Bindusara marrying a Seleucid princess, in accordance with contemporary Greek practices to form dynastic alliances. An Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, described the marriage of Chandragupta with a Greek ("Yavana") princess, daughter of Seleucus,^[31] before accurately detailing early Mauryan genealogy:

"Chandragupta married with a daughter of Suluva, the Yavana king of Pausasa. Thus, he mixed the Buddhists and the Yavanas. He ruled for 60 years. From him, Vindusara was born and ruled for the same number of years as his father. His son was Ashoka."

— Pratisarga Parva^[32][31]

Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar, Afghanistan.^[33]

Chandragupta, however, followed Jainism until the end of his life. He got in his court for marriage the daughter of Seleucus Nicator, Berenice (Suvarnnaksi), and thus, he mixed the Indians and the Greeks. His grandson Ashoka, as Woodcock and other scholars have suggested, "may in fact have been half or at least a quarter Greek."^[34]

Also several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes,^[35] followed by Deimachus and Dionysius, were sent to reside at the Mauryan court.^[36] Presents continued to be exchanged between the two rulers.^[37] The intensity of these contacts is testified by the existence of a dedicated Mauryan state department for Greek (Yavana) and Persian foreigners,^[38] or the remains of Hellenistic pottery that can be found throughout northern India.^[39]

On these occasions, Greek populations apparently remained in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under Mauryan rule. Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka, who had converted to the Buddhist faith declared in the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek,^[40][41] that Greek populations within his realm also had converted to Buddhism:^[42]

Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma.

— Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika).

In his edicts, Ashoka mentions that he had sent Buddhist emissaries to Greek rulers as far as the Mediterranean (Edict No. 13),^[43][44] and that he developed herbal medicine in their territories, for the welfare of humans and animals (Edict No. 2).^[45]

According to the Mahavamsa, the Great Stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was dedicated by a 30,000-strong "Yona" (Greek) delegation from "Alexandria" around 130 BC.

The Greeks in India even seem to have played an active role in the propagation of Buddhism, as some of the emissaries of Ashoka such as Dharmaraksita,^[46] or the teacher Mahadharmaraksita,^[47] are described in Pali sources as leading Greek ("Yona", i.e., Ionian) Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism (the Mahavamsa, XII).^[48] It is also thought that Greeks contributed to the sculptural work of the Pillars of Ashoka,^[49] and more generally to the blossoming of Mauryan art.^[50] Some Greeks (Yavanas) may have played an administrative role in the territories ruled by Ashoka: the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman records that during the rule of Ashoka, a Yavana King/ Governor named Tushaspha was in charge in the area of Girnar, Gujarat, mentioning his role in the construction of a water reservoir.^[51][52]

Again in 206 BC, the Seleucid emperor Antiochus led an army to the Kabul valley, where he received war elephants and presents from the local king Sophagasenus:^[53]

He (Antiochus) crossed the Caucasus (the Caucasus Indicus or Paropamisus: mod. Hindú Kúsh) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him.

— Polybius, Histories 11.39^[54][55]

Greek rule in Bactria

Greco-Bactrian statue of an old man or philosopher, Ai Khanoum, Bactria, 2nd century BC

Main article: Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

Alexander had also established several colonies in neighbouring Bactria, such as Alexandria on the Oxus (modern Ai-Khanoum) and Alexandria of the Caucasus (medieval Kapisa, modern Bagram). After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Bactria came under the control of Seleucus I Nicator, who founded the Seleucid Empire. The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was founded when Diodotus I, the satrap of Bactria (and probably the surrounding provinces) seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC. The preserved ancient sources (see below) are somewhat contradictory and the exact date of Bactrian independence has not been settled. Somewhat simplified, there is a high chronology (c. 255 BC) and a low chronology (c. 246 BC) for Diodotos' secession.^[56] The high chronology has the advantage of explaining why the Seleucid king Antiochus II issued very few coins in Bactria, as Diodotos would have become independent there early in Antiochus' reign.^[57] On the other hand, the low chronology, from the mid-240s BC, has the advantage of connecting the secession of Diodotus I with the Third Syrian War, a catastrophic conflict for the Seleucid Empire.

Diodotus, the governor of the thousand cities of Bactria (Latin: Theodotus, mille urbium Bactrianarum praefectus), defected and proclaimed himself king; all the other people of the Orient followed his example and seceded from the Macedonians.

— (Justin, XLI,4^[58])

The new kingdom, highly urbanized and considered one of the richest of the Orient (opulentissimum illud mille urbium Bactrianum imperium "The extremely prosperous Bactrian empire of the thousand cities" Justin, XLI,1^[59]), was to further grow in power and engage into territorial expansion to the east and the west:

The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander... Their cities were Bactra (also called Zariaspa, through which flows a river bearing the same name and emptying into the Oxus), and Darapsa, and several others. Among these was Eucratidia, which was named after its ruler.

— (Strabo, XI.XI.I^[60])

Corinthian capital, found at Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC

When the ruler of neighbouring Parthia, the former satrap and self-proclaimed king Andragoras, was eliminated by Arsaces, the rise of the Parthian Empire cut off the Greco-Bactrians from direct contact with the Greek world. Overland trade continued at a reduced rate, while sea trade between Greek Egypt and Bactria developed.

Diodotus was succeeded by his son Diodotus II, who allied himself with the Parthian Arsaces in his fight against Seleucus II:

Soon after, relieved by the death of Diodotus, Arsaces made peace and concluded an alliance with his son, also by the name of Diodotus; some time later he fought against Seleucos who came to punish the rebels, and he prevailed: the Parthians celebrated this day as the one that marked the beginning of their freedom

— (Justin, XLI,4)^[61]

Euthydemus, a Magnesian Greek according to Polybius^[62] and possibly satrap of Sogdiana, overthrew Diodotus II around 230 BC and started his own dynasty. Euthydemus's control extended to Sogdiana, going beyond the city of Alexandria Eschate founded by Alexander the Great in Ferghana:

"And they also held Sogdiana, situated above Bactriana towards the east between the Oxus River, which forms the boundary between the Bactrians and the Sogdians, and the Iaxartes River. And the Iaxartes forms also the boundary between the Sogdians and the nomads.

— Strabo XI.11.2^[63]

Coin depicting the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus 230–200 BC. The Greek inscription reads: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΘΥΔΗΜΟΥ – "(of) King Euthydemus".

Euthydemus was attacked by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III around 210 BC. Although he commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius^[64] and had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the fortified city of Bactra (modern Balkh), before Antiochus finally decided to recognize the new ruler, and to offer one of his daughters to Euthydemus's son Demetrius around 206 BC.^[65] Classical accounts also relate that Euthydemus negotiated peace with Antiochus III by suggesting that he deserved credit for overthrowing the original rebel Diodotus, and that he was protecting Central Asia from nomadic invasions thanks to his defensive efforts:

...for if he did not yield to this demand, neither of them would be safe: seeing that great hordes of Nomads were close at hand, who were a danger to both; and that if they admitted them into the country, it would certainly be utterly barbarised.

— (Polybius, 11.34)^[62]

Following the departure of the Seleucid army, the Bactrian kingdom seems to have expanded. In the west, areas in north-eastern Iran may have been absorbed, possibly as far as into Parthia, whose ruler had been defeated by Antiochus the Great. These territories possibly are identical with the Bactrian satrapies of Tapuria and Traxiane.

To the north, Euthydemus also ruled Sogdiana and Ferghana, and there are indications that from Alexandria Eschate the Greco-Bactrians may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar and Ürümqi in Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around 220 BC. The Greek historian Strabo too writes that:

they extended their empire even as far as the Seres (Chinese) and the Phryni

— (Strabo, XI.XI.I)^[60]

Possible statuette of a Greek soldier, wearing a version of the Greek Phrygian helmet, from a 3rd-century BC burial site north of the Tian Shan, Xinjiang Region Museum, Urumqi.

Several statuettes and representations of Greek soldiers have been found north of the Tien Shan, on the doorstep to China, and are today on display in the Xinjiang museum at Urumqi (Boardman^[66]).

Greek influences on Chinese art have also been suggested (Hirth, Rostovtzeff). Designs with rosette flowers, geometric lines, and glass inlays, suggestive of Hellenistic influences,^[67] can be found on some early Han dynasty bronze mirrors.^[68]

Numismatics also suggest that some technology exchanges may have occurred on these occasions: the Greco-Bactrians were the first in the world to issue cupro-nickel (75/25 ratio) coins,^[69] an alloy technology only known by the Chinese at the time under the name "White copper" (some weapons from the Warring States period were in copper-nickel alloy^[70]). The practice of exporting Chinese metals, in particular iron, for trade is attested around that period. Kings Euthydemus, Euthydemus II, Agathocles and Pantaleon made these coin issues around 170 BC and it has alternatively been suggested that a nickeliferous copper ore was the source from mines at Anarak.^[71] Copper-nickel would not be used again in coinage until the 19th century.

The presence of Chinese people in the Indian subcontinent from ancient times is also suggested by the accounts of the "Ciñas" in the Mahabharata and the Manu Smriti.

The Han dynasty explorer and ambassador Zhang Qian visited Bactria in 126 BC, and reported the presence of Chinese products in the Bactrian markets:

"When I was in Bactria (Daxia)", Zhang Qian reported, "I saw bamboo canes from Qiong and cloth made in the province of Shu (territories of southwestern China). When I asked the people how they had gotten such articles, they replied, "Our merchants go buy them in the markets of Shendu (India)."

— (Shiji 123, Sima Qian, trans. Burton Watson)

Upon his return, Zhang Qian informed the Chinese emperor Han Wudi of the level of sophistication of the urban civilizations of Ferghana, Bactria and Parthia, who became interested in developing commercial relationships with them:

The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan) and the possessions of Bactria (Daxia) and Parthia (Anxi) are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, and placing great value on the rich produce of China

— (Hanshu, Former Han History)

A number of Chinese envoys were then sent to Central Asia, triggering the development of the Silk Road from the end of the 2nd century BC.^[72]

Greco-Bactria and the city of Ai-Khanoum were located at the very doorstep of Mauryan India.

The Khalsi rock edict of Ashoka, which mentions the Greek kings Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas and Alexander by name, as recipients of his teachings.

The Indian emperor Chandragupta, founder of the Mauryan dynasty, had re-conquered northwestern India upon the death of Alexander the Great around 322 BC. However, contacts were kept with his Greek neighbours in the Seleucid Empire, a dynastic alliance or the recognition of intermarriage between Greeks and Indians were established (described as an agreement on Epigamia in Ancient sources), and several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes, resided at the Mauryan court. Subsequently, each Mauryan emperor had a Greek ambassador at his court.

Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka converted to the Buddhist faith and became a great proselytizer in the line of the traditional Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, directing his efforts towards the Indian and the Hellenistic worlds from around 250 BC. According to the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands in Asia and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the Hellenistic world at the time.

The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (4,000 miles) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni.

— (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika)

Some of the Greek populations that had remained in northwestern India apparently converted to Buddhism:

Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma.

— (Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika)

Furthermore, according to Pali sources, some of Ashoka's emissaries were Greek Buddhist monks, indicating close religious exchanges between the two cultures:

When the thera (elder) Moggaliputta, the illuminator of the religion of the Conqueror (Ashoka), had brought the (third) council to an end… he sent forth theras, one here and one there: …and to Aparantaka (the "Western countries" corresponding to Gujarat and Sindh) he sent the Greek (Yona) named Dhammarakkhita... and the thera Maharakkhita he sent into the country of the Yona.

— (Mahavamsa XII)

Greco-Bactrians probably received these Buddhist emissaries (At least Maharakkhita, lit. "The Great Saved One", who was "sent to the country of the Yona") and somehow tolerated the Buddhist faith, although little proof remains. In the 2nd century AD, the Christian dogmatist Clement of Alexandria recognized the existence of Buddhist Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Bactrians" meaning "Oriental Greeks" in that period), and even their influence on Greek thought:

Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians;^[73] and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραφμαναι").

— Clement of Alexandria, "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV^[74]

Rise of the Shungas (185 BC)

Shunga horseman, Bharhut.

Main article: Shunga Empire

In India, the Maurya dynasty was overthrown around 185 BC when Pushyamitra Shunga, the commander-in-chief of Mauryan Imperial forces and a Brahmin, assassinated the last of the Mauryan emperors Brihadratha.^[75][76] Pushyamitra Shunga then ascended the throne and established the Shunga Empire, which extended its control as far west as the Punjab.

Buddhist sources, such as the Ashokavadana, mention that Pushyamitra was hostile towards Buddhists and allegedly persecuted the Buddhist faith. A large number of Buddhist monasteries (viharas) were allegedly converted to Hindu temples, in such places as Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Sarnath or Mathura. While it is established by secular sources that Hinduism and Buddhism were in competition during this time, with the Shungas preferring the former to the latter, historians such as Etienne Lamotte^[77] and Romila Thapar^[78] argue that Buddhist accounts of persecution of Buddhists by Shungas are largely exaggerated. Some Puranic sources however also describe the resurgence of Brahmanism following the Maurya dynasty, and the killing of millions of Buddhists, such as the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana:^[79]

"At this time [after the rule of Chandragupta, Bindusara and Ashoka] the best of the brahmanas, Kanyakubja, performed sacrifice on the top of a mountain named Arbuda. By the influence of Vedic mantras, four Kshatriyas appeared from the yajna (sacrifice). (...) They kept Ashoka under their control and annihilated all the Buddhists. It is said there were 4 million Buddhists and all of them were killed by uncommon weapons".

— Pratisarga Parva^[80][79]

History

Main article: History of the Indo-Greek Kingdom

Sources

Apollodotus I (180–160 BC), the first king who ruled in the subcontinent only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom.^[81]

Main article: Indo-Greeks (sources)

Some narrative history has survived for most of the Hellenistic world, at least of the kings and the wars;^[82] this is lacking for India. The main Greco-Roman source on the Indo-Greeks is Justin, who wrote an anthology drawn from the Roman historian Pompeius Trogus, who in turn wrote, from Greek sources, at the time of Augustus Caesar.^[83] In addition to these dozen sentences, the geographer Strabo mentions India a few times in the course of his long dispute with Eratosthenes about the shape of Eurasia. Most of these are purely geographical claims, but he does mention that Eratosthenes' sources say that some of the Greek kings conquered further than Alexander; Strabo does not believe them on this, nor does he believe that Menander and Demetrius son of Euthydemus conquered more tribes than Alexander^[84] There is half a story about Menander in one of the books of Polybius which has not come down to us intact.^[85]

There are Indian literary sources, ranging from the Milinda Panha, a dialogue between a Buddhist sage Nagasena and Indianized names that may be related to Indo-Greek kings such as Menander I. Names in these sources are consistently Indianized, and there is some dispute whether, for example, Dharmamitra represents "Demetrius" or is an Indian prince with that name. There was also a Chinese expedition to Bactria by Chang-k'ien under the Emperor Wu of Han, recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian and Book of the Former Han, with additional evidence in the Book of the Later Han; the identification of places and peoples behind transcriptions into Chinese is difficult, and several alternate interpretations have been proposed.^{[86][full citation needed]}

Other evidence of the broader and longer influence of Indo-Greeks is possibly suggested by Yavanarajya inscription, dated to the 1st-century BC. It mentions Yavanas, a term which is derived from "Ionians", and which at that time most likely means "Indo-Greeks".^[87]

Expansion of Demetrius into India

Silver coin depicting Demetrius I of Bactria (reigned c. 200–180 BC), wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests of areas in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[88]

Demetrius I, the son of Euthydemus is generally considered the Greco-Bactrian king who first launched the Greek expansion into India. He is therefore the founder of the Indo-Greek realm. The true intents of the Greek kings in occupying India are unknown, but it is thought that the elimination of the Maurya Empire by the Sunga greatly encouraged this expansion. The Indo-Greeks, in particular Menander I who is said in the Milindapanha to have converted to Buddhism, also possibly received the help of Indian Buddhists.^[89]

There is an inscription from his father's reign already officially hailing Demetrius as victorious. He also has one of the few absolute dates in Indo-Greek history: after his father held off Antiochus III for two years, 208–6 BC, the peace treaty included the offer of a marriage between Demetrius and Antiochus' daughter.^[90] Coins of Demetrius I have been found in Arachosia and in the Kabul Valley; the latter would be the first entry of the Greeks into India, as they defined it. There is also literary evidence for a campaign eastward against the Seres and the Phryni; but the order and dating of these conquests is uncertain.^[91]

Demetrius I seems to have conquered the Kabul valley, Arachosia and perhaps Gandhara;^[92] he struck no Indian coins, so either his conquests did not penetrate that far into India or he died before he could consolidate them. On his coins, Demetrius I always carries the elephant-helmet worn by Alexander, which seems to be a token of his Indian conquests.^[93] Bopearachchi believes that Demetrius received the title of "King of India" following his victories south of the Hindu Kush.^[94] He was also given, though perhaps only posthumously, the title Ἀνίκητος ("Aniketos", lit. Invincible) a cult title of Heracles, which Alexander had assumed; the later Indo-Greek kings Lysias, Philoxenus, and Artemidorus also took it.^[95] Finally, Demetrius may have been the founder of a newly discovered Yavana era, starting in 186/5 BC.^[96]

First bilingual and multi-religion monetary system

See also: Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara

The coinage of Agathocles (circa 180 BC) incorporated the Brahmi script and several deities from India, which have been variously interpreted as Vishnu, Shiva, Vasudeva, Balarama or the Buddha.^[97]

After the death of Demetrius, the Bactrian kings Pantaleon and Agathocles struck the first bilingual coins with Indian inscriptions found as far east as Taxila^[98] so in their time (c. 185–170 BC) the Bactrian kingdom seems to have included Gandhara.^[99] These first bilingual coins used the Brahmi script, whereas later kings would generally use Kharoshthi. They also went as far as incorporating Indian deities, variously interpreted as Hindu deities or the Buddha.^[97] They also included various Indian devices (lion, elephant, zebu bull) and symbols, some of them Buddhist such as the tree-in-railing.^[100] These symbols can also be seen in the Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara.

