Indo - Greek kingdom - wikipedia Indo - Greek kingdom Indo - Greek Kingdom 180 BC -- AD 10 Indo - Greek Kingdoms in 100 BC Capital Alexandria in the Caucasus Sirkap / Taxila Chiniot Sagala / Sialkot Pushkalavati / Charsadda Languages Greek ( Greek alphabet ) Pali ( Kharoshthi script ) Sanskrit Prakrit ( Brahmi script ) Religion Buddhism Ancient Greek religion Hinduism Zoroastrianism Government Monarchy King 180 -- 160 BC Apollodotus I 25 BC -- AD 10 Strato II & Strato III Historical era Antiquity Established 180 BC Disestablished AD 10 Area 2,500,000 km ( 970,000 sq mi ) Preceded by Succeeded by Greco - Bactrian Kingdom Indo - Scythians Today part of Pakistan Afghanistan India Turkmenistan Part of a series on the Indo - Greek Kingdom History Ancient sources Religion Art Legacy The Indo - Greek Kingdom or Graeco - Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom covering various parts of the northwest regions of South Asia ( mainly modern Afghanistan and Pakistan ) during the last two centuries BC and was ruled by more than thirty kings, often in conflict with each other. The kingdom was founded when the Graeco - Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the subcontinent early in the 2nd century BC. The Greeks in South Asia were eventually divided from the Graeco - Bactrians centered in Bactria ( now the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan ), and the Indo - Greeks in present - day north - western South Asia. The most famous Indo - Greek ruler was Menander ( Milinda ). He had his capital at Sakala in the Punjab ( present - day Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan ). The expression `` Indo - Greek Kingdom '' loosely describes a number of various dynastic polities, traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals like Taxila, ( modern Punjab ( Pakistan ) ), Pushkalavati and Sagala. Other potential centers are only hinted at ; for instance, Ptolemy 's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophila in the south of the Indo - Greek sphere of influence may also have been a satrapal or royal seat at one time. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius a Magnesian Greek. His son, Demetrius, founder of the Indo - Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek descent from his father at minimum. A marriage treaty was arranged for Demetrius with a daughter of Antiochus III the Great, who had partial Persian descent. The ethnicity of later Indo - Greek rulers is less clear. 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 Hindu, Buddhist and ancient Greek religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism, pointing to a rich fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences. The diffusion of Indo - Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco - Buddhist art. 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 and Kushans. Later still, the Kidarites and Alchon Huns would again invade Central India and bring dramatic changes to the sub-continent. Contents 1 Background 1.1 Preliminary Greek presence in South Asia 1.2 Greek rule in Bactria 1.3 Rise of the Shungas ( 185 BC ) 2 History of the Indo - Greek kingdom 2.1 Nature and quality of the sources 2.2 Expansion of Demetrius into India 2.2. 1 First bilingual monetary system 2.3 Conquests of Menander I 2.3. 1 Archaeological remains 2.3. 2 Western accounts 2.3. 2.1 Rule in Mathura 2.3. 2.2 Indian sources 2.4 Consolidation 2.4. 1 Fall of Bactria and death of Menander 2.4. 2 Preservation of the Indo - Greek realm 2.5 Interractions with Indian culture and religions 2.5. 1 Indo - Greeks in the regions of Vidisha and Sanchi ( 115 BC ) 2.5. 2 Indo - Greeks and Bharhut ( 100 - 75 BC ) 2.5. 3 Sanchi Yavanas ( 50 - 0 BC ) 2.6 Decline 2.6. 1 Loss of Hindu Kush territories ( 70 BC - ) 2.6. 2 Loss of Central territories ( 48 / 47 BC ) 2.6. 3 Loss of Eastern territories ( 10 AD ) 2.6. 4 Later contributions 3 Ideology 4 Religion 4.1 Interactions with Buddhism 4.2 `` Followers of the Dharma '' 4.3 Blessing gestures 4.4 Bhagavata cult 5 Art 6 Economy 6.1 Coinage 6.2 Tribute payments 6.3 Trade with China 6.4 Indian Ocean trade 7 Armed forces 7.1 Military technology 7.2 Size of Indo - Greek armies 8 Legacy of the Indo - Greeks 9 Indo - Greek kings : their coins, territories and chronology 10 See also 11 References 11.1 Footnotes 11.2 Works cited 12 External links Background Preliminary Greek presence in south Asia Pataliputra Palace capital, showing Greek and Persian influence, early Mauryan Empire period, 3rd century BC. In 326 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis River, and established satrapies and founded several settlements, including Bucephala ; he turned south when his troops refused to go further east. 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 remaining Greek troops in these satrapies were left under the command of 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, 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 armed 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, 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. 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 to Chandragupta his northwestern territories, possibly as far as Arachosia and received 500 war elephants ( which played a key role in the victory of Seleucus at the Battle of Ipsus ) : 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 ) The details of the marriage agreement are not known, 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, 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 Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription ( Greek and Aramaic ) by king Ashoka, from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Also several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes, followed by Deimachus and Dionysius, were sent to reside at the Mauryan court. Presents continued to be exchanged between the two rulers. The intensity of these contacts is testified by the existence of a dedicated Mauryan state department for Greek ( Yavana ) and Persian foreigners, or the remains of Hellenistic pottery that can be found throughout northern India. 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, that Greek populations within his realm also had 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. -- 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 ), and that he developed herbal medicine in their territories, for the welfare of humans and animals ( Edict No. 2 ). 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, or the teacher Mahadharmaraksita, are described in Pali sources as leading Greek ( `` Yona '', i.e., Ionian ) Buddhist monks, active in Buddhist proselytism ( the Mahavamsa, XII ). It is also thought that Greeks contributed to the sculptural work of the Pillars of Ashoka, and more generally to the blossoming of Mauryan art. 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. 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 : 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 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. 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. 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 ) The new kingdom, highly urbanized and considered as 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 ), 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 ) 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 ) Euthydemus, a Magnesian Greek according to Polybius 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 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 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. 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 ) 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 ) 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 ). Greek influences on Chinese art have also been suggested ( Hirth, Rostovtzeff ). Designs with rosette flowers, geometric lines, and glass inlays, suggestive of Hellenistic influences, can be found on some early Han dynasty bronze mirrors. 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, 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 ). 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. 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. 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 ; 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 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. 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 and Romila Thapar 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 : `` 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 History of the Indo - Greek kingdom Main article : History of the Indo - Greek Kingdom Nature and quality of the 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. Main article : Indo - Greeks ( sources ) Some narrative history has survived for most of the Hellenistic world, at least of the kings and the wars ; 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. 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, but modern historians do ; nor does he believe that Menander and Demetrius son of Euthydemus conquered more tribes than Alexander There is half a story about Menander in one of the books of Polybius which has not come down to us intact. There are Indian literary sources, ranging from the Milinda Panha, a dialogue between a Buddhist sage Nagasena and King Menander I, which includes some incidental information on Menander 's biography and the geography and institutions of his kingdom, down to a sentence about Menander ( presumably the same Menander ) and his attack on Pataliputra which happens to have survived as a standard example in grammar texts ; none is a narrative history. 