Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations

Megasthenes wrote about the prehistoric arrival of the God Dionysus and Herakles (Megasthenes' Herakles) in India.

According to Philostratus, god Dionysus was called Nysian (Νύσιος) by the Indians.[3] Most probably, because according to legend he founded the city of Nysa in India.[4] When Alexander the Great arrived at the city, representatives of the city met him and told him not to capture the city and the land because the god had founded the city and named it Nysa after his nurse and also he named the mountain near the city, Meron (Μηρὸν) (i.e. thigh), because he grew in the thigh of Zeus.[5][6][7] More about the city below at the "Cities and places" section.

In addition, Philostratus mention that at Delphi there was a disk of silver as an offering bearing the inscription: "Dionysus the son of Semele and of Zeus, from the men of India to the Apollo of Delphi" (ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ Ο ΣΕΜΕΛΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΙΟΣ ΑΠΟ ΙΝΔΩΝ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙ ΔΕΛΦΩΙ).[8] Furthermore, he mention that Indians who dwell in the Caucasus and along the river Cophen said that Dionysus was an Assyrian visitor when he came to them, who knew the religious rites of the Theban (according to some Greek myths god Dionysus was born in Thebes) while Indians who inhabit the district between the Indus and the Hydraotes and the continental region beyond, which ends at the river Ganges, declare that Dionysus was son of the river Indus, and that the Dionysus of Thebes was his disciple.[8]

The epic poem Dionysiaca by Nonnus, talked about the god Dionysus’ expedition to India. He also wrote about the Colletes (Ancient Greek: Κολλήτης) who was huge, immense and formidable and his ancestor was the founder of the Indian race.[9]

Apollodorus in Bibliotheca wrote about Dionysus and the Indians.[10]

Polyaenus wrote that after Dionysus had subdued the Indians, he formed an alliance with them and the Amazons, and took them into his service. He later used them in his campaign against the Bactria.[11]

Hydaspes was personified by the Greeks as a river god. He supported the Indians in their war against the invading armies of the god Dionysus.

Ganges was personified by the Greeks as a river god. Limaee was the Naiad-nymph of a lake in India and daughter of the river Ganges. She had a son named Athis.[12]

In Greek Anthology, Philodemus wrote that Perseus was in love with the Indian Andromeda.[13]

Apollodorus in Bibliotheca wrote that Medus conquered many barbarians and called the whole country under him Media. But when he was marching against the Indians he died.[14]

Dictys Cretensis, author of a pseudo-chronicle of the Trojan War, wrote that "Memnon, the son of Tithonus and Aurora, arrived with a large army of Indians and Ethiopians; a truly remarkable army which consisted of thousands and thousands of men with various kinds of arms, and surpassed the hopes and prayers even of Priam."[15]

Apollonius Rhodius in Argonautica wrote about Nysean, son of Zeus, who had left the tribes of the Indians and came to dwell at Thebes.[16]

Ancient Greek writers have written about Manticore, a monstrous creature which lived in India.[17][18][19]

Greek writers wrote that there were Cynocephaly (dog-headed) tribes in India.[20][21]

Eratosthenes said that the Macedonians, seeing a cavern in the land of the Parapamisadians, and hearing a certain legend which was current among the natives, or themselves forming a conjecture, spread the report that this forsooth was the cave where Prometheus had been bound.[22]

According to the Latin Letter from Alexander the Great to Aristotle[lower-alpha 1] a creature called Odontotyrannos attacked Alexander's men at their camp in India.

John Malalas has mixed the fictionalized work of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, Alexander Romance, with other materials and wrote about an affair of Alexander the Great with Kandake, adding that they got married. Malalas wrote that Kandake was an Indian queen and Alexander met her during his Indian campaign.[23][24][25]

Aulus Gellius in Attic Nights mentioned that some writers wrote that, in the mountains of India, there are men who have the heads of dogs. They bark and feed upon birds and wild animals. And that there is also a tribe in farthest India with bodies that are rough and covered with feathers like birds, who eat no food but live by inhaling the perfume of flowers.[26]

Antigonus of Carystus,[27] Aristotle[28] and Ctesias wrote that there were Indian donkeys (ἰνδικὸς ὄνος) which were one-horned.[29] Animals similar to Unicorns.

