Indo-Greek Kingdom: Encyclopedia - Indo-Greek Kingdom

Indo-Greek Kingdom

The Indo-Greeks (or sometimes Greco-Indians) designate a series of Greek kings, who invaded and controlled parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 CE. They were the successors in India of the Greco-Bactrian dynasty of Greek kings (the Euthydemids) founded by the military governor Diodotus around 250 BCE when he established the independence of his Bactrian territory from the Seleucid Empire.

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 Ancient Greek, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeologically remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism. The Indo-Greek kings seem to have achieved a level of cultural syncretism with no equivalent in history, the consequences of which are still felt today, particularly through the diffusion and influence of Greco-Buddhist art.

They ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 CE following the invasions of the Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushans, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Historical outline

The Indo-Greek kingdom was established by Demetrius, the son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Occupation of Northern India

Demetrius started the invasion of northern India from 180 BCE, following the destruction of the Mauryan dynasty by the general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then founded the new Indian Sunga dynasty (185–78 BCE). Greek conquest temporarily went as far as the capital Pataliputra in eastern India (today Patna):

The Indian records also describe Greek attacks on Mathura, Panchala, Saketa, and Pataliputra. This is particularly the case of some mentions of the invasion by Patanjali around 150 BCE ^[3], accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Sunga in the Mālavikāgnimitra ^[4], and of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy:

To the south, the Greeks occupied the areas of the Sindh and Gujarat down to the region of Surat (Greek: Saraostus) near Bombay, including the strategic harbour of Barigaza (Bharuch), as attested by several writers (Strabo 11; Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, ch.41) and by coin finds of the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I:

Most likely the conquests east of the Punjab region were made later, during the second half of the century, by the king Menander I.

The city of Sirkap, today in northwestern Pakistan, seems to have been built by Demetrius. The site of Sirkap was built according to the "Hippodamian" grid-plan characteristic of Greek cities. Numerous Hellenistic artifacts have been found, in particular coins of Greco-Bactrian kings and stone palettes representing Greek mythological scenes. Some of them are purely Hellenistic, others indicate an evolution of the Greco-Bactrian styles found at Ai-Khanoum towards more indianized styles. For example, accessories such as Indian ankle bracelets can be found on some representations of Greek mythological figures such as Artemis.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Consolidation

The first invasion was completed by 175 BCE, and the Sungas were confined to the east but, back in Bactria, the usurper Eucratides managed to eradicate the Euthydemid dynasty and occupy territory as far as the Indus, between ca 170 BCE and 150 BCE.

The advances of Eucratides was however checked by the Indo-Greek king Menander I, who asserted himself in the Indian part of the empire, apparently conquered Bactria as indicated by his issue of coins in the Greco-Bactrian style, and even began the last expansions eastwards.

Menander is considered as probably the most successful Indo-Greek king, and the conqueror of the vastest territory. The finds of his coins are the most numerous and the most widespread of all the Indo-Greek kings. In Antiquity, from at least the 1st century CE, the "Menander Mons", or "Mountains of Menander", came to designate the mountain chain at the extreme east of the Indian subcontinent, today's Naga hills and Arakan, as indicated in the Ptolemy world map of the 1st century CE geographer Ptolemy. Presumably the "Menander Mons" were so named because they marked the easternmost extent of his Indian conquests. Menander is also remembered in Budddhist literature (the Milinda Panha) as a convert to Buddhism: he became an arhat whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminescent of the Buddha. 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.

The Indo-Greeks suffered further encroachment in the west of their territory around 125 BCE, following the attack of the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, but around this time the Yuezhi, following a long migration from the border of China, conquered the kingdom of Bactria proper. The remaining domains were divided into two realms: the house of Menander retreated to their territories east of the Jhelum River as far as Mathura, whereas other kings ruled a larger kingdom of Paropamisadae, western Punjab and Arachosia to the south.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Eastern territories

Following Menander's reign, about twenty Indo-Greek kings are known to have ruled in succession in the eastern parts of the Indo-Greek territory. Upon his death, Menander was succeeded by his queen Agathokleia, who for some time acted as regent to their son Strato I.

After around 100 BCE, Indian kings recovered the area of Mathura and Eastern Punjab east of the Ravi River, and started to mint their own coins. The Arjunayanas (area of Mathura) and Yaudheyas mention military victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas", "Victory of the Yaudheyas"). During the 1st century BCE, the Trigartas, Audumbaras and finally the Kunindas (closest to Punjab) also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo-Greek coinage.

The Western king Philoxenus briefly occupied the whole remaining Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab between 100 to 95 BCE, after what the territories fragmented again. The eastern kings regained their territory as far west as Arachosia.

Around 80 BCE, 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. King Hippostratos (65-55 BCE) 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.

Throughout the 1st century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground against the invasion of the Indo-Scythians. They maintained a territory in the eastern Punjab, until the kingdom of the last Indo-Greek king Strato II was taken over by the Indo-Scythian ruler Rajuvula around 10 CE.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Western territories

Heliocles I ruled in the western area of the Indo-Greek territory in the Paropamisadae (around Kabul), after having been displaced from Bactria by the Yuezhi invasions. He over-struck some of his coins over those of Agathokleia, indicating he conquered parts of her territory. A stabilizing alliance with the Yuezhi then seems to have followed, as his successor Zoilos I minted coins showing Heracles' club together with a steppe-type recurve bow inside a victory wreath.

