 Maximum extent of Indo-Greek territory circa 175 BCE. The Indo-Greeks (or sometimes Greco-Indians) designate a series of Greek kings, who invaded and controlled parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 BCE.
They are the continuation of the Greco-Bactrian dynasty of Greek kings (the Euthydemids) founded by the military governor Diodotus around 250 BCE, when he established the independence of his Bactrian territory from the Seleucid Empire.
The conquest of India
 The founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom Demetrius I ( 205- 171 BCE), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of India. The Indo-Greek kingdom was established by Demetrius, the son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus.
Demetrius started the invasion of northern India from 180 BCE, following the destruction of the Mauryan dynasty by the general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then founded the new Indian Sunga dynasty (185-78 BCE). Demetrius went as far as the capital Pataliputra in eastern India (today Patna): "Those who came after Alexander went to the Ganges and Pataliputra" (Strabo, XV.698). The Indian records also describes Greek attacks on Saketa, Panchala, Mathura and Pataliputra (Gargi-Samhita, Yuga Purana chapter). To the south, the Greeks occupied the areas of the Sindh and Gujarat down to the strategic harbour of Barigaza (Bharuch), as attested by several writers (Strabo XI, the Periplus) and by coinage of the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I.
The invasion was completed by 175 BCE, and the Indo-Greeks ruled various part of northern and northwestern India until the end of the 1st century BCE, while the Sungas remained in the east.
The Indo-Greeks and Indian culture
Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the philhellenic Mauryan empire, and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Sungas.
 Silver drachm of Menander I (160-135 BC). Obv: Greek legend, BASILEOS SOTHROS MENANDROY lit. "Saviour King Menander". Rev: Kharosthi translation of the Greek legend. Athena advancing right, with thunderbolt and shield. Demetrius, who organized the invasion, was named Dharmamita ("Friend of the Dharma") in the Indian text of the Yuga-Purana. The city of Sirkap founded by Demetrius combines Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the two cultures.
The first Greek coins to be minted in India, those of Menander I and Appolodotus I bear the mention "Saviour king" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), a title with a very high value in the Greek world which "had only been used twice before in history: Ptolemy I had been Soter (saviour) because he had helped save Rhodes from Demetrius the Besieger, and Antiochus I because he had saved Asia Minor from the Gauls." (Tarn, "The Greeks in Bactria and India").
Also the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in Kharoshthi on the back, a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world.
Development of Greco-Buddhism
Main article: Greco-Buddhism
Menander I, one of the most famous successors of Demetrius, ruled from 150 to 135 BCE. He is presented by Greek authors as an even greater conqueror than Alexander the Great. Strabo (XI.II.I) says Menander was one of the two Bactrian kings who extended their power farthest into India.
Menander, the "Saviour king", seems to have converted to Buddhism, and is described in Buddhist texts as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka. He is famous for his dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena, transmitted to us in the Milinda Panha. Upon his death, the honour of sharing his remains was claimed by the various cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in stupas, in a parallel with the historic Buddha (Plutarch, Praec. reip. ger. 28, 6).
During the reign of Menander, the Greek (Pali: Yona, lit: "Ionian") Buddhist monk Mahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita) is said to have come from Alasandra (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus, the city founded by Alexander the Great, near todays Kabul) with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa") at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, indicating the importance of Buddhism within Greek communities in northwestern India, and the prominent role Greek Buddhist monks played in them:
- "From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhus." (Mahavamsa, XXIX)
Although the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and Northern Asia is usually associated with the Kushans, a century or two later, there is a possibility that it may have been introduced in those areas from Gandhara "even earlier, during the time of Demetrius and Menander" (Puri, "Buddhism in Central Asia").
During the reign of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas (r.c. 115-95 BCE) relations with the Sungas seem to have improved, and some level of religious reconciliation started, as suggested by the erection of the Heliodorus pillar by an ambassador of the king to the court of the Sungas.
There were over 30 Indo-Greek kings, often in competition on different territories. Many of them are only known through their coins. The Indo-Greeks correspond to a key period of cultural interaction between the Hellenistic and the Buddhist cultures, referred to as Greco-Buddhism.