Kharoshthi legend on the reverse of a coin of Indo-Greek king Artemidoros Aniketos.

The Hinduist coinage of Agathocles is few but spectacular. Six Indian-standard silver drachmas were discovered at Ai-Khanoum in 1970, which depict Hindu deities.^[101] These are early Avatars of Vishnu: Balarama-Sankarshana with attributes consisting of the Gada mace and the plow, and Vasudeva-Krishna with the Vishnu attributes of the Shankha (a pear-shaped case or conch) and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel.^[101] These first attempts at incorporating Indian culture were only partly preserved by later kings: they all continued to struck bilingual coins, sometimes in addition to Attic coinage, but Greek deities remained prevalent. Indian animals however, such as the elephant, the bull or the lion, possibly with religious overtones, were used extensively in their Indian-standard square coinage. Buddhist wheels (Dharmachakras) still appear in the coinage of Menander I and Menander II.^[102][103]

Several Bactrian kings followed after Demetrius' death, and it seems likely that the civil wars between them made it possible for Apollodotus I (from c. 180/175 BC) to make himself independent as the first proper Indo-Greek king (who did not rule from Bactria). Large numbers of his coins have been found in India, and he seems to have reigned in Gandhara as well as western Punjab. Apollodotus I was succeeded by or ruled alongside Antimachus II, likely the son of the Bactrian king Antimachus I.^[104]

Rule of Menander I

Menander I (155–130 BC) is one of the few Indo-Greek kings mentioned in both Graeco-Roman and Indian sources.

The next important Indo-Greek king was Menander I who is considered to have been the most successful of the Indo-Greek kings, and who expanded the kingdom to its greatest extent by means of his various conquests.^[105][106] The finds of his coins are the most numerous and occur across the greatest geographical area, more than any of the other Indo-Greek kings. Coins stamped with Menander's likeness can be found as far away as Eastern Punjab over 600 miles distant. Menander seems to have begun a second wave of conquests, and it seems likely that the easternmost conquests were made by him.^[107]

Thus from 165 BCE until his death in 130 BCE, Menander I ruled Punjab with Sagala as his capital.^[108][109] Menander subsequently made an expedition across northern India to Mathura, where the Yavnarajya inscription was recorded. However, it is not known if this was a contiguous empire, or ruled through key city centers or polis. Soon after, Eucratides I king of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom began warring with the Indo-Greeks in the north western frontier.

According to Apollodorus of Artemita, quoted by Strabo, the Indo-Greek territory for a while included the Indian coastal provinces of Sindh and possibly Gujarat.^[110] With archaeological methods, the Indo-Greek territory can however only be confirmed from the Kabul Valley to the eastern Punjab, so Greek presence outside was probably short-lived or non-existent.

The Shinkot casket containing Buddhist relics was dedicated "in the reign of the Great King Menander".^[111]

Indian-standard coinage of Menander I with wheel design. Obv ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ "Of Saviour King Menander" around wheel. Rev Palm of victory, Kharoshthi legend Māhārajasa trātadasa Menandrāsa, British Museum.^[112]

Some sources also claim that the Indo-Greeks may have reached the Shunga capital Pataliputra in northern India.^[113] However, the nature of this expedition is a matter of controversy. The only recorded primary account regarding this campaign was written in the Yuga Purana, however this text was written as a forthcoming prophecy of an impending conflict. It is not known if the expedition was carried out, or if the Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) were successful in this campaign.

"After having conquered Saketa, the country of the Panchala and the Mathuras, the Yavanas, wicked and valiant, will reach Kusumadhvaja ("The town of the flower-standard", Pataliputra). The thick mud-fortifications at Pataliputra being reached, all the provinces will be in disorder, without doubt. Ultimately, a great battle will follow, with tree-like engines (siege engines)."

— Yuga Purana (Gargi-Samhita, Paragraph 5)

However the claim that the Yavanas held Pataliputra is not supported by numismatic or historical accounts, and is even contradicted by some inscriptions. King Kharavela of Kalinga, during his forth year reigning, was recorded in the Hathigumpha inscription to have routed a demoralized Indo-Greek army back to Mathura. It is not known which Indo-Greek was leading the army at the time, however it is presumed to be Menander I or perhaps even a later ruler.^[114] Then during his twelfth year in power, Kharavela is recorded to have battled the Shunga Empire and defeated the emperor Brhaspatimitra, known as Pushyamitra Shunga.^[115] Kharavela is then stated to have sacked the capital Pataliputra, and reclaimed the Jain idols and treasures that had been plundered from Kalinga and taken to Pataliputra. Based on the chronology and date during 1st century BC, it is postulated that Menander was the one leading the Indo-Greeks during Kharavela's reign.

"Then in the eighth year, (Kharavela) with a large army having sacked Goradhagiri causes pressure on Rajagaha (Rajagriha). On account of the loud report of this act of valour, the Yavana (Greek) King Dimi[ta] retreated to Mathura having extricated his demoralized army."

—  Hathigumpha inscription (lines 7-8)

The important Bactrian king Eucratides seems to have attacked the Indo-Greek kingdom during the mid 2nd century BC. A Demetrius, called "King of the Indians", seems to have confronted Eucratides in a four-month siege, reported by Justin, but he ultimately lost.^[c]

It is uncertain who this Demetrius was, and when the siege happened. Some scholars believe that it was Demetrius I."(Demetrius I) was probably the Demetrius who besieged Eucratides for four months", D.W. Mac Dowall, pp. 201–202, Afghanistan, ancien carrefour entre l'est et l'ouest. This analysis goes against Bopearachchi, who has suggested that Demetrius I died long before Eucratides came to power.</ref> In any case, Eucratides seems to have occupied territory as far as the Indus, between ca. 170 BC and 150 BC.^[116] His advances were ultimately reclaimed by the Indo-Greek king Menander I,^[117]

Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature, where he is called Milinda. He is described in the Milinda Panha as a convert to Buddhism and that he became an arhat^[118] whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of a Buddha.^[119][120] He also introduced a new coin type, with Athena Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") on the reverse, which was adopted by most of his successors in the East.^[121]

Following the death of Menander his empire was greatly reduced due to the emergence of new kingdoms and republics within India.^[21] The most eminent entities to reform were the Yaudheya and the Arjunayanas, which were military confederations that had been annexed by the Maurya Empire. These republics began to mint new coins mentioning military victories, that were reminiscent of Indo-Greek type coins. Along with numismatic evidence, the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman details the conquests of the Saka King Rudradaman I of the Western Satraps over the Yaudheya Republic, reaffirming their independence.^[122]

From the mid-2nd century BC, the Scythians, in turn being pushed forward by the Yuezhi who were completing a long migration from the border of China, started to invade Bactria from the north.^[123] Around 130 BC the last Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles was probably killed during the invasion and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom proper ceased to exist. The Parthians also probably played a role in the downfall of the Bactrian kingdom, and supplanted the Scythians.

There are however no historical recordings of events in the Indo-Greek kingdom after Menander's death around 130 BC, since the Indo-Greeks had now become very isolated from the rest of the Graeco-Roman world. The later history of the Indo-Greek states, which lasted to around the shift BC/AD, is reconstructed almost entirely from archaeological and numismatical analyses.^[124]

Western accounts

Greek presence in Arachosia, where Greek populations had been living since before the acquisition of the territory by Chandragupta from Seleucus, is mentioned by Isidore of Charax. He describes Greek cities there, one of them called Demetrias, probably in honour of the conqueror Demetrius.^[125]

Apollodotus I (and Menander I) were mentioned by Pompeius Trogus as important Indo-Greek kings.^[126] It is theorized that Greek advances temporarily went as far as the Shunga capital Pataliputra (today Patna) in eastern India. Senior considers that these conquests can only refer to Menander:^[127] Against this, John Mitchiner considers that the Greeks probably raided the Indian capital of Pataliputra during the time of Demetrius,^[128] though Mitchiner's analysis is not based on numismatic evidence.

King Hippostratos riding a horse, circa 100 BC (coin detail).

Of the eastern parts of India, then, there have become known to us all those parts which lie this side of the Hypanis, and also any parts beyond the Hypanis of which an account has been added by those who, after Alexander, advanced beyond the Hypanis, to the Ganges and Pataliputra.

— Strabo, 15-1-27^[129][130]

The seriousness of the attack is in some doubt: Menander may merely have joined a raid led by Indian Kings down the Ganges,^[131] as Indo-Greek presence has not been confirmed this far east.

To the south, the Greeks may have occupied the areas of the Sindh and Gujarat, including the strategic harbour of Barygaza (Bharuch),^[132] conquests also attested by coins dating from the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I and by several ancient writers (Strabo 11; Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Chap. 41/47):^[133]

The Greeks... took possession, not only of Patalene, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis.

— Strabo 11.11.1^[134]

The Periplus further explains ancient Indo-Greek rule and continued circulation of Indo-Greek coinage in the region:

"To the present day ancient drachmae are current in Barygaza, coming from this country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and the devices of those who reigned after Alexander, Apollodorus [sic] and Menander."

— Periplus Chap. 47^[135]

Narain however dismisses the account of the Periplus as "just a sailor's story", and holds that coin finds are not necessarily indicators of occupation.^[136] Coin hoards further suggest that in Central India, the area of Malwa may also have been conquered.^[137]

Rule in Mathura

The Yavanarajya inscription discovered in Mathura, mentions its carving on "The last day of year 116 of Yavana hegemony" (Yavanarajya), or 116th year if the Yavana era, suggesting the Greeks ruled over Mathura as late as 60 BC.^[138] Mathura Museum.

From numismatic, literary and epigraphic evidence, it seems that the Indo-Greeks also had control over Mathura during the period between 185 BCE and 85 BCE, and especially during the rule of Menander I (165–135 BC).^[139] Ptolemy mentioned that Menander's ruler extended to Mathura (Μόδυρα).^[139]

Slightly northwest of Mathura, numerous Indo-Greek coins were found in the city of Khokrakot (modern Rohtak), belonging to as many as 14 different Indo-Greek kings, as well as coin molds in Naurangabad,^[140] suggesting Indo-Greek occupation of Haryana in the 2nd-1st centuries BC.^[141][142]

The Mathura Herakles. A statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion from Mathura.^[143] Today in the Kolkota Indian Museum.

An inscription in Mathura discovered in 1988,^[144] the Yavanarajya inscription, mentions "The last day of year 116 of Yavana hegemony (Yavanarajya)". The "Yavanarajya" probably refers to the rule of the Indo-Greeks in Mathura as late as around 70–60 BC (year 116 of the Yavana era).^[138] The extent of Indo-Greek rule in Mathura has been disputed, but it is also known that no remains of Sunga rule have been found in Mathura,^[138] and their territorial control is only proved as far as the central city of Ayodhya in northern central India, through the Dhanadeva-Ayodhya inscription.^[145] Archeological excavations of cast die-struck coins have also revealed the presence of a Mitra dynasty (coin issuers who did not name themselves "kings" on their coins) in Mathura sometime between 150 BC to 20 BC.^[138] Additionally, coins belonging to a Datta dynasty have also been excavated in Mathura. Whether these dynasties ruled independently or as satraps to larger kingdoms is unknown.

Figurines of foreigners in Mathura

Figurines of foreigners in Mathura

Helmeted head of a soldier, "probably Indo-Greek", 1st century BCE, Mathura Museum.^[146]

"Persian Nobleman clad in coat dupatta trouser and turban", Mathura, c. 2nd century BCE. Mathura Museum.^[147]

See also: Mathura art

Several figures of foreigners appear in the terracottas of Mathura art from the 4th to the 2nd century BCE, which are either described simply as "foreigners" or Persian or Iranian because of their foreign features.^{[147][148][149]} These figurines might reflect the increased contacts of Indians with foreigners during this period.^[148] Several of these seem to represent foreign soldiers who visited India during the Mauryan period and influenced modellers in Mathura with their peculiar ethnic features and uniforms.^[150] A helmeted head of a soldier, probably Indo-Greek, is also known, and dated to the 1st century BCE, now in the Mathura Museum.^[146] One of the terracotta statuettes, usually nicknamed the "Persian nobleman" and dated to the 2nd century BCE, can be seen wearing a coat, scarf, trousers and a turban.^{[151][152][153][147]}

Mathura may then have been conquered by the Mitra dynasty, or ruled independently by the Datta dynasty during the 1st century BC.^[154] In any case Mathura was under the control of the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps from the 1st century of the Christian era.

Indian sources

The term Yavana is thought to be a transliteration of "Ionians" and is known to have designated Hellenistic Greeks (starting with the Edicts of Ashoka, where Ashoka writes about "the Yavana king Antiochus"),^[155] but may have sometimes referred to other foreigners as well after the 1st century AD.^[156]

Patanjali, a grammarian and commentator on Pāṇini, around 150 BC, describes in the Mahābhāsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense Sanskrit, denoting a recent or ongoing events:^[157][158]

• "Arunad Yavanah Sāketam" ("The Yavanas (Greeks) were besieging Saketa")
• "Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām" ("The Yavanas were besieging Madhyamika" (the "Middle country")).

Possible statue of a Yavana/ Indo-Greek warrior with boots and chiton, from the Rani Gumpha or "Cave of the Queen" in the Udayagiri Caves on the east coast of India, where the Hathigumpha inscription was also found. 2nd or 1st century BC.^[159]

The Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana describes events in the form of a prophecy, which may have been historical,^{[160][161][162]} relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra,^[163] a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes,^[164] and describes the ultimate destruction of the city's walls:^[165]

Then, after having approached Saketa together with the Panchalas and the Mathuras, the Yavanas, valiant in battle, will reach Kusumadhvaja ("The town of the flower-standard", Pataliputra). Then, once Puspapura (another name of Pataliputra) has been reached and its celebrated mud-walls cast down, all the realm will be in disorder.

— Yuga Purana, Paragraph 47–48, quoted in Mitchiner, The Yuga Purana, 2002 edition^[166][130]

Accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Shunga in Central India are also found in the Mālavikāgnimitram, a play by Kālidāsa which is thought to describe an encounter between a Greek cavalry squadron and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, during the latter's reign, by the Sindh River or the Kali Sindh River.^[167]

According to the Yuga Purana, the Yavanas thereafter will retreat following internal conflicts:

"The Yavanas (Greeks) will command, the Kings will disappear. (But ultimately) the Yavanas, intoxicated with fighting, will not stay in Madhadesa (the Middle Country); there will be undoubtedly a civil war among them, arising in their own country (Bactria), there will be a terrible and ferocious war." (Gargi-Samhita, Yuga Purana chapter, No7).^[166]

According to Mitchiner, the Hathigumpha inscription indicates the presence of the Indo-Greeks led by a ruler listed as "ta" from Mathura during the 1st century BCE.^[168] Although, the name of the king has been omitted and undeciphered. The remaining syllables [ta] has been disputed. It has been argued by Tarn to be referencing the ruler Demetrius. However this interpretation is disputed by other historians like Narain, which point out the discrepancies in chronology and the fact Demetrius didn't venture past Punjab.^[169] Instead most historians now theorize it to be the Indo-Greek ruler Menander I, or perhaps a later Yavana king from Mathura.

"Then in the eighth year, (Kharavela) with a large army having sacked Goradhagiri causes pressure on Rajagaha (Rajagriha). On account of the loud report of this act of valour, the Yavana (Greek) King Dimi[ta] retreated to Mathura having extricated his demoralized army."

— Hathigumpha inscription, line 8, probably in the 1st century BC. Original text is in Brahmi script.^[170]

But while this inscription may be interpreted as an indication that Demetrius I was the king who made conquests in Punjab, it is still true that he never issued any Indian-standard coins, only numerous coins with elephant symbolism, and the restoration of his name in Kharosthi on the Hathigumpha inscription: Di-Mi-Ta, has been doubted.^[171] The "Di" is a reconstruction, and it may be noted that the name of another Indo-Greek king, Amyntas, is spelt A-Mi-Ta in Kharosthi and may fit in.

Therefore, Menander remains the likeliest candidate for any advance east of Punjab.

Additional corroboration for mentions of Indo-Greek expeditions into the Gangetic Plains may be furnished by the Yavanarajya inscription discovered in Mathura, and discoveries of Menander's coins in western Uttar Pradesh^[172] including the Pachkhura hoard of coins unearthed near the Yamuna River in Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh,^[173][174] and the unearthing of a clay pot filled with coins of preceding kings (Diodotus I, Diodotus II, and Euthydemus I) in Vaishali district, Bihar.^[175]

Consolidation

Menander I became the most important of the Indo-Greek rulers.^[176]

Eucratides I toppled the Greco-Bactrian Euthydemid dynasty, and attacked the Indo-Greeks from the west.

Menander is considered to have been probably the most successful Indo-Greek king, and the conqueror of the largest territory.^[105] The finds of his coins are the most numerous and the most widespread of all the Indo-Greek kings. Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature, where he is called Milinda, and is described in the Milinda Panha as a convert to Buddhism:^[177] he became an arhat^[118] whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha.^[119][120] He also introduced a new coin type, with Athena Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") on the reverse, which was adopted by most of his successors in the East.^[121]

Fall of Bactria and death of Menander

Heliocles (145–130 BC) was the last Greek king in Bactria.

From the mid-2nd century BC, the Scythians, in turn being pushed forward by the Yuezhi who were completing a long migration from the border of China, started to invade Bactria from the north.^[123] Around 130 BC the last Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles was probably killed during the invasion and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom proper ceased to exist. The Parthians also probably played a role in the downfall of the Bactrian kingdom.

Immediately after the fall of Bactria, the bronze coins of Indo-Greek king Zoilos I (130–120 BC), successor of Menander in the western part of the Indian territories, combined the club of Herakles with a Scythian-type bowcase and short recurve bow inside a victory wreath, illustrating interaction with horse-mounted people originating from the steppes, possibly either the Scythians (future Indo-Scythians), or the Yuezhi (future Kushans) who had invaded Greco-Bactria.^[178] This bow can be contrasted to the traditional Hellenistic long bow depicted on the coins of the eastern Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia. It is now known that 50 years later, the Indo-Scythian Maues was in alliance with the Indo-Greek kings in Taxila, and one of those kings, Artemidoros seems to claim on his coins that he is the son of Maues,^[179] although this is now disputed.^[19]

Preservation of the Indo-Greek realm

The extent of Indo-Greek rule is still uncertain and disputed. Probable members of the dynasty of Menander include the ruling queen Agathokleia, her son Strato I, and Nicias, though it is uncertain whether they ruled directly after Menander.^[180]

Coin of Antialcidas (105–95 BC).