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. There is also significant archaeological evidence, including some epigraphic evidence, for the Indo - Greek kings, such as the mention of the `` Yavana '' embassy of king Antialcidas on the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha, or the Yavanarajya inscription indicating Indo - Greek rule in Mathura. But the chief archaeological evidence comes from the coins of the Indo - Greeks. Expansion of Demetrius into India The founder of the Indo - Greek Kingdom Demetrius I ( c. 205 -- c. 170 BC ), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquests in India. Demetrius I, the son of Euthydemus is generally considered as 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. 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. 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. Demetrius I seems to have conquered the Kabul valley, Arachosia and perhaps Gandhara ; 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. Bopearachchi believes that Demetrius received the title of `` King of India '' following his victories south of the Hindu Kush. He was also given, though perhaps only posthumously, the title ανικητος ( `` Anicetos '', lit. Invincible ) a cult title of Heracles, which Alexander had assumed ; the later Indo - Greek kings Lysias, Philoxenus, and Artemidorus also took it. Finally, Demetrius may have been the founder of a newly discovered Yavana era, starting in 186 / 5 BC. First bilingual monetary system See also : Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara Indian coinage of Agathocles, with lion and Lakshmi, a goddess of fortune and abundance for Buddhists and Hindus. 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 so in their time ( c. 185 -- 170 BC ) the Bactrian kingdom seems to have included Gandhara. These first bilingual coins used the Brahmi script, whereas later kings would generally use Kharoshthi. They also went as far as incorporating Indian deities, such as goddess Lakshmi and Hindu deities, as well as various Indian devices ( lion, elephant, zebu bull ) and symbols, which can also be seen in the Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara. Coin of Agathocles with Hindu deities : Balarama - Samkarshana ( left ) and Vasudeva - Krishna ( right ). 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. 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. 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, where used extensively in their Indian - standard square coinage. 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. Conquests 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 Reh Inscription of Menander, near Kausambi, tends to confirm that Menander was at the head of the Indo - Greek forays into northern India. Indo - Greek arrowheads from Kausambi. The next important Indo - Greek king was Menander ( from c. 165 / 155 BC ) whose has been described as the greatest of the Indo - Greek Kings, his coins are frequently found even in eastern Punjab. Menander seems to have begun a second wave of conquests, and since he already ruled in India, it seems likely that the easternmost conquests were made by him. Thus from 161 B.C. onwards Menander was the ruler of Punjab until his death in 130 B.C. Menander made Sagala his capital, and after conquering the Punjab region he subsequently made an expedition across northern India and reached the Mauryan capital of Patna. 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. 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 less significant. Some sources also claim that the Indo - Greeks may have reached the Shunga capital Pataliputra in northeastern India. However, the nature of this expedition is a matter of controversy. One theory is that Indo - Greeks were invited to join a raid led by local Indian kings down the Ganges river. The other is that it was a campaign likely made by Menander. Irrespective it appears that Pataliputra, if at all captured, was not held for long as the expedition was forced to retreat, probably due to wars in their own territories. Menander 's reign saw the end of the Indo - Greek expansion. Archaeological remains The Reh Inscription of Menander, an inscription on a pillar discovered in Reh, Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh, in the Ganges valley 96 km west of Kausambi and 350 km south - east of Mathura, on the left bank of the Yamuna river, tends to confirm that Menander was at the head of the Indo - Greek forays into northern India, probably reaching with his armies the capital city of Pataliputra. Ai - Khanoum Taxila Sagala Mathura Pataliputra Gorakhpur Hastinapur Ujjain Kausambi Archaeological findings corresponding to an Indo - Greek invasion. Legend : Main Indo - Greek cities. Destruction layers associated with the Indo - Greeks ( circa 160 BCE ). Finds of Indo - Greek arrowheads. Indo - Greek epigraphical remains : Yavanarajya inscription in Mathura, and Reh Inscription of Menander near Kausambi. Archaeological surveys in Kausambi, 96 kms to the east of the Reh inscription showed that Kausambi had been completely destroyed at one point, and that the archaeological layer corresponding to the destruction contained numerous double - tanged and some triple - tanged arrows, consisting in an adaptation of Western socketed designs rather than Eastern designs, and previously associated with the Greeks in Taxila. These arrows can therefore be associated with the Indo - Greek invasion in the 2nd century BCE. Such arrowheads have also been found at Sonkh ( near Borapa ) and Mathura. The Manhai pillar capital, as well as fortification walls nearby Kausambi consisting of large blocks joined together with iron clamps and nails, a mode of construction unknown at the time in the Ganges valley, and thought to be the work of Greek craftsmen, also point to the presence of the Indo - Greeks. Similar destruction layers corresponding to the same time period were also found in Ujjain and Pataliputra, also suggesting destructions brought by the Indo - Greeks, and giving an archaeological indication of the extent and the violence of their foray into India. These destructions also correspond to the end of the Northern Black Polished Ware pottery culture in northern India. Carbon dating also confirmed the general time period of these destruction layers to circa 160 BCE. 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. Apollodotus I ( and Menander I ) were mentioned by Pompeius Trogus as important Indo - Greek kings. 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 : Against this, John Mitchener considers that the Greeks probably raided the Indian capital of Pataliputra during the time of Demetrius, though Mitchener 's analysis is not based on numismatic evidence. King Hippostratos riding a horse, circa 100 BCE ( 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 The seriousness of the attack is in some doubt : Menander may merely have joined a raid led by Indian Kings down the Ganges, 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 ), 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 ) : 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 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 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. Coin hoards further suggest that in Central India, the area of Malwa may also have been conquered. Rule in Mathura The Mathura Herakles. A statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion from Mathura. Also : ( 15 ). Today in the Kolkota Indian Museum. 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, suggesting Indo - Greek occupation of Haryana in the 2nd - 1st centuries BCE. From numismatic, literary and epigraphic evidence, it seems that the Indo - Greeks also had control over Mathura at some time, especially during the rule of Menander I ( 165 -- 135 BC ). The control of Mathura seems to have continued for some time under the successors of Menander, with Strato I, Antimachus and Apollodotus II, where they were facing the territory of the Sungas, who are known to have been absent from Mathura ( no epigraphical or coin remains ) and only located eastward of the Mathura region. Coins of Menander and Strato can be found in the area of Mathura, and Ptolemy records Menander as having ruled as far as Mathura ( Μόδουρα ) in Book VII, I, 47 of his Geographia. The Yavanarajya inscription, dated to `` year 116 of Yavana hegemony '', probably referring to the Yavana era, suggests Greek control in Mathura circa 70 or 69 BC. Mathura Museum. An inscription in Mathura discovered in 1988, the Yavanarajya inscription, mentions `` The last day of year 116 of Yavana hegemony ( Yavanarajya ) '', also suggesting the rule of the Indo - Greeks in the area in the 2nd -- 1st century BC in Mathura. The inscription would date to the 116th year of the Yavana era ( thought to start in 186 -- 185 BC ) which would give it a date of 70 or 69 BC. To the south, according to the dedication of the Heliodorus pillar, the Sungas definitely ruled in Vidisha around 120 BCE, where a king Bhagabhadra had established his court and Indo - Greek ambassador Heliodorus visited him. The son of Pushyamitra, Agnimitra, had also established his court in Vidisha as a viceroy. However, this choice of Vidisha as a provincial capital suggests that the Sungas had lost the old and traditional provincial capital of Ujjain about 100 km to the west. Indian sources Illustration of the possible forays of the Indo - Greeks into India, according to Indian sources. Various Indian records describe Yavana attacks on Mathura, Panchala, Saketa, and Pataliputra. 