page_title: Antiochus I Soter
section_title: Relations with India
hierarchical_section_title: Antiochus I Soter / Biography / Relations with India
caption_attribution_description: English: SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos I Soter. 281-261 BC. Æ (21mm, 5.90 g, 3h). Antioch mint. Macedonian shield with Seleukid anchor in central boss / Elephant walking right; monogram and club above, jawbone in exergue.
context_page_description: Antiochus I Soter, was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. He succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned until his death on 2 June 261 BC. He is the last known ruler to be attributed the ancient Mesopotamian title King of the Universe.
context_section_description: Antiochus I maintained friendly diplomatic relations with Bindusara, ruler of the Maurya Empire of India. Deimachos of Plateia was the ambassador of Antiochus at the court of Bindusara. The 3rd century Greek writer Athenaeus, in his Deipnosophistae, mentions an incident that he learned from Hegesander's writings: Bindusara requested Antiochus to send him sweet wine, dried figs and a sophist. Antiochus replied that he would send the wine and the figs, but the Greek laws forbade him to sell a sophist.
  Antiochus is probably the Greek king mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka, as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism:
  "And even this  conquest [preaching Buddhism] has been won by the Beloved of the Gods here and in all the borderlands, as far as six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where Antiochus, king of the Yavanas [Greeks] rules, and beyond this Antiochus four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule."
  Ashoka also claims that he encouraged the development of herbal medicine, for men and animals, in the territories of the Hellenic kings:
  "Everywhere within Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi's [Ashoka's] domain, and among the people beyond the borders, the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Satiyaputras, the Keralaputras, as far as Tamraparni and where the Greek king Antiochus rules, and among the kings who are neighbors of Antiochos, everywhere has Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, made provision for two types of medical treatment: medical treatment for humans and medical treatment for animals. Wherever medical herbs suitable for humans or animals are not available, I have had them imported and grown. Wherever medical roots or fruits are not available I have had them imported and grown. Along roads I have had wells dug and trees planted for the benefit of humans and animals."
  Alternatively, the Greek king mentioned in the Edict of Ashoka could also be Antiochus's son and successor, Antiochus II Theos, although the proximity of Antiochus I with the East may makes him a better candidate.
caption: Antiochos I coin. Antioch mint. Macedonian shield with Seleucid anchor in central boss. Elephant walking right.
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