The Indo-Greek ’kingdom’ was created after the Greco-Bactrians invaded northern India from 180 BCE. It consisted of a number of dynastic polities that ruled from regional capitals and formed a single entity only to the extent their rulers were able to collaborate. More than 30 kings are known, who were often in conflict with each other.
[1]
Bopearachchi suggests the period was founded by two kings, Demetrius I and Agathocles, who ruled around 185 BCE, but Jakobsson (2009) believes that a later king known as Menander was "instrumental in the creation of the era."
[2]
The lack of consistent or reliable sources from either Western or Chinese sources means that much of what we know is speculative and reliant on numismatic evidence.
[3]
It is likely the rulers, who simultaneously produced their own coinage, ruled different parts of the Indo-Greek polity and employed their own administrators.
[4]
Governance of the Indo-Greek region was for the most part through personal kingship and organization extended only to the limits of a particular king’s power.
[5]
After 145 BCE, Successive nomadic invasions by Scythians and other nomads isolated the Indo-Greeks from the wider Hellenic world. By the beginning of the first century CE, the Greco-Bactrian state was extinguished as an independent entity.
[1]
Of the legacy of the civilization, the Greek alphabet survived until the Islamic conquest as the script of the Bactrian language, and the conversion of a Indo-Greek King to Buddhism became a part of the zeitgeist of the Indian collective historical memory.
[1]
[1]: (Bernard 2012, 42-52) Paul Bernard. ’Ai Khanum: A Greek Colony in Post-Alexandrian Central Asia, or How to Be Greek in an Oriental Milieu.’ in Elisabetta Valtz Fino. Joan Aruz. ed. 2012. Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.
[2]: (Jakobsson 2009) Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. pp. 505-510.
[3]: (Guillaume 1986, 1-16) Olivier Guillaume. 1986. "An Analysis of the Modes of Reconstruction of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek History." Studies in History 2, no. 1
[4]: (Jakobsson 2009. 505-510) Jens Jakobsson. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2.
[5]: (Jakobsson 2009, 505-510) Jens Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2.
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inferred Present |
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absent |
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inferred Present |
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inferred Present |
inferred Present |
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Year Range | Indo-Greek Kingdom (pk_indo_greek_k) was in: |
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(145 BCE 96 BCE) | Kachi Plain |
Demetrius built a new capital at Sirkap, and transferred the population from ’old Taxila’ to ’new Taxila’ (Sirkap). [1]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press: 1951, p.137.; https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/vol_II%20silk%20road_the%20greek%20kingdoms%20of%20central%20asia.pdf p. 124
An independent offshoot of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, eventually conquered by nomads.
"O. Bopearachchi, who has produced what probably remains the most reliable Bactrian chronology (see Table I) ... suggests two kings who may have ruled around 185 B.C.E., Demetrius I and Agathocles, as potential founders. Reluctantly, he dismisses the important Menander as too late for this date."
[1]
However, Jakobsson (2009) believes "the exact date 186/5 B.C.E. may not be so important, and that a later king, such as Menander, may well have been instrumental in the creation of the era."
[1]
The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians into northern India from 180 BCE established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which was a number of various dynastic polities traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals. These dynastic polities were ruled by more than 30 kings, often in conflict with each other. The Greco-Bactrians were originally a Greek colony under the Seleucid Syrian Kingdom of Selecus I. At the beginning of 250 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian state became independent and occupied the former Persian provinces of Bactria and Sogdiana. The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians led to the political dominance of a portion of India by the Greek invaders. Successive nomadic invasions by Scythians and other nomads isolated the Indo-Greeks from the wider Hellenic world after 145 BCE. By the beginning of the first century CE, the Greco-Bactrian state was extinguished as an independent entity. However, the Greek alphabet survived until the Islamic conquest as the script of the Bactrian language, and the conversion of a Indo-Greek King to Buddhism became a part of the zeitgeist of the Indian collective historical memory.
[2]
[1]: (Jakobsson 2009) Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. pp. 505-510.
[2]: Fino, Elisabetta Valtz, ed. Afghanistan: Forging Civilizations Along the Silk Road. Buy this book, 2012. pp. 42-52, 152
The two and a half centuries between Diodotus I and the last Indo-Greek king Strato II (10 CE) the names of more than thirty kings have been in recorded the region. Power seems to have been collaborative. The lack of consistent or reliable sources from either Western or Chinese sources means that any answer is largely speculative. As with so much with central Asian history, this is largely as a result of a reliance on numismatic evidence.
[1]
Numismatic evidence suggests kingship was collaborative but there are few reliable sources to provide details.
[2]
It is likely the rulers, who simultaneously produced their own coinage, ruled different parts of the Indo-Greek polity and employed their own administrators. That few of the rulers who succeeded Menander "could easily be named as his relatives, and the Indo-Greek realms were scarcely united after his death"
[3]
suggests the Indo-Greek region was for the most part not a united state and organization extended only to the limits of a particular king’s power. "Hellenistic kingship was personal, not defined by exact borders."