Coin of Philoxenos (100–95 BC).

Other kings emerged, usually in the western part of the Indo-Greek realm, such as Zoilos I, Lysias, Antialcidas and Philoxenos.^[181] These rulers may have been relatives of either the Eucratid or the Euthydemid dynasties. The names of later kings were often new (members of Hellenistic dynasties usually inherited family names) but old reverses and titles were frequently repeated by the later rulers.

Coin of Zoilos I (130–120 BC) showing on the reverse the Heraklean club with the Scythian bow, inside a victory wreath.

Immediately after the fall of Bactria, the bronze coins of Indo-Greek king Zoilos I (130–120 BC), successor of Menander in the western part of the Indian territories, combined the club of Herakles with a Scythian-type bowcase and short recurve bow inside a victory wreath, illustrating interaction with horse-mounted people originating from the steppes, possibly either the Scythians (future Indo-Scythians), or the Yuezhi (future Kushans) who had invaded Greco-Bactria.^[178] This bow can be contrasted to the traditional Hellenistic long bow depicted on the coins of the eastern Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia. It is now known that 50 years later, the Indo-Scythian Maues was in alliance with the Indo-Greek kings in Taxila, and one of those kings, Artemidoros seems to claim on his coins that he is the son of Maues,^[179] although this is now disputed.^[19]

While all Indo-Greek kings after Apollodotus I mainly issued bilingual (Greek and Kharoshti) coins for circulation in their own territories, several of them also struck rare Greek coins which have been found in Bactria. The later kings probably struck these coins as some kind of payment to the Scythian or Yuezhi tribes who now ruled there, though if as tribute or payment for mercenaries remains unknown.^[182] For some decades after the Bactrian invasion, relationships seem to have been peaceful between the Indo-Greeks and these relatively hellenised nomad tribes.

Interactions with Indian culture and religions

Indo-Greeks in the regions of Vidisha and Sanchi (115 BC)

See also: Heliodorus pillar, Sanchi, and Sanchi Stupa No.2

The Heliodorus pillar, commissioned by Indo-Greek ambassador Heliodorus, is the first known inscription related to Vaishnavism in India.^[183] Heliodurus was one of the earliest recorded Indo-Greek converts to Hinduism.^[184]

Heliodorus travelled from Taxila to Vidisha as an ambassador of king Antialkidas, and erected the Heliodorus pillar.

Vidisha

It is around this time, in 115 BC, that the embassy of Heliodorus, from king Antialkidas to the court of the Sungas king Bhagabhadra in Vidisha, is recorded. In the Sunga capital, Heliodorus established the Heliodorus pillar in a dedication to Vāsudeva. This would indicate that relations between the Indo-Greeks and the Sungas had improved by that time, that people traveled between the two realms, and also that the Indo-Greeks readily followed Indian religions.^[185]

Sanchi

Also around the same period, circa 115 BC, decorative reliefs were introduced for the first time at nearby Sanchi, 6 km away from Vidisha, by craftsmen from the northwest.^[186] These craftsmen left mason's marks in Kharoshthi, mainly used in the area around Gandhara, as opposed to the local Brahmi script.^[186] This seems to imply that these foreign workers were responsible for some of the earliest motifs and figures that can be found on the railings of the stupa.^[186] These early reliefs at Sanchi, (those of Sanchi Stupa No.2), are dated to 115 BC, while the more extensive pillar carvings are dated to 80 BC.^[187] These reliefs have been described as "the oldest extensive stupa decoration in existence".^[188] They are considered the origin of Jataka illustrations in India.^[189]

Early reliefs at Sanchi, Stupa No.2 (circa 115 BC)
Sanchi, Stupa No 2 Mason's marks in Kharoshti point to craftsmen from the north-west (region of Gandhara) for the earliest reliefs at Sanchi, circa 115 BC.[186][187][190]	Foreigner on a horse. The medallions are dated circa 115 BC.[187] Lakshmi with lotus and two child attendants, probably derived from similar images of Venus[191] Griffin. Female riding a Centaur. Lotus within Hellenistic beads and reels motif. Floral motif.

Indo-Greeks and Bharhut (100-75 BC)

See also: Bharhut and Bharhut Yavana

The Bharhut Yavana, a possible Indian depiction of Menander, with the flowing head band of a Greek king, northern tunic with Hellenistic pleats, and Buddhist triratana symbol on his sword. Bharhut, 100 BC. Indian Museum, Calcutta.^{[192][193][194]}

At Bharhut, the gateways were made by northwestern (probably Gandharan) masons using Kharosthi marks^[195][196] 100-75 BC.

A warrior figure, the Bharhut Yavana, appeared prominently on a high relief on the railings of the stupa of Bharhut circa 100 BC.^[197][198] The warrior has the flowing head band of a Greek king, a northern tunic with Hellenistic pleats, he hold a grape in his hand, and has a Buddhist triratana symbol on his sword.^[197] He has the role of a dvarapala, a Guardian of the entrance of the Stupa. The warrior has been described as a Greek,^[197] Some have suggested that he might even represent king Menander.^{[192][193][194]}

Also around that time, craftsmen from the Gandhara area are known to have been involved in the construction of the Buddhist torana gateways at Bharhut, which are dated to 100–75 BC:^[199] this is because mason's marks in Kharosthi have been found on several elements of the Bharhut remains, indicating that some of the builders at least came from the north, particularly from Gandhara where the Kharoshti script was in use.^{[195][200][201]}

Cunningham explained that the Kharosthi letters were found on the balusters between the architraves of the gateway, but none on the railings which all had Indian markings, summarizing that the gateways, which are artistically more refined, must have been made by artists from the North, whereas the railings were made by local artists.^[196]

Sanchi Yavanas (50–1 BC)

Foreigners on the Northern Gateway of Stupa I at Sanchi.

Again in Sanchi, but this time dating to the period of Satavahana rule circa 50–1 BC, one frieze can be observed which shows devotees in Greek attire making a dedication to the Great Stupa of Sanchi.^[202][203] The official notice at Sanchi describes "Foreigners worshiping Stupa". The men are depicted with short curly hair, often held together with a headband of the type commonly seen on Greek coins. The clothing too is Greek, complete with tunics, cloaks, and sandals, typical of the Greek travelling costume.^[204] The musical instruments are also quite characteristic, such as the double flute called aulos. Also visible are carnyx-like horns.^[205] They are all celebrating at the entrance of the stupa.

The actual participation of Yavanas/Yonas (Greek donors)^[206] to the construction of Sanchi is known from three inscriptions made by self-declared Yavana donors:

• The clearest of these reads "Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam" ("Gift of the Yona of Setapatha"),^[207][208] Setapatha being an uncertain city, possibly a location near Nasik,^[209] a place where other dedications by Yavanas are known, in cave No.17 of the Nasik Caves complex, and on the pillars of the Karla Caves not far away.
• A second similar inscription on a pillar reads: "[Sv]etapathasa (Yona?)sa danam", with probably the same meaning, ("Gift of the Yona of Setapatha").^[209][210]
• The third inscription, on two adjacent pavement slabs reads "Cuda yo[vana]kasa bo silayo" ("Two slabs of Cuda, the Yonaka").^[211][209]

Decline

-100

INDO-
GREEKS

SAKAS

Sargat

Shule

SABEANS

MEROË

AKSUM

KUCHA

Tesinsky

WUSUN

Khotan

LOULAN

Ordos
culture

JIN

DONGHU

YUEZHI

KANGJU

Dinglings

Sarmatians

SELEU-
CIDS

PTOLE-
MIES

PARTHIAN
EMPIRE

SUNGAS

SATAVA-
HANAS

HAN
DYNASTY

XIONGNU

Main polities in Asia, circa -100.^{[212][213][214][215]}

King Philoxenus (100–95 BC) briefly occupied the whole Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab, after that the territories fragmented again between smaller Indo-Greek kings. Throughout the 1st century BC, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground to the Indians in the east, and the Scythians, the Yuezhi, and the Parthians in the West. About 20 Indo-Greek kings are known during this period,^[216] down to the last known Indo-Greek rulers, Strato II and Strato III, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 10 AD.^[217]

Loss of Hindu Kush territories (70 BC–)

Main article: Yuezhi

Hermaeus (90–70 BC) was the last Indo-Greek king in the Western territories (Paropamisadae).

Hermaeus posthumous issue struck by Indo-Scythians near Kabul, circa 80–75 BC.

Around eight "western" Indo-Greek kings are known; most of them are distinguished by their issues of Attic coins for circulation in the neighbouring region.

One of the last important kings in the Paropamisadae (part of the Hindu Kush) was Hermaeus, who ruled until around 80 BC; soon after his death the Yuezhi or Sakas took over his areas from neighbouring Bactria. When Hermaeus is depicted on his coins riding a horse, he is equipped with the recurve bow and bow-case of the steppes and RC Senior believes him to be of partly nomad origin. The later king Hippostratus may however also have held territories in the Paropamisadae.

After the death of Hermaeus, the Yuezhi or Saka nomads became the new rulers of the Paropamisadae, and minted vast quantities of posthumous issues of Hermaeus up to around 40 AD, when they blend with the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises.^[218] The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapadbizes, ruled around 20 BC, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and chelators.

Loss of Central territories (48/47 BC)

Main article: Indo-Scythians

Tetradrachm of Hippostratos, reigned circa 65–55 BC, was the last Indo-Greek king in Western Punjab.

Hippostratos was replaced by the Indo-Scythian king Azes I (r. c. 35–12 BC).

Around 80 BC, an Indo-Scythian king named Maues, possibly a general in the service of the Indo-Greeks, ruled for a few years in northwestern India before the Indo-Greeks again took control. He seems to have been married to an Indo-Greek princess named Machene.^[219] King Hippostratus (65–55 BC) seems to have been one of the most successful subsequent Indo-Greek kings until he lost to the Indo-Scythian Azes I, who established an Indo-Scythian dynasty in 48/47 BC.^[d] Various coins seem to suggest that some sort of alliance may have taken place between the Indo-Greeks and the Scythians.^[e]

Although the Indo-Scythians clearly ruled militarily and politically, they remained surprisingly respectful of Greek and Indian cultures. Their coins were minted in Greek mints, continued using proper Greek and Kharoshthi legends, and incorporated depictions of Greek deities, particularly Zeus.^[220] The Mathura lion capital inscription attests that they adopted the Buddhist faith, as do the depictions of deities forming the vitarka mudra on their coins. Greek communities, far from being exterminated, probably persisted under Indo-Scythian rule. There is a possibility that a fusion, rather than a confrontation, occurred between the Greeks and the Indo-Scythians: in a recently published coin, Artemidorus seems to present himself as "son of Maues"^[221] ( but this is now disputed),^[222] and the Buner reliefs show Indo-Greeks and Indo-Scythians reveling in a Buddhist context.

The last known mention of an Indo-Greek ruler is suggested by an inscription on a signet ring of the 1st century AD in the name of a king Theodamas, from the Bajaur area of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan. No coins of him are known, but the signet bears in kharoshthi script the inscription "Su Theodamasa", "Su" being explained as the Greek transliteration of the ubiquitous Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah", "King").^[223]

Loss of Eastern territories (10 AD)

Approximate region of East Punjab and Strato II's capital Sagala.

The last known Indo-Greek kings Strato II and Strato III, here on a joint coin (25 BC-10 AD), were the last Indo-Greek king in eastern territories of Eastern Punjab.

The Indo-Greek kingdoms lost most of their eastern territories in the 1st century BC following the death of Menander.^[224] The Arjunayanas and the Yaudheya Republic mention military victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas", "Victory of the Yaudheyas"). These entities would remain independent until being conquered by the Saka King Rudradaman I of the Western Satraps.

Rudradaman (...) who by force destroyed the Yaudheyas who were loath to submit, rendered proud as they were by having manifested their' title of' heroes among all Kshatriyas.

— Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman

They would again win independence until being conquered by Samudragupta (350-375 CE) of the Gupta Empire, and would disintegrate soon after.

During the 1st century BC, the Trigartas, Audumbaras^[225] and finally the Kunindas^[226] also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo-Greek coinage.^{[227][228][229]}

The Yavanas may have ruled as far as the area of Mathura from the time of Menander I until the middle of the 1st century BC: the Maghera inscription, from a village near Mathura, records the dedication of a well "in the one hundred and sixteenth year of the reign of the Yavanas", which corresponds to circa 70 BC.^[230] In the 1st century BC, however, they lost the area of Mathura, either to the Mitra rulers under the Shunga Empire or to the Datta dynasty.^[154]

Fleeing the Sakas in the west, the Indo-Greeks continued to rule a territory in the eastern Punjab. The kingdom of the last Indo-Greek kings Strato II and Strato III was conquered by the Northern Satrap Saka ruler Rajuvula around 10 AD.^[231]

Later contributions

Pillar of the Great Chaitya at Karla Caves, mentioning its donation by a Yavana.^[232] Below: detail of the word "Ya-va-na-sa" in old Brahmi script: , circa AD 120.

Some Greek nuclei may have continued to survive until the 2nd century AD.^[233]

Nahapana had at his court a Greek writer named Yavanesvara ("Lord of the Greeks"), who translated from Greek to Sanskrit the Yavanajataka ("Saying of the Greeks"), an astrological treatise and India's earliest Sanskrit work in horoscopy.^[234]

Buddhist caves

A large number of Buddhist caves in India, particularly in the west of the country, were artistically hewn between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. Numerous donors provided the funds for the building of these caves and left donatory inscriptions, including laity, members of the clergy, government officials. Foreigners, mostly self-declared Yavanas, represented about 8% of all inscriptions.^[235]

Karla Caves

Yavanas from the region of Nashik are mentioned as donors for six structural pillars in the Great Buddhist Chaitya of the Karla Caves built and dedicated by Western Satraps ruler Nahapana in 120 AD,^[236] although they seem to have adopted Buddhist names.^[237] In total, the Yavanas account for nearly half of the known dedicatory inscriptions on the pillars of the Great Chaitya.^[238] To this day, Nasik is known as the wine capital of India, using grapes that were probably originally imported by the Greeks.^[239]

The Buddhist symbols of the triratna and of the swastika (reversed) around the word "Ya-va-ṇa-sa" in Brahmi ( ). Shivneri Caves 1st century AD.

Shivneri Caves

Two more Buddhist inscriptions by Yavanas were found in the Shivneri Caves.^[240] One of the inscriptions mentions the donation of a tank by the Yavana named Irila, while the other mentions the gift of a refectory to the Sangha by the Yavana named Cita.^[240] On this second inscription, the Buddhist symbols of the triratna and of the swastika (reversed) are positioned on both sides of the first word "Yavana(sa)".

Pandavleni Caves

One of the Buddhist caves (Cave No.17) in the Pandavleni Caves complex near Nashik was built and dedicated by "Indragnidatta the son of the Yavana Dharmadeva, a northerner from Dattamittri", in the 2nd century AD.^{[241][242][243]} The city of "Dattamittri" is thought to be the city of Demetrias in Arachosia, mentioned by Isidore of Charax.^[241]

The "Yavana cave", Cave No.17 of Pandavleni Caves, near Nashik (2nd century AD)

The "Yavana" inscription on the back wall of the veranda, Cave No.17, Nashik. Cave No.17 has one inscription, mentioning the gift of the cave by Indragnidatta the son of the Yavana (i.e. Greek or Indo-Greek) Dharmadeva: "Success! (The gift) of Indragnidatta, son of Dhammadeva, the Yavana, a northerner from Dattamittri. By him, inspired by true religion, this cave has been caused to be excavated in mount Tiranhu, and inside the cave a Chaitya and cisterns. This cave made for the sake of his father and mother has been, in order to honor all Buddhas bestowed on the universal Samgha by monks together with his son Dhammarakhita." Inscription of Cave No.17, Nashik[241] Exterior Entrance pillars Pillar capital Interior Standing Buddha

Manmodi Caves

In the Manmodi Caves, near Junnar, an inscription by a Yavana donor appears on the façade of the main Chaitya, on the central flat surface of the lotus over the entrance: it mentions the erection of the hall-front (façade) for the Buddhist Samgha, by a Yavana donor named Chanda:^[244]

At the Manmodi Caves, the facade of the Chaitya (left) was donated by a Yavana, according to the inscription on the central flat surface of the lotus (right). Detail of the "Ya-va-na-sa" inscription in old Brahmi script: , c. AD 120.^[244]

"yavanasa camdānam gabhadā[ra]"
"The meritorious gift of the façade of the (gharba) hall by the Yavana Chanda"

— Inscription on the façade of the Manmodi Chaitya.^{[245][246][247]}

These contributions seem to have ended when the Satavahana King Gautamiputra Satakarni vanquished the Western Satrap ruler Nahapana, who had ruled over the area where these inscriptions were made, c. AD 130. This victory is known from the fact that Gautamiputra Satakarni restruck many of Nahapana's coins, and that he is claimed to have defeated a confederacy of Shakas (Western Kshatrapas), Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians), and Yavanas (Indo-Greeks), in the inscription of his mother Queen Gotami Balasiri at Cave No. 3 of the Nasik Caves:^[248][249]

...Siri-Satakani Gotamiputa (....) who crushed down the pride and conceit of the Kshatriyas; who destroyed the Sakas, Yavanas and Palhavas; who rooted out the Khakharata race; who restored the glory of the Satavahana family...