Greek astronomical texts were translated into Sanskrit.[49] Yavaneśvara, translated the Yavanajataka, one of the earliest writings of Indian astrology, from Greek to Sanskrit. The zodiac signs introduced into India by the Greeks.[50]

Later, the Romaka Siddhanta is based on the astronomical learning of the Byzantine Empire.[51][52]

The Gargi Samhita states: "The Yavanas (Greeks) are barbarians, yet the science of astronomy originated with them and for this they must be honored".[53]

Map of Alexander the Great's empire and the route he, Pyrrho, Anaxarchus, and Onesicritus took to India

Aristotle’s knowledge of India came essentially from Scylax and Ctesias. He quoted Scylax to refer to Indian politics and mentions seven Indian animals, by clearly drawing on Ctesias.[30]

The Peripatetic philosopher Clearchus of Soli, traveled to the east to study Indian religions.[54]

Diogenes Laërtius wrote that Anaxarchus, Pyrrho's teacher, met and spoke with Indian gymnosophists and magi.[55]

The Cynic philosopher Onesicritus wrote about the gymnosophists, the people and the landscape of India.[30]

The Peripatetic philosopher Theophrastus, in his book on history of plants contains an excursus on Indian species.[30] Also, in his work "On stones" describe rocks, stones and gems that are produced in India.[56]

The Greek sophist Philostratus, in his work Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Greek: Βίος Απολλωνίου του Τυανέως), mention that the Greek philosopher Apollonius have travelled to India.

The Academic Skeptic philosopher Favorinus owned an Indian slave[57] named Autolekythos.[58]

Ptolemy, wrote about the Brahmanas (Greek: Βραχμάναι Μάγοι),[34] Narmada River and more.

Clement of Alexandria wrote about India, Gymnosophists, Brahmans, Buddha, etc.[59]

The Christian polemicist Eusebius citing Aristocles of Messene said an Indian conversed with Socrates in Athens.[60]

And Aristoxenus the musician said that this argument comes from the Indians. For a man of that people met Socrates in Athens and asked him what his philosophy was about; and when he said that he was investigating human life, the Indian laughed at him, saying that no one could understand human affairs if he ignored the divine. Whether this is true, no one can say for sure. [61]

Varāhamihira, in a passage where he calls on the people to honour the Brahmans, said: “the Greeks, though impure, must be honoured, since they are trained in sciences, and therein excelled others. What, then are we to say of a Brahman, if he combines with his purity the height of science?”[62]

The Sophist Dio Chrysostom mentioned India in his work Discourses and wrote that Homer's poetry is sung in India.[63]

The Greek theologian Pantaenus was said to have traveled to India.

The philosopher Pyrrho accompanied Alexander the Great on his Indian campaign, According to Diogenes Laërtius, Pyrrho developed his philosophy of Pyrrhonism in India when Pyrrho was there during the conquest of Alexander the Great. According to Christopher I. Beckwith's analysis, Pyrrho's philosophy was strikingly similar to the Buddhist three marks of existence,[64] indicating that Pyrrho's teaching is based on Buddhism.

Because of the high degree of similarity between Nāgārjuna's philosophy and Pyrrhonism, particularly the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus[65] Thomas McEvilley suspects that Nāgārjuna was influenced by Greek Pyrrhonist texts imported into India.[66]

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greeks, leading to the Greco-Buddhist cultural syncretism. The arts of the Indian sub-continent were also quite affected by Hellenistic art during and after these interactions. (Hellenistic influence on Indian art). The iconography of Vajrapani is clearly that of the hero Heracles, with varying degrees of hybridization.[67] Menander I was one of the patrons of Buddhism, he also was the subject of the Milinda Panha.

Dharmaraksita was a Greek who was converted to Buddhism. He was one of the missionaries sent by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to proselytize Buddhism.