[3]
[1]: Guillaume, Olivier. "An Analysis of the Modes of Reconstruction of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek History." Studies in History 2, no. 1 (1986): 1-16.
[2]: Guillaume, Olivier. 1986. "An Analysis of the Modes of Reconstruction of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek History." Studies in History 2, no. 1. p.1-16.
[3]: (Jakobsson 2009) Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. pp. 505-510.
Coins were minted with Greek, Prakrit and Brāhmī script on them. [1]
[1]: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-greek-dynasty
Coins were minted with Greek, Prakrit and Brāhmī script on them. [1]
[1]: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-greek-dynasty
Coins were minted with Greek, Prakrit and Brāhmī script on them. [1]
[1]: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-greek-dynasty
Coins were minted with Greek, Prakrit and Brāhmī script on them. [1]
[1]: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-greek-dynasty
Coins were minted with Greek, Prakrit and Brāhmī script on them. [1]
[1]: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-greek-dynasty
squared kilometers.
Note on the rulership of the Kachi Plains:The duration of rule over the Kachi plain is uncertain. Strabo, quoting Apollodorus of Artemita, states that the Indo-Greek territory, "took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis"
[1]
(the provinces of Sindh and possibly Gujarat). However, "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".
[2]
And Dr Tarn, "pleads for literal Greek rule over country extending from Kabul in a straight line nine hundred miles south to Broach...He speaks of the coastal provinces south of Patalene (Indus Delta) remaining Greek".
[3]
This would include the Kachi Plain but no dates are provided.
[3]: R.B.Whitehead, Notes on the Indo-Greeks (1940), pp. 4-5
people. Taxila. Estimate for 200 BCE. [1] Evidence of irrigation and the flourishing trade network seems to indicate a growth of population in the region controlled by the Indo-Greek Kingdom. However, this is largely speculative based on the current archaeological record.
[1]: (Chase-Dunn: pers. comm. 2011)
There has been very little excavation of verified Greek settlements, with only one Greek site directly excavated. If this one example typified the situation in the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the Greek polis was the administrative, ritualized, and monumental heartland of the territory, but not the dominant population centre and represented a new construction. Below this newly urban space were the existing infrastructure of towns and villages.
[1]
1. Greek Polis
Peucelaotis (Shaikhan Dheri) measured 1.8 x 1.5 km.
[2]
2. Surrounding towns
3. Villages
[1]: Daryaee, Touraj, ed. The Oxford handbook of Iranian history. Oxford University Press, 2012. pp. 156-157
[2]: Dani, Ahmad Hasan et al. History of Civilizations of Central Asia Vol. 2: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250. Paris: Unesco, 1992., p.106.
The ranks below are based on the organization of the Seleucid army. These ranks were not permanent and command of individual units shifted with the campaign or battle. Civic volunteers and mercenaries would also have operated outside the structure indicated below.
[1]
1. King
2. Senior officers of the army: Strategoi
3. Officers: Hipparchoi/Hegemones
4. Common soldiers
[1]: Bar-Kochva, Bezalel. The Seleucid army: Organization and tactics in the great campaigns. Vol. 28. Cambridge University Press, 1976. pp. 91-93
Based on the structure in place in the Seleucid empires.
[1]
Seleucus and his successors had maintained the policy of Alexander in appointing a satrap to oversee a province. Below this level, the hyparchy was a subdivision. Below this level, the direct supporters of the ruler were the ’friends’based on favor or eunoia. The power was further strengthened by vast land holding, villages, slaves and other wealth. Below this level was the topoi and overseen by dioikites or oikonomos.
[2]
The Seleucid Empire did have full time bureaucrats, and this system in the Greco-Bactrians also seems to have existed. It is therefore inferred that some element of this system was preserved.
[3]
[4]
1. King
2. Topio overseen by the dioikites
[5]
(Note that under the Seleucids the title Dioketes denoted the individuals responsible for finances, royal land, revenue and expenditure and whom possibly also supervised royal mints and registry offices.
[6]
)
3. Epistates
[5]
Note: if it translates directly as the Ancient Greek term, an overseer or superintendent.
4. Scribes inferred
5. Panchayat (council of elders.)
[7]
[1]: Daryaee, Touraj, ed. The Oxford handbook of Iranian history. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158
[2]: Daryaee, Touraj, ed.The Oxford handbook of Iranian history. Oxford University Press, 2012. p. 158
[3]: Mairs, Rachel. 2012. "The Hellenistic Far East: From the Oikoumene to the Community." Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narratives, Practices, and Images.
[4]: Rougemont, Georges. 2012. "Hellenism in Central Asia and the North-West of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent: The Epigraphic Evidence." Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 18, no. 1. p.175-182.