Around eight western Indo-Greek kings are known, the last one being Hermaeus, who reigned until around 70 BCE when his rule was replaced by that of the Yuezhi from neighbouring Bactria. Chinese chronicles (the Hou Hanshu) actually tend to suggest that the Chinese general Wen-Chung had helped negotiate the alliance of Hermaeus with the Yuezhi, against the Indo-Scythians ^[6]. When Hermaeus is depicted on his coins riding a horse, he is equipped with the recurve bow and bow-case of the steppes.

After 70 BCE, the Yuezhi became the new rulers of the Paropamisadae, and minted vast quantities of posthumous issues of Hermaeus up to around 40 CE, when they blend with the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises. The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapadbizes, ruled around 20 BCE, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and celators. The Yuezhi expanded to the east during the 1st century CE, to found the Kushan Empire. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - The Indo-Greeks and Indian culture

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the philhellenic Mauryan empire, and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Sungas.

Demetrius, who organized the invasion, was named Dharmamita ("Friend of the Dharma") in the Indian text of the Yuga-Purana. 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 Appolodotus I bear the mention "Saviour king" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), 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." (Tarn, "The Greeks in Bactria and India").

Also the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in Pali (in the Kharoshthi script) on the back, a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world. Incidentally, these bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were the key in the decipherment of the Kharoshthi script by James Prinsep (1799-1840). Kharoshthi became extinct around the 3rd century CE.

In Indian literature, the Indo-Greeks are described as Yavanas (transliteration of "Ionians"). Direct epigraphical evidence involves the Indo-Greek kings, such as the mention of the "Yavana king" Antialcidas on the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha, or the mention of Menander I in the Buddhist text of the Milinda Panha. 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). The Arya could become Dasa and vice versa.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - The Indo-Greeks and Buddhism

Main article: Greco-Buddhism

The Edicts of Ashoka, inscribed during the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka (273-232 BCE), claim that the Greek populations of the northwestern Indian subcontinent (in today's Afghanistan and ancient Gandhara) had already welcomed Buddhism by around 250 BCE:

After the Greco-Bactrians militarily occupied northern India from around 180 BCE, numerous instances of interaction between Greeks and Buddhism are recorded.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - The conversion of Menander

Menander I, one of the most famous successors of Demetrius, ruled from 150 to 135 BCE. He is presented by Greek authors as an even greater conqueror than Alexander the Great. Strabo (XI.II.I) says Menander was one of the two Bactrian kings who extended their power farthest into India.

Menander, the "Saviour king", seems to have converted to Buddhism, and is described in Buddhist texts as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka. He is famous for his dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena, transmitted to us in the Milinda Panha, which explain that he became a Buddhist arhat:

Upon his death, the honour of sharing his remains was claimed by the various cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in "monuments" (probably stupas), in a parallel with the historic Buddha:

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Buddhist proselytism

During the reign of Menander, the Greek (Pali: Yona, lit: "Ionian") Buddhist monk Mahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita) is said to have come from Alasandra (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus, the city founded by Alexander the Great, near today's Kabul) with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa") at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, indicating the importance of Buddhism within Greek communities in northwestern India, and the prominent role Greek Buddhist monks played in them:

Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such as that of the Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus, describing in Kharoshthi how he enshrined relics of the Buddha. The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the reign of Menander or one his successors in the 1st century BCE (Tarn, p391):

Although the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and Northern Asia is usually associated with the Kushans, a century or two later, there is a possibility that it may have been introduced in those areas from Gandhara "even earlier, during the time of Demetrius and Menander" (Puri, "Buddhism in Central Asia").

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Buddhist symbolism

From around 180 BCE, Agathocles and Pantaleon, probable successors to Demetrius I in the Paropamisadae, and the earliest Greek kings to issue Indian-standard square bilingual coins (in Brahmi), depicted the Buddhist lion together with the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. These coins show an unprecedented willingness to adapt to every aspect of the local culture: shape of the coinage, coinage size, language, and religion.

Later, some Indo-Greek coins incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the eight-spoked wheel, such as those of Menander I, as well as his probable grandson Menander II. On these coins, the wheel is associated with the Greek symbols of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory wreath handed over by the goddess Nike.

The ubiquitous symbol of the elephant may or may not have been associated with Buddhism. Interestingly, on some coin series of Antialcidas, the elephant holds the same relationship to Zeus and Nike as the Buddhist wheel on the coin of Menander II, tending to suggest a common meaning for both symbols. Some of the earlier coins of king Apollodotus I directly associate the elephant with Buddhist symbolism, such as the stupa hill surmounted by a star, also seen, for example on the coins of the Mauryan Empire or those of the later Kuninda kingdom. Conversely, the bull is probably associated with Shiva, and often described in an erectile state as on the coins of Apollodotus I.

Also, after the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers, such as Agathokleia, Amyntas, Nicias, Peukolaos, Hermaeus, Hippostratos and Menander II, depicted themselves or their Greek deities forming with the right hand a symbolic gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka mudra (thumb and index joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism signifies the transmission of the Buddha's teaching.