Mahadharmaraksita was a Greek Buddhist master, who according to Mahāvaṃsa traveled to Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka together with 30,000 Greek Buddhist monks from Alexandria of the Caucasus.[68] In addition, Mahāvaṃsa mention how early Buddhists from Sri Lanka went to Alexandria of the Caucasus to learn Buddhism.[68]

The Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka, which are among the Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts of the Indian Emperor Ashoka were written in the Greek language. In addition, the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription was written in Greek and Aramaic.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus is also mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as a recipient of the Buddhist proselytism of Ashoka:

Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-Servant-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it [conquest by Dhamma] has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas 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. Rock Edict Nb13 (S. Dhammika)

At the Battle of Gaugamela, Darius used Indian troops against Alexander the Great. Later, Alexander's army fought the Indian army of King Porus at the Indian campaign of Alexander the Great. Plutarch wrote about the battle at his work Parallel Lives, "Life of Alexander". The Indian King Ambhi (Greeks called him Taxiles in their scripts) supported Alexander with his forces. Philostratus the Elder in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana wrote that in the army of Porus there was an elephant who fought brave against Alexander's army and Alexander dedicated it to the Helios (Sun) and named it "Ajax", because he thought that a so great animal deserved a great name. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to the Helios" (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ).[69] Alexander, also met and talked with Indian gymnosophists, including Dandamis and Kalanos.[70]

Alexander let the Taxiles and Porus to keep their kingdoms[71] and added Paropamisadae to the kingdom of Oxyartes.[72] In addition, he gave to Peithon[72][71] and Philip Indian satrapies.

Indo-Greek kingdoms were founded by the successor of Alexander the Great. (Greek conquests in India)

According to Indian sources, Greek troops seem to have assisted Chandragupta Maurya in toppling the Nanda Dynasty and founding the Mauryan Empire.[73]

Later, Seleucus I army encountered Chandragupta army. Chandragupta and Seleucus finally concluded an alliance. Seleucus gave him his daughter in marriage, ceded the territories of Arachosia, Herat, Kabul and Makran and he received 500 war elephants.

Bindusara, the second Mauryan emperor of India, had diplomatic relations and very friendly feelings towards the Greeks. He even asked from Antiochus I Soter to sent him a Greek sophist for his court.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus is recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court at Pataliputra in India,[74] probably to Emperor Ashoka:

"But [India] has been treated of by several other Greek writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast resources of these nations." Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. 21 [75]

Polybius wrote about the use of Indian elephants in battles and about the alliance between the Indian king Sophagasenus and Antiochus III the Great.[76]

Diodorus, quoting Iambulus, mentioned that the king of Pataliputra had a "great love for the Greeks".[77][78]

The Greek historian Apollodorus and the Roman historian Justin, affirmed that the Bactrian Greeks conquered India. Justin, also described Demetrius I as "King of the Indians". Greek and Indian sources indicate that the Greeks campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat following a coup in Bactria in 170 BC.

The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 110 BCE in present-day central India in Vidisha, by Heliodorus (Greek: Ἡλιόδωρος), a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra. The site is located about 5 miles from the Buddhist stupa of Sanchi.

The Roman Emperor Augustus received envoys from the Saka King. They gave him a letter which was written in Greek and asked for some diplomatic requests.[79][80][41]

The King Phraotes received a Greek education at the court of his father and spoke Greek fluently.[81]

Tamil poems described the Greek soldiers who served as mercenaries for Indian kings as: "The valiant-eyed Yavanas, whose bodies were strong and of terrible aspect".[82]

Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher said that some of the troops of Mara in the Gandhara sculptures may represent Greek mercenaries.[83]

Roman trade in the subcontinent according to the Periplus Maris Erythraei 1st century CE

During the Roman and Byzantine period there were trade relations. (Indo-Roman trade relations)

The Isidore of Charax in his work The Parthian Stations (Ancient Greek: Σταθμοί Παρθικοί) described the trade route between the Levant and India in the 1st century BC.[84]

The so-called Muziris papyrus which is written in Greek, contains crucial information regarding the cargo of a ship named the Hermapollon that sailed back to Egypt from the Muziris in India.[85] Muziris is also mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as one of the Indian ports that Greek ships were sailing.[86]

Some of the Indian ports that Greek merchants were visiting where Muziris, Barygaza, Barbarikon, Minnagara, Ujjain and Ariaca.