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 '' ), but may have sometimes referred to other foreigners as well after the 1st century AD. Patanjali, a grammarian and commentator on Pāṇini around 150 BC, describes in the Mahābhāsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit, denoting a recent event : `` Arunad Yavanah Sāketam '' ( `` The Yavanas ( Greeks ) were besieging Saketa '' ) `` Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām '' ( `` The Yavanas were besieging Madhyamika '' ( the `` Middle country '' ) ). Also the Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy, but is thought to be likely historical, relates the attack of the Indo - Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes, and describes the ultimate destruction of the city 's walls : 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 Mitchener, The Yuga Purana, 2002 edition 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 BCE. 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. According to the Yuga Purana, the Yavanas thereafter retreated 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 ). Earlier authors such as Tarn have suggested that the raid on Pataliputra was made by Demetrius. According to Mitchener, the Hathigumpha inscription indicates the presence of the Greeks led by a `` Demetrius '' in eastern India ( Magadha ) during the 1st century BC, although this interpretation was previously disputed by Narain. `` 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 BCE. Original text is in Brahmi script. 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. 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. Consolidation Menander I became the most important of the Indo - Greek rulers. Eucratides I toppled the Greco - Bactrian Euthydemid dynasty, and attacked the Indo - Greeks from the west. 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. In any case, Eucratides seems to have occupied territory as far as the Indus, between ca. 170 BC and 150 BC. His advances were ultimately checked by the Indo - Greek king Menander I, Menander is considered to have been probably the most successful Indo - Greek king, and the conqueror of the largest territory. 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 : he became an arhat whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent 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. Fall of Bactria and death of Menander Silver drachm of Menander I ( 160 -- 145 BC ) 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. 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. 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. 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, although this is now disputed. Preservation of the Indo - Greek realm The Indo - Greek states, shielded by the Hindu Kush range, were saved from the invasions, but the civil wars which had weakened the Greeks continued. Menander I died around the same time, and even though the king himself seems to have been popular among his subjects, his dynasty was at least partially dethroned ( see discussion under Menander I ). 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. 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. 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. 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. For some decades after the Bactrian invasion, relationships seem to have been peaceful between the Indo - Greeks and these relatively hellenised nomad tribes. 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. Interractions 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 was established by Heliodoros, ambassador of king Antialkidas, in the city of 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. 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. These craftsmen left mason 's marks in Kharoshthi, mainly used in the area around Gandhara, as opposed to the local Brahmi script. 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. 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. These reliefs have been described as `` the oldest extensive stupa decoration in existence ''. They are considered as the origin of Jataka illustrations in India. 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. Foreigner on a horse. The medallions are dated circa 115 BC. Lakshmi with lotus and two child attendants, probably derived from similar images of Venus 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. At Bharhut, the gateways were made by northwestern ( probably Gandharan ) masons using Kharosthi marks 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. 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. He has the role of a dvarapala, a Guardian of the entrance of the Stupa. The warrior has been described as a Greek, Some have suggested that he might even represent king Menander. 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 : 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. Cunningham explained that the Kharosthi letters were found on the ballusters 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. Sanchi Yavanas ( 50 - 0 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 - 0 BC, one frieze can be observed which shows devotees in Greek attire making a dedication to the Great Stupa of Sanchi. 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, capes and sandals, typical of the Greek travelling costume. The musical instruments are also quite characteristic, such as the double flute called aulos. Also visible are carnyx - like horns. They are all celebrating at the entrance of the stupa. Three inscriptions are also known from Yavana donors at Sanchi, the clearest of which reads `` Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam '' ( `` Gift of the Yona of Setapatha '' ), Setapatha being an uncertain city. Decline King Philoxenus ( 100 -- 95 BC ) briefly occupied the whole Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab, after what 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, down to the last known Indo - Greek rulers, Strato II and Strato III, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 10 AD. 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 BCE. 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. 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 celators. 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. 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. Various coins seem to suggest that some sort of alliance may have taken place between the Indo - Greeks and the Scythians. 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. 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 '' ( but this is now disputed ), 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 '' ). 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 eartern territories of Eastern Punjab. Strato II and Strato III were replaced by the Indo - Scythian Northern Satrap Rajuvula. The Indo - Greeks continued to rule a territory in the eastern Punjab for some time. They 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. Soon after 70 BC, however, they lost the area of Mathura and south - eastern Punjab ( modern day Southern Haryana ), west of the Yamuna River, possibly to the Mitra rulers of Mathura, or more probably to the Indo - Scythian Northern Satraps. 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 BC, the Trigartas, Audumbaras and finally the Kunindas also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo - Greek coinage. The Indo - Greeks continued to rule a territory in the eastern Punjab, until the kingdom of the last Indo - Greek kings Strato II and Strato III were taken over by the Indo - Scythian Northern Satrap ruler Rajuvula around 10 AD. Later contributions Some Greek nuclei may have continued to survive until the 2nd century AD. Yavanas from the region of Nashik are mentioned as donors for five structural pillars in the Great Buddhist Chaitya of the Karla Caves built and dedicated by Western Satraps ruler Nahapana in 120 CE, although they seem to have adopted Buddhist names. 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. 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 CE. The city of `` Dattamittri '' is thought to be the city of Demetrias in Arachosia, mentioned by Isidore of Charax. Three dedicatory inscriptions by Yavana donors for the usage of the monks of the Samgha have also been found in Cave No. 18 of the Lenyadri cave complex near Junnar. 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 Exterior Entrance pillars Pillar capital Interior Standing Buddha Soon after, the Satavahana Gautamiputra Satakarni vanquished Nahapana, and claimed to have defeated a confederacy of Shakas ( Western Kshatrapas ), Pahlavas ( Indo - Parthians ), and Yavanas ( Indo - Greeks ). 