At precisely the same time, right after the death of Menander, several Indo-Greek rulers also started to adopt on their coins the Pali title of "Dharmikasa", meaning "follower of the Dharma" (the title of the great Indian Buddhist king Ashoka was Dharmaraja "King of the Dharma"^[10]). This usage was adopted by Strato I, Zoilos I, Heliokles II, Theophilos, Peukolaos, Menander II and Archebios.

Altogether, the conversion of Menander I to Buddhism suggested by the Milinda Panha seems to have triggered the use of Buddhist symbolism in one form or another on the coinage of close to half of the kings who succeeded him. Especially, all the kings after Menander who are recorded to have ruled in Gandhara (apart from the little known Demetrius III) display Buddhist symbolism in one form or another. On the contrary, none of the kings whose rule was limited to Punjab did display Buddhist signs (with the exception of the powerful Hippostratos, who probably took under his protection many Gandharan Greeks fleeing from the Indo-Scythians (Tarn).).

A 2nd century BCE relief from a Buddhist stupa in Bharhut, in eastern Madhya Pradesh (today at the Indian Museum in Calcutta), represents a foreign soldier with the curly hair of a Greek and the royal headband with flowing ends of a Greek king. In his left hand, he hold a branch of ivy, symbol of Dionysos. Also parts of his dress, with rows of geometrical folds, are characteristically Hellenistic in style. On his sword appears the Buddhist symbol of the three jewels, or Triratana.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Representation of the Buddha

The anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha is absent from Indo-Greek coinage, suggesting that the Indo-Greek kings may have respected the Indian aniconic rule for Buddhist depictions, limiting themselves to Buddhist symbolism only. Consistently with this perspective, the actual depiction of the Buddha would be a later phenomenon, usually dated to the 1st century CE, emerging from the sponsorship of the syncretic Kushan Empire and executed by Greek, and, later, Indian and possibly Roman artists. Datation of Greco-Buddhist statues is generally uncertain, but they are at least firmly established from the 1st century CE.

Another possibility is that the Indo-Greeks may not have considered the Buddha strictly as a God, but rather as an essentially human sage or philosopher, in line with the traditional Nikaya Buddhist doctrine. Just as philosophers were routinely represented in statues (but certainly not on coins) in Antiquity, the Indo-Greek may have initiated anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha in statuary only, possibly as soon as the 2nd-1st century BCE, as advocated by Foucher and suggested by Chinese murals depicting Emperor Wu of Han worshipping Buddha statues brought from Central Asia in 120 BCE (See picture) ). The willingness of ancient Greeks to represent local deities is also attested in Egypt with the creation of the god Serapis in Hellenistic style, an adaptation of the Egyptian god Apis. An Indo-Chinese tradition also explains that Nagasena, also known as Menander's Buddhist teacher, created in 43 BCE in the city of Pataliputra a statue of the Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, which was later brought to Thailand.

Stylistically, Indo-Greek coins generally display a very high level of Hellenistic artistic realism, which declined drastically around 50 BCE with the invasions of the Indo-Scythians, Yuezhi and Indo-Parthians. The first known statues of the Buddha are also very realistic and Hellenistic in style and are more consistent with the pre-50 BCE artistic level seen on coins. This would tend to suggest that the first statues were created between 130 BCE (death of Menander) and 50 BCE, precisely at the time when Buddhist symbolism appeared on Indo-Greek coinage. From that time, Menander and his successors may have been the key propagators of Buddhist ideas and representations: "the spread of Gandhari Buddhism may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may have the development and spread of Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" (Mc Evilly, "The shape of ancient thought", p378)

The representation of the Buddha may also be connected to his progressive deification, which is usually associated with the spread of the Indian principle of Bhakti (personal devotion to a deity). Bhakti is a principle which evolved in the Bhagavata religious movement, and is said to have permeated Buddhism from about 100 BCE, and to have been a contributing factor to the representation of the Buddha in human form. The association of the Indo-Greeks with the Bhagavata movement is documented in the inscription of the Heliodorus pillar, made during the reign of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas (r.c. 115-95 BCE). At that time relations with the Sungas seem to have improved, and some level of religious exchange seems to have occurred. The point of time when bhakti fervour would have encountered the Hellenistic artistic tradition would then be around 100 BCE.

Most of the early images of the Buddha (especially those of the standing Buddha) are anepigraphic, which makes it difficult to have a definite datation. The earliest known image of the Buddha with approximate indications on date is the Bimaran casket, which has been found buried with coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II (or possibly Azes I), indicating a 30-10 BCE date ^[11], although this date is not undisputed. Such datation, as well as the general Hellenistic style and attitude of the Buddha on the Bimaran casket (himation dress, contrapposto attitude, general depiction) would made it a possible Indo-Greek work, used in dedications by Indo-Scythians right after the end of Indo-Greek rule in the area of Gandhara. Since it already displays quite a sophisticated iconography (Brahma and Indra as attendants, Bodhisattvas) in an advanced style, it would suggest much earlier representations of the Buddha were already current by that time, going back to the rule of the Indo-Greeks (Alfred A. Foucher and others).

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Incipient Greco-Buddhist art

Main article: Greco-Buddhist art

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. Rather paradoxically, most Gandharan Hellenistic works of art are usually attributed to the successors of the Indo-Greeks in India, such as the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and the Kushans.