[5]: George Woodcock, The Greeks in India (1966), pp. 106-107
[6]: Aperghis, G. G. 2004. The Seleukid Royal Economy: The Finances and Financial Administration of the Seleukid Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p295
[7]: "History gives no information...about the lower levers of administration under Menander and his fellow Greek kinds in India", George Woodcock, The Greeks in India (1966), pp. 106-107
The soldier-settler, or kleruch, was awarded land and a hereditary obligation to serve in the army under a system known as Kleros. The size of the land grant varied with the rank of the soldier-settler. In addition, soldiers were recruited from native people, especially in the light cavalry.
[1]
Amphipolis skin text "a brief receipt concerning payments for Scythian soldiers" of unclear origin which could be dated 157/6 B.C.E.
[2]
[1]: Holt, Frank L. Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. Vol. 32. University of California Pr, 1999. pp. 118-119
[2]: (Jakobsson 2009) Jakobsson, Jens. Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.? Dec 2009. The Classical Quarterly. New Series. Vol. 59. No.2. pp. 505-510.
In the Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms, Iranian aristocrats were members of a permanent elite cavalry. The military officers seem to have been recruited from both native and Greek settlers. As the Indo-Greeks were originally from the Greco-Batrians, the same structure could have been present. [1]
[1]: Daryaee, Touraj, The Oxford handbook of Iranian history. p. 158
Evidence of a street layout with the possibility of specialized governmental buildings in the Indo-Greek cities.
[1]
[1]: Mairs, Rachel (2009) "The ’Greek Grid-Plan’ at Sirkap (Taxila) and the Question of Greek Influence in the North West," in Michael Willis (eds.), Migration, Trade and Peoples: European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Congress, London, 2005, 135-147. London: The British Association for South Asian Studies; The British Academy
The evidence is unclear. The Indo-Greeks were on a cultural frontier between Iranian and Indian core territories, but seem to have maintained a distinct and enduring identity. Whether this was extended to a full time bureaucracy is unclear but likely. The Seleucid Empire did have full time bureaucrats, and this system in the Greco-Bactrians also seems to have existed. It is therefore inferred that some element of this system was preserved. [1] [2]
[1]: Mairs, Rachel. "The Hellenistic Far East: From the Oikoumene to the Community." Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narratives, Practices, and Images (2012).
[2]: Rougemont, Georges. "Hellenism in Central Asia and the North-West of the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent: The Epigraphic Evidence." Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia 18, no. 1 (2012): 175-182.
The Greek legal code seems to have been in practice in the other Greek successor states. [1] In terms of the details of how this would have been administered, we have little information. [2] Scholarship since the 1960s has not clarified this assessment.
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 2010. p. 63
[2]: "History gives no information...on such important matters as administration of justice", George Woodcock, The Greeks in India (1966), p. 106
The wealth of the Greeks and the number of cities were based on extensive irrigation and a wetter climate. These were based on the maintenance of Persian networks and expansion under the Greeks. [1]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 2010. pp. 101-105
Town roads. [1] The Persian road network had served as an example of the importance of a large scale transport infrastructure, and was a network maintained by the Greek successor kingdoms. There was also the precidence of royal roads under the Mauryan empire. However, very little evidence of Indo-Greek infrastructure, apart from the street plans of some urban centers, has been found during this period.
[1]: Higham, Charles, Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Facts of File,2009 p. 344
The Indo-Greeks straddled a crossroads of writing systems and written language traditions. Inscriptions written with the Greek alphabet, use of cuneiform in legal documents and exposure to records in Prakrit are all recorded. Further evidence is found in the Kharosthi inscriptions and the Asokan edicts. Further evidence exist of a transmissions of writing systems to other groups in the North Indian area. [1]
[1]: Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Vol. 2. Brill, 2010, pp. 98-107
The Indo-Greeks straddled a crossroads of writing systems and written language traditions. Inscriptions written with the Greek alphabet, use of cuneiform in legal documents and exposure to records in Prakrit are all recorded. Further evidence is found in the Kharosthi inscriptions and the Asokan edicts. Further evidence exist of a transmissions of writing systems to other groups in the North Indian area. [1]
[1]: Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Vol. 2. Brill, 2010, pp. 98-107
The Indo-Greeks straddled a crossroads of writing systems and written language traditions. Inscriptions written with the Greek alphabet, use of cuneiform in legal documents and exposure to records in Prakrit are all recorded. Further evidence is found in the Kharosthi inscriptions and the Asokan edicts. Further evidence exist of a transmissions of writing systems to other groups in the North Indian area. [1]
[1]: Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Vol. 2. Brill, 2010, pp. 98-107
The Indo-Greeks straddled a crossroads of writing systems and written language traditions. Inscriptions written with the Greek alphabet, use of cuneiform in legal documents and exposure to records in Prakrit are all recorded. Further evidence is found in the Kharosthi inscriptions and the Asokan edicts. Further evidence exist of a transmissions of writing systems to other groups in the North Indian area. [1]
[1]: Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Vol. 2. Brill, 2010, pp. 98-107
Given the scarce records of the Indo-Greeks no proof has been found to indicate indigenous literary works.
