Notes on Hellenism in Bactria and India

Abstract

How far can the kingdoms in Bactria and India, ruled by kings with Greek names, be called Hellenistic, and how far were they simply native? These pages were put together with this question in view; they have no claim to be more than an attempt to get certain problems stated, to which some day some further answer may be given by the spade. The series of these kings stretches from the revolt of Diodotos, about 250 B.C., to the final merger of Indo-Greek rule in that of the Indo-Scyths in 26 B.C. The period is bisected by the conquest of Bactria by the Yue-tche, which probably took some little while to complete, but with respect to which our information centres on the year 128 B.C. By the time of Augustus, a number of merchantmen were sailing directly from the Red Sea to India, a rare event under the Ptolemies; and this traffic increased later, when in the reign of Nero was made that discovery, or rediscovery, of the monsoons which is associated with the name of Hippalos. To arrive, therefore, at any ideas about the kingdoms of Alexander's successors beyond Parthia, it is necessary to distinguish as carefully as possible the information with regard to India, and the traces of western influence on things Indian, which can be dated later than (say) the Christian era, (and which belong rather to the history of Rome), from information which can be, or may be, dated prior to 26 B.C., or I might almost say prior to 100 B.C., (the time between these two dates being for my purpose a blank); and only to make use of the former sources when they clearly refer to something that falls within the period under consideration. The general result appears to be, that one meets with more of the Iranian and less of the Greek than one expected.