— Nasik Caves inscription of Queen Gotami Balasiri, circa AD 170, Cave No.3^[250]

Inscriptions of the 3rd century (AD 210–325) at the Nagarjunakonda Buddhist complex in southern India again mention the involvement of the Yavanas with Buddhism:^[251] an inscription in a monastery (Site No.38) describes its residents as Acaryas and Theriyas of the Vibhajyavada school, "who had gladdened the heart of the people of Kasmira, Gamdhara, Yavana, Vanavasa,^[252] and Tambapamnidipa".^[253]

Yavana era for Buddha sculptures

Statue with inscription mentioning "year 318", probably of the Yavana era, i.e. AD 143.^[254]

Several Gandhara Buddha statues with dated inscriptions, are now thought to have been dated in the Yavana era (originating c. 186 BC). One of the statues of the Buddha from Loriyan Tangai has an inscription mentioning "the year 318". The era in question is not specified, but it is now thought, following the discovery of the Bajaur reliquary inscription and a suggestion by Richard Salomon which has gained wide acceptance,^[255] that it is dated in the Yavana era beginning in 186 BC, and gives a date for the Buddha statue of c. AD 143.^[254]

Piedestal of the Hashtnagar Buddha statue, with Year 384 inscription, probably of the Yavana era, i.e. AD 209.^[256]

The inscription at the base of the statue is:

sa 1 1 1 100 10 4 4 Prothavadasa di 20 4 1 1 1 Budhagosa danamu(khe) Saghorumasa sadaviyasa

"In year 318, the day 27 of Prausthapada, gift of Buddhaghosa, the companion of Samghavarma"

— Inscription of the Buddha of Loriyan Tangai.^[254]

This would make it one of the earliest known representations of the Buddha, after the Bimaran casket (1st century AD), and at about the same time as the Buddhist coins of Kanishka.^[254]

Another statue of Buddha, the Buddha of Hashtnagar, is inscribed from the year 384, also probably in the Yavana era, which is thought to be AD 209. Only the pedestal is preserved in the British Museum, the statue itself, with folds of clothing having more relief than those of the Loriyan Tangai Buddha, having disappeared.^[254]

Ideology

Evolution of Zeus Nikephoros ("Zeus holding Nike") on Indo-Greek coinage: from the Classical motif of Nike handing the wreath of victory to Zeus himself (left, coin of Heliocles I 145–130 BC), then to a baby elephant (middle, coin of Antialcidas 115–95 BC), and then to the Wheel of the Law, symbol of Buddhism (right, coin of Menander II 90–85 BC).

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and their rule, especially that of Menander, has been remembered as benevolent. It has been suggested, although direct evidence is lacking, that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the Mauryan empire with which they may have had a long history of marital alliances,^[f] exchange of presents,^[g] demonstrations of friendship,^[h] exchange of ambassadors^[i] and religious missions.^[j] The historian Diodorus even wrote that the king of Pataliputra had "great love for the Greeks".^[262][263]

The Greek expansion into Indian territory may have been intended to protect Greek populations in India,^[264] and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Shungas.^[265] The city of Sirkap founded by Demetrius combines Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the two cultures.

The first Greek coins to be minted in India, those of Menander I and Apollodotus I bear the mention "Saviour king" (ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ), a title with high value in the Greek world which indicated an important deflective victory. For instance, Ptolemy I had been Soter (saviour) because he had helped save Rhodes from Demetrius the Besieger, and Antiochus I because he had saved Asia Minor from the Gauls. The title was also inscribed in Pali as ("Tratarasa") on the reverse of their coins. Menander and Apollodotus may indeed have been saviours to the Greek populations residing in India, and to some of the Indians as well.^[266]

Also, most of the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in Pali on the back (in the Kharosthi script, derived from Aramaic, rather than the more eastern Brahmi, which was used only once on coins of Agathocles of Bactria), a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world.^[267] From the reign of Apollodotus II, around 80 BC, Kharosthi letters started to be used as mintmarks on coins in combination with Greek monograms and mintmarks, suggesting the participation of local technicians to the minting process.^[268] Incidentally, these bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were the key in the decipherment of the Kharoshthi script by James Prinsep (1835) and Carl Ludwig Grotefend (1836).^[269][270] Kharoshthi became extinct around the 3rd century AD.

In Indian literature, the Indo-Greeks are described as Yavanas (in Sanskrit),^{[271][272][273]} or Yonas (in Pali)^[274] both thought to be transliterations of "Ionians". In the Harivamsa the "Yavana" Indo-Greeks are qualified, together with the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Paradas as Kshatriya-pungava i.e. foremost among the Warrior caste, or Kshatriyas. The Majjhima Nikaya explains that in the lands of the Yavanas and Kambojas, in contrast with the numerous Indian castes, there were only two classes of people, Aryas and Dasas (masters and slaves).

Religion

Main article: Religions of the Indo-Greeks

See also: Greco-Buddhism

The Heliodorus pillar, commissioned by Indo-Greek ambassador Heliodorus.^[275]

Menander I converted to Buddhism, as described in the Milinda Panha. After his conversion, he became noted for being a leading patron of Buddhism.^[276]

Indo-Corinthian capital representing a man wearing a Graeco-Roman-style coat with fibula, and making a blessing gesture. Butkara Stupa, National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome.

Indian-standard coinage of Menander I. Obv ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ "Of Saviour King Menander". Rev Palm of victory, Kharoshthi legend Māhārajasa trātadasa Menandrāsa, British Museum.^[277]

Evolution of the Butkara stupa, a large part of which occurred during the Indo-Greek period, through the addition of Hellenistic architectural elements.^[278]

In addition to the worship of the Classical pantheon of the Greek deities found on their coins (Zeus, Herakles, Athena, Apollo...), the Indo-Greeks were involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.^[279]

Interactions with Buddhism

Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan Empire, conquered the Greek satraps left by Alexander, which belonged to Seleucus I Nicator of the Seleucid Empire. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would then establish the largest empire in the Indian Subcontinent through an aggressive expansion. Ashoka converted to Buddhism following the destructive Kalinga War, abandoning further conquests in favor of humanitarian reforms.^[280] Ashoka erected the Edicts of Ashoka to spread Buddhism and the 'Law of Piety' throughout his dominion. In one of his edicts, Ashoka claims to have converted his Greek population along with others to Buddhism.

Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma.^[281]

The last Mauryan Emperor Brihadratha was assassinated by Pushyamitra Shunga, the former senapati or "army lord" of the Mauryan Empire and founder of the Shunga Empire. Pushyamitra is alleged to have persecuted Buddhism in favor of Hinduism, likely in attempt to further remove the legacy of the Mauryan Empire.^[282]

... Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went to the Kukkutarama (in Pataliputra). ... Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the sangharama, killed the monks there, and departed. ... After some time, he arrived in Sakala, and proclaimed that he would give a ... reward to whoever brought him the head of a Buddhist monk.^[283]

It is possible that Menander I Soter or the "Saviour king", choose Sakala as his capital due to the Buddhist presence there. Menander I, is stated to have converted to Buddhism^[284] in the Milinda Panha, which records the dialogue between Menander and the Buddhist monk Nagasena. Menander is claimed to have obtained the title of an arhat.

And afterwards, taking delight in the wisdom of the Elder, he (Menander) handed over his kingdom to his son, and abandoning the household life for the house-less state, grew great in insight, and himself attained to Arahatship!

— The Questions of King Milinda, Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids.

The wheel he represented on some of his coins was most likely Buddhist Dharmachakra,.^[285]

Another Indian text, the Stupavadana of Ksemendra, mentions in the form of a prophecy that Menander will build a stupa in Pataliputra.^[286]

Plutarch also presents Menander as an example of benevolent rule, and explains that upon his death, the honour of sharing his remains was claimed by the various cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in "monuments" (μνημεία, probably stupas), in a parallel with the historic Buddha:^[287]

But when one Menander, who had reigned graciously over the Bactrians, died afterwards in the camp, the cities indeed by common consent celebrated his funerals; but coming to a contest about his relics, they were difficultly at last brought to this agreement, that his ashes being distributed, everyone should carry away an equal share, and they should all erect monuments to him.

— Plutarch, "Political Precepts" Praec. reip. ger. 28, 6).^[288]

The Butkara stupa was "monumentalized" by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during Indo-Greek rule in the 2nd century BC.^[278] A coin of Menander I was found in the second oldest stratum (GSt 2) of the Butkara stupa suggesting a period of additional constructions during the reign of Menander.^[289] It is thought that Menander was the builder of the second oldest layer of the Butkara stupa, following its initial construction during the Mauryan Empire.^[290]

"Followers of the Dharma"

Coin of Menander II (90–85 BC). "King Menander, follower of the Dharma" in Kharoshthi script, with Zeus holding Nike, who holds a victory wreath over an Eight-spoked wheel.

Several Indo-Greek kings use the title "Dharmikasa", i.e. "Follower of the Dharma", in the Kharoshti script on the obverse of their coins. The corresponding legend in Greek is "Dikaios" ("The Just"), a rather usual attribute on Greek coins. The expression "Follower of the Dharma" would of course resonate strongly with Indian subjects, used to this expression being employed by pious kings, especially since the time of Ashoka who advocated the Dharma in his inscriptions. The seven kings using "Dharmakasa", i.e. "Follower of the Dharma", are late Indo-Greek kings, from around 150 BC, right after the reign of Menander I, and mainly associated with the area of Gandhara: Zoilos I (130–120 BC), Strato (130–110 BC), Heliokles II (95–80 BC), Theophilos (130 or 90 BC), Menander II (90–85 BC), Archebios (90–80 BC) and Peukolaos (c. 90 BC).^[291] The attribute of Dharmika was again used a century later by a known Buddhist practitioner, Indo-Scythian king Kharahostes, to extoll on his coins the virtues of his predecessor king Azes.^[292]

Blessing gestures

From the time of Agathokleia and Strato I, circa 100 BC, kings and divinities are regularly show on coins making blessing gestures,^[293] which often seem similar to the Buddhist Vitarka mudra.^[294] As centuries passed, the exact shapes taken by the hand becomes less clear. This blessing gesture was also often adopted by the Indo-Scythians.^[295]

• 
  Philoxenus (c. 100 BC), unarmed, making a blessing gesture.
• 
  Nicias making a blessing gesture.
• 
  Strato I in combat gear, making a blessing gesture, circa 100 BC.
• 
  Various blessing gestures: divinities (top), kings (bottom).

Vaishnavites

The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 113 BC in central India^{[citation needed]} in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas^[233] to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra. The pillar originally supported a statue of Garuda. In the dedication, the Indo-Greek ambassador explains he is a devotee of "Vāsudeva, the God of Gods". Historically, it is the first known inscription related to the Bhagavata cult in India.^[183]

Art

Main articles: Hellenistic influence on Indian art and Art of the Indo-Greeks

Greek Buddhist devotees, holding plantain leaves, in purely Hellenistic style, inside Corinthian columns, Buner relief, Victoria and Albert Museum.

In general, the art of the Indo-Greeks is poorly documented, and few works of art (apart from their coins and a few stone palettes) are directly attributed to them. The coinage of the Indo-Greeks however is generally considered some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity.^[296] The Hellenistic heritage (Ai-Khanoum) and artistic proficiency of the Indo-Greek world would suggest a rich sculptural tradition as well, but traditionally very few sculptural remains have been attributed to them. On the contrary, most Gandharan Hellenistic works of art are usually attributed to the direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in India in the 1st century AD, such as the nomadic Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and, in an already decadent state, the Kushans^[297] In general, Gandharan sculpture cannot be dated exactly, leaving the exact chronology open to interpretation.

Hellenistic culture in the Indian subcontinent: Greek clothes, amphoras, wine and music (Detail of Chakhil-i-Ghoundi stupa, Hadda, Gandhara, 1st century AD).

The possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently as the dating of the rule of Indo-Greek kings has been extended to the first decades of the 1st century AD, with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab.^[298] Also, Foucher, Tarn, and more recently, Boardman, Bussagli and McEvilley have taken the view that some of the most purely Hellenistic works of northwestern India and Afghanistan, may actually be wrongly attributed to later centuries, and instead belong to a period one or two centuries earlier, to the time of the Indo-Greeks in the 2nd–1st century BC:^[k]

Intaglio gems engraved in the northwest of India (2nd century BCE-2nd century CE).

This is particularly the case of some purely Hellenistic works in Hadda, Afghanistan, an area which "might indeed be the cradle of incipient Buddhist sculpture in Indo-Greek style".^[299] Referring to one of the Buddha triads in Hadda, in which the Buddha is sided by very Classical depictions of Herakles/Vajrapani and Tyche/Hariti, Boardman explains that both figures "might at first (and even second) glance, pass as, say, from Asia Minor or Syria of the first or second century BC (...) these are essentially Greek figures, executed by artists fully conversant with far more than the externals of the Classical style".^[300]

Alternatively, it has been suggested that these works of art may have been executed by itinerant Greek artists during the time of maritime contacts with the West from the 1st to the 3rd century AD.^[301]

The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, beyond the omnipresence of Greek style and stylistic elements which might be simply considered an enduring artistic tradition,^[302] offers numerous depictions of people in Greek Classical realistic style, attitudes and fashion (clothes such as the chiton and the himation, similar in form and style to the 2nd century BC Greco-Bactrian statues of Ai-Khanoum, hairstyle), holding contraptions which are characteristic of Greek culture (amphoras, "kantaros" Greek drinking cups), in situations which can range from festive (such as Bacchanalian scenes) to Buddhist-devotional.^[303][304]

Seated Buddha, Gandhara, 2nd century (Ostasiatisches Museum, Berlin)

Uncertainties in dating make it unclear whether these works of art actually depict Greeks of the period of Indo-Greek rule up to the 1st century BC, or remaining Greek communities under the rule of the Indo-Parthians or Kushans in the 1st and 2nd century AD. Benjamin Rowland thinks that the Indo-Greeks, rather than the Indo-Scythians or the Kushans, may have been the models for the Bodhisattva statues of Gandhara^[305]

Economy

Very little is known about the economy of the Indo-Greeks, although it seems to have been rather vibrant.^[306][307]

Coinage

Further information: Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara and Post-Mauryan coinage

The abundance of their coins would tend to suggest large mining operations, particularly in the mountainous area of the Hindu-Kush, and an important monetary economy. The Indo-Greek did strike bilingual coins both in the Greek "round" standard and in the Indian "square" standard,^[308] suggesting that monetary circulation extended to all parts of society. The adoption of Indo-Greek monetary conventions by neighbouring kingdoms, such as the Kunindas to the east and the Satavahanas to the south,^[309] would also suggest that Indo-Greek coins were used extensively for cross-border trade.

Tribute payments

Stone palette depicting a mythological scene, 2nd–1st century BC.

It would also seem that some of the coins emitted by the Indo-Greek kings, particularly those in the monolingual Attic standard, may have been used to pay some form of tribute to the Yuezhi tribes north of the Hindu-Kush.^[182] This is indicated by the coins finds of the Qunduz hoard in northern Afghanistan, which have yielded quantities of Indo-Greek coins in the Hellenistic standard (Greek weights, Greek language), although none of the kings represented in the hoard are known to have ruled so far north.^[310] Conversely, none of these coins have ever been found south of the Hindu-Kush.^[311]

Trade with China

Cupro-nickel coins of king Pantaleon point to a Chinese origin of the metal.^[312]

The Indo-Greek kings in Southern Asia issued the first known cupro-nickel coins, with Euthydemus II, dating from 180 to 170 BC, and his younger brothers Pantaleon and Agathocles around 170 BC. As only China was able to produce cupro-nickel at that time, and as the alloy ratios are exclusively similar, it has been suggested that the metal was the result of exchanges between China and Bactria.^[312]

An indirect testimony by the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited Bactria around 128 BC, suggests that intense trade with Southern China was going through northern India. Zhang Qian explains that he found Chinese products in the Bactrian markets, and that they were transiting through northwestern India, which he incidentally describes as a civilization similar to that of Bactria:

"When I was in Bactria", Zhang Qian reported, "I saw bamboo canes from Qiong and cloth (silk?) made in the province of Shu. When I asked the people how they had gotten such articles, they replied: "Our merchants go buy them in the markets of Shendu (northwestern India). Shendu, they told me, lies several thousand li southeast of Bactria. The people cultivate land, and live much like the people of Bactria".

— Sima Qian, "Records of the Great Historian", trans. Burton Watson, p. 236.

Recent excavations at the burial site of China's first Emperor Qin Shi Huang, dating back to the 3rd century BCE, also suggest Greek influence in the artworks found there, including in the manufacture of the famous Terracotta Army. It is also suggested that Greek artists may have come to China at that time to train local artisans in making sculptures.^[313][314]

Indian Ocean trade

See also: Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

Maritime relations across the Indian Ocean started in the 3rd century BC, and further developed during the time of the Indo-Greeks together with their territorial expansion along the western coast of India. The first contacts started when the Ptolemies constructed the Red Sea ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike, with destination the Indus delta, the Kathiawar peninsula or Muziris. Around 130 BC, Eudoxus of Cyzicus is reported (Strabo, Geog.  II.3.4)^[315] to have made a successful voyage to India and returned with a cargo of perfumes and gemstones. By the time Indo-Greek rule was ending, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India (Strabo Geog. II.5.12).^[316]

Armed forces

Athena in the art of Gandhara, displayed at the Lahore Museum, Pakistan

The coins of the Indo-Greeks provide rich clues on their uniforms and weapons. Typical Hellenistic uniforms are depicted, with helmets being either round in the Greco-Bactrian style, or the flat kausia of the Macedonians (coins of Apollodotus I).

Military technology

Their weapons were spears, swords, longbow (on the coins of Agathokleia) and arrows. Around 130 BC, the Central Asian recurve bow of the steppes with its gorytos box started to appear for the first time on the coins of Zoilos I, suggesting strong interactions (and apparently an alliance) with nomadic peoples, either the Yuezhi or the Scythians.^[317] The recurve bow becomes a standard feature of Indo-Greek horsemen by 90 BC, as seen on some of the coins of Hermaeus.

Generally, Indo-Greek kings are often represented riding horses, as early as the reign of Antimachus II around 160 BC. The equestrian tradition probably goes back to the Greco-Bactrians, who are said by Polybius to have faced a Seleucid invasion in 210 BC with 10,000 horsemen.^[318] Although war elephants are never represented on coins, a harness plate (phalera) dated to the 3rd–2nd century BC, today in the Hermitage Museum, depicts a helmetted Greek combatant on an Indian war elephant.

