Persians, Greeks, and Graeco-Buddhists (OPTIONAL)

Greeks and Persians

 As Magadha was developing and expanding, so too was a power in the west. The Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great (ruled 559-530BC) rose to power by overthrowing the Medes and conquering the Lydians and neo-Babylonians, and in doing so he established the Achaemenid dynasty and the first Persian Empire. By the end of his reign, the Persian Empire stretched from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to the Indus river in the East. The empire he created was a fairly tolerant one, respecting local religions and traditions with rule by regional satraps or vassal kings who had a fair amount of autonomy. Cyrus's successors, including Darius the Great, expanded the empire further. Circa 518, Darius I invaded the Punjab, conquering Kambosa and Gandhara (another of the Mahajanapadas), and then pushing into the Indus valley. The conquered territory was organized into two satrapies (Gandhara and Sindh/Hindush, and was an important source of food and gold for the Persian Empire; and some Hindus were recruited into the Persian army as well.

Persian control gradually weakened. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and in 316 BCE invaded South Asia in his bid to conquer the entire known world. After taking Gandhara satrapy, most of which surrendered to him, Alexander fought perhaps his hardest and most costly battle (the Battle of Hydaspes) against King Porus (Paurava)  at the Jhelum River. The Macedonian phalanx proved victorious but the army took heavy casualties, and balked at crossing the Hyphasis River to face the Nanda Empire army. Disappointed, Alexander secured the rest of the Punjab, made Porus his satrap, and then returned west, and he died in 323.

The two satrapies would be conquered soon after by the emerging Maurya Empire, but they did provide a route for Hellenism into South Asia, and South Asian influence westward.

 

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS

Eventually, the settlement of Greeks and other Hellenic peoples in or near South Asia led to a particular Graeco-Buddhist art (the Gandhara school) that also incorporated Persian influences. This school of art flourished in the 1st century BCE to the 5th century CE. Some images placed Buddhist images in Graeco-Roman garb and hairstyles, while others incorporated elements of the Graeco-Roman mythos into Buddhist scenes.

Standing Buddhas:

Watch this short video on the Gandhara Buddha statue, which explains the Mediterranean elements in this artistic school:

Gandhara Buddha - Arts of Asia Gallery - Auckland Museum Links to an external site.

 

 

Story of the Trojan Horse:

 

The titan Atlas:

 

Various heads:

 

The style is easiest to see in the draping of chitons and togas, the hairstyles, and the poses. But the artistic influence also appears in coins, often via the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom in what is now Afghanistan. For example the coin of the bottom left, King Demetrios of the Bactrian kingdom, where Demetrius is depicted with an elephant head on his head:

 

Rulers in the region continued to issue Greek-style coins, such as this tetradrachm of Milinda Panha/Menander Soter of Gandhara (2nd c. BCE):