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was a manual written in Greek for navigators who carried trade between Roman Empire and other regions, including ancient India. It gives detailed information about the ports, routes and commodities.

Procopius writes that, when Byzantines didn't want to purchase, any longer, their silk from the Persians, due to their conflicts, some monks coming from India, who had also spent a long time in a country called Serinda (Ancient Greek: Σηρίνδα) and was beyond India, talked with the Emperor Justinian and promised to settle the silk question and the Byzantines would not need to buy again the silk from the Persians.[87]

The Greek explorer Scylax, in about 515 BC, was sent by King Darius I of Persia to follow the course of the Indus River and discover where it led.

Nearchus, described India and the people living there.[30]

The Greek ethnographer and explorer of the Hellenistic period, Megasthenes was the ambassador of Seleucus I at India. In his work, Indika (Greek: Ινδικά), he wrote the history of Indians and their culture. Megasthenes also mentioned the prehistoric arrival of God Dionysus and Herakles (Megasthenes' Herakles) in India.

The successor of Megasthenes, Deimachus, also wrote about India.[30]

Zarmanochegas, met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch and later he also traveled to Athens where he burnt himself to death.[88][89] Plutarch wrote that at Athens his "Indian tomb" was still there to his days.[90]

Eudoxus of Cyzicus and Hippalus traveled to Indian with their ships.

The Suda, a 10th Century Byzantine encyclopedia mentioned that when Theophilos the Indian returned from India he spent time in Antioch and the Emperor Constantius II treated him with all honor and respect.[91]

Sozomen, wrote that Meropius (Μερόπιός), a philosopher of Tyre, traveled together with two of his relatives, Frumentius (Φρουμέντιός) and Edesius (Ἐδέσιος) to India.[92][93]

The Christian Topography by Cosmas Indicopleustes was an essay in scientific geography written in Greek with illustrations and maps. The work mentioned India and the writer Cosmas Indicopleustes had actually made the journey and he described and sketched some of what he saw in his Topography. Indicopleustes means "Cosmas who sailed to India".

According to legend the god Dionysus founded the city of Nysa and he named the mountain near the city, Meron (Μηρὸν) (i.e. thigh), because he grew in the thigh of Zeus.[5][6] When Alexander arrived at the city, together with his Companion cavalry went to the mountain and they made ivy garlands and crowned themselves with them, as they were, singing hymns in honor of Dionysus. Alexander also offered sacrifices to Dionysus, and feasted in company with his companions.[6]

Alexander the Great ordered the Philip to built the Alexandria on the Indus.

Pliny the Elder wrote that Nearchus founded the town of Arbis during his voyage to India.[94]

At the Anuradhapura Kingdom in Sri Lanka, there was a Greek settlement. Professor Merlin Peris, former Professor of Classics at the University of Peradeniya, wrote that “The Greeks whom King Pandukabhaya settled in the West Gate of Anuradhapura were not second or third generation of Greeks who arrived in northwest India but were men who, just two decades ago at the most, left Greek homelands as Alexander’s camp followers and come to Sri Lanka with or in the wake of Alexander’s troops. When their fellow Greeks showed reluctance to push further south, these Greeks apparently had done so.”[95] Greeks called Sri Lanka as Taprobana.

The city of Sirkap was founded by Demetrius I of Bactria.

Panchaia was an island paradise located in the Indian Ocean mentioned by Greek writers.

Claudius Aelianus wrote that there were Macedonians who settled in India in the cities founded by Alexander.[40]

Stephanus of Byzantium wrote about a city called Daedala or Daidala (Ancient Greek: Δαίδαλα) in India,[96] which he called it Indo-cretan city, most probably because it was a settlement of Cretan mercenaries.[97]

• Greco-Buddhism
• Greco-Buddhist monasticism
• Greco-Buddhist Art
• Gandharan Buddhism
• Buddhism and the Roman world
• Religions of the Indo-Greeks
• Buddhas of Bamyan
• Third Buddhist council

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

• Indo–Roman relations
• Indian Ocean trade
• Sino-Roman relations