Among others, Foucher, and more recently Boardman have taken the contrary 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 the Indo-Greeks of the 2nd-1st century BCE. 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" (Boardman, p141). Referring to one of the Buddha triads in Hadda (drawing), 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" (Boardman, p143). Many of the works of art at Hadda can also be compared to the style of the 2nd century BCE sculptures at the Temple of Olympia at Bassae in Greece, which could also suggest roughly contemporary dates.

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 CE.

The supposition that such highly Hellenistic and, at the same time Buddhist, works of art belong to the Indo-Greek period would be consistent with the known Buddhist activity of the Indo-Greeks (the Milinda Panha etc...), their Hellenistic cultural heritage which would naturally have induced them to produce extensive statuary, their know artistic proficiency as seen on their coins until around 50 BCE, and the dated appearance of already complex iconography incorporating Hellenistic sculptural codes with the Bimaran casket in the early 1st century CE.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - The Indo-Greeks and other faiths

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Hinduism

The first known bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were issued by Agathocles around 180 BCE. These coins were found in Ai-Khanoum, the great Greco-Bactrian city in northeastern Afghanistan, but introduce for the first time an Indian script (the Brahmi script which had been in use under the Mauryan empire), and the first known representations of Hindu deities, in a very Indian iconography: Krishna-Vasudeva, with his large wheel with six spokes (chakra) and conch (shanka), and his brother Samkarsa-Balarama, with his plough (hala) and pestle (masala), both early avatars of Vishnu ^[12]. The square coins, instead of the usual Greek round coins, also followed the Indian standard for coinage. The dancing girls on some of the coins of Agathocles and Pantaleon are also sometimes considered as representations of Subhadra, Krishna's sister.

These first issues were in several respects a short-lived experiment. Hindu anthropomorphic deities were never again represented in Indo-Greek coinage (although the bull on the vast quantity of subsequent coins may have symbolized Shiva, as the elephant may have symbolized Buddhism), and the Brahmi script was immediately replaced by the Kharoshti script, derived from Aramaic. The general practice however of minting bilingual coins and combining Greek and Indian iconography, sometimes in the Greek and sometimes in the Indian standard continued for the next two centuries.

In any case, these coins suggest the strong presence of Indian religious traditions in the northwestern Indian subcontinent at that time, and the willingness of the Greeks to acknowledge and even promote them. Artistically, they tend to indicate that the Greeks were not particularly reluctant to make representations of local deities, which has some bearing on the later emergence of the image of the Buddha in Hellenistic style.

The Heliodorus pillar inscription is another epigraphical evidence of the interaction between Greeks and Hinduism. The pillar was erected around 110 BCE in central India at the site of Vidisha, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra. The pillar was surmounted by a sculpture of Garuda and was apparently dedicated by Heliodorus to the god Vasudeo in front of the temple of Vasudeva.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Zoroastrianism

Images of the Persian Zoroastrian god Mithra also appear extensively on the Indo-Greek coinage of the Western kings, as a god with a radiated phrygian cap. Located around the Paropamisadae, these kings were geographically in direct contact with the eastern reaches of the Parthian empire.

This Zeus-Mithra god is also the one represented seated (with the rays 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, or possibly even earlier during the time of Eucratides I, on whose coins the deity is said to be the god of the city of Kapisa.

The future Buddha Maitreya, usually represented seated on a throne Western-style, and venerated both in Mahayana and non-Mahayana Buddhism, is sometimes considered as influenced by the god Mithra. "Some scholars suggest he (Maitreya) was originally linked to the Iranian saviour-figure Mitra, and that his later importance for Buddhist as the future Buddha residing in the Tusita heaven, who will follow on from Sakyamuni Buddha, derives from this source." (Keown, Dictionary of Buddhism)

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Indo-Greeks in the art of Gandhara

The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, beyond the omnipresence of Greek style and stylistic elements which might be simply considered as an enduring artistic tradition, 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 BCE 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.

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 BCE, or remaining Greek communities under the rule of the Indo-Parthians or Kushans in the 1st and 2nd century CE.

Buddhist devotees, holding plantain leaves, in purely Hellenistic style, inside Corinthian columns, Buner relief, dated 1st-2nd century CE.

Bacchanalian scene, representing the harvest of wine grapes, Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE.

Drinking scene, with Dionysus and Ariadne on his lap, Greek drinking cups, Greek dress. Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. Dated 3rd century CE.

"The Great Departure", with the Buddha amid Greek deities and costumes.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Scythian and Kushan invasions

From 130 BCE, Indo-European nomads (the Scythians and then the Yuezhi) started to invade Bactria from the north. In 125 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles abandoned Bactria and moved his capital to the Kabul valley, from where he ruled his Indian holdings.

While the Yuezhi were to stay in Bactria for more than a century, the Scythians went on to the south-east into northern Pakistan to form Indo-Scythian kingdoms, seemingly recognizing the power of the local Indo-Greeks rulers there.

The Indo-Scythian king Maues occupied Gandhara and Taxila around 80 BCE, but his kingdom dislocated upon his death and the Indo-Greeks prospered again, as suggested by the rich coinage of kings Apollodotus II and Hippostratos, until Azes I permanently established Indo-Scythian rule in the northwest in 55 BCE. The coins of the Indo-Scythians displayed Greek legends and Greek divinities such as Zeus or Nike.