The Milinda Panha, in the questions of Nagasena to king Menander, provides a rare glimpse of the military methods of the period:

-(Nagasena) Has it ever happened to you, O king, that rival kings rose up against you as enemies and opponents?
-(Menander) Yes, certainly.
-Then you set to work, I suppose, to have moats dug, and ramparts thrown up, and watch towers erected, and strongholds built, and stores of food collected?
-Not at all. All that had been prepared beforehand.
-Or you had yourself trained in the management of war elephants, and in horsemanship, and in the use of the war chariot, and in archery and fencing?
-Not at all. I had learnt all that before.
-But why?
-With the object of warding off future danger.

— (Milinda Panha, Book III, Chap 7)

The Milinda Panha also describes the structure of Menander's army:

Now one day Milinda the king proceeded forth out of the city to pass in review the innumerable host of his mighty army in its fourfold array (of elephants, cavalry, bowmen, and soldiers on foot).

— (Milinda Panha, Book I)

Size of Indo-Greek armies

King Strato I in combat gear, making a blessing gesture, circa 100 BCE.

The armed forces of the Indo-Greeks engaged in battles with other Indian kingdoms. The ruler of Kalinga, King Kharavela, states in the Hathigumpha inscription that during the 8th year of his reign he led a large army in the direction of a Yavana King, and that he forced their demoralized army to retreat to Mathura.

"Then in the eighth year, (Kharavela) with a large army having sacked Goradhagiri causes pressure on Rajagaha (Rajagriha). On account of the loud report of this act of valour, the Yavana (Greek) King Dimi[ta] retreated to Mathura having extricated his demoralized army."

— Hathigumpha inscription, lines 7–8, probably in the 1st century BCE. Original text is in Brahmi script.^[170]

The name of the Yavana king is not clear, but it contains three letters, and the middle letter can be read as ma or mi.^[319] R. D. Banerji and K.P. Jayaswal read the name of the Yavana king as "Dimita", and identify him with Demetrius I of Bactria. However, according to Ramaprasad Chanda, this identification results in "chronological impossibilities".^[320] The Greek ambassador Megasthenes took special note of the military strength of Kalinga in his Indica in the middle of the 3rd century BC:

The royal city of the Calingae (Kalinga) is called Parthalis. Over their king 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward in "procinct of war."

— Megasthenes fragm. LVI. in Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8–23. 11.^[321]

An account by the Roman writer Justin gives another hint of the size of Indo-Greek armies, which, in the case of the conflict between the Greco-Bactrian Eucratides and the Indo-Greek Demetrius II, he numbers at 60,000 (although they allegedly lost to 300 Greco-Bactrians):

Eucratides led many wars with great courage, and, while weakened by them, was put under siege by Demetrius, king of the Indians. He made numerous sorties, and managed to vanquish 60,000 enemies with 300 soldiers, and thus liberated after four months, he put India under his rule

— Justin, XLI,6^[322]

The Indo-Greek armies would be conquered by Indo-Scythians, a nomadic tribe from Central Asia.

Legacy

Main article: Legacy of the Indo-Greeks

The Indo-Scythian Taxila copper plate uses the Macedonian month of "Panemos" for calendrical purposes (British Museum).^[323]

From the 1st century AD, the Greek communities of central Asia and the northwestern Indian subcontinent lived under the control of the Kushan branch of the Yuezhi, apart from a short-lived invasion of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.^[324] The Kushans founded the Kushan Empire, which was to prosper for several centuries. In the south, the Greeks were under the rule of the Western Kshatrapas. The Kalash tribe of the Chitral Valley claim to be descendants of the Indo-Greeks; although this is disputed.

Hellenistic couple from Taxila (Guimet Museum)

It is unclear how much longer the Greeks managed to maintain a distinct presence in the Indian sub-continent. The legacy of the Indo-Greeks was felt however for several centuries, from the usage of the Greek language and calendrical methods,^[325] to the influences on the numismatics of the Indian subcontinent, traceable down to the period of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century.^[326]

The Greeks may also have maintained a presence in their cities until quite late. Isidorus of Charax in his 1st century AD "Parthian stations" itinerary described an "Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia", thought to be Alexandria Arachosia, which he said was still Greek even at such a late time:

Beyond is Arachosia. And the Parthians call this White India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus. As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians.^[327]

The Indo-Greeks may also have had some influence on the religious plane as well, especially in relation to the developing Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism has been described as "the form of Buddhism which (regardless of how Hinduized its later forms became) seems to have originated in the Greco-Buddhist communities of India, through a conflation of the Greek Democritean–Sophistic–Pyrrhonist tradition with the rudimentary and unformalized empirical and skeptical elements already present in early Buddhism".^[328]

Chronology

The story of the Trojan horse was depicted in the art of Gandhara. (British Museum).

Today 36 Indo-Greek kings are known. Several of them are also recorded in Western and Indian historical sources, but the majority are known through numismatic evidence only. The exact chronology and sequencing of their rule is still a matter of scholarly inquiry, with adjustments regular being made with new analysis and coin finds (overstrikes of one king over another's coins being the most critical element in establishing chronological sequences).

There is an important evolution of coin shape (round to square) and material (from gold to silver to brass) across the territories and the periods, and from Greek type to Indian type over a period of nearly 3 centuries. Also, the quality of coinage illustration decreases down to the 1st century AD. Coinage evolution is an important point of Indo-Greek history, and actually one of the most important since most of these kings are only known by their coins, and their chronology is mainly established by the evolution of the coin types.

The system used here is adapted from Osmund Bopearachchi, supplemented by the views of R C Senior and occasionally other authorities.^[329]

Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, their coins, territories and chronology Based on Bopearachchi (1991)[330]
	Greco-Bactrian kings		Indo-Greek kings
Territories/ dates	West Bactria	East Bactria	Paropamisade	Arachosia	Gandhara	Western Punjab	Eastern Punjab	Mathura[331]
326–325 BC	Campaigns of Alexander the Great in India
312 BC	Creation of the Seleucid Empire
305 BC	Seleucid Empire after Mauryan war
280 BC	Foundation of Ai-Khanoum
255–239 BC	Independence of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom Diodotus I
239–223 BC	Diodotus II
230–200 BC	Euthydemus I
200–190 BC	Demetrius I
190–185 BC	Euthydemus II
190–180 BC	Agathocles			Pantaleon
185–170 BC	Antimachus I
180–160 BC			Apollodotus I
175–170 BC	Demetrius II
160–155 BC			Antimachus II
170–145 BC	Eucratides
155–130 BC	Yuezhi occupation, loss of Ai-Khanoum	Eucratides II Plato Heliocles I	Menander I
130–120 BC	Yuezhi occupation		Zoilos I		Agathokleia			Yavanarajya inscription
120–110 BC			Lysias		Strato I
110–100 BC			Antialcidas		Heliokles II
100 BC			Polyxenos		Demetrius III
100–95 BC			Philoxenus
95–90 BC			Diomedes	Amyntas		Epander
90 BC			Theophilos	Peukolaos		Thraso
90–85 BC			Nicias	Menander II		Artemidoros
90–70 BC			Hermaeus	Archebius
			Yuezhi occupation		Maues (Indo-Scythian)
75–70 BC					Telephos	Apollodotus II
65–55 BC						Hippostratos	Dionysios
55–35 BC						Azes I (Indo-Scythian)	Zoilos II
55–35 BC							Apollophanes
25 BC – AD 10							Strato II and Strato III
							Zoilos III/ Bhadayasa
							Rajuvula (Indo-Scythian)

See also

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Yavana era
• Yavana Kingdom
• Seleucid Empire
• Greco-Buddhism
• Gandharan Buddhism
• Indo-Scythians
• India (Herodotus)
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kandahar Greek Inscription
• Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription
• Kushan Empire
• Roman commerce
• Timeline of Indo-Greek Kingdoms
• Gandhara Kingdom
• Partition of Babylon

References

Notes

1. also Yavanarajya^[3] after the word Yona, which comes from Ionians
2. "When the Greeks of Bactria and India lost their kingdom they were not all killed, nor did they return to Greece. They merged with the people of the area and worked for the new masters; contributing considerably to the culture and civilization in southern and central Asia." Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 278
3. Justin refers to an incident in which Eucratides with a small force of 300 was besieged for four months by "Demetrius, king of the Indians" with a large army of 60,000. The numbers are obviously an exaggeration. Eucratides managed to break out and went on to conquer India.
4. G.K. Jenkins, using overstrikes and monograms, showed that, contrary to what Narai would write two years later, Apollodotus II and Hippostratus were posterior, by far, to Maues. (...) He reveals an overstike if Azes I over Hippostratus. (...) Apollodotus and Hippostratus are thus posterior to Maues and anterior to Azes I, whose era we now starts in 57 BC." Bopearachchi, p. 126-127.
5. "It is curious that on his copper Zoilos used a bow and quiver as a type. A quiver was a badge used by the Parthians (Scythians) and had been used previously by Diodotos, who we know had made a treaty with them. Did Zoilos use Scythian mercenaries in his quest against Menander perhaps?" Senior, Indo-Scythian coins, p. xxvii
6. Marital alliances:

   • Discussion on the dynastic alliance in Tarn, pp. 152–153: "It has been recently suggested that Ashoka was grandson of the Seleucid princess, whom Seleucus gave in marriage to Chandragupta. Should this far-reaching suggestion be well founded, it would not only throw light on the good relations between the Seleucid and Maurya dynasties, but would mean that the Maurya dynasty was descended from, or anyhow connected with, Seleucus... when the Mauryan line became extinct, he (Demetrius) may well have regarded himself, if not as the next heir, at any rate as the heir nearest at hand". Also: "The Seleucid and Maurya lines were connected by the marriage of Seleucus' daughter (or niece) either to Chandragupta or his son Bindusara" John Marshall, Taxila, p20. This thesis originally appeared in "The Cambridge Shorter History of India": "If the usual oriental practice was followed and if we regard Chandragupta as the victor, then it would mean that a daughter or other female relative of Seleucus was given to the Indian ruler or to one of his sons, so that Ashoka may have had Greek blood in his veins." The Cambridge Shorter History of India, J. Allan, H. H. Dodwell, T. Wolseley Haig, p33.^[257]
   • Description of the 302 BC marital alliance in:^[258] "The Indians occupy in part some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants." The ambassador Megasthenes was also sent to the Mauryan court on this occasion.
7. Exchange of presents:

   • Classical sources have recorded that Chandragupta sent various aphrodisiacs to Seleucus: "And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters as to make people more amorous. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love" Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The deipnosophists" Book I, chapter 32 ^[259]
   • Ashoka claims he introduced herbal medicine in the territories of the Greeks, for the welfare of humans and animals (Edict No2).
   • Bindusara asked Antiochus I to send him some sweet wine, dried figs and a sophist: "But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men (for really, as Aristophanes says, "There's really nothing nicer than dried figs"), that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote to Antiochus, entreating him (it is Hegesander who tells this story) to buy and send him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a sophist; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer, "The dry figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece" Athenaeus, "Deipnosophistae" XIV.67 ^[260]
8. Treaties of friendship:

   • When Antiochos III, after having made peace with Euthydemus, went to India in 209 BC, he is said to have renewed his friendship with the Indian king there and received presents from him: "He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him."^[261]
9. Ambassadors:

   • Known ambassadors to India are Megasthenes, Deimakos and Dionysius.
10. Religious missions:

    • In the Edicts of Ashoka, king Ashoka claims to have sent Buddhist emissaries to the Hellenistic west around 250 BC.
11. On the Indo-Greeks and the Gandhara school:

    • 1) "It is necessary to considerably push back the start of Gandharan art, to the first half of the first century BC, or even, very probably, to the preceding century.(...) The origins of Gandharan art... go back to the Greek presence. (...) Gandharan iconography was already fully formed before, or at least at the very beginning of our era" Mario Bussagli "L'art du Gandhara", p331–332
    • 2) "The beginnings of the Gandhara school have been dated everywhere from the first century B.C. (which was M.Foucher's view) to the Kushan period and even after it" (Tarn, p. 394). Foucher's views can be found in "La vieille route de l'Inde, de Bactres a Taxila", pp340–341). The view is also supported by Sir John Marshall ("The Buddhist art of Gandhara", pp5–6).
    • 3) Also the recent discoveries at Ai-Khanoum confirm that "Gandharan art descended directly from Hellenized Bactrian art" (Chaibi Nustamandy, "Crossroads of Asia", 1992).
    • 4) On the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art: "It was about this time (100 BC) that something took place which is without parallel in Hellenistic history: Greeks of themselves placed their artistic skill at the service of a foreign religion, and created for it a new form of expression in art" (Tarn, p. 393). "We have to look for the beginnings of Gandharan Buddhist art in the residual Indo-Greek tradition, and in the early Buddhist stone sculpture to the South (Bharhut etc...)" (Boardman, 1993, p. 124). "Depending on how the dates are worked out, the spread of Gandhari Buddhism to the north may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may the development and spread of the Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" McEvilley, 2002, "The shape of ancient thought", p. 378.

Citations

1. name=Indo-Greek: 30em">Tarn, William Woodthorpe (1966), "Alexandria of the Caucasus and Kapisa", The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge University Press, pp. 460–462, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511707353.019, ISBN 978051170735
2. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 132. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
3. Wilson, John (1877). Indian Caste. Times of India Office. p. 353.
4. Jackson J. Spielvogel (14 September 2016). Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500. Cengage Learning. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-305-95281-2. The invasion of India by a Greco-Bactrian army in ... led to the creation of an Indo-Greek kingdom in northwestern India (present-day India and Pakistan).
5. Erik Zürcher (1962). Buddhism: its origin and spread in words, maps, and pictures. St Martin's Press. p. 45. Three phases must be distinguished, (a) The Greek rulers of Bactria (the Oxus region) expand their power to the south, conquer Afghanistan and considerable parts of north-western India, and establish an Indo-Greek kingdom in the Panjab where they rule as 'kings of India'; i
6. Heidi Roupp (4 March 2015). Teaching World History: A Resource Book. Routledge. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-317-45893-7. There were later Indo-Greek kingdoms in northwest India. ...
7. Hermann Kulke; Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Psychology Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-415-32919-4. They are referred to as 'Indo-Greeks' and there were about forty such kings and rulers who controlled large areas of northwestern India and Afghanistan. Their history ...
8. Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Pratapaditya Pal (1986). Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700. University of California Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-520-05991-7. Since parts of their territories comprised northwestern India, these later rulers of Greek origin are generally referred to as Indo-Greeks.
9. Joan Aruz; Elisabetta Valtz Fino (2012). Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-58839-452-1. The existence of Greek kingdoms in Central Asia and northwestern India after Alexander's conquests had been known for a long time from a few fragmentary texts from Greek and Latin classical sources and from allusions in contemporary Chinese chronicles and later Indian texts.
10. Mortimer Wheeler Flames over Persepolis (London, 1968). Pp. 112 ff. It is unclear whether the Hellenistic street plan found by Sir John Marshall's excavations dates from the Indo-Greeks or from the Kushans, who would have encountered it in Bactria; Tarn (1951, pp. 137, 179) ascribes the initial move of Taxila to the hill of Sirkap to Demetrius I, but sees this as "not a Greek city but an Indian one"; not a polis or with a Hippodamian plan.
11. "Menander had his capital in Sagala" Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 83.
12. McEvilley supports Tarn on both points, citing Woodcock: "Menander was a Bactrian Greek king of the Euthydemid dynasty. His capital (was) at Sanghol in the Punjab, "in the country of the Yonakas (Greeks)"." McEvilley, p. 377. However, "Even if Sagala proves to be a city, it does not seem to be Menander's capital for the Milindapanha states that Menander came down to Sagala to meet Nagasena, just as the Ganges flows to the sea."
13. Thonemann, Peter (2016-01-14). The Hellenistic World: Using Coins as Sources. Cambridge University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-316-43229-7.
14. "Indo-Greek Campaigns".
15. "A vast hoard of coins, with a mixture of Greek profiles and Indian symbols, along with interesting sculptures and some monumental remains from Taxila, Sirkap and Sirsukh, point to a rich fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences", India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 130
16. Ghose, Sanujit (2011). "Cultural links between India and the Greco-Roman world". Ancient History Encyclopedia
17. 11.34
18. ("Notes on Hellenism in Bactria and India". W. W. Tarn. Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 22 (1902), pp. 268–293).
19. Osmund Bopearachchi Was Indo-Greek Artemidoros the son of Indo-Sctythian Maues
20. "Most of the people east of the Ravi already noticed as within Menander's empire -Audumbaras, Trigartas, Kunindas, Yaudheyas, Arjunayanas- began to coins in the first century BC, which means that they had become independent kingdoms or republics.", Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India
21. Tarn, William Woodthorpe (2010-06-24). The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108009416.
22. India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, pp. 92-93

23. "To the colonies settled in India, Python, the son of Agenor, was sent." Justin XIII.4^[usurped]

24. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, pp. 26-27
25. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, p. 27
26. History Of The Chamar Dynasty, Raj Kumar, Gyan Publishing House, 2008, p. 51
27. "Kusumapura was besieged from every direction by the forces of Parvata and Chandragupta: Shakas, Yavanas, Kiratas, Kambojas, Parasikas, Bahlikas and others, assembled on the advice of Chanakya" in Mudrarakshasa 2. Sanskrit original: "asti tava Shaka-Yavana-Kirata-Kamboja-Parasika-Bahlika parbhutibhih Chankyamatipragrahittaishcha Chandergupta Parvateshvara balairudidhibhiriva parchalitsalilaih samantaad uprudham Kusumpurama". From the French translation, in "Le Ministre et la marque de l'anneau", ISBN 2-7475-5135-0
28. India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, pp. 106-107
29. "Strabo 15.2.1(9)".
30. Barua, Pradeep. The State at War in South Asia. Vol. 2. U of Nebraska Press, 2005. pp13-15 via Project MUSE (subscription required)
31. Foreign Influence on Ancient India, Krishna Chandra Sagar, Northern Book Centre, 1992, p. 83
32. Pratisarga Parva p. 18. Original Sanskrit of the first two verses: "Chandragupta Sutah Paursadhipateh Sutam. Suluvasya Tathodwahya Yavani Baudhtatapar".
33. "A minor rock edict, recently discovered at Kandahar, was inscribed in two scripts, Greek and Aramaic", India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 112
34. "The treaty between the two kings was settled with a marriage agreement by which a daughter of Seleucus Nicator entered the house of Chandragupta. Since she hardly had become the wife of any lesser person than the Indian emperor himself or his son and heir Bindusāra, the fascinating possibility arises that Aśoka, the greatest of the Mauryan emperors, may in fact, have been half or at least a quarter Greek." Vassiliades, 2016, p. 21, quoting Woodcock, "The Greeks in India", p. 17
35. India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, pp. 108-109
36. "Three Greek ambassadors are known by name: Megasthenes, ambassador to Chandragupta; Deimachus, ambassador to Chandragupta's son Bindusara; and Dyonisius, whom Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to the court of Ashoka, Bindusara's son", McEvilley, p. 367
37. Classical sources have recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent various aphrodisiacs to Seleucus: "And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters as to make people more amorous. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love" Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The deipnosophists" Book I, chapter 32 Ath. Deip. I.32. Mentioned in McEvilley, p. 367
38. "The very fact that both Megasthenes and Kautilya refer to a state department run and maintained specifically for the purpose of looking after foreigners, who were mostly Yavanas and Persians, testifies to the impact created by these contacts.", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks", p. 363
39. "It also explains (...) random finds from the Sarnath, Basarth, and Patna regions of terra-cotta pieces of distinctive Hellenistic or with definite Hellenistic motifs and designs", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 363
40. "The second Kandahar edict (the purely Greek one) of Ashoka is a part of the "corpus" known as the "Fourteen-Rock-Edicts"" Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 452
41. "It is also in Kandahar that were found the fragments of a Greek translation of Edicts XII and XIII, as well as the Aramean translation of another edict of Ashoka", Bussagli, p. 89
42. "Within Ashoka's domain Greeks may have had special privileges, perhaps ones established by the terms of the Seleucid alliance. Rock Edict Thirteen indicates the existence of a Greek principality in the northwest of Ashoka's empire—perhaps Kandahar, or Alexandria-of-the-Arachosians—which was not ruled by him and for which he troubled to send Buddhist missionaries and published at least some of his edicts in Greek", McEvilley, p. 368
43. "Thirteen, the longest and most important of the edicts, contains the claim, seemingly outlandish at first glance, that Ashoka had sent missions to the lands of the Greek monarchs—not only those of Asia, such as the Seleucids, but those back in the Mediterranean also", McEvilley, p. 368
44. "When Ashoka was converted to Buddhism, his first thought was to despatch missionaries to his friends, the Greek monarchs of Egypt, Syria, and Macedonia", Rawlinson, Intercourse between India and the Western world, p. 39, quoted in McEvilley, p. 368
45. "In Rock Edict Two Ashoka even claims to have established hospitals for men and beasts in the Hellenistic kingdoms", McEvilley, p. 368
46. "One of the most famous of these emissaries, Dharmaraksita, who was said to have converted thousands, was a Greek (Mhv.XII.5 and 34)", McEvilley, p. 370
47. "The Mahavamsa tells that "the celebrated Greek teacher Mahadharmaraksita in the second century BC led a delegation of 30,000 monks from Alexandria-of-the-Caucasus (Alexandra-of-the-Yonas, or of-the-Greeks, the Ceylonese text actually says) to the opening of the great Ruanvalli Stupa at Anuradhapura"", McEvilley, p. 370, quoting Woodcock, "The Greeks in India", p. 55
48. Full text of the Mahavamsa Click chapter XII
49. "The finest of the pillars were executed by Greek or Perso-Greek sculptors; others by local craftsmen, with or without foreign supervision" Marshall, "The Buddhist art of Gandhara", p4
50. "A number of foreign artisans, such as the Persians or even the Greeks, worked alongside the local craftsmen, and some of their skills were copied with avidity" Burjor Avari, "India, The ancient past", p. 118
51. Foreign Influence on Ancient India by Krishna Chandra Sagar p. 138
52. The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology by Upinder Singh p. 18
53. "Antiochos III, after having made peace with Euthydemus I after the aborted siege of Bactra, renewed with Sophagasenus the alliance concluded by his ancestor Seleucos I", Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 52
54. Polybius (1962) [1889]. "11.39". Histories. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (translator). Macmillan, Reprint Bloomington.
55. Polybius; Friedrich Otto Hultsch (1889). The Histories of Polybius. Macmillan and Company. p. 78.
56. J. D. Lerner, The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau: the Foundations of Arsacid Parthia and Graeco-Bactria, (Stuttgart 1999)
57. F. L. Holt, Thundering Zeus (Berkeley 1999)
58. Justin XLI, paragraph 4^[usurped]
59. Justin XLI, paragraph 1^[usurped]
60. Strabo XI.XI.I
61. Justin XLI^[usurped]
62. Polybius 11.34
63. Strabo 11.11.2
64. Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius
65. Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra
66. On the image of the Greek kneeling warrior: "A bronze figurine of a kneeling warrior, not Greek work, but wearing a version of the Greek Phrygian helmet.. From a burial, said to be of the 4th century BC, just north of the Tien Shan range". Ürümqi Xinjiang Museum. (Boardman "The diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity")
67. Notice of the British Museum on the Zhou vase (2005, attached image): "Red earthenware bowl, decorated with a slip and inlaid with glass paste. Eastern Zhou period, 4th–3rd century BC. This bowl was probably intended to copy a more precious and possibly foreign vessel in bronze or even silver. Glass was little used in China. Its popularity at the end of the Eastern Zhou period was probably due to foreign influence."
68. "The things which China received from the Graeco-Iranian world-the pomegranate and other "Chang-Kien" plants, the heavy equipment of the cataphract, the traces of Greeks influence on Han art (such as) the famous white bronze mirror of the Han period with Graeco-Bactrian designs (...) in the Victoria and Albert Museum" (Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, pp. 363–364)
69. Copper-Nickel coinage in Greco-Bactria. Archived 2005-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
70. Ancient Chinese weapons Archived 2005-03-07 at the Wayback Machine A halberd of copper-nickel alloy, from the Warring States Period.
71. A.A. Moss pp317-318 Numismatic Chronicle 1950
72. C.Michael Hogan, Silk Road, North China, Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham
73. Viglas, Katelis (2016). "Chaldean and Neo-Platonic Theology". Philosophia e-Journal of Philosophy and Culture (14): 171–189. The name "Chaldeans" refers generally to the Chaldean people who lived in the land of Babylonia, and especially to the Chaldean "magi" of Babylon......The "Chaldeans" were the guardians of the sacred science: the astrological knowledge and the divination mixed with religion and magic. They were considered the last representatives of the Babylonian sages......In Classical Antiquity, the name "Chaldeans" primarily stood for the priests of the Babylonian temples. In Hellenistic times, the term "Chaldeos" was synonymous with the words "mathematician" and "astrologer"......The Neo-Platonists connected the Chaldean Oracles with the ancient Chaldeans, obtaining a prestige coming from the East and legitimizing their existence as bearers and successors of an ancient tradition.
74. Clement of Alexandria "The Stromata, or Miscellanies" Book I, Chapter XV
75. "General Pushyamitra, who is at the origin of the Shunga dynasty. He was supported by the Brahmins and even became the symbol of the Brahmanical turnover against the Buddhism of the Mauryas. The capital was then transferred to Pataliputra (today's Patna)", Bussagli, p. 99
76. Pushyamitra is described as a "senapati" (Commander-in-chief) of Brihadratha in the Puranas
77. E. Lamotte: History of Indian Buddhism, Institut Orientaliste, Louvain-la-Neuve 1988 (1958), p. 109.
78. Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas by Romila Thapar, Oxford University Press,1960 p. 200
79. Encyclopaedia of Indian Traditions and Cultural Heritage, Anmol Publications, 2009, p. 18
80. Pratisarga Parva p. 18
81. Jairazbhoy, Rafique Ali (1995). Foreign influence in ancient Indo-Pakistan. Sind Book House. p. 100. ISBN 978-969-8281-00-7. Apollodotus, founder of the Graeco- Indian kingdom (c. 160 BC).
82. See Polybius, Arrian, Livy, Cassius Dio, and Diodorus. Justin, who will be discussed shortly, provides a summary of the histories of Hellenistic Macedonia, Egypt, Asia, and Parthia.
83. For the date of Trogus, see the OCD on "Trogus" and Yardley/Develin, p. 2; since Trogus' father was in charge of Julius Caesar's diplomatic missions before the history was written (Justin 43.5.11), Senior's date in the following quotation is too early: "The Western sources for accounts of Bactrian and Indo-Greek history are: Polybius, a Greek born c.200 BC; Strabo, a Roman who drew on the lost history of Apollodoros of Artemita (c. 130–87 BC), and Justin, who drew on Trogus, a post 87 BC writer", Senior, Indo-Scythian coins IV, p. x; the extent to which Strabo is citing Apollodorus is disputed, beyond the three places he names Apollodorus (and he may have those through Eratosthenes). Polybius speaks of Bactria, not of India.
84. Strabo, Geographia 11.11.1 p. 516 Casaubon. 15.1.2, p. 686 Casaubon, "tribes" is Jones' version of ethne (Loeb)
85. For a list of classical testimonia, see Tarn's Index II; but this covers India, Bactria, and several sources for the Hellenistic East as a whole.
86. Tarn, App. 20; Narain (1957) pp. 136, 156 et alii.
87. Sonya Rhie Quintanilla (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE. BRILL Academic. pp. 254–255. ISBN 978-90-04-15537-4.
88. Demetrius is said to have founded Taxila (archaeological excavations), and also Sagala in the Punjab, which he seemed to have called Euthydemia, after his father ("the city of Sagala, also called Euthydemia" (Ptolemy, Geographia, VII 1))
89. A Journey Through India's Past Chandra Mauli Mani, Northern Book Centre, 2005, p. 39
90. Polybius 11.34
91. The first conquests of Demetrius have usually been held to be during his father's lifetime; the difference has been over the actual date. Tarn and Narain agreed on having them begin around 180; Bopearachchi moved this back to 200, and has been followed by much of the more recent literature, but see Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World (Boston, 2006) "Demetrius" §10, which places the invasion "probably in 184". D.H. MacDowall, "The Role of Demetrius in Arachosia and the Kabul Valley", published in the volume: O. Bopearachchi, Landes (ed), Afghanistan Ancien Carrefour Entre L'Est Et L'Ouest, (Brepols 2005) discusses an inscription dedicated to Euthydemus, "Greatest of all kings" and his son Demetrius, who is not called king but "Victorious" (Kallinikos). This is taken to indicate that Demetrius was his father's general during the first conquests. It is uncertain whether the Kabul valley or Arachosia were conquered first, and whether the latter province was taken from the Seleucids after their defeat by the Romans in 190 BC. Peculiar enough, more coins of Euthydemus I than of Demetrius I have been found in the mentioned provinces. The calendar of the "Yonas" is proven by an inscription giving a triple synchronism to have begun in 186/5 BC; what event is commemorated is itself uncertain. Richard Salomon "The Indo-Greek era of 186/5 B.C. in a Buddhist reliquary inscription", in Afghanistan, Ancien Carrefour cited.
92. "Demetrius occupied a large part of the Indus delta, Saurashtra and Kutch", Burjor Avari, p. 130
93. "It would be impossible to explain otherwise why in all his portraits Demetrios is crowned with an elephant scalp", Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 53
94. "We think that the conquests of these regions south of the Hindu Kush brought to Demetrius I the title of "King of India" given to him by Apollodorus of Artemita." Bopearachchi, p. 52
95. For Heracles, see Lillian B. Lawler "Orchesis Kallinikos" Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 79. (1948), pp. 254–267, p. 262; for Artemidorus, see K. Walton Dobbins "The Commerce of Kapisene and Gandhāra after the Fall of Indo-Greek Rule" Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 14, No. 3. (Dec., 1971), pp. 286–302 (Both JSTOR). Tarn, p. 132, argues that Alexander did not assume as a title, but was only hailed by it, but see Peter Green, The Hellenistic Age, p. 7; see also Senior, Indo-Scythian coins, p. xii. No undisputed coins of Demetrius I himself use this title, but it is employed on one of the pedigree coins issued by Agathocles, which bear on the reverse the classical profile of Demetrius crowned by the elephant scalp, with the legend DEMETRIOS ANIKETOS, and on the reverse Herakles crowning himself, with the legend "Of king Agathocles" (Boppearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 179 and Pl 8). Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, Chap IV.
96. "It now seems most likely that Demetrios was the founder of the newly discovered Greek Era of 186/5", Senior, Indo-Scythian coins IV
97. Holt, Frank Lee (1988). Alexander the Great and Bactria: The Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia. Brill Archive. ISBN 9004086129.
98. MacDowall, 2004
99. "The only thing that seems reasonably sure is that Taxila was part of the domain of Agathocles", Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 59
100. Krishan, Yuvraj; Tadikonda, Kalpana K. (1996). The Buddha Image: Its Origin and Development. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 22. ISBN 9788121505659.
101. Iconography of Balarāma, Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi, Abhinav Publications, 1979, p. 22
102. Stanton, Andrea L.; Ramsamy, Edward; Seybolt, Peter J.; Elliott, Carolyn M. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 28. ISBN 9781452266626.
103. Singh, Nagendra Kr; Mishra, A. P. (2007). Encyclopaedia of Oriental Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism. Global Vision Publishing House. pp. 351, 608–609. ISBN 9788182201156.
104. Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 63
105. "Numismats and historians are unanimous in considering that Menander was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, and the most famous of the Indo-Greek kings. The coins to the name of Menander are incomparably more abundant than those of any other Indo-Greek king" Bopearachchi, "Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques", p. 76.
106. "Menander". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Menander, also spelled Minedra or Menadra, Pali Milinda (flourished 160 BCE?–135 BCE?), the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings and the one best known to Western and Indian classical authors. He is believed to have been a patron of the Buddhist religion and the subject of an important Buddhist work, the Milinda-panha ("The Questions of Milinda"). Menander was born in the Caucasus, but the Greek biographer Plutarch calls him a king of Bactria, and the Greek geographer and historian Strabo includes him among the Bactrian Greeks "who conquered more tribes than Alexander [the Great]."
107. "There is certainly some truth in Apollodorus and Strabo when they attribute to Menander the advances made by the Greeks of Bactria beyond the Hypanis and even as far as the Ganges and Palibothra (...) That the Yavanas advanced even beyond in the east, to the Ganges-Jamuna valley, about the middle of the second century BC is supported by the cumulative evidence provided by Indian sources", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" p. 267.
108. Ahir, D. C. (1971). Buddhism in the Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Maha Bodhi Society of India. p. 31. OCLC 1288206. Demetrius died in 166 B.C., and Apollodotus, who was a near relation of the King died in 161 B.C. After his death, Menander carved out a kingdom in the Punjab. Thus from 161 B.C. onward Menander was the ruler of Punjab till his death in 145 B.C. or 130 B.C..
109. Magill, Frank Northen (2003). Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 717. ISBN 9781579580407. MENANDER Born: c. 210 B.C.; probably Kalasi, Afghanistan Died: c. 135 B.C.; probably in northwest India Areas of Achievement: Government and religion Contribution: Menander extended the Greco-Bactrian domains in India more than any other ruler. He became a legendary figure as a great patron of Buddhism in the Pali book the Milindapanha. Early Life – Menander (not to be confused with the more famous Greek dramatist of the same name) was born somewhere in the fertile area to the south of the Paropaisadae or present Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan. The only reference to this location is in the semilegendary Milindapanha (first or second century A.D.), which says that he was born in a village called Kalasi near Alasanda, some two hundred yojanas (about eighteen miles) from the town of Sagala (probably Sialkot in the Punjab). The Alasanda refers to the Alexandria in Afghanistan and not the one in Egypt.
110. "The Greeks... took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis." Strabo 11.11.1 (Strabo 11.11.1)
111. Baums, Stefan (2017). A framework for Gandharan chronology based on relic inscriptions, in "Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art". Archaeopress.
112. The coins of the Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum, p.50 and Pl. XII-7
113. Rocher, Ludo (1986), The Puranas, p. 254: "The Yuga [Purana] is important primarily as a historical document. It is a matter-of-fact chronicle [...] of the Magadha empire, down to the breakdown of the Sungas and the arrival of the Sakas. It is unique in its description of the invasion and retirement of the Yavanas in Magadha."
114. Sen, Sailendra Nath. (1999). Ancient Indian history and civilization (Second ed.). New Delhi: New Age International. ISBN 81-224-1198-3. OCLC 133102415.
115. Sahu, N. K. (1959). "Bahasatimita of the Hathigumpha Inscription". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 22: 84–87. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44304273.
116. Bopearachchi, p. 72
117. "As Bopearachchi has shown, Menander was able to regroup and take back the territory that Eucratides I had conquered, perhaps after Eucratides had died (1991, pp. 84–6). Bopearachchi demonstrates that the transition in Menander's coin designs were in response to changes introduced by Eucratides".
118. "(In the Milindapanha) Menander is declared an arhat", McEvilley, p. 378.
119. "Plutarch, who talks of the burial of Menander's relics under monuments or stupas, had obviously read or heard some Buddhist account of the Greek king's death", McEvilley, p. 377.
120. "The statement of Plutarch that when Menander died "the cities celebrated (...) agreeing that they should divide ashes equally and go away and should erect monuments to him in all their cities", is significant and reminds one of the story of the Buddha", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 123, "This is unmistakably Buddhist and recalls the similar situation at the time of the Buddha's passing away", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 269.
121. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 86.
122. Rudradaman (...) who by force destroyed the Yaudheyas who were loath to submit, rendered proud as they were by having manifested their' title of' heroes among all Kshatriyas. — Junagadh rock inscription
123. "By about 130 BC nomadic people from the Jaxartes region had overrun the northern boundary of Bactria itself", McEvilley, p. 372.
124. Senior, Indo-Scythian coins and history IV, p. xxxiii
125. In the 1st century BC, the geographer Isidorus of Charax mentions Parthians ruling over Greek populations and cities in Arachosia: "Beyond is Arachosia. And the Parthians call this White India; there are the city of Biyt and the city of Pharsana and the city of Chorochoad and the city of Demetrias; then Alexandropolis, the metropolis of Arachosia; it is Greek, and by it flows the river Arachotus. As far as this place the land is under the rule of the Parthians." "Parthians stations", 1st century BC. Mentioned in Bopearachchi, "Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques", p. 52. Original text in paragraph 19 of Parthian stations
126. Pompeius Trogus, Prologue to Book XLI.
127. "When Strabo mentions that "Those who after Alexander advanced beyond the Hypanis to the Ganges and Polibothra (Pataliputra)" this can only refer to the conquests of Menander.", Senior, Indo-Scythian coins and history, p. XIV
128. Mitchiner, The Yuga Purana, 2000, p. 65: "In line with the above discussion, therefore, we may infer that such an event (the incursions to Pataliputra) took place, after the reign of Shalishuka Maurya (c.200 BC) and before that of Pushyamitra Shunga (187 BC). This would accordingly place the Yavana incursions during the reign of the Indo-Greek kings Euthydemus (c. 230–190 BC) or Demetrios (c. 205–190 as co-regent, and 190–171 BC as supreme ruler".
129. According to Tarn, the word used for "advance" (Proelonthes) can only mean a military expedition. The word generally means "going forward"; according to the LSJ this can, but need not, imply a military expedition. See LSJ, sub προέρχομαι. Strabo 15-1-27
130. McEvilley, 2002, The Shape of Ancient Thought, p. 371
131. A.K. Narain and Keay 2000
132. "Menander became the ruler of a kingdom extending along the coast of western India, including the whole of Saurashtra and the harbour Barukaccha. His territory also included Mathura, the Punjab, Gandhara and the Kabul Valley", Bussagli p101)
133. Tarn, pp.147–149
134. Strabo on the extent of the conquests of the Greco-Bactrians/Indo-Greeks: "They took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni." Strabo 11.11.1 (Strabo 11.11.1)
135. Full text, Schoff's 1912 translation
136. "the account of the Periplus is just a sailor's story", Narain (pp. 118–119)
137. "A distinctive series of Indo-Greek coins has been found at several places in central India: including at Dewas, some 22 miles to the east of Ujjain. These therefore add further definite support to the likelihood of an Indo-Greek presence in Malwa" Mitchiner, "The Yuga Purana", p. 64
138. History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, pp. 8–10
139. Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2007). History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE. BRILL. p. 9. ISBN 9789004155374.
140. "Coin-moulds of the Indo-Greeks have also been recovered from Ghuram and Naurangabad." Punjab History Conference, Punjabi University, 1990, Proceedings, Volume 23, p. 45
141. History and Historians in Ancient India, Dilip Kumar Ganguly, Abhinav Publications, 1984 p. 108
142. Encyclopaedia of Tourism Resources in India, Volume 1, Manohar Sajnani, Gyan Publishing House, 2001 p. 93
143. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, James C. Harle, Yale University Press, 1994 p. 67
144. Published in "L'Indo-Grec Menandre ou Paul Demieville revisite," Journal Asiatique 281 (1993) p. 113
145. Ancient Indian History and Civilization, Sailendra Nath Sen, New Age International, 1999, p. 169
146. "Helmeted head of a soldier, probably Indo-Greek, 1st century bc, Mathura Museum" in Jha, Dwijendra Narayan (1977). Ancient India: an introductory outline. People's Pub. House. p. xi. ISBN 9788170070399.
147. Vishnu, Asha (1993). Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C. Mittal Publications. p. 141. ISBN 9788170994107.
148. "Iranian Heads From Mathura, some terracotta male-heads were recovered, which portray the Iranian people with whom the Indians came into closer contact during the fourth and third centuries B.C. Agrawala calls them the representatives of Iranian people because their facial features present foreign ethnic affinities." Srivastava, Surendra Kumar (1996). Terracotta art in northern India. Parimal Publications. p. 81.
149. "Mathura has also yielded a special class of terracotta heads in which the facial features present foreign ethnic affinities." Dhavalikar, Madhukar Keshav (1977). Masterpieces of Indian Terracottas. Taraporevala. p. 23.
150. "Soldier heads. During the Mauryan period, the military activity was more evidenced in the public life. Possibly, foreign soldiers frequently visited India and attracted Indian modellers with their ethnic features and uncommon uniform. From Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Basarh in Bihar, some terracotta heads have been reported, which represent soldiers. Artistically, the Basarh terracotta soldier-heads are better, executed than those from Mathura." in Srivastava, Surendra Kumar (1996). Terracotta art in northern India. Parimal Publications. p. 82.
151. Vishnu, Asha (1993). Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C. Mittal Publications. p. XV. ISBN 9788170994107.
152. "The figure of a Persian youth (35.2556) wearing coat, scarf, trousers and turban is a rare item." Museum, Mathura Archaeological (1971). Mathura Museum Introduction: A Pictorial Guide Book. Archaeological Museum. p. 14.
153. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra (1994). The Splendour of Mathurā Art and Museum. D.K. Printworld. p. 58.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
154. History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, p. 170
155. "Because the Ionians were either the first or the most dominant group among the Greeks with whom people in the east came in contact, the Persians called all of them Yauna, and the Indians used Yona and Yavana for them", Narain, The Indo-Greeks, p. 249
156. "The term (Yavana) had a precise meaning until well into the Christian era, when gradually its original meaning was lost and, like the word Mleccha, it degenerated into a general term for a foreigner" Narain, p. 18
157. "Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16.
158. Tarn, pp. 145–146
159. "The taut posture and location at the entrance of the cave (Rani Gumpha) suggests that the male figure is a guard or dvarapala. The aggressive stance of the figure and its western dress (short kilt and boots) indicates that the sculpture may be that of a Yavana, foreigner from the Graeco-Roman world." in Early Sculptural Art in the Indian Coastlands: A Study in Cultural Transmission and Syncretism (300 BCE-CE 500), by Sunil Gupta, D K Printworld (P) Limited, 2008, p. 85
160. "But the real story of the Indo-Greek invasion becomes clear only on the analysis of the material contained in the historical section of the Gargi Samhita, the Yuga Purana" Narain, p110, The Indo-Greeks. Also "The text of the Yuga Purana, as we have shown, gives an explicit clue to the period and nature of the invasion of Pataliputra in which the Indo-Greeks took part, for it says that the Pancalas and the Mathuras were the other powers who attacked Saketa and destroyed Pataliputra", Narain, p. 112
161. "For any scholar engaged in the study of the presence of the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Scythians before the Christian Era, the Yuga Purana is an important source material" Dilip Coomer Ghose, General Secretary, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, 2002
162. "..further weight to the likelihood that this account of a Yavana incursion to Saketa and Pataliputra-in alliance with the Pancalas and the Mathuras—is indeed historical" Mitchiner, The Yuga Purana, p. 65.
163. "The advance of the Greek to Pataliputra is recorded from the Indian side in the Yuga-purana", Tarn, p. 145
164. "The greatest city in India is that which is called Palimbothra, in the dominions of the Prasians ... Megasthenes informs us that this city stretched in the inhabited quarters to an extreme length on each side of eighty stadia, and that its breadth was fifteen stadia, and that a ditch encompassed it all round, which was six hundred feet in breadth and thirty cubits in depth, and that the wall was crowned with 570 towers and had four-and-sixty gates." Arr. Ind. 10. "Of Pataliputra and the Manners of the Indians.", quoting Megasthenes Text Archived December 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
165. "The text of the Yuga Purana, as we have shown, gives an explicit clue to the period and nature of the invasion of Pataliputra in which the Indo-Greeks took part, for it says that the Pancalas and the Mathuras were the other powers who attacked Saketa and destroyed Pataliputra", Narain, The Indo-Greeks, p. 112.
166. The Sungas, Kanvas, Republican Kingdoms and Monarchies, Mahameghavahanas, Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, p. 6
167. "Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16. Also: "Kalidasa recounts in his Mālavikāgnimitra (5.15.14–24) that Puspamitra appointed his grandson Vasumitra to guard his sacrificial horse, which wandered on the right bank of the Sindhu river and was seized by Yavana cavalrymen—the later being thereafter defeated by Vasumitra. The "Sindhu" referred to in this context may refer the river Indus: but such an extension of Shunga power seems unlikely, and it is more probable that it denotes one of two rivers in central Indiaeither the Sindhu river which is a tributary of the Yamuna, or the Kali-Sindhu river which is a tributary of the Chambal." The Yuga Purana, Mitchiner, 2002."
168. "The name Dimita is almost certainly an adaptation of "Demetrios", and the inscription thus indicates a Yavana presence in Magadha, probably around the middle of the 1st century BC." Mitchiner, The Yuga Purana, p. 65.
169. "The Hathigumpha inscription seems to have nothing to do with the history of the Indo-Greeks; certainly it has nothing to do with Demetrius I", Narain, The Indo-Greeks, p. 50.
170. Translation in Epigraphia Indica 1920 p. 87
171. P.L.Gupta: Kushâna Coins and History, D.K.Printworld, 1994, p. 184, note 5
172. Sircar, D.C. (1951). "The Yavanas". In Majumdar, R.C. (ed.). The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 114.
173. Smith, Vincent Arthur (September 1904). "The Most Southern Hoard of Bactrian Coins in India". The Indian Antiquary, A Journal of Oriental Research. 33: 217–218.
174. Bivar, A.D.H. (2002). "Beyond the Tigris". Ancient West & East. 1 (1). Koninklijke Brill: 63–64.
175. Holt, Frank L. (2012). Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 144.
176. "Numismats and historians all consider that Menander was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, and the most illustrious of the Indo-Greek kings", Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 76
177. "Menander, the probable conqueror of Pataliputra, seems to have been a Buddhist, and his name belongs in the list of important royal patrons of Buddhism along with Ashoka and Kanishka", McEvilley, p. 375.
178. Boot, Hooves and Wheels: And the Social Dynamics behind South Asian Warfare, Saikat K Bose, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2015, p. 226
179. On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World, Doris Srinivasan, BRILL, 2007, p. 101
180. Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 88
181. Senior, Indo-Scythian coins and history IV, p. xi
182. "P.Bernard thinks that these emissions were destined to commercial exchanges with Bactria, then controlled by the Yuezhi, and were post-Greek coins remained faithful to Greco-Bactrian coinage. In a slightly different perspective (...) G. Le Rider considers that these emission were used to pay tribute to the nomads of the north, who were thus incentivized not to pursue their forays in the direction of the Indo-Greek realm", Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 76.
183. Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence
184. Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-415-32920-0.
185. Ancient Indian History and Civilization, Sailendra Nath Sen, New Age International, 1999 p. 170
186. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, by Amalananda Ghosh, BRILL p. 295
187. Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, by Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 2013 p. 90
188. "The railing of Sanchi Stupa No.2, which represents the oldest extensive stupa decoration in existence, (and) dates from about the second century B.C.E" Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia, John Clifford Holt, Jacob N. Kinnard, Jonathan S. Walters, SUNY Press, 2012 p. 197
189. Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 p. 15ff
190. Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 2013 p. 88ff
191. An Indian Statuette From Pompeii, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1950) p. 171
192. Faces of Power: Alexander's Image and Hellenistic Politics, Andrew Stewart, University of California Press, 1993 p. 180
193. Popular Controversies in World History: Investigating History's Intriguing Questions [4 volumes]: Investigating History's Intriguing Questions, Steven L. Danver, ABC-CLIO, 2010 p. 91
194. Buddhist Art & Antiquities of Himachal Pradesh, Up to 8th Century A.D., Omacanda Hāṇḍā, Indus Publishing, 1994 p. 48
195. The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, Princeton University Press, p. 115
196. "These little balusters are of considerable interest, as their sculptured statues are much superior in artistic design and execution to those of the railing pillars. They are further remarkable in having Arian letters engraved on their bases or capitals, a peculiarity which points unmistakably to the employment of Western artists, and which fully accounts for the superiority of their execution. The letters found are p, s, a, and b, of which the first three occur twice. Now, if the same sculptors had been employed on the railings, we might confidently expect to find the same alphabetical letters used as private marks. But the fact is just the reverse, for the whole of the 27 marks found on any portions of the railing are Indian letters. The only conclusion that I can come to from these facts is that the foreign artists who were employed on the sculptures of the gateways were certainly not engaged on any part of the railing. I conclude, therefore, that the Raja of Sungas, the donor of the gateways, must have sent his own party of workmen to make them, while the smaller gifts of pillars and rails were executed by the local artists." in The stūpa of Bharhut: a Buddhist monument ornamented with numerous sculptures illustrative of Buddhist legend and history in the third century B. C, by Alexander Cunningham p. 8 (Public Domain)
197. "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, 1993, p. 112
198. Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 p. 18
199. Buddhist Architecture, Huu Phuoc Le, Grafikol, 2010 p. 149ff
200. "There is evidence of Hellensitic sculptors being in touch with Sanchi and Bharhut" in The Buddha Image: Its Origin and Development, Yuvraj Krishan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996, p. 9
201. Huu Phuoc Le (2010). Buddhist Architecture. Grafikol. p. 161. ISBN 9780984404308.
202. Arora, Udai Prakash (1991). Graeco-Indica, India's cultural contacts. Ramanand Vidya Bhawan. p. 12. ISBN 9788185205533. Sculptures showing Greeks or the Greek type of human figures are not lacking in ancient India. Apart from the proverbial Gandhara, Sanchi and Mathura have also yielded many sculptures that betray a close observation of the Greeks.
203. These "Greek-looking foreigners" are also described in Susan Huntington, "The art of ancient India", p. 100
204. "The Greeks evidently introduced the himation and the chiton seen in the terracottas from Taxila and the short kilt worn by the soldier on the Sanchi relief." in Foreign influence on Indian culture: from c. 600 B.C. to 320 A.D., Manjari Ukil Originals, 2006, p. 162
205. "The scene shows musicians playing a variety of instruments, some of them quite extraordinary such as the Greek double flute and wind instruments with dragon head from West Asia" in The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia, Himanshu Prabha Ray, Cambridge University Press, 2003 p. 255
206. Purātattva, Number 8. Indian Archaeological Society. 1975. p. 188. A reference to a Yona in the Sanchi inscriptions is also of immense value.(...) One of the inscriptions announces the gift of a Setapathia Yona, "Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam" i.e the gift of a Yona, inhabitant of Setapatha. The word Yona can't be here anything, but a Greek donor
207. Epigraphia Indica Vol.2 p. 395 inscription 364
208. John Mashall, The Monuments of Sanchi p. 348 inscription No.475
209. The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology, SAGE Publications India, Upinder Singh, 2016 p. 18
210. John Mashall, The Monuments of Sanchi p. 308 inscription No.89
211. John Mashall, The Monuments of Sanchi p. 345 inscription No.433
212. Coatsworth, John; Cole, Juan; Hanagan, Michael P.; Perdue, Peter C.; Tilly, Charles; Tilly, Louise (16 March 2015). Global Connections: Volume 1, To 1500: Politics, Exchange, and Social Life in World History. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-316-29777-3.
213. Atlas of World History. Oxford University Press. 2002. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-521921-0.
214. Fauve, Jeroen (2021). The European Handbook of Central Asian Studies. Ibidem Press. p. 403. ISBN 978-3-8382-1518-1.
215. Török, Tibor (July 2023). "Integrating Linguistic, Archaeological and Genetic Perspectives Unfold the Origin of Ugrians". Genes. 14 (7): Figure 1. doi:10.3390/genes14071345. ISSN 2073-4425. PMC 10379071. PMID 37510249.
216. "During the century that followed Menander more than twenty rulers are known to have struck coins", Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 270
217. Bernard (1994), p. 126.
218. "Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire, succeeded there (in the Paropamisadae) to the nomads who minted imitations of Hermaeus" Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 117
219. "Maues himself issued joint coins with Machene, (...) probably a daughter of one of the Indo-Greek houses" Senior, Indo-Scythians, p. xxxvi
220. "The Indo-Scythian conquerors, who, also they adopted the Greek types, minted money with their own names". Bopearachchci, "Monnaies", p. 121
221. Described in R. C. Senior "The Decline of the Indo-Greeks" . See also this source Archived 2007-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
222. Osmund Bopearachchi, Catalogue raisonné, p. 172-175
223. "We get two Greeks of the Parthian period, the first half of the first century AD, who used the Indian form of their names, King Theodamas on his signet-ring found in Bajaur, and Thedorus son of Theoros on two silver bowls from Taxila." Tarn, p. 389.
224. "Most of the people east of the Ravi already noticed as within Menander's empire—Audumbaras, Trigartas, Kunindas, Yaudheyas, Arjunayanas—began to coins in the first century BC, which means that they had become independent kingdoms or republics.", Tarn, p. 324.
225. "The coinage of the former (the Audumbaras) to whom their trade was of importance, starts somewhere in the first century BC; they occasionally imitate the types of Demetrius and Apollodotus I", Tarn, p. 325.
226. The Kunindas must have been included in the Greek empire, not only because of their geographical position, but because they started coining at the time which saw the end of Greek rule and the establishment of their independence", Tarn, p. 238.
227. "Further evidence of the commercial success of the Greek drachms is seen in the fact that they influenced the coinage of the Audumbaras and the Kunindas", Narain The Indo-Greeks, p. 114
228. "The wealthy Audumbaras (...) some of their coins after Greek rule ended imitated Greek types", Tarn, p. 239.
229. "Later, in the first century a ruler of the Kunindas, Amogabhuti, issued a silver coinage "which would compete in the market with the later Indo-Greek silver"", Tarn, p. 325.
230. The Sanskrit inscription reads "Yavanarajyasya sodasuttare varsasate 100 10 6". R.Salomon, "The Indo-Greek era of 186/5 B.C. in a Buddhist reliquary inscription", in "Afghanistan, ancien carrefour entre l'est et l'ouest", p373
231. "Around 10 AD, with the joint rule of Straton II and his son Straton in the area of Sagala, the last Greek kingdom succumbed to the attacks of Rajuvula, the Indo-Scythian satrap of Mathura.", Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 125
232. Epigraphia Indica Vol.18 p. 328 Inscription No10
233. Shane Wallace Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries 2016, p. p. 210
234. Mc Evilley "The shape of ancient thought", p385 ("The Yavanajataka is the earliest surviving Sanskrit text in astrology, and constitute the basis of all later Indian developments in horoscopy", himself quoting David Pingree "The Yavanajataka of Sphujidhvaja" p5)
235. Buddhist architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, pp. 98–99
236. World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Volume 1 ʻAlī Jāvīd, Tabassum Javeed, Algora Publishing, 2008 p. 42
237. • Inscription no.7: "(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Sihadhaya from Dhenukataka" in Problems of Ancient Indian History: New Perspectives and Perceptions, Shankar Goyal - 2001, p. 104
       * Inscription no.4: "(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Dhammadhya from Dhenukataka"
       Description in Hellenism in Ancient India by Gauranga Nath Banerjee p. 20
238. Epigraphia Indica Vol.18 pp. 326–328 and Epigraphia Indica Vol.7 pp. 53–54
239. Philpott, Don (2016). The World of Wine and Food: A Guide to Varieties, Tastes, History, and Pairings. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 133. ISBN 9781442268043.
240. The Greek-Indians of Western India: A Study of the Yavana and Yonaka Buddhist Cave Temple Inscriptions, 'The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies', NS 1 (1999-2000) S._1_1999-2000_pp._83-109 {{p.|87–88}}
241. Epigraphia Indica p. 90ff
242. Hellenism in Ancient India, Gauranga Nath Banerjee p. 20
243. The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India, Raoul McLaughlin, Pen and Sword, 2014 p. 170
244. Religions and Trade: Religious Formation, Transformation and Cross-Cultural Exchange between East and West, BRILL, 2013 p. 97 Note 97
245. Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India. The Society. 1994. pp. iv.
246. Archaeological Survey of Western India. Government Central Press. 1879. pp. 43–44.
247. Karttunen, Klaus (2015). "Yonas and Yavanas In Indian Literature". Studia Orientalia. 116: 214.
248. Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0. p. 383
249. Nasik cave inscription No 1. "( Of him) the Kshatriya, who flaming like the god of love, subdued the Sakas, Yavavas and Palhavas" in Parsis of ancient India by Hodivala, Shapurji Kavasji p. 16
250. Epigraphia Indica pp. 61–62
251. Tiwari, Shiv Kumar (2002). Tribal Roots of Hinduism. Sarup & Sons. p. 311. ISBN 9788176252997.
252. Longhurst, A. H. (1932). The Great Stupa at Nagarjunakonda in Southern India. The Indian Antiquary. p. 186.
253. Singh, Upinder (2016). The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology. SAGE Publications India. pp. 45–55. ISBN 9789351506478.
254. Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art, Juhyung Rhi, pp. 35–51, 2017
255. Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art p. 39
256. Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art p. 37
257. Source
258. Strabo 15.2.1(9)
259. Ath. Deip. I.32
260. Athenaeus, "Deipnosophistae" XIV.67
261. Polybius 11.39
262. The historian Diodorus wrote that the king of Pataliputra, apparently a Mauryan king, "loved the Greeks": "Iambulus, having found his way to a certain village, was then brought by the natives into the presence of the king of Palibothra, a city which was distant a journey of many days from the sea. And since the king loved the Greeks ("Philhellenos") and devoted to learning he considered Iambulus worthy of cordial welcome; and at length, upon receiving a permission of safe-conduct, he passed over first of all into Persia and later arrived safe in Greece" Diodorus ii,60.
263. "Diodorus testifies to the great love of the king of Palibothra, apparently a Mauryan king, for the Greeks" Narain, "The Indo-Greeks", p. 362.
264. "Obviously, for the Greeks who survived in India and suffered from the oppression of the Shunga (for whom they were aliens and heretics), Demetrios must have appeared as a saviour" Mario Bussagli, p. 101
265. "We can now, I think, see what the Greek 'conquest' meant and how the Greeks were able to traverse such extraordinary distances. To parts of India, perhaps to large parts, they came, not as conquerors, but as friends or 'saviours'; to the Buddhist world in particular they appeared to be its champions" (Tarn, p. 180)
266. Tarn p. 175. Also: "The people to be 'saved' were in fact usually Buddhists, and the common enmity of Greek and Buddhists to the Sunga king threw them into each other's arms", Tarn p. 175. "Menander was coming to save them from the oppression of the Sunga kings", Tarn p. 178.
267. Whitehead, "Indo-Greek coins", pp. 3–8
268. Bopearachchi p. 138
269. Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
270. Whitehead, p. vi.
271. "These Indo-Greeks were called Yavanas in ancient Indian literature" p. 9 + note 1 "The term had a precise meaning until well into the Christian era, when gradually its original meaning was lost and, like the word Mleccha, it degenerated into a general term for a foreigner" p. 18, Narain "The Indo-Greeks"
272. "All Greeks in India were however known as Yavanas", Burjor Avari, "India, the ancient past", p. 130
273. "The term Yavana may well have been first applied by the Indians to the Greeks of various cities of Asia Minor who were settled in the areas contiguous to north-west India" Narain "The Indo-Greeks", p. 227
274. "Of the Sanskrit Yavana, there are other forms and derivatives, viz. Yona, Yonaka, Javana, Yavana, Jonon or Jononka, Ya-ba-na etc... Yona is a normal Prakrit form from Yavana", Narain "The Indo-Greeks", p. 228
275. Avari, Burjor (2016). India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from C. 7000 BCE to CE 1200. Routledge. p. 167. ISBN 9781317236733.
276. Hinüber (2000), pp. 83–86, para. 173–179.
277. The coins of the Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum, p. 50 and Pl. XII-7
278. "De l'Indus à l'Oxus: archéologie de l'Asie Centrale", Pierfrancesco Callieri, p212: "The diffusion, from the second century BC, of Hellenistic influences in the architecture of Swat is also attested by the archaeological searches at the sanctuary of Butkara I, which saw its stupa "monumentalized" at that exact time by basal elements and decorative alcoves derived from Hellenistic architecture".
279. Tarn, p. 391: "Somewhere I have met with the zhole-hearted statement that every Greek in India ended by becoming a Buddhist (...) Heliodorus the ambassador was a Bhagavatta, a worshiper of Vshnu-Krishna as the supreme deity (...) Theodorus the meridrarch, who established some relics of the Buddha "for the purpose of the security of many people", was undoubtedly Buddhist". Images of the Zoroastrian divinity Mithra – depicted with a radiated phrygian cap – appear extensively on the Indo-Greek coinage of the Western kings. This Zeus-Mithra is also the one represented seated (with the gloriole around the head, and a small protrusion on the top of the head representing the cap) on many coins of Hermaeus, Antialcidas or Heliokles II.
280. The Contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the Development of the Humanitarian Ideal in Warfare 30-04-1995 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 305, by Gerald Draper
281. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika)
282. Lahiri, Bela (1974). Indigenous states of northern India, circa 200 B.C. to 320 A.D. University of Calcutta
283. Strong, John S. (1989). The Legend of King Aśoka : a study and translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01459-0.
284. "It is not unlikely that "Dikaios", which is translated Dhramaika in the Kharosthi legend, may be connected with his adoption of the Buddhist faith." Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 124
285. "It is probable that the wheel on some coins of Menander is connected with Buddhism", Narain, The Indo-Greeks, p. 122
286. Stupavadana, Chapter 57, v15. Quotes in E.Seldeslachts.
287. McEvilley, p. 377
288. Plutarch "Political precepts", p147–148
289. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Kurt A. Behrendt, BRILL, 2004, p. 49 sig
290. "King Menander, who built the penultimate layer of the Butkara stupa in the first century BCE, was an Indo-Greek." Albinia, Alice (2012). Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River.
291. Foreign Impact on Indian Life and Culture (c. 326 B.C. to C. 300 A.D.) Satyendra Nath Naskar, Abhinav Publications, 1996, p. 69
292. The Crossroads of Asia, Elizabeth Errington, Ancient India and Iran Trust, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992, p. 16
293. Mentioned throughout "Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques", Osmund Bopearachchi, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1991
294. Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia, Andrea L. Stanton, Edward Ramsamy, Peter J. Seybolt, Carolyn M. Elliott, SAGE Publications, 2012 p. 28
295. Francfort, Henri-Paul (1 January 2022). "A "Blessing" Hand Gesture in Images of Deities and Kings in the Arts of Bactria and Gandhāra (2nd Century B.C.E.–1st Century C.E.): The Sign of the Horns". Bulletin of the Asia Institute.
296. "The extraordinary realism of their portraiture. The portraits of Demetrius, Antimachus and of Eucratides are among the most remarkable that have come down to us from antiquity" Hellenism in Ancient India, Banerjee, p134
297. "Just as the Frank Clovis had no part in the development of Gallo-Roman art, the Indo-Scythian Kanishka had no direct influence on that of Indo-Greek Art; and besides, we have now the certain proofs that during his reign this art was already stereotyped, of not decadent" Hellenism in Ancient India, Banerjee, p147
298. "The survival into the 1st century AD of a Greek administration and presumably some elements of Greek culture in the Punjab has now to be taken into account in any discussion of the role of Greek influence in the development of Gandharan sculpture", The Crossroads of Asia, p14
299. Boardman, p. 141
300. Boardman, p. 143.
301. "Others, dating the work to the first two centuries A.D., after the waning of Greek autonomy on the Northwest, connect it instead with the Roman Imperial trade, which was just then getting a foothold at sites like Barbaricum (modern Karachi) at the Indus-mouth. It has been proposed that one of the embassies from Indian kings to Roman emperors may have brought back a master sculptorto oversee work in the emerging Mahayana Buddhist sensibility (in which the Buddha came to be seen as a kind of deity), and that "bands of foreign workmen from the eastern centres of the Roman Empire" were brought to India" (Mc Evilley "The shape of ancient thought", quoting Benjamin Rowland "The art and architecture of India" p. 121 and A. C. Soper "The Roman Style in Gandhara" American Journal of Archaeology 55 (1951) pp. 301–319)
302. Boardman, p. 115
303. McEvilley, pp. 388-390
304. Boardman, 109–153
305. "It is noteworthy that the dress of the Gandharan Bodhisattva statues has no resemblance whatever to that of the Kushan royal portrait statues, which has many affiliations with Parthian costume. The finery of the Gandhara images must be modeled on the dress of local native nobility, princes of Indian or Indo-Greek race, who had no blood connection with the Scythian rulers. It is also evident that the facial types are unrelated to the features of the Kushans as we know them from their coins and fragmentary portrait statues.", Benjamin Rowland JR, foreword to "The Dyasntic art of the Kushan", John Rosenfield, 1967.
306. "Those tiny territories of the Indo-Greek kings must have been lively and commercially flourishing places", India: The ancient past, Burjor Avari, p. 130
307. "No doubt the Greeks of Bactria and India presided over a flourishing economy. This is clearly indicated by their coinage and the monetary exchange they had established with other currencies." Narain, "The Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 275.
308. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 27
309. Rapson, clxxxvi-
310. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies", p. 75.
311. Fussman, JA 1993, p. 127 and Bopearachchi, "Graeco-Bactrian issues of the later Indo-Greek kings", Num. Chron. 1990, pp. 79–104)
312. Science and civilisation in China: Chemistry and chemical technology by Joseph Needham, Gwei-Djen Lu p. 237ff
313. "Western contact with China began long before Marco Polo, experts say". BBC News. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
314. "The Mausoleum of China's First Emperor Partners with the BBC and National Geographic Channel to Reveal Groundbreaking Evidence That China Was in Contact with the West During the Reign of the First Emperor". businesswire.com. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
315. "Strabo II.3.4‑5 on Eudoxus".
316. "Since the merchants of Alexandria are already sailing with fleets by way of the Nile and of the Persian Gulf as far as India, these regions also have become far better known to us of today than to our predecessors. At any rate, when Gallus was prefect of Egypt, I accompanied him and ascended the Nile as far as Syene and the frontiers of Ethiopia, and I learned that as many as one hundred and twenty vessels were sailing from Myos Hormos for India, whereas formerly, under the Ptolemies, only a very few ventured to undertake the voyage and to carry on traffic in Indian merchandise." Strabo II.5.12
317. "It is curious that on his copper Zoilos used a Bow and quiver as a type. A quiver was a badge used by the Parthians (Scythians) and had been used previously by Diodotos, who we know had made a treaty with them. Did Zoilos use Scythian mercenaries in his quest against Menander perhaps?" Senior, Indo-Scythian coins, p. xxvii
318. "Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius".
319. PL Gupta 1994
320. Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya (1974). Some Early Dynasties of South India. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 44–50. ISBN 978-81-208-2941-1.
321. "Megasthenes Indica". Archived from the original on December 10, 2008.
322. "Justin XLI". Archived from the original on August 28, 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
323. Tarn, p. 494.
324. "Though the Indo-Greek monarchies seem to have ended in the first century BC, the Greek presence in India and Bactria remained strong", McEvilley, p. 379
325. "The use of the Greek months by the Sakas and later rulers points to the conclusion that they employed a system of dating started by their predecessors." Narain, "Indo-Greeks" 2003, p. 190
326. "Evidence of the conquest of Saurastra during the reign of Chandragupta II is to be seen in his rare silver coins which are more directly imitated from those of the Western Satraps... they retain some traces of the old inscriptions in Greek characters, while on the reverse, they substitute the Gupta type (a peacock) for the chaitya with crescent and star." in Rapson "A catalogue of Indian coins in the British Museum. The Andhras etc...", p. cli
327. "Parthians stations", 1st century AD. Original text in paragraph 19 of Parthian stations
328. McEvilley, Thomas C. (2012). The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. Simon and Schuster. p. 503. ISBN 9781581159332.
329. Under each king, information from Bopearachchi is taken from Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné (1991) or occasionally SNG9 (1998). Senior's chronology is from The Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian king sequences in the second and first centuries BC, ONS179 Supplement (2004), whereas the comments (down to the time of Hippostratos) are from The decline of the Indo-Greeks (1998).
330. O. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné", Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1991, p. 453
331. History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE – 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, p. 9