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 which may have had a long history of marital alliances, exchange of presents, demonstrations of friendship, exchange of ambassadors and religious missions with the Greeks. The historian Diodorus even wrote that the king of Pataliputra had `` great love for the Greeks ''. The Greek expansion into Indian territory may have been intended to protect Greek populations in India, and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Shungas. The city of Sirkap founded by Demetrius combines Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the two cultures. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 AD. In Indian literature, the Indo - Greeks are described as Yavanas ( in Sanskrit ), or Yonas ( in Pali ) 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 Hellenistic temple with Ionic columns at Jandial near Sirkap, Taxila. 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. Evolution of the Butkara stupa, a large part of which occurred during the Indo - Greek period, through the addition of Hellenistic architectural elements. 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. Interactions with Buddhism After the Greco - Bactrians militarily occupied parts of northern India from around 180 BC, numerous instances of interaction between Greeks and Buddhism are recorded. Menander I, the `` Saviour king '', seems to have converted to Buddhism, and is described as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka. The wheel he represented on some of his coins was probably Buddhist, and 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 : 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. Another Indian text, the Stupavadana of Ksemendra, mentions in the form of a prophecy that Menander will build a stupa in Pataliputra. 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 : 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 ). The Butkara stupa was `` monumentalized '' by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during Indo - Greek rule in the 2nd century BC. 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. It is thought that Menander was the builder of the second oldest layer of the Butkara stupa, following its initial construction during the Maurya empire. `` Followers of the Dharma '' Coin of Menander II ( 90 -- 85 BCE ). `` 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 BCE, right after the reign of Menander I, and mainly associated with the area of Gandhara : Zoilos I ( 130 -- 120 BCE ), Strato ( 130 -- 110 BCE ), Heliokles II ( 95 -- 80 BCE ), Theophilos ( 130 or 90 BCE ), Menander II ( 90 -- 85 BCE ), Archebios ( 90 -- 80 BCE ) and Peukolaos ( c. 90 BCE ). The attribute of Dhramika 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. Blessing gestures From the time of Agathokleia and Strato I, circa 100 BCE, kings and divinities are regularly show on coins making blessing gestures, which often seem similar to the Buddhist Vitarka mudra. As centuries past, the exact shapes taken by the hand becomes less clear. This blessing gesture was also often adopted by the Indo - Scythians. 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 BCE. Various blessing gestures : divinities ( top ), kings ( bottom ). Bhagavata cult The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 113 BCE in central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo - Greek king Antialcidas 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. 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 as some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity. 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 In general, Gandharan sculpture can not 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. 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 : Standing Bodhisattva Gandhara at Guimet Museum, Paris, France. Ancient Greeks ( Indo - Greeks ) may have been the earliest features for the Buddhist culture in India. 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 ''. 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 ''. 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. 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 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. Seated Boddhisatva, 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 Economy Very little is known about the economy of the Indo - Greeks, although it seems to have been rather vibrant. Coinage See also : 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, 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, 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. 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. Conversely, none of these coins have ever been found south of the Hindu - Kush. Trade with China Cupro - nickel coins of king Pantaleon point to a Chinese origin of the metal. 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. 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. 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 ) 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 ). Armed forces Athena in the art of Gandhara 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. Interestingly, 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. 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. Although war elephants are never represented on coins, a harness plate ( phalera ) dated to the 3 -- 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 Helmetted profile of Archebios ( 90 -- 80 BCE ) on one of his tetradrachms. King Strato I in combat gear, making a blessing gesture, circa 100 BCE. The armed forces of the Indo - Greeks engaged in important battles with local Indian forces. The ruler of Kalinga, Kharavela, claims in the Hathigumpha inscription that he led a `` large army '' in the direction of Demetrius ' own `` army '' and `` transports '', and that he induced him to retreat from Pataliputra to Mathura. 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. 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 These are considerable numbers, as large armies during the Hellenistic period typically numbered between 20,000 and 30,000. The Indo - Greeks were later confronted by the nomadic tribes from Central Asia ( Yuezhi and Scythians ). According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi represented a considerable force of between 100,000 and 200,000 mounted archer warriors, with customs identical to those of the Xiongnu. Legacy of the Indo - Greeks Main article : Legacy of the Indo - Greeks The Indo - Scythian Taxila copper plate uses the Macedonian month of `` Panemos '' for calendrical purposes ( British Museum ). From the 1st century AD, the Greek communities of central Asia and northwestern South Asia 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. The Kalash tribe of the Chitral Valley claim to be descendants of the Indo - Greeks ; although this is disputed. Hellenistic couple from Taxila ( IV ) 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, to the influences on the numismatics of the Indian subcontinent, traceable down to the period of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century. 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. 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 -- Skeptical tradition with the rudimentary and unformalized empirical and skeptical elements already present in early Buddhism ''. Indo - Greek kings : their coins, territories and 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 CE. 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 RC Senior and occasionally other authorities. Greco - Bactrian and Indo - Greek kings, their coins, territories and chronology Based on Bopearachchi ( 1991 ) Greco - Bactrian kings Indo - Greek kings Territories / dates West Bactria East Bactria Paropamisade Arachosia Gandhara Western Punjab Eastern Punjab Mathura 326 -- 325 BCE Campaigns of Alexander the Great in India 312 BCE Creation of the Seleucid Empire 305 BCE Seleucid Empire after Mauryan war 280 BCE Foundation of Ai - Khanoum 255 -- 239 BCE Independence of the Greco - Bactrian kingdom Diodotus I 239 -- 223 BCE Diodotus II 230 -- 200 BCE Euthydemus I 200 -- 190 BCE Demetrius I 190 -- 185 BCE Euthydemus II 190 -- 180 BCE Agathocles Pantaleon 185 -- 170 BCE Antimachus I 180 -- 160 BCE Apollodotus I 175 -- 170 BCE Demetrius II 160 -- 155 BCE Antimachus II 170 -- 145 BCE Eucratides 155 -- 130 BCE Yuezhi occupation, loss of Ai - Khanoum Eucratides II Plato Heliocles I Menander I 130 -- 120 BCE Yuezhi occupation Zoilos I Agathokleia Yavanarajya inscription 120 -- 110 BCE Lysias Strato I 110 -- 100 BCE Antialcidas Heliokles II 100 BCE Polyxenos Demetrius III 100 -- 95 BCE Philoxenus 95 -- 90 BCE Diomedes Amyntas Epander 90 BCE Theophilos Peukolaos Thraso 90 -- 85 BCE Nicias Menander II Artemidoros 90 -- 70 BCE Hermaeus Archebius Yuezhi occupation Maues ( Indo - Scythian ) 75 -- 70 BCE Telephos Apollodotus II 65 -- 55 BCE Hippostratos Dionysios 55 -- 35 BCE Azes I ( Indo - Scythian ) Zoilos II 55 -- 35 BCE Apollophanes 25 BCE -- 10 CE Strato II and Strato III Zoilos III / Bhadayasa Rajuvula ( Indo - Scythian ) See also Classical Civilisation portal Greco - Bactrian Kingdom Seleucid Empire Greco - Buddhism Indo - Scythians Indo - Parthian Kingdom Kushan Empire Roman commerce Timeline of Indo - Greek Kingdoms Gandhara Kingdom References Footnotes Jump up ^ As in other compounds such as `` African - American '', the area of origin usually comes first, and the area of arrival comes second, so that `` Greco - Indian '' is normally a more accurate nomenclature than `` Indo - Greek ''. The latter however has become the general usage, especially since the publication of Narain 's book The Indo - Greeks. Jump up ^ Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius 11.34, 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 ( who had some Persian descent ). Polybius 11.34. The ethnicity of later Indo - Greek rulers is less clear ( `` Notes on Hellenism in Bactria and India ''. W.W. Tarn. Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 22 ( 1902 ), pp. 268 -- 293 ). For example, Artemidoros ( 80 BC ) may have been of Indo - Scythian ascendency. Some level of inter-marriage may also have occurred, as exemplified by Alexander III of Macedon ( who married Roxana of Bactria ) or Seleucus ( who married Apama ). Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` Menander had his capital in Sagala '' Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies '', p. 83. McEvilley supports Tarn on both points, citing Woodcock : `` Menander was a Bactrian Greek king of the Euthydemid dynasty. His capital ( was ) at Sagala ( Sialkot ) in the Punjab, `` in the country of the Yonakas ( Greeks ) ''. '' McEvilley, p. 377. However, `` Even if Sagala proves to be Sialkot, 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. '' Jump up ^ 11.34 ^ Jump up to : Polybius 11.34 Jump up ^ `` Notes on Hellenism in Bactria and India ''. W.W. Tarn. Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 22 ( 1902 ), pages 268 -- 293 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Ghose, Sanujit ( 2011 ). `` Cultural links between India and the Greco - Roman world ''. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Concise Encyclopeida Of World History by Carlos Ramirez - Faria Jump up ^ India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 92 - 93 Jump up ^ : `` To the colonies settled in India, Python, the son of Agenor, was sent. '' Justin XIII. 4 Jump up ^ Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, p. 26 - 27 ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Radhakumud Mookerji, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1966, p. 27 ( 2 ) Jump up ^ History Of The Chamar Dynasty, Raj Kumar, Gyan Publishing House, 2008, p. 51 ( 3 ) Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 106 - 107 Jump up ^ `` Strabo 15.2. 1 ( 9 ) ''. Jump up ^ Barua, Pradeep. The State at War in South Asia. Vol. 2. U of Nebraska Press, 2005. pp13 - 15 via Project MUSE ( subscription required ) ^ Jump up to : Foreign Influence on Ancient India, Krishna Chandra Sagar, Northern Book Centre, 1992, p. 83 ( 4 ) Jump up ^ Pratisarga Parva p. 18. Original Sanskrit of the first two verses : `` Chandragupta Sutah Paursadhipateh Sutam. Suluvasya Tathodwahya Yavani Baudhtatapar ''. Jump up ^ `` A minor rock edict, recently discovered at Kandahar, was inscribed in two scripts, Greek and Aramaic '', India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 112 Jump up ^ India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 108 - 109 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` Thirteen, the longest and most important of the edicts, contains the claim, seemingly outlandish t 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` In Rock Edict Two Ashoka even claims to have established hospitals for men and beasts in the Hellenistic kingdoms '', McEvilley, p. 368 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Full text of the Mahavamsa Click chapter XII Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Foreign Influence on Ancient India by Krishna Chandra Sagar p. 138 Jump up ^ The Idea of Ancient India : Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology by Upinder Singh p. 18 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Polybius ( 1962 ) ( 1889 ). `` 11.39 ''. Histories. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh ( translator ). Macmillan, Reprint Bloomington. Jump up ^ Polybius ; Friedrich Otto Hultsch ( 1889 ). The Histories of Polybius. Macmillan and Company. p. 78. Jump up ^ J.D. Lerner, The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau : the Foundations of Arsacid Parthia and Graeco - Bactria, ( Stuttgart 1999 ) Jump up ^ F.L. Holt, Thundering Zeus ( Berkeley 1999 ) Jump up ^ Justin XLI, paragraph 4 Jump up ^ Justin XLI, paragraph 1 ^ Jump up to : Strabo XI. XI. I Jump up ^ Justin XLI Jump up ^ Strabo 11.11. 2 Jump up ^ Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius Jump up ^ Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra Jump up ^ 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 '' ) Jump up ^ 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. '' Jump up ^ `` 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 ) Jump up ^ Copper - Nickel coinage in Greco - Bactria. Jump up ^ Ancient Chinese weapons Archived 2005 - 03 - 07 at the Wayback Machine. A halberd of copper - nickel alloy, from the Warring States Period. Jump up ^ A.A. Moss pp317 - 318 Numismatic Chronicle 1950 Jump up ^ C. Michael Hogan, Silk Road, North China, Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham Jump up ^ Clement of Alexandria `` The Stromata, or Miscellanies '' Book I, Chapter XV Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Pushyamitra is described as a `` senapati '' ( Commander - in - chief ) of Brihadratha in the Puranas Jump up ^ E. Lamotte : History of Indian Buddhism, Institut Orientaliste, Louvain - la - Neuve 1988 ( 1958 ), p. 109. Jump up ^ Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas by Romila Thapar, Oxford University Press, 1960 p. 200 ^ Jump up to : Encyclopaedia of Indian Traditions and Cultural Heritage, Anmol Publications, 2009, p. 18 Jump up ^ Pratisarga Parva p. 18 Jump up ^ Jairazbhoy, Rafique Ali ( 1995 ). Foreign influence in ancient Indo - Pakistan. Sind Book House. p. 100. ISBN 969 - 8281 - 00 - 2. Apollodotus, founder of the Graeco - Indian kingdom ( c. 160 BC ). Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Strabo, Geographia 11.11. 1 p. 516 Casaubon. 15.1. 2, p. 686 Casaubon, `` tribes '' is Jones ' version of ethne ( Loeb ) Jump up ^ For a list of classical testimonia, see Tarn 's Index II ; but this covers India, Bactria, and several sources for the Hellenstic East as a whole. Jump up ^ Tarn, App. 20 ; Narain ( 1957 ) pp. 136, 156 et alii. Jump up ^ `` The Besnagar Garuda pillar inscription witnesses to the presence of the Yavana Heliodorus son of Dion in Vidisa as an envoy from Taxila of king Antialkidas around 140 BC '', Mitchener, The Yuga Purana, p. 64 Jump up ^ Senior, Indo - Scythian coins, p. xii Jump up ^ A Journey Through India 's Past Chandra Mauli Mani, Northern Book Centre, 2005, p. 39 Jump up ^ Polybius 11.34 Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` Demetrius occupied a large part of the Indus delta, Saurashtra and Kutch '', Burjor Avari, p. 130 Jump up ^ `` It would be impossible to explain otherwise why in all his portraits Demetrios is crowned with an elephant scalp '', Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 53 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` It now seems most likely that Demetrios was the founder of the newly discovered Greek Era of 186 / 5 '', Senior, Indo - Scythian coins IV Jump up ^ MacDowall, 2004 Jump up ^ `` The only thing that seems reasonably sure is that Taxila was part of the domain of Agathocles '', Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 59 ^ Jump up to : Iconography of Balarāma, Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi, Abhinav Publications, 1979, p. 22 ( 5 ) Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 63 ^ Jump up to : Reh Inscription Of Menander And The Indo - greek Invasion Of The Ganga Valley, Sharma, G.R., 1980 p. ix - x Jump up ^ `` Menander ''. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 7 August 2015. 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 ). '' Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ 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.. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Hazel, John ( 2013 ). Who 's Who in the Greek World. Routledge. p. 155. ISBN 9781134802241. Menander king in India, known locally as Milinda, born at a village named Kalasi near Alasanda ( Alexandria - in - the - Caucasus ), and who was himself the son of a king. After conquering the Punjab, where he made Sagala his capital, he made an expedition across northern India and visited Patna, the capital of the Maurya empire, though he did not succeed in conquering this land as he appears to have been overtaken by wars on the north - west frontier with Eucratides. Jump up ^ `` 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 ) Jump up ^ The Geography of India : Sacred and Historic Places Educational Britannica Educational p. 156 ^ Jump up to : Shane Wallace Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India : Old Evidence and New Discoveries 2016, p. 210 Jump up ^ `` The combination of textual and numismatic evidence allows to see what was the conflict between Eucratides and Menander. When Menander was engaged in a bloody conquest of the Ganges valley, Eucratides I would have taken advantage of this opportunity to invade his kingdom. This would be the `` civil war '' mentioned in the Yuga Purana ; this would explain that Menander had to stop his conquest of the Ganges valley, and had to return hastily to face the aggressor ``, Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 85 ^ Jump up to : Reh Inscription Of Menander And The Indo - greek Invasion Of The Ganga Valley, Sharma, G.R., 1980 p. 12 - 44 summary : pp101 - 102 ^ Jump up to : Reh Inscription Of Menander And The Indo - greek Invasion Of The Ganga Valley, Sharma, G.R., 1980 p. 13 ff Jump up ^ Reh Inscription Of Menander And The Indo - greek Invasion Of The Ganga Valley, by Sharma, G.R., 1980 pp 22 - 24 Jump up ^ Reh Inscription Of Menander And The Indo - greek Invasion Of The Ganga Valley, Sharma, G.R., 1980 p. 44 Jump up ^ 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 '', p52. Original text in paragraph 19 of Parthian stations Jump up ^ Pompeius Trogus, Prologue to Book XLI. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Mitchener, 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 ''. Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ A.K. Narain and Keay 2000 Jump up ^ `` 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 ) Jump up ^ Tarn, p. 147 - 149 Jump up ^ 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 ) Jump up ^ Full text, Schoff 's 1912 translation Jump up ^ `` the account of the Periplus is just a sailor 's story '', Narain ( p. 118 - 119 ) Jump up ^ `` 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 '' Mitchener, `` The Yuga Purana '', p. 64 Jump up ^ The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, James C. Harle, Yale University Press, 1994 p. 67 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ History and Historians in Ancient India, Dilip Kumar Ganguly, Abhinav Publications, 1984 p. 108 Jump up ^ Encyclopaedia of Tourism Resources in India, Volume 1, Manohar Sajnani, Gyan Publishing House, 2001 p. 93 ^ Jump up to : History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura : Ca. 150 BCE -- 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, p. 8 - 10 ( 6 ) Jump up ^ Published in `` L'Indo - Grec Menandre ou Paul Demieville revisite, '' Journal Asiatique 281 ( 1993 ) p. 113 ^ Jump up to : A History of India, Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund, Routledge, 2016 p. 138 ff Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` Indo - Greek, Indo - Scythian and Indo - Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution '', Bopearachchi, p16. Jump up ^ Tarn, p. 145 - 146 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ ``... 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 '' Mitchener, The Yuga Purana, p. 65. Jump up ^ `` The advance of the Greek to Pataliputra is recorded from the Indian side in the Yuga - purana '', Tarn, p. 145 Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` 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. ^ Jump up to : The Sungas, Kanvas, Republican Kingdoms and Monarchies, Mahameghavahanas, Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, p. 6 ( 7 ) Jump up ^ `` 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, DK Printworld ( P ) Limited, 2008, p. 85 Jump up ^ `` 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 India - either 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, Mitchener, 2002. ) '' Jump up ^ Tarn, pp. 132 -- 133. Jump up ^ `` 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. '' Mitchener, The Yuga Purana, p. 65. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ Translation in Epigraphia Indica 1920 p. 87 Jump up ^ P.L. Gupta : Kushâna Coins and History, D.K. Printworld, 1994, p. 184, note 5 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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. '' 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, p. 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. Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, p. 72 Jump up ^ `` 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 ''. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` ( In the Milindapanha ) Menander is declared an arhat '', McEvilley, p. 378. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies '', p. 86. Jump up ^ `` By about 130 BC nomadic people from the Jaxartes region had overrun the northern boundary of Bactria itself '', McEvilley, p. 372. Jump up ^ Boot, Hooves and Wheels : And the Social Dynamics behind South Asian Warfare, Saikat K Bose, Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2015, p. 226 ( 8 ) Jump up ^ On the Cusp of an Era : Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World, Doris Srinivasan, BRILL, 2007, p. 101 ( 9 ) ^ Jump up to : Osmund Bopearachchi Was Indo - Greek Artemidoros the son of Indo - Sctythian Maues Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 88 Jump up ^ Senior, Indo - Scythian coins and history IV, p. xi ^ Jump up to : `` 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. Jump up ^ Senior, Indo - Scythian coins and history IV, p. xxxiii Jump up ^ Ancient Indian History and Civilization, Sailendra Nath Sen, New Age International, 1999 p. 170 ^ Jump up to : An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, by Amalananda Ghosh, BRILL p. 295 ^ Jump up to : 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ Didactic Narration : Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 p. 15ff Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ An Indian Statuette From Pompeii, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 13, No. 3 ( 1950 ) p. 171 ^ Jump up to : Faces of Power : Alexander 's Image and Hellenistic Politics, Andrew Stewart, University of California Press, 1993 p. 180 ^ Jump up to : 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 ^ Jump up to : Buddhist Art & Antiquities of Himachal Pradesh, Upto 8th Century A.D., Omacanda Hāṇḍā, Indus Publishing, 1994 p. 48 ^ Jump up to : The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, Princeton University Press, p. 115 ^ Jump up to : `` 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 ) ^ Jump up to : `` The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, 1993, p. 112 Jump up ^ Didactic Narration : Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 p. 18 Jump up ^ Buddhist Architecture, Huu Phuoc Le, Grafikol, 2010 p. 149ff Jump up ^ `` There is evidence of Hellensitic scultors being in touch with Sanchi and Bharhut '' in The Buddha Image : Its Origin and Development, Yuvraj Krishan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996, p. 9 Jump up ^ Buddhist Architecture by Huu Phuoc Le p. 161 Jump up ^ `` A guide to Sanchi '' John Marshall. Jump up ^ These `` Greek - looking foreigners '' are also described in Susan Huntington, `` The art of ancient India '', p. 100 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ The Idea of Ancient India : Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology, Sage Publications India, Upinder Singh, 2016 p. 18 Jump up ^ `` During the century that followed Menander more than twenty rulers are known to have struck coins '', Narain, `` The Indo - Greeks '' 2003, p. 270 Jump up ^ Bernard ( 1994 ), p. 126. Jump up ^ `` Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire, succeeded there ( in the Paropamisadae ) to the nomads who minted imitations of Hermaeus '' Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies '', p. 117 Jump up ^ `` Maues himself issued joint coins with Machene, (... ) probably a daughter of one of the Indo - Greek houses '' Senior, Indo - Scythians, p. xxxvi Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` The Indo - Scythian conquerors, who, also they adopted the greek types, minted money with their own names ''. Bopearachchci, `` Monnaies '', p. 121 Jump up ^ Described in R.C. Senior `` The Decline of the Indo - Greeks '' ( 10 ). See also this source. Jump up ^ `` 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. ^ Jump up to : `` 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 Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` The wealthy Audumbaras (... ) some of their coins after Greek rule ended imitated Greek types '', Tarn, p. 239. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Volume 1 ʻAlī Jāvīd, Tabassum Javeed, Algora Publishing, 2008 p. 42 Jump up ^ * 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 Jump up ^ 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 ) ^ Jump up to : Epigraphia Indica p. 90ff Jump up ^ Hellenism in Ancient India, Gauranga Nath Banerjee p. 20 Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ `` The Junnar Cave 18 speaks of three Yavanas... '' in Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture - D.R. Bhandarkar - 1989, p. 60 Jump up ^ Religions and Trade : Religious Formation, Transformation and Cross-Cultural Exchange between East and West, BRILL, 2013 p. 97 Note 97 Jump up ^ Yavana ( Ionian ) donors of the Buddhist cave architecture in Western India ( AD 100 - AD 250 ), Anuradha K. Ranade pp 829 - 831 Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ 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 Jump up ^ 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 Source. Description of the 302 BC marital alliance in Strabo 15.2. 