Towards the end of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings seem to have received the support of the Chinese Empire. The Chinese Historical Chronicles Hou Hanshu describe the alliance between the Chinese general Wen-Chung, commander of the border area in western Gansu and on a mission to Ki-pin (Kabul valley), and Yin-Mo-Fu (Hermaeus), "son of the king of Yung-Kiu" (Yonaka, the Greeks) around 50 BCE. They attacked Ki-Pin, then under the control of the Indo-Scythians, and Yin-Mo-Fu (Hermaeus) was then installed as king of Ki-Pin, as a vassal of the Chinese Empire, and received the Chinese seal and ribbon of investiture. China later lost interest in such remote territories and the alliance died off.

The last king in the western part of the Indo-Greek territory, Hermaeus, was probably replaced around 70 BCE by the phil-hellenic Yuezhi rulers, who maintained the minting of his coinage posthumously until around 40 CE. The last kings of the central areas, such as Hippostratos, were replaced by Indo-Scythian kings around 50 BCE. In the east, some the Indo-Greek kings persisted until the end of the reign of Strato II around 10 CE. Smaller Indo-Greek rulers, such as Theodamas in northern Gandhara, seem to have been ruling Greek communities, without the right of coinage, during the 1st century CE.

The last Indo-Greek kings ruled another half-century in eastern Punjab, until Strato II was overwhelmed by the Indo-Scythian Great Satrap Rajuvula around 10 CE.

The Yuezhi (future Kushans) were in many ways the cultural and political heirs to the Indo-Greeks, as suggested by their adoption of the Greek culture (writing system, Greco-Buddhist art) and their claim to a lineage with the last western Indo-Greek king Hermaeus, as exemplified by the coinage of the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Aftermaths

From the 1st century CE, the Greek communities of central Asia and northwestern India lived under the control of the Kushan branch of the Yuezhi, apart from a short-lived invasion of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. 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.

It is unclear how much longer the Greeks managed to maintain a distinct presence in the Indian sub-continent.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Art and religion

The "Kanishka casket", dated to the first year of Kanishka's reign in 127 CE, was signed by a Greek artist named Agesilas, who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas (caitya), confirming the direct involvement of Greeks with Buddhist realizations at such a late date.

Greek representations and artistic styles, with some possible admixtures from the Roman world, continued to maintain a strong identity down to the 3rd–4th century, as indicated by the archaeological remains of such sites as Hadda in eastern Afghanistan.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Astronomy

The earliest Indian writing on astronomy, the "Yavanajataka" or "Saying of the Greeks", is a translation from Greek to Sanskrit made by "Yavanesvara" ("Lord of the Greeks") in 149–150 CE under the rule of the Western Kshatrapa king Rudrakarman I.

Indian astronomy is widely acknowledged to be derived from the Alexandrian school, and its technical nomenclature is essentially Greek: "The Yavanas are barbarians, yet the science of astronomy originated with them and for this they must be reverenced like gods" (The Gargi-Samhita).

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Military role

At the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the Central India Satavahana king Gautamiputra Sātakarni (r. 106–130 CE) would call himself "Destroyer of Sakas (Western Kshatrapas), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians)" in his inscriptions, suggesting a continued presence of the Indo-Greeks until that time.

Around 200 CE, the Manu Smriti describes the downfall of the Yavanas, as well as many others:

"43. But in consequence of the omission of the sacred rites, and of their not consulting Brahmanas, the following tribes of Kshatriyas have gradually sunk in this world to the condition of Shudras;
44. (Viz.) the Paundrakas, the Chodas, the Dravidas, the Kambojas, the Yavanas, the Shakas, the Paradas, the Pahlavas, the Chinas, the Kiratas, the Daradas and the Khashas." (Manusmritti, X.43-44)

The Brihat-Katha-Manjari text of the Sanskrit poet Kshmendra (11th and 12th centuries) (10/1/285-86) relates that around 400 CE the Gupta king Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians" like the Shakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas etc… by annihilating these "sinners" completely.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Linguistic legacy

A few common Greek words were adopted in Sanskrit, such as words related to writing:

• "ink" (Sankrit: melā, Greek: μέλαν "melan")
• "pen" (Sanskrit:kalamo, Greek:κάλαμος "kalamos")
• "book" (Sankrit: pustaka, Greek: πύξινον "puxinon")

There are also a few words related to warfare:

• a "horse's bit" (Sanskrit: khalina, Greek: χαλινός "khalinos")
• a "siege mine" (used to undermine the wall of a fortress): (Sanskrit: surungā, Greek: σύριγγα "suringa")

From the inscription of Rabatak we have the following information, tending to indicate that Greek was in official use until the time of Kanishka (circa 120 CE):

The Greek language was probably still "alive" during the time of Kanishka, as this king introduced a new title in Greek on his early coins (BACIΛEΥC BACIΛEWΝ, "King of Kings" in the nominative), as well as the name of Greek deities such as HΛIOC (Sun god Helios), HΦAHCTOC (Fire god Hephaistos), and CAΛHNH (Moon god Selene).

The Greek script was used not only on coins, but also in manuscripts and stone inscriptions as late as the period of Islamic invasions in the 7th-8th century.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Influence of Indo-Greek coinage

Overall, the coinage of the Indo-Greeks remained extremely influencial for several centuries throughout the Indian subcontinent:

• The direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in the northwest, the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians continued displaying their kings within a legend in Greek, and on the obverse Greek deities.