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• Marshall, John (1956). Taxila. An illustrated account of archaeological excavations carried out at Taxila (3 volumes). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
• McEvilley, Thomas (2002). The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts. ISBN 978-1-58115-203-6.
• Mitchiner, John E.; Garga (1986). The Yuga Purana: critically edited, with an English translation and a detailed introduction. Calcutta, India: Asiatic Society. ISBN 978-81-7236-124-2. OCLC 15211914.
• Narain, A.K. (1957). The Indo-Greeks. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • reprinted by Oxford, 1962, 1967, 1980; reissued (2003), "revised and supplemented", by B. R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi.
• Rosenfield, John M. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-81-215-0579-6.
• Seldeslachts, E. (2003). The end of the road for the Indo-Greeks?. Iranica Antica, Vol XXXIX, 2004.
• Senior, R. C. (2006). Indo-Scythian coins and history. Volume IV. Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. ISBN 978-0-9709268-6-9.
• Tarn, W. W. (1938). The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press.
  • Second edition, with addenda and corrigenda, (1951). Reissued, with updating preface by Frank Lee Holt (1985), Ares Press, Chicago ISBN 0-89005-524-6
• Afghanistan, ancien carrefour entre l'est et l'ouest (in French and English). Belgium: Brepols. 2005. ISBN 978-2-503-51681-3.
• Vassiliades, Demetrios (2016). Greeks and Buddhism: An Intercultural Encounter. Athens: Indo-Hellenic Society for Culture and Development. ISBN 978-618-82624-0-9.