Scythian and Kushan invasions
From 130 BCE, Indo-European nomads (the Scythians and then the Yuezhi) started to invade Bactria from the north. In 125 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles abandoned Bactria and moved his capital to the Kabul valley, from where he ruled his Indian holdings.
While the Yuezhi were to stay in Bactria for more than a century, the Scythians went on to the south-east into northern Pakistan to form Indo-Scythian kingdoms, seemingly recognizing the power of the local Indo-Greeks rulers there. The coins of the Indo-Scythians displayed Greek legends and Greek divinities such as Zeus or Nike. However, towards the end of the 1st century BCE it seems they finally controled most of the territory under Azes II.
The last Indo-Greek kings, Hermaeus and Hippostratos, were replaced by Indo-Scythian kings around 50 BCE, although some smaller Indo-Greek rulers, such as Theodamas in northern Gandhara, seem to have been ruling Greek communities, without the right of coinage, into the 1st century CE.
Aftermaths
From the 1st century CE, the Greek communities of central Asia and northwestern India lived under the control of the Kushan branch of the Yuezhi, apart from a short-lived invasion of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. The Kushans founded the Kushan Empire, which was to prosper for several centuries.
It is unclear how much longer the Greeks managed to maintain a distinct presence in the Indian sub-continent.
The "Kanishka reliquary (http://www.trincoll.edu/classes/relg254pics/relg254pics/class3/if000000.htm)" (British Museum), dated to the first year of Kanishka's reign in 127 CE, was signed by a Greek artist named Agesilas, who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas (caitya), confirming the direct involvement of Greeks with Buddhist realizations. Greek representations and artistic styles, with some possible admixtures from the Roman world, continued to maintain a strong identity down to the 3rd-4th century, as indicated by the archeological remains of such sites as Hadda in eastern Afghanistan.
At the end of the 2nd century CE, the Central Indian Satavahana king Sri Yajna Sātakarni (170-199 CE) would call himself "Destroyer of Sakas (Western Kshatrapas), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahalavas (Indo-Parthians)" in his inscriptions, suggesting a continued presence of the Indo-Greeks.
Main Indo-Greek kings, timeline and territories
Not strictly an Indo-Greek king, Sophytes (305-294) was an independent Greek prince in the Punjab, following the conquests of Alexander the Great.
House of Euthydemus (Western and Eastern territories)
The descendants of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus invaded northern India around 180 BCE as far as Pataliputra, before retreating to the area between the Hindu-Kush and Mathura, where they ruled most of the northwestern Indian subcontinent:
Territory from Bactria to Pataliputra (180 - 167 BCE):
 Demetrius I, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom (r.c. 205-171 BCE). - Sub-kings of Demetrius:
- Euthydemus II (190-171 BCE) Son and sub-king of Demetrius I. Coins (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/euthydemos_II/t.html)
- Demetrius II (c. 180 BCE) Son and sub-king of Demetrius I.
- Pantaleon (190-185 BCE) Son and sub-king of Demetrius I. Ruler of the Paropamisadae. Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Pantaleon+AND+tri+NOT+Euthydemos+NOT+Diodotos&Thumb=1)
- Agathocles (185-170 BCE) Son and sub-king of Demetrius I and co-ruler with Antimachus I. Ruled the Paropamisadae. Defeated by usurper Eucratides.Coins (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/agathokles/t.html)
- Apollodotus I (reigned c. 174–165 BCE). Succeeded Demetrius in India. Ruled Gandhara region south to Saurastra, as the Euthydemid general and future king Menander I was holding the Eastern part of the kingdom.