• To the south, the Western Kshatrapas (1st-4th century CE) represented their kings in profile with circular legends in corrupted Greek.
• In central India, the Satavahanas (2nd century BCE- 2nd century CE) also adopted the practice of representing their kings in profile, within circular legends.
• The Kushans (1st-4th century CE) used the Greek language on their coinage until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka, whence they adopted the Bactrian language, written with the Greek script.
• The Guptas (4th-6th century CE), in turn imitating the Western Kshatrapas, also showed their rulers in profile, within a legend in corrupted Greek, in the coinage of their western territories.

The latest use of the Greek script on coins corresponds to the rule of the Turkish Shahi of Kabul, around 850 CE. As late as the 13th century, the Sultan of Delhi Mohammad I (1295-1315), one of the first Muslim rulers of northern India, would use on his coins the title Sikander el-sani ("The second Alexander"), in a reference to his famous predecessor in the conquest of India ^[13].

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Genetic contribution

Limited population genetics studies have been made on genetic markers such as mitochondrial DNA in the populations of the Indian subcontinent, to estimate the contribution of the Greeks to the genetic pool. Although some of the markers which are present in a large proportion of Greeks today have not been found, the Greek/European genetic contribution to the Punjab region has been estimated between 0%–15%:

"The political influence of Seleucid and Bactrian dynastic Greeks over northwest India, for example, persisted for several centuries after the invasion of the army of Alexander the Great (Tarn 1951). However, we have not found, in Punjab or anywhere else in India, Y chromosomes with the M170 or M35 mutations that together account for 30% in Greeks and Macedonians today (Semino et al. 2000). Given the sample size of 325 Indian Y chromosomes examined, however, it can be said that the Greek homeland (or European, more generally, where these markers are spread) contribution has been 0%–3% for the total population or 0%–15% for Punjab in particular. Such broad estimates are preliminary, at best. It will take larger sample sizes, more populations, and increased molecular resolution to determine the likely modest impact of historic gene flows to India on its pre-existing large populations." (Kivisild et al. "Origins of Indian Casts and Tribes" ^[14]).

Some pockets of Greek populations probably remained for some time, and to this day, some communities in the Hindu Kush claim to be descendants of the Greeks, such as the Kalasha and Hunza in Pakistan, and the neighbouring Nuristani in Afghanistan.

One can not assume however that the present Greek population is representative of the Macedonian army under Alexander. This army probably contained a large number of Persians and other groups such as Scythians and Thracians.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Greco-Roman exchanges with India

Although the political power of the Greeks had waned in the north, mainly due to nomadic invasions, trade relations between the Mediterranean and India continued for several centuries. Maritime relations had started around the 3rd century BCE, when the Ptolemies constructed the Red Sea ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike, with destination the Indus delta and the Kathiawar peninsula. Around 130 BCE, Eudoxus of Cyzicus is reported (Strabo, Geog.  II.3.4 ^[15]) to have made a successful voyage to India and returned with a cargo of perfumes and gemstones.

This trade kept on increasing, and according to Strabo (II.5.12), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India. So much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the Kushans for their own coinage, that Pliny (NH VI.101) complained about the drain of specie to India. In practice, this trade was still handled by Greek middlemen, as all the recorded names of ship captains for the period are Greek.

In India, the ports of Barbaricum (where Karachi stands today), Barygaza, and Muziris and Arikamedu on the southern tip of India were the main centers of this trade. Ptolemy described Muzuris as "a port packed with Greek ships" (VII.I.8), and the Tamil Sangam describes that "fine vessels, masterpieces of Yavana workmanship, arrive with gold and depart with pepper". In the south, the main trading partners were the Tamil dynasties of the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. The 2nd century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes Greco-Roman merchants selling in Barbaricum "thin clothing, figured linens, topaz, coral, storax, frankincense, vessels of glass, silver and gold plate, and a little wine" in exchange for "costus, bdellium, lycium, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, Seric skins, cotton cloth, silk yarn, and indigo". In Barygaza, they would buy wheat, rice, sesame oil, cotton and cloth. At Cape Comorin and in Sri Lanka, they would buy pearls and gems.

Also various exchanges are recorded between India and Rome during this period. In particular, embassies from India, as well as several missions from "Sramanas" to the Roman emperors are known (see Buddhism and the Roman world).

Finally, Roman goods and works of art found their way to the Kushans, as archaeological finds in Begram have confirmed.

See also: Roman commerce

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Main Indo-Greek kings timeline and territories

There were over 30 Indo-Greek kings, often in competition on different territories. Many of them are only known through their coins.

Not strictly an Indo-Greek king, Sophytes (305-294) was an independent Greek prince in the Punjab, following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Many of the dates, territories, and relationships between Indo-Greek kings are tentative and essentially based on numismatic analysis (find places, overstrikes, monograms, metallurgy, styles), a few Classical writings, and Indian writings and epigraphic evidence. The following list of kings, dates and territories after the reign of Demetrius is derived from the latest and most extensive analysis on the subject, by Osmund Bopearachchi ("Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné", 1991).