Further reading

• Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 978-2-9516679-2-1.
• Cambon, Pierre (2007). Afghanistan, les trésors retrouvés (in French). Musée Guimet. ISBN 978-2-7118-5218-5.
• Faccenna, Domenico (1980). Butkara I (Swāt, Pakistan) 1956–1962, Volume III 1. Rome: IsMEO (Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente).
• Foltz, Richard (2010). Religions of the Silk Road: premodern patterns of globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1.
• Keown, Damien (2003). A Dictionary of Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860560-7.
• Lowenstein, Tom (2002). The vision of the Buddha: Buddhism, the path to spiritual enlightenment. London: Duncan Baird. ISBN 978-1-903296-91-2.
• Narain, A.K. (1976). The coin types of the Indo-Greeks kings. Chicago, USA: Ares Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89005-109-2.
• Puri, Baij Nath (2000). Buddhism in Central Asia. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0372-5.
• Salomon, Richard (January–March 1982). "The "Avaca" Inscription and the Origin of the Vikrama Era". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 102 (1): 59–68. doi:10.2307/601111. JSTOR 601111.
• 東京国立博物館 (Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan); 兵庫県立美術館 (Hyogo Kenritsu Bijutsukan) (2003). Alexander the Great: East-West cultural contacts from Greece to Japan. Tokyo: 東京国立博物館 (Tokyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan). OCLC 53886263.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Vassiliades, Demetrios (2000). The Greeks in India – A Survey in Philosophical Understanding. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Limited. ISBN 978-81-215-0921-3.
• Widmer, Werner (2015). Hellas am Hindukusch. Griechentum im Fernen Osten der antiken Welt [Hellas in the Hindukush. Hellenism in the Far East of the ancient world]. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer.
• Wünsch, Julian (2023). "Die Indo-Griechen. Konflikte und dynastische Verflechtungen der Nachfolger Menanders I." [The Indo-Greeks. Conflicts and dynastic entanglements of the successors of Menandros I.] Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 73, pp. 1–45.

External links

• Indo-Greek history and coins
• Ancient coinage of the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms
• Text of Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (University of London) mentioning the arrival of the Kushans and the replacement of Greek Language.
• Wargame reconstitution of Indo-Greek armies
• The impact of Greco-Indian Culture on Western Civilisation
• Some new hypotheses on the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms by Antoine Simonin
• Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms in Ancient Texts