[1]
However, this was a literature society. The Bactrian Greek city of Ai Khanoum is much better preserved than the Indo-Greek capital Sirkup and may serve some indication of what was there. Ai Khanoum had an impressive administrative center, gymnasium, theater, and Greek statuary.
[2]
The presence of a theatre would suggest specialist entertainers and writers.
[1]: Sherwin-White, Susan M. From Samarkhand to Sardis: a new approach to the Seleucid empire. Vol. 13. University of California Pr, 1993.
[2]: Docherty, Paddy. "The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion: A History of Invasion and Empire. 2007." Publisher: Faber and Faber. pp. 64-65
A denominational system of coinage was introduced during the reign of King Menander. The system used symbols and letters to denote value. [1] "The Indo-Greeks were the first rulers to issue coins having the name, title and portrait of the ruler who issued them." [2]
[1]: Srinivasan, Doris, ed. On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World, pp. 247-249
[2]: Chand, Tara. ed. 2015. General Studies Paper I for Civil Services Preliminary Examinations. McGraw-Hill Education. New Delhi.
Used during the spread of walled villages. A development considered very important in this period. [1] [2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1951. p.124-5
[2]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169
Mud wall at the city of Taxila. [1] Reference for use of the mud rampart in ancient India. [2]
[1]: Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press: 1951, p.124-5. Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169
[2]: (Singh 2008, 336) Upinder Singh. 2008. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Longman. Delhi.
"when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the Indus region in 180 BC, he established a Greek centre called Sirkap near the Indian city. Sirkap was a Greek walled city built on the river bank opposite Taxila, but the two centres shared administrative duties and the royal mint remained in the Indian capital." [1]
[1]: (McLaughlin 2016, 80) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley.
This could be southern India (and/or Sri Lanka): Historical records show Indian steel was exported to Abyssinia in 200 BCE. (Biggs et al. 2013 citing Tripathi and Upadhyay 2009, p. 123). [1] Northern India as early as 1st CE was exporting iron and steel as far as East Africa. [2]
[1]: Lynn Biggs. Berenice Bellina. Marcos Martinon-Torres. Thomas Oliver Pryce. January 2013. Prehistoric iron production technologies in the Upper Thai-MalayPeninsula: metallography and slag inclusion analyses of iron artefacts from Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Springer.
[2]: (Hatke 2013) Hatke, George. 2013. Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa. New York University Press.
This could be southern India (and/or Sri Lanka): Historical records show Indian steel was exported to Abyssinia in 200 BCE. (Biggs et al. 2013 citing Tripathi and Upadhyay 2009, p. 123). [1] Northern India as early as 1st CE was exporting iron and steel as far as East Africa. [2]
[1]: Lynn Biggs. Berenice Bellina. Marcos Martinon-Torres. Thomas Oliver Pryce. January 2013. Prehistoric iron production technologies in the Upper Thai-MalayPeninsula: metallography and slag inclusion analyses of iron artefacts from Khao Sam Kaeo and Phu Khao Thong. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Springer.
[2]: (Hatke 2013) Hatke, George. 2013. Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa. New York University Press.
Present in Alexander’s army and successor states. [1] Inferred as the Bactrian Greeks were equipped in the tradition of the Macedonians. [2]
[1]: Sekunda, Nick. The army of Alexander the Great. Edited by Angus McBride. No. 148. Osprey Publishing, 1984.
[2]: Sekunda, Nick. The army of Alexander the Great.
The Indo-Greeks were most likely to have been influenced and equipped in the tradition of the Macedonian style adopted by their Bactrian-Greek forbearers. They presumably wore the muscled breastplate made of metal scales and stripped with leather. Military adventurers and mercenaries from the Mediterranean took part in campaigns into India (attracted by India’s rumored wealth) and were present in military colonies; and they may provide more circumstantial evidence of the types of military equipment used by the Indo-Greeks. In addition, depictions on coins provide evidence of plate armour and the Boeotian helmet of the Alexandrian cavalrymen. [1] One issue that remains unclear is how many, if any, of the reforms taking place were in reaction to Roman military innovations trickling into the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. Therefore, the coding reflects Greek military technology from an earlier period. [2] Helmet would provide defence against weapons such as a war club which may have been wielded by cavalry.
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp. 64-66
[2]: Lee, Mireille M. "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC, by Nicholas Sekunda.(Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5.) Oficyna Naukowa MS, Lodz 2001.
The Indo-Greeks were most likely to have been influenced and equipped in the tradition of the Macedonian style adopted by their Bactrian-Greek forbearers. They presumably wore the muscled breastplate made of metal scales and stripped with leather. Military adventurers and mercenaries from the Mediterranean took part in campaigns into India (attracted by India’s rumored wealth) and were present in military colonies; and they may provide more circumstantial evidence of the types of military equipment used by the Indo-Greeks. In addition, depictions on coins provide evidence of plate armour and the Boeotian helmet of the Alexandrian cavalrymen. [1] One issue that remains unclear is how many, if any, of the reforms taking place were in reaction to Roman military innovations trickling into the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. Therefore, the coding reflects Greek military technology from an earlier period. [2] Coded present for the Seleucids.