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Eastern territories

The descendants of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus invaded northern India around 180 BCE as far as Pataliputra, before retreating to the area between the Hindu-Kush and Mathura, where they ruled most of the northwestern Indian subcontinent:

• Demetrius I (reigned c. 200–170 BCE) Son of Euthydemus I. Greco-Bactrian king, and conqueror of India. Coins

The territory ruled by Demetrius, from Bactria to Pataliputra, was then separated between western and eastern parts, and ruled by several sub-kings and successor kings. The Western part made of Bactria was ruled by a succession of Greco-Bactrian kings until the end of the reign of Heliocles around 130 BCE. The Eastern part, made of the Paropamisadae, Arachosia, Gandhara and Punjab, sometimes as far as Mathura, was ruled by a succession of kings, called "Indo-Greek":

Territories of Paropamisadae to Mathura (house of Euthydemus)

• Agathocles (190-180 BCE) Coins
• Pantaleon (190-185 BCE)
• Apollodotus I (reigned c. 180–160 BCE)
• Antimachus II Nikephoros (160-155 BCE)

Coins

• Demetrius II (155-150 BCE)

The usurper Eucratides managed to eradicate the Euthydemid dynasty and occupy territory as far as he Indus, between 170 and 145 BCE. Eucratides was then murdered by his son, thereafter Menander I seems to have regained all of the territory as far west as the Hindu-Kush

Territory from Hindu-Kush to Mathura (150 - 125 BCE):

• Menander I (reigned c. 150–125 BCE). Successor to Apollodotus. Married to Agathocleia. Legendary for the size of his Kingdom, and his support of the Buddhist faith. Coins
• Agathokleia (r.c. 130-125 BCE), Probably widow of Menander, Queen-Mother and regent for her son Strato I. Coins

After the death of Menander I, his successors seem to have been pushed back east to Gandhara, losing the Paropamisadae and Arachosia to a Western Indo-Greek kingdom. Some years later the Eastern kings probably had to retreat even further, to Western Punjab.

Territory from Gandhara/Western Punjab to Mathura (125 - 100 BCE):

• Strato I (125 - 110 BCE) Coin, son of Menander and Agathokleia
• Heliokles II (110 - 100 BCE) Coins

The following minor kings who ruled parts of the kingdom:

• Polyxenios (c. 100 BCE - possibly in Gandhara)
• Demetrius III Aniketos (c. 100 BCE).

After around 100 BCE, Indian kings recovered the area of Mathura and Eastern Punjab east of the Ravi River, and started to mint their own coins.

The Western king Philoxenus briefly occupied the whole remaining Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab between 100 to 95 BCE, after what the territories fragmented again. The eastern kings regained their territory as far west as Arachosia.

During the 1st century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground against the invasion of the Indo-Scythians, until the last king Strato II ended his ruled in Eastern Punjab around 10 CE.

Territory of Arachosia and Gandhara (95-70 BCE)

• Amyntas (95 - 90 BCE) Coins
• Peukolaos (c. 90 BC)
• Menander II Dikaios "The Just" (90 - 85 BCE) Coins
• Archebios (90 - 80 BCE) (with western Punjab) Coins
• (Maues), Indo-Scythian king.
• Artemidoros (c.80 BCE) Coins.
• Telephos (75 - 70 BCE) Coins

Territory of Western Punjab (95-55 BCE)

• Epander (95 - 90 BCE) Coins
• Archebios (90 - 80 BCE) Coins
• (Maues), Indo-Scythian king
• Thraso (around 80 BCE or earlier)
• Apollodotus II (80 - 65 BCE) (with Eastern Punjab) Coins
• Hippostratos (65 - 55 BCE) Coins, defeated by the Indo-Scythian King Azes I.
• (Azes I). Indo-Scythian king.

Around 80 BCE, parts of Eastern Punjab were regained again:

Territories of Eastern Punjab (80 BCE - 10 CE)

• Apollodotus II (80 - 65 BCE)Coins
• Dionysios (65 - 55 BCE)
• Zoilos II (55 - 35 BCE)
• Apollophanes (35-25 BCE)
• Strato II (25 BCE - 10 CE) Coin
• (Rajuvula), Indo-Scythian king.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Western territories

The following kings ruled the western parts of the Indo-Greek/Graeco-Bactrian realms, which are here referred to as the "Western kingdom". Probably after the death of Menander I, the Paropamisadae and Arachosia broke loose, and the Western kings eventually seem to have extended into Gandhara by the following kings. Several of its rulers are believed to have belonged to the house of Eucratides.

Territories of the Paropamisadae, Arachosia and Gandhara (130 - 95 BCE):

• Zoilos I (130 - 120 BCE´), revolted against the dynasty of Menander.Coins
• Lysias (120 - 110 BCE), probably conquered Gandhara for the Western kingdom. Coins
• Antialcidas (r.c. 115-95 BCE) Coins
• Philoxenus (reigned c. 100- 95 BCE) Coins. Philoxenus ruled in western Punjab as well.

After the death of Philoxenus, the Western kingdom fragmented and never became dominating again. The following kings ruled mostly in the Paropamisadae.

Territory of the Paropamisadae (95-70 BCE)

• Diomedes (95 - 90 BCE)Coin
• Theophilos (c. 90 BCE) Coin
• Nicias (reigned c. 90–85 BCE)
• Hermaeus (reigned c. 90–70 BCE).
• (Yuezhi rulers)

The Yuezhi probably then took control of the Paropamisadae after Hermaeus. The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapadbizes, ruled around 20 BCE, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and celators. The Yuezhi expanded to the east during the 1st century CE, to found the Kushan Empire. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy.