1 ( 9 ) : `` 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. Jump up ^ 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 Ath. Deip. I. 32 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 Athenaeus, `` Deipnosophistae '' XIV. 67 Jump up ^ 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. '' Polybius 11.39 Jump up ^ Ambassadors : Known ambassadors to India are Megasthenes, Deimakos and Dionysius. Jump up ^ Religious missions : In the Edicts of Ashoka, king Ashoka claims to have sent Buddhist emissaries to the Hellenistic west around 250 BC. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` Diodorus testifies to the great love of the king of Palibothra, apparently a Mauryan king, for the Greeks '' Narain, `` The Indo - Greeks '', p. 362. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 ) Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Whitehead, `` Indo - Greek coins '', p 3 - 8 Jump up ^ Bopearachchi p. 138 Jump up ^ Whitehead, p. vi. Jump up ^ `` 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 '' Jump up ^ `` All Greeks in India were however known as Yavanas '', Burjor Avari, `` India, the ancient past '', p. 130 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ The coins of the Greek and Scythic kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum, p. 50 and Pl. XII - 7 ( 11 ) ^ Jump up to : `` 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 ``. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` It is probable that the wheel on some coins of Menander is connected with Buddhism '', Narain, The Indo - Greeks, p. 122 Jump up ^ Stupavadana, Chapter 57, v15. Quotes in E. Seldeslachts. Jump up ^ McEvilley, p. 377 Jump up ^ Plutarch `` Political precepts '', p147 -- 148 Full text Archived February 20, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Handbuch der Orientalistik, Kurt A. Behrendt, BRILL, 2004, p. 49 sig Jump up ^ `` King Menander, who built the penultimate layer of the Butkara stupa in the first century BCE, was an Indo - Greek. '' in Empires of the Indus : The Story of a River, Alice Albinia -- 2012 Jump up ^ Foreign Impact on Indian Life and Culture ( c. 326 B.C. to C. 300 A.D. ) Satyendra Nath Naskar, Abhinav Publications, 1996, p. 69 ( 12 ) Jump up ^ The Crossroads of Asia, Elizabeth Errington, Ancient India and Iran Trust, Fitzwilliam Museum, Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992, p. 16 Jump up ^ Mentioned throughout `` Monnaies Greco - Bactriennes et Indo - Grecques '', Osmund Bopearachchi, Bibliotheque Nationale, 1991 Jump up ^ 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 ( 13 ) Jump up ^ Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India : Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Benjamin Rowland JR, foreword to `` The Dyasntic art of the Kushan '', John Rosenfield, 1967 Jump up ^ Boardman, p. 141 Jump up ^ Boardman, p. 143. Jump up ^ `` 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 '' p121 and A.C. Soper `` The Roman Style in Gandhara '' American Journal of Archaeology 55 ( 1951 ) pp. 301 -- 319 ) Jump up ^ Boardman, p. 115 Jump up ^ McEvilley, p. 388 - 390 Jump up ^ Boardman, 109 -- 153 Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ `` Those tiny territories of the Indo - Greek kings must have been lively and commercially flourishing places '', India : The ancient past, Burjor Avari, p. 130 Jump up ^ `` 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. Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies '', p. 27 Jump up ^ Rapson, clxxxvi - Jump up ^ Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies '', p. 75. Jump up ^ Fussman, JA 1993, p. 127 and Bopearachchi, `` Graeco - Bactrian issues of the later Indo - Greek kings '', Num. Chron. 1990, pp. 79 -- 104 ) ^ Jump up to : Science and civilisation in China : Chemistry and chemical technology by Joseph Needham, Gwei - Djen Lu p. 237ff Jump up ^ `` Western contact with China began long before Marco Polo, experts say ''. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017 -- via www.bbc.com. Jump up ^ `` 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. Retrieved 16 April 2017. Jump up ^ `` Strabo II. 3.4 ‐ 5 on Eudoxus ''. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius ''. Jump up ^ `` Megasthenes Indica ''. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Jump up ^ `` Justin XLI ''. Jump up ^ On the size of Hellenistic armies, see accounts of Hellenistic battles by Diodorus, books XVIII and XIX Jump up ^ `` They are a nation of nomads, moving from place to place with their herds, and their customs are like those of the Xiongnu. They have some 100,000 or 200,000 archer warriors... The Yuezhi originally lived in the area between the Qilian or Heavenly mountains and Dunhuang, but after they were defeated by the Xiongnu they moved far away to the west, beyond Dayuan, where they attacked and conquered the people of Daxia ( Bactria ) and set up the court of their king on the northern bank of the Gui ( Oxus ) river '' ( `` Records of the Great Historian '', Sima Qian, trans. Burton Watson, p234 ) Jump up ^ Tarn, p. 494. Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` 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 Jump up ^ `` Parthians stations '', 1st century AD. Original text in paragraph 19 of Parthian stations Jump up ^ McEvilley, `` The Shape of Ancient Thought '', p503. Jump up ^ 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 ). Jump up ^ O. Bopearachchi, `` Monnaies gréco - bactriennes et indo - grecques, Catalogue raisonné '', Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1991, p. 453 Jump up ^ History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura : Ca. 150 BCE -- 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007, p. 9 ( 14 ) Works cited Avari, Burjor ( 2007 ). India : The ancient past. A history of the Indian sub-continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200. Routledge. ISBN 0 - 415 - 35616 - 4. Banerjee, Gauranga Nath ( 1961 ). Hellenism in ancient India. Delhi : Munshi Ram Manohar Lal. OCLC 1837954 ISBN 0 - 8364 - 2910 - 9. Bernard, Paul ( 1994 ). `` The Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia. '' In : History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume II. The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations : 700 B.C. to A.D. 250, pp. 99 -- 129. Harmatta, János, ed., 1994. Paris : UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 92 - 3 - 102846 - 4. Boardman, John ( 1994 ). The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity. Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press. ISBN 0 - 691 - 03680 - 2. Bopearachchi, Osmund ( 1991 ). Monnaies Gréco - Bactriennes et Indo - Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné ( in French ). Bibliothèque Nationale de France. ISBN 2 - 7177 - 1825 - 7. Bopearachchi, Osmund ( 1998 ). SNG 9. New York : American Numismatic Society. ISBN 0 - 89722 - 273 - 3. Bopearachchi, Osmund ( 2003 ). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale ( in French ). Lattes : Association imago - musée de Lattes. ISBN 2 - 9516679 - 2 - 2. Bopearachchi, Osmund ( 1993 ). Indo - Greek, Indo - Scythian and Indo - Parthian coins in the Smithsonian Institution. Washington : National Numismatic Collection, Smithsonian Institution. OCLC 36240864. Bussagli, Mario ; Francine Tissot ; Béatrice Arnal ( 1996 ). L'art du Gandhara ( in French ). Paris : Librairie générale française. ISBN 2 - 253 - 13055 - 9. Cambon, Pierre ( 2007 ). Afghanistan, les trésors retrouvés ( in French ). Musée Guimet. ISBN 978 - 2 - 7118 - 5218 - 5. Errington, Elizabeth ; Joe Cribb ; Maggie Claringbull ; Ancient India and Iran Trust ; Fitzwilliam Museum ( 1992 ). The Crossroads of Asia : transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Cambridge : Ancient India and Iran Trust. ISBN 0 - 9518399 - 1 - 8. 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 0 - 19 - 860560 - 9. Lowenstein, Tom ( 2002 ). The vision of the Buddha : Buddhism, the path to spiritual enlightenment. London : Duncan Baird. ISBN 1 - 903296 - 91 - 9. Marshall, Sir John Hubert ( 2000 ). The Buddhist art of Gandhara : the story of the early school, its birth, growth, and decline. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharlal. ISBN 81 - 215 - 0967 - X. 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 1 - 58115 - 203 - 5. Mitchiner, John E. ; Garga ( 1986 ). The Yuga Purana : critically edited, with an English translation and a detailed introduction. Calcutta, India : Asiatic Society. OCLC 15211914 ISBN 81 - 7236 - 124 - 6. 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. Narain, A.K. ( 1976 ). The coin types of the Indo - Greeks kings. Chicago, USA : Ares Publishing. ISBN 0 - 89005 - 109 - 7. Puri, Baij Nath ( 2000 ). Buddhism in Central Asia. Delhi : Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81 - 208 - 0372 - 8. Rosenfield, John M. ( 1967 ). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley, California : University of California Press. ISBN 81 - 215 - 0579 - 8. Salomon, Richard. `` The `` Avaca '' Inscription and the Origin of the Vikrama Era ``. 102. Seldeslachts, E. ( 2003 ). The end of the road for the Indo - Greeks ?. ( Also available online ) : Iranica Antica, Vol XXXIX, 2004. Senior, R.C. ( 2006 ). Indo - Scythian coins and history. Volume IV. Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. ISBN 0 - 9709268 - 6 - 3. 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 2 - 503 - 51681 - 5. 