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp. 64-66
[2]: Lee, Mireille M. "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC, by Nicholas Sekunda.(Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5.) Oficyna Naukowa MS, Lodz 2001.
The coins from the period show lancers of the Greek style. [1] Yuezhi (Kushan) find at Tillya-Tepe: "decorative gold clasp depicted a Greek infantryman in a cuirass breastplate carrying a spear and an oval shield." [2]
[1]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169
[2]: (McLaughlin 2016, 78) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley.
The Indo-Greeks were most likely to have been influenced and equipped in the tradition of the Macedonian style adopted by their Bactrian-Greek forbearers. They presumably wore the muscled breastplate made of metal scales and stripped with leather. Military adventurers and mercenaries from the Mediterranean took part in campaigns into India (attracted by India’s rumored wealth) and were present in military colonies; and they may provide more circumstantial evidence of the types of military equipment used by the Indo-Greeks. In addition, depictions on coins provide evidence of plate armour and the Boeotian helmet of the Alexandrian cavalrymen. [1] One issue that remains unclear is how many, if any, of the reforms taking place were in reaction to Roman military innovations trickling into the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. Therefore, the coding reflects Greek military technology from an earlier period. [2]
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp. 64-66
[2]: Lee, Mireille M. "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC, by Nicholas Sekunda.(Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5.) Oficyna Naukowa MS, Lodz 2001.
The Indo-Greeks were most likely to have been influenced and equipped in the tradition of the Macedonian style adopted by their Bactrian-Greek forbearers. They presumably wore the muscled breastplate made of metal scales and stripped with leather. Military adventurers and mercenaries from the Mediterranean took part in campaigns into India (attracted by India’s rumored wealth) and were present in military colonies; and they may provide more circumstantial evidence of the types of military equipment used by the Indo-Greeks. In addition, depictions on coins provide evidence of plate armour and the Boeotian helmet of the Alexandrian cavalrymen. [1] One issue that remains unclear is how many, if any, of the reforms taking place were in reaction to Roman military innovations trickling into the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. Therefore, the coding reflects Greek military technology from an earlier period. [2] Coded present for the Seleucids.
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp. 64-66
[2]: Lee, Mireille M. "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC, by Nicholas Sekunda.(Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5.) Oficyna Naukowa MS, Lodz 2001.
The Indo-Greeks were most likely to have been influenced and equipped in the tradition of the Macedonian style adopted by their Bactrian-Greek forbearers. They presumably wore the muscled breastplate made of metal scales and stripped with leather. Military adventurers and mercenaries from the Mediterranean took part in campaigns into India (attracted by India’s rumored wealth) and were present in military colonies; and they may provide more circumstantial evidence of the types of military equipment used by the Indo-Greeks. In addition, depictions on coins provide evidence of plate armour and the Boeotian helmet of the Alexandrian cavalrymen. [1] One issue that remains unclear is how many, if any, of the reforms taking place were in reaction to Roman military innovations trickling into the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. Therefore, the coding reflects Greek military technology from an earlier period. [2]
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp. 64-66
[2]: Lee, Mireille M. "Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC, by Nicholas Sekunda.(Studies on the History of Ancient and Medieval Art of Warfare 5.) Oficyna Naukowa MS, Lodz 2001.
The Indo-Greeks wore the muscles breastplate typical of Greek armament, made of metal scales and stripped with leather. The pasturage and access to the steppe horses provided sturdy mounts. There is also evidence that the horses were armored in iron in the central Asian fashion, at least in the initial period when the Indo-Greeks had access to the Bactrian-Greek trade networks. [1] The degree to which innovations from either the East or the West affected the equipment of the armies of the Indo-greeks is unknown. [2]
[1]: Docherty, Paddy. The Khyber Pass: a history of empire and invasion. Union Square Press, 2008. pp.64
[2]: N. Sekunda: Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies 168-145 BC. Vol. 1: The Seleucid Army under Antiochus IV Epiphanes., Stockport: Montvert, 1994.
Shields used by Greek soldiers. [1] Yuezhi (Kushan) find at Tillya-Tepe: "decorative gold clasp depicted a Greek infantryman in a cuirass breastplate carrying a spear and an oval shield." [2]
[1]: Sekunda, Nick, and Nicholas Sekunda. The Ancient Greeks. Vol. 7. Osprey Publishing Company, 1986.
[2]: (McLaughlin 2016, 78) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley.
The coins from the period show muscled cuirass. [1] Yuezhi (Kushan) find at Tillya-Tepe: "decorative gold clasp depicted a Greek infantryman in a cuirass breastplate carrying a spear and an oval shield." [2]
[1]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169
[2]: (McLaughlin 2016, 78) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley.
The coins from the period show muscled cuirass, scaled corsets, metal grieves and thigh protectors made of leather. [1] For a wider view of equipment of the period, see the Osprey works on typical equipage. [2]
[1]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, pp. 168-169
[2]: Sekunda, Nick, and Nicholas Sekunda. The Ancient Greeks. Vol. 7. Osprey Publishing Company, 1986.
The coins from the period show muscled cuirass, scaled corsets, metal grieves and thigh protectors made of leather. [1] There is also some limited archaeological evidence. [2] Yuezhi (Kushan) find at Tillya-Tepe: "decorative gold clasp depicted a Greek infantryman in a cuirass breastplate carrying a spear and an oval shield." [3]
[1]: Sidky, H., The Greek Kingdom of Bactria, from Alexander to Eucratides the Great, Oxford, 2000, pp. 168-169
[2]: Nikonorov, Valeri P., and Serge A. Savchuk. "New Data on Ancient Bactrian Body-Armour (In the Light of Finds from Kampyr Tepe)." Iran (1992): 49-54.
[3]: (McLaughlin 2016, 78) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley.
inferred. As a landlocked kingdom, naval forces were restricted to river craft.
Inferred. As a landlocked kingdom, naval forces were restricted to river craft.
inferred. As a landlocked kingdom, naval forces were restricted to river craft.
Luxury Precious Metal: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | Indo-Greek Kingdom ; foreign |
Silver, gold, copper, bronze. ‘On the other hand, the Indo-Greek kings (i.e., those ruling south of the Hindu Kush) seem to have first attempted to strike silver coinage in a weight both convertible to the Attic standard and corresponding with the value of contemporary Indian coinage circulating in the northwest. However, they soon replaced this system with a lower-weight one which appears to have more closely approximated the silver value of contemporary Indian coins (i.e., late Mauryan debased silver punch marked karsapanas), but utilizing the divisions of Attic denominations.81 The adaptation of this system was probably intended to improve local acceptance of these coinages and their integration in the region’s preexisting monetary economy, perhaps with the effect of lowering transaction costs for trade within Indic monetary spheres, although there are other plausible goals.82 The use of two distinct monetary zones within the empire probably slightly complicated interregional trade to adegree (i.e., by requiring conversion), especially because we very rarely see Indian weight coinage in regular use contexts in southern Central Asia. However, these systems may not have functionally impeded imperial revenue collection, as the treasury texts of Ai Khanum (discussed above) demonstrate the processing of incoming payments in forms of karsapanas.’ [Morris_Reden 2022, p. 462] ‘The arm and wrist ornaments found in the excavations are of several varieties. There are plain, decorated and twisted bangles, bangles with trumpet ends, bangles with ends in the shape of lions head and wrist bands with cut ends. The material used for making these pieces are glass, shell, ivory, bone, copper, bronze, silver and gold. Unfortunately, no terracotta bangles have been found. It appears that by this time either the fashion of wearing terracotta bangles which was common in the Indus Valley Civilization had disappeared or was ignored by the excavators. We have to presume that all these were in use during the period under review. We cannot say when one type of bangle came into use and the other out of fashion as the excavations have not been scientifically carried out.’ [Chandra 1979, p. 60] RA’s note: the production of specific artefacts with precious metal would have happened domestically, however, the procurement of the material would have been both from local mines and imported from elsewhere. ‘Kautilya mentions five different varieties of gold which came from five different sources. Jambanada a product of the river Jambu, perhaps one of the tributaries of Indus or Indus itself flowing in Jambudesa; Sata Kumbha a product of the mountain of Sata Kumbha, Haṭaka a product of mines; Vainava coming from the mountain Venu, and Srnga Suktiya an extract from Sṛnga Sukti perhaps Tibet.7 According to the commentators all these were of different hues. According to him that gold was supposed to be the best which had the hue of red lotus petals, was ductile, glossy, incapable of making a ringing sound (anadi) and glittering. The gold of reddish yellow colour was of middle quality, while that which was of red colour was of low quality. Marshall says that gold was being obtained from the rivers of India, and mines Hyderabad State, the Madras Presidency and Mysore.8 It was also being imported from Dardistan and Tibet. In the eastern parts of India gold was being obtained from Assam, Burma and Malaya where ancient mines have been discovered.9 According to Marshall in the north-west of India gold was coming from the near east by way of the Persian Gulf.’ [Chandra 1979] ‘Marshall interpreted Deposit E, a miscellaneous collection of 88 copper, gold, stone, glass, and silver objects, from House 4 in Block D as ‘the stock-in-trade of some lapidary or jeweller’ (ibid., 188).’ [Coningham_Edwards 1998, p. 56]
Luxury Spices Incense And Dyes: | Inferred Present |
Consumption by Ruler: | Inferred Present |
RA’s note: The following quote discusses archaeological finds at Indo-Greek cities, where archaeologists have found incense burners suggesting incense was present during this period of time. ‘Further stucco and schist sculptures, relic caskets, copper finials, incense-burners and bells were recovered from the complex’s monasteries (ibid., 247-287). To some extent similar objects have also been recovered from the previously identified religious loci in Sirkap. … Thus in conclusion we may suggest that stucco and schist sculptures, bells, schist caskets, ritual tanks and clay figurines, votive stupas, stupa-shaped caskets and vessels, incense burners, terracotta portraits and ivory and metal caskets represent objects with a religious, or rather ritual association.’ [Coningham_Edwards 1998, p. 58] Inferred from information on a similar polity (the Greek kingdom in Bactria). ‘We have an image of more ‘pure’ consumption in palatial and court contexts under the Greek Kingdoms through the palace excavated at Ai Khanum, which was certainly the seat of the king and court of east Bactria under the Graeco-Bactrians when the inner circle was not on campaign. [...] Presuming that certain items discovered in Ai Khanum’s treasury (which had survived the city’s looting post-abandonment) were intended for use in the palace, we can assume that consumption in this space included the accumulation and use of everything from imported prestige furniture (such as a throne inlaid with agate and rock crystal), art objects, incense, apparently precious foodstuffs like olive oil (presumably not a native product of Bactria) and cinnamon, to intellectual materials like philosophical and dramatic texts.22’ [Morris_Reden 2022, p. 164]
Luxury Manufactured Goods: | Uncoded |
Consumption by Ruler: | Inferred Present |
Inferred from information on a similar polity (the Greek kingdom in Bactria). ‘We have an image of more ‘pure’ consumption in palatial and court contexts under the Greek Kingdoms through the palace excavated at Ai Khanum, which was certainly the seat of the king and court of east Bactria under the Graeco-Bactrians when the inner circle was not on campaign. [...] Presuming that certain items discovered in Ai Khanum’s treasury (which had survived the city’s looting post-abandonment) were intended for use in the palace, we can assume that consumption in this space included the accumulation and use of everything from imported prestige furniture (such as a throne inlaid with agate and rock crystal), art objects, incense, apparently precious foodstuffs like olive oil (presumably not a native product of Bactria) and cinnamon, to intellectual materials like philosophical and dramatic texts.22’ [Morris_Reden 2022, p. 164]
Luxury Food: | Inferred Present |
Consumption by Ruler: | Inferred Present |
Inferred from information on a similar polity (the Greek kingdom in Bactria). ‘We have an image of more ‘pure’ consumption in palatial and court contexts under the Greek Kingdoms through the palace excavated at Ai Khanum, which was certainly the seat of the king and court of east Bactria under the Graeco-Bactrians when the inner circle was not on campaign. [...] Presuming that certain items discovered in Ai Khanum’s treasury (which had survived the city’s looting post-abandonment) were intended for use in the palace, we can assume that consumption in this space included the accumulation and use of everything from imported prestige furniture (such as a throne inlaid with agate and rock crystal), art objects, incense, apparently precious foodstuffs like olive oil (presumably not a native product of Bactria) and cinnamon, to intellectual materials like philosophical and dramatic texts.22’ [Morris_Reden 2022, p. 164]
Luxury Statuary: | Present |
Place(s) of Provenance: | Indo-Greek Kingdom |
‘The two outstanding monuments of the Greeks in Taxila that have survived the wreck of the ages are the city which they founded in Sirkap (Ch. 4) and the temple at Jandial (Ch. 5). In contrast with the irregular, haphazard planning of the older city of the Bhir Mound, this new city was laid out on the symmetrical chess board pattern characteristic of other Hellenistic cities of this period, and it was protected by a bastioned wall of stone in place of the older mound of beaten earth or unbaked brick which surrounded the Bhir Mound city. The plans of the houses were altogether more symmetrical. In the temple of Jandial, which stands in the northern suburb of the city, the plan hardly varies from the orthodox plan of a Greek temple; the pillars are of Ionic order, though provided with plain shifts; the base mouldings are distinctively Greek; and the methods of construction are similar to those which were in vogue in Attica. In the sphere of arts and crafts the Greeks made many valuable contributions to the material culture of the North-West. It was they who introduced a vastly superior type of coin, bearing the name and, usually, the portrait of the ruling sovereign stamped upon it in relief, with the legend repeated in the Kharoshthi as well as in the Greek script. It was they who encouraged the use of schist and other soft stones for the manufacture of the carved dishes, cups, goblets, toilet-trays and the like which are afterwards found in such abundance in Sirkap.’ [Marshall 1960, p. 22] ‘Emergence of stone sculpturing in ancient Taxila Valley revolves around three major archaeological sites; Bhir Mound city (600-200 BC), Sirkap City (200 BC-200 CE) and Buddhist monastic complex of Dharamarajika (300 BC-500 CE). Investigation and astonishing discoveries revealed that till the invasion of Greeks, at local level art of stone sculpturing was not evidenced. In the light of investigation at Bhir mound city the hypothesis strengthen that stone sculpturing art introduced in Taxila valley after the invasion of Alexander the great. The stone artifacts found in the Bhir mound are daily use utensils but not sculptures of human beings or animals. After the Greek invasion, there is difference between the T.C figurines of Bhir mound city and Sirkap city. Mauryan influence faded out and it replaced by Hellenistic influence from west (Marshall 1951:Vol.II,440). Most common were terra cotta votive tanks adorned with terra cotta figurines.’ [Baloch_Lone 2021, p. 249] ‘The stone sculptures include figured reliefs, statues; architectural items (decorated or simply moulded) forming part of monuments. Different tools are used for stone chiseling, ranging from heavy-duty tools to more delicate instruments depending on the work to be carried out and the result to be achieved, such as percussion tools, cutting tools (percussion, abrasion, rotation); as well as measuring instruments (Fig.4 ). This paper lists the tools whose use is proven, or likely, in the Gandharan area, though clearly including reference to classical and Near Eastern areas. Sometime various pieces of stone sculptures, prepared off site, were placed in position (in a pre established sequence indicated by signs or markscut into the single pieces), fixed and made good between them (using mortice and tendon joints, continuous bridle joints, cramps, dovetail cramps, nails) (Pl. 3).’ [Baloch_Lone 2021, p. 250] ‘There are two local stones frequently available in Taxila valley, hard lime stone and Kanjur. Both are found at the hill side and along the banks of Tamra and Haro River. It is significant to mention that lime stone is largely used for construction and rarely for sculptures. In the contemporary era, artisans are also working in different mediums and producing utilitarian objects i.e. grinding stones, water fountains, tiles, vases, grave stones etc. The characteristics of the stone type have influenced working methods. Four kinds of sand stone used in the Bhir mound settlement, i.e. up to the beginning of the second century B.C.7 [...] After the invasion and settlement of Greek in the region, commercial demand increased for the production of stone artifact.’ [Baloch_Lone 2021, pp. 249-250]
Luxury Precious Stone: | Present |
Consumption by Ruler: | Inferred Present |
Pearls, agate, amethyst, beryl, carnelian, chalcedony, garnet, jasper, malchite, onyx, quartz, crystal, coral, limestone, amber, and steatite. ‘Stray beads of necklaces are of several shapes, material and design. Of the metal beads we have those of gold, silver, and bronze or copper and of the beads of semi-precious stones we have those of agate, amethyst, beryl, carnelian, chalcedony, garnet, jasper, lapis lazuli, malchite, onyx, quartz, crystal, coral, limestone, amber, and steatite. Besides these there are beads of bone, shell, glass, faience, and terracotta. Beads of semi-precious stones, bone, ivory, and metals, have been found from Jamalgarhi,228 Brahmanabad,229, Charsadda, Bala Hissar, Mirziarat,230 Mirpur Khas,231 Sahri Bahlol,232 Yasin,233 Shorkot,234 Bimran,235 and Taxila236 etc. Generally speaking the shapes of beads apart from spacers and terminals are spherical, oblate, ovoid, barrel, half barrel, hemispherical, scaraboid or plano-convex, oval, discoid, lenticular, cylindrical, bicone, tubular, cube, leech, and animal shaped. They are facetted, gadrooned, collared, and decorated. The favourite shapes however were spherical, cylindrical, barrel, and disc. The faceting appears to be a common mode of decorating the beads during this period. Most of the agate employed for manufacturing beads found in the ruins of the Indo-Greek cities are of black or dark brown colour with white or red markings and the carnelian used in Taxila and elsewhere is not red agate as supposed by Beck.237 It is a different stone altogether with a different refractive Index. The beads of quartz are of two types milky quartz and clear quartz. Some of these seem to have been glazed too. The amethyst if of purple variety belonging to the quartz family. Lapis lazuli does not appear to have been readily available and therefore could not come into use in India on an extensive scale till the 1st century B.C. or the 1st century A.D. The specimen of lapis lazuli bead found at Dharmarajika Stupa also came from later levels. Topaz appears to have been known to Indians of this period as a bead of this stone has been found at Taxila.238 Malchite beads are not very common and so it is the case with coral beads. Decorated beads have been found at Taxila and other places, among which the etched beads of carnelian and agate from Brahmanabad and Taxila are important.’ [Chandra 1979, p. 55] ‘The semi-precious stones set in the Indo-Greek jewellery were carnelian, chalcedony, agate, onyx, garnet, jasper, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, turquoise, black marble and white felspar. Besides these paste was also used in filling the cloisons which looked almost like stones. These pastes were previously prepared. Some of these pastes are of white colour and some are of the colour of turquoise. Then there is a paste of carnelian colour also.’ [Chandra 1979, pp. 100-101] Inferred from information on a similar polity (the Greek kingdom in Bactria). ‘We have an image of more ‘pure’ consumption in palatial and court contexts under the Greek Kingdoms through the palace excavated at Ai Khanum, which was certainly the seat of the king and court of east Bactria under the Graeco-Bactrians when the inner circle was not on campaign. [...] Presuming that certain items discovered in Ai Khanum’s treasury (which had survived the city’s looting post-abandonment) were intended for use in the palace, we can assume that consumption in this space included the accumulation and use of everything from imported prestige furniture (such as a throne inlaid with agate and rock crystal), art objects, incense, apparently precious foodstuffs like