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Indo-Greek princelets Gandhara

After the Indo-Scythian Kings became the rulers of northern India, remaining Greek communities were probably governed by lesser Greek rulers, without the right of coinage, into the 1st century CE, in the areas of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara:

• Theodamas (c. 1st century CE) Indo-Greek ruler of the Bajaur area, northern Gandhara.

The Indo-Greeks may have kept a significant military role towards the 2nd century CE as suggested by the inscriptions of the Satavahana kings.

 6th century BCE
 5th century BCE
 4th century BCE

 3rd century BCE
 2nd century BCE

 1st century BCE
 1st century CE


 2nd century CE
 3rd century CE
 4th century CE
 5th century CE
 6th century CE
 7th century CE
 8th century CE
 9th century CE
10th century CE
11th century CE

• Magadha empire
• Nanda empire

• Mauryan empire
• Satavahana empire
• Sunga empire
• Kuninda kingdom

• Gupta empire

• Pratihara
• Pala Empire

• Solanki

• Pandya
  

• Kalinga
• Chera
  

• Chola

• Pallava

• Chalukya
• Rashtrakuta

(Persian rule)
(Greek conquests)

• Indo-Greek kingdom
  

• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kushan Empire
• Western Kshatrapas
• Indo-Sassanians
• Kidarite Kingdom
• Indo-Hephthalites

(First Islamic conquests)

• Shahi

(Islamic invasion of India)

See also

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Seleucid Empire
• Greco-Buddhism
• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kushan Empire

Indo-Greek Kingdom - Notes

1. ^  Wider image of the stupa with the three structures (Greek, Buddhist, Hindu):Image
2. ^  Photography of the Buddha-Herakles-Tyche triad in Hadda: Image, and close-up of Herakles (middle of the text): Image
3. ^  Patanjali, a grammarian and commentator on Panini, gave in the Mahābhāsya two grammatical examples of the imperfect tense in Sanskrit, used to denote a recent event: "Arunad Yavanah Sāketam" ("The Yavana were besieging Saketa"), and "Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām" ("The Yavana was besieging Madhyamika"). The Mahābhāsya is usually said to have been written around 150 BCE ("Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16).
4. ^  The Mālavikāgnimitra, a play by Kālidāsa describes a battle between Greek forces and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, during the later's reign. ("Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16)
5. ^  Strabo on the extent of the conquests of the Greco-Bactrians/Indo-Greeks: "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 -- by Menander in particular (at least if he actually crossed the Hypanis towards the east and advanced as far as the Imaüs), for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus the king of the Bactrians; and 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 Full text)
6. ^  Following the embassy of Zhang Qian in Central Asia around 126 BCE, from around 110 BCE "more and more envoys (from China) were sent to Anxi (Parthia), Yancai, Lixuan, Tiazhi, and Shendu (India)... The largest embassies to foreign states numbered several hundred person, while even the smaller parties included over 100 members" ("Records of the Grand Historian", by Sima Qian, trans. Robert Watson, p240-241). According to the Hou Hanshu, W'ou-Ti-Lao (Spalirises), king of Ki-pin (Kophen, upper Kabul valley), killed some Chinese envoys. After the death of the king, his son (Spaladagames) sent an envoy to China with gifts. The Chinese general Wen-Chung, commander of the border area in western Gansu, accompanied the escort back. W'ou-Ti-Lao's son formented to kill Wen-Chung. When Wen-Chung discovered the plot, he allied himself with Yin-Mo-Fu (Hermaeus), "son of the king of Yung-Kiu" (Yonaka, the Greeks). They attacked Ki-Pin (possibly with the support of the Yuezhi, themselves allies of the Chinese since around 100 BCE according to the Hou Hanshu) and killed W'ou-Ti-Lao's son. Yin-Mo-Fu (Hermaeus) was then installed as king of Ki-Pin, as a vassal of the Chinese Empire, and receiving the Chinese seal and ribbon of investiture. Later Yin-Mo-Fu (Hermaeus) himself is recorded to have killed Chinese envoys in the reign of Emperor Yuan-ti (48-33 BCE), then sent envoys to apologize to the Chinese court, but he was disregarded. During the reign of Emperor Ching-ti (51-7 BCE) other envoys were sent, but they were rejected as simple traders. (Tarn, "The Greeks in Bactria and India")
7. ^  The Crossroads of Asia, p62
8. ^  Plutarch "Political precepts", p147-148 Full text
9. ^  Chapter XXIX of the Mahavamsa: Text
10. ^ Original text of the inscription, in Gandhari: Text
11. ^  "Crossroads of Asia", p12
12. ^  "In the art of Gandhara, the first known image of the standing Buddha and approximatively dated, is that of the Bimaran reliquary, which specialists attribute to the Indo-Scythian period, more particularly to the rule of Azes II" (Christine Sachs, "De l'Indus à l'Oxus").
13. ^  "Crossroads of Asia", p10
14. ^  Greek impact on the genetics of India (last paragraph):Text
15. ^  Strabo II.3.4‑5 on Eudoxus

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