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. Vassiliades, Demetrios ( 2000 ). The Greeks in India -- A Survey in Philosophical Understanding. New Delhi : Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Limited. ISBN 81 - 215 - 0921 - 1. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indo - Greek Kingdom. 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 Files dealing with Indo - Greeks & a genealogy of the Bactrian kings 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 Ancient South Asia and Central Asia Archaeology and prehistory Proto - Indo - Iranians Bactria -- Margiana Archaeological Complex ( BMAC ) Indo - Aryan migration theory Swat culture Genetics and archaeogenetics History of the horse Historical peoples and clans Saka Indo - Scythians Yuezhi Kambojas Sakaldwipiya Parsi Kidarites Alchon Huns Hephthalites Nezak Huns States Greco - Bactrian Kingdom Indo - Greek Kingdom Indo - Parthian Kingdom Kushan Empire Kamboja Kingdom Mythology and literature Shakdvipa Āryāvarta Indo - Scythians in Indian literature Uttaramadra Uttarakuru Middle kingdoms of India Timeline and cultural period Northwestern India ( Punjab - Sapta Sindhu ) Indo - Gangetic Plain Central India Southern India Western Gangetic Plain ( Kuru - Panchala ) Northern India ( Central Gangetic Plain ) Northeastern India ( Northeast India ) IRON AGE Culture Late Vedic Period Late Vedic Period ( Brahmin ideology ) Painted Grey Ware culture Late Vedic Period ( Kshatriya / Shramanic culture ) Northern Black Polished Ware Pre-history 6th century BC Gandhara Kuru - Panchala Magadha Adivasi ( tribes ) Culture Persian - Greek influences `` Second Urbanisation '' Rise of Shramana movements Jainism - Buddhism - Ājīvika - Yoga Pre-history 5th century BC ( Persian rule ) Shishunaga dynasty Adivasi ( tribes ) 4th century BC ( Greek conquests ) Nanda empire Kalinga HISTORICAL AGE Culture Spread of Buddhism Pre-history Sangam period ( 300 BC -- 200 AD ) 3rd century BC Maurya Empire Early Cholas Early Pandyan Kingdom Satavahana dynasty Cheras 46 other small kingdoms in Ancient Thamizhagam Culture Preclassical Hinduism - `` Hindu Synthesis '' ( ca. 200 BC - 300 AD ) Epics - Puranas - Ramayana - Mahabharata - Bhagavad Gita - Brahma Sutras - Smarta Tradition Mahayana Buddhism Sangam period ( continued ) ( 300 BC -- 200 AD ) 2nd century BC Indo - Greek Kingdom Shunga Empire Maha - Meghavahana Dynasty Early Cholas Early Pandyan Kingdom Satavahana dynasty Cheras 46 other small kingdoms in Ancient Thamizhagam 1st century BC 1st century AD Indo - Scythians Indo - Parthians Kuninda Kingdom 2nd century Kushan Empire 3rd century Kushano - Sasanian Kingdom Kushan Empire Western Satraps Kamarupa kingdom Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Kalabhras ) Culture `` Golden Age of Hinduism '' ( ca. AD 320 - 650 ) Puranas Co-existence of Hinduism and Buddhism 4th century Kidarites Gupta Empire Varman dynasty Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Kalabhras ) Kadamba Dynasty Western Ganga Dynasty 5th century Hephthalite Empire Alchon Huns Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Kalabhras ) Vishnukundina 6th century Nezak Huns Kabul Shahi Maitraka Adivasi ( tribes ) Badami Chalukyas Kalabhra dynasty Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Kalabhras ) Culture Late - Classical Hinduism ( ca. AD 650 - 1100 ) Advaita Vedanta - Tantra Decline of Buddhism in India 7th century Indo - Sassanids Vakataka dynasty Empire of Harsha Mlechchha dynasty Adivasi ( tribes ) Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Kalabhras ) Pandyan Kingdom ( Revival ) Pallava 8th century Kabul Shahi Pala Empire Pandyan Kingdom Kalachuri 9th century Gurjara - Pratihara Rashtrakuta dynasty Pandyan Kingdom Medieval Cholas Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Cholas ) Chera Perumals of Makkotai 10th century Ghaznavids Pala dynasty Kamboja - Pala dynasty Kalyani Chalukyas Medieval Cholas Pandyan Kingdom ( Under Cholas ) Chera Perumals of Makkotai Rashtrakuta References and sources for table References Jump up ^ Samuel Jump up ^ Samuel Jump up ^ Michaels ( 2004 ) p. 39 Jump up ^ Hiltebeitel ( 2002 ) Jump up ^ Michaels ( 2004 ) p. 39 Jump up ^ Hiltebeitel ( 2002 ) Jump up ^ Micheals ( 2004 ) p. 40 Jump up ^ Michaels ( 2004 ) p. 41 Sources Flood, Gavin D. ( 1996 ), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press Hiltebeitel, Alf ( 2002 ), Hinduism. In : Joseph Kitagawa, `` The Religious Traditions of Asia : Religion, History, and Culture '', Routledge Michaels, Axel ( 2004 ), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press Samuel, Geoffrey ( 2010 ), The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century, Cambridge University Press Hellenistic rulers Argeads Philip II Alexander III the Great Philip III Arrhidaeus Alexander IV Antigonids Antigonus I Monophthalmus Demetrius I Poliorcetes Antigonus II Gonatas Demetrius II Aetolicus Antigonus III Doson Philip V Perseus Philip VI ( pretender ) Ptolemies Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy III Euergetes Ptolemy IV Philopator Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra ( regent ) Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III Ptolemy IX Lathyros Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra VI Tryphaena Berenice IV Epiphanea Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemy XV Caesarion Kings of Cyrene Magas Demetrius the Fair Ptolemy VIII Physcon Ptolemy Apion Seleucids Seleucus I Nicator Antiochus I Soter Antiochus II Theos Seleucus II Callinicus Seleucus III Ceraunus Antiochus III the Great Seleucus IV Philopator Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus V Eupator Demetrius I Soter Alexander I Balas Demetrius II Nicator Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus Lysimachids Lysimachus Ptolemy Epigonos Antipatrids Cassander Philip IV Alexander V Antipater II Antipater Etesias Sosthenes Attalids Philetaerus Eumenes I Attalus I Eumenes II Attalus II Attalus III Eumenes III Greco - Bactrians Diodotus I Diodotus II Euthydemus I Demetrius I Euthydemus II Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Demetrius II Eucratides I Plato Eucratides II Heliocles I Indo - Greeks Demetrius I Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Apollodotus I Demetrius II Antimachus II Menander I Zoilos I Agathokleia Lysias Strato I Antialcidas Heliokles II Polyxenos Demetrius III Philoxenus Diomedes Amyntas Epander Theophilos Peukolaos Thraso Nicias Menander II Artemidoros Hermaeus Archebius Telephos Apollodotus II Hippostratos Dionysios Zoilos II Apollophanes Strato II Strato III Kings of Bithynia Boteiras Bas Zipoetes I Nicomedes I Zipoetes II Etazeta ( regent ) Ziaelas Prusias I Prusias II Nicomedes II Nicomedes III Nicomedes IV Socrates Chrestus Kings of Pontus Mithridates I Ctistes Ariobarzanes Mithridates II Mithridates III Pharnaces I Mithridates IV Philopator Philadephos Mithridates V Euergetes Mithridates VI Eupator Pharnaces II Darius Arsaces Polemon I Pythodorida Polemon II Kings of Commagene Ptolemaeus Sames II Mithridates I Antiochus I Mithridates II Antiochus II Mithridates III Antiochus III Antiochus IV Kings of Cappadocia Ariarathes I Ariarathes II Ariamnes II Ariarathes III Ariarathes IV Ariarathes V Orophernes Ariarathes VI Ariarathes VII Ariarathes VIII Ariarathes IX Ariobarzanes I Ariobarzanes II Ariobarzanes III Ariarathes X Archelaus Kings of the Cimmerian Bosporus Paeirsades I Satyros II Prytanis Eumelos Spartokos III Hygiainon ( regent ) Paerisades II Spartokos IV Leukon II Spartokos V Paerisades III Paerisades IV Paerisades V Mithridates I Pharnaces Asander with Dynamis Mithridates II Asander with Dynamis Scribonius ' attempted rule with Dynamis Dynamis with Polemon Polemon with Pythodorida Aspurgus Mithridates III with Gepaepyris Mithridates III Cotys I Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indo-Greek_Kingdom&oldid=802534569 '' Categories : Former monarchies of Asia Former countries in Asia States and territories established in the 2nd century BC Indo - Greeks History of Central Asia History of South Asia Hellenistic states Ethnic groups in India Ancient peoples of Pakistan 180s BC establishments 10s disestablishments States and territories disestablished in the 1st century 1st - century disestablishments Hidden categories : All articles that may contain original research Articles that may contain original research from April 2016 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016 Pages containing links to subscription - only content Webarchive template wayback links Former country articles requiring maintenance Articles containing Latin - language text Articles with unsourced statements from June 2017 CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Talk Contents About Wikipedia Languages Български Bosanski Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Français 한국어 हिन्दी Bahasa Indonesia Italiano ქართული Lietuvių Magyar മലയാളം Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Polski Português Русский संस्कृतम् Simple English Slovenčina Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi தமிழ் Українська اردو Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 26 September 2017, at 19 : 38. 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Question: who were the indo greek rulers where did they come from
Answer: was a Hellenistic kingdom covering various parts of the northwest regions of South Asia (mainly modern Afghanistan and Pakistan)