- Antimachus II Nikephoros (160-155 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Antimachos+II&Thumb=1)
The usurper Eucratides managed to eradicate the Euthydemid dynasty and occupy territory as far as he Indus, between 171 and 165 BCE. However, he was then forced to retreat back to Bactria beyond the Hindu Kush, by the victorious Euthydemid general Menander I:
Territory from Hindu-Kush to Mathura (167 - 125 BCE):
- Menander I (reigned c. 165–130 BCE). Successor to Apollodotus. Married to Agathocleia, daughter of Demetrius I. Legendary for the size of his Kingdom, and his support of the Buddhist faith. Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Menander+I&Thumb=1)
- Agathokleia (r.c. 130-125 BCE), Widow of Menander, Queen-Mother and regent for her son Strato I. Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Agathokleia+NOT+Menander&Thumb=1)
Following the 125 BCE invasion of Gandhara by the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, son of Eucratides, the descendants of Euthydemus retreated to their territories east of the Jhelum River as far as Mathura, where they ruled until around 100 BCE:
Territory from Eastern Punjab to Mathura (125 - 100 BCE):
- Strato I (125 - 110 BCE) Coin (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/strato_I/SNGANS_996.jpg), son of Menander and Agathokleia
- Zoilos I (130 - 120 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=zoilos+I&Thumb=1)
- Lysias (120 - 110 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Lysias&Thumb=1)
- Demetrios III Aniketos (c. 100 BCE)
- Strato II (c. 100 BCE) Coin (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sg/sg7728.jpg)
After around 100 BCE, Indian kings recovered the area of Mathura. The eastern Indo-Greek kings were thereafter confined to the area of eastern Punjab:
Territory of Eastern Punjab (100 - 55 BCE):
House of Eucratides (Western territories)
The descendants of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides ruled the territories west of the Jhelum River to the Hindu Kush, following their invasion by Heliocles, but then progressively lost their southern territories to the Indo-Scythians until around 80 BCE, when their capital Taxila was taken by the Scythian king Maues. The last western king Hermaeus held out in the mountains a few more years.
Territory of Paropamisadae, Taxila & Gandhara (125 - 95 BCE):
After Antialcidas, the territory was divided into the three realms of Paropamisidae (Hindu-Kush), Taxila and Gandhara:
Territory of Paropamisadae(110 - 70 BCE):
 Hermaeus, last ruler of the Western territories (r.c. 90-70 BCE). - Heliokles II (110 - 100 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Heliokles+II+NOT+Menander&Thumb=1)
- Amyntas (95 - 90 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Amyntas+AND+bakt+NOT+Egypt&Thumb=1)
- Telephos (75 - 70 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Telephos+AND+serpent&Thumb=1)
- Hermaeus (reigned c. 90–70 BCE), ruled in the Paropamisadae (Hindu-Kush)
- Hermaeus (40-1BCE) Coins (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/hermaios/t.html) Posthumous issues
Territory of Taxila (90 - 85 BCE):
- Archebios (90 - 80 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Archebios+NOT+oriental&Thumb=1)
- Artemidoros (c.85 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Artemidoros+AND+Bakt&Thumb=1), succeeded by the Indo-Scythian Maues.
Territory of Gandhara: (100 - 85 BCE)
- Philoxenus (reigned c. 100––95 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Philoxenus&Thumb=1)
- Diomedes (95 - 90 BCE)Coin (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/diomedes/Bop_10A.jpg)
- Epander (95 - 90 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Epander&Thumb=1)
- Peukolaos (c. 90 BC)
- Artemidoros (c.85 BCE) Coins (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Artemidoros+AND+Bakt&Thumb=1). Also ruled Taxila, and was succeeded by the Indo-Scythian Maues.
Indo-Greek princelets (Gandhara)
After the Indo-Scythian Kings became the rulers of northern India, remaining Greek communities were probably governed by lesser Greek rulers, without the right of coinage, into the 1st century CE, in the areas of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara:
The Indo-Greeks may have kept a significant military role towards the end of the 2nd century CE as suggested by the inscriptions of the Satavahana kings.
MIDDLE KINGDOMS OF INDIA
WesternSatrap.JPG
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| Timeline: | Northern empires | Southern Kingdoms | Foreign kingdoms
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6th century BCE
5th century BCE
4th century BCE
3rd century BCE
2nd century BCE
1st century BCE
1st century CE
2nd century CE
3rd century CE
4th century CE
5th century CE
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(Persian rule)
(Greek conquests)
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See also
References
- "The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies" by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1581152035
- "Buddhism in Central Asia" by B.N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN 8120803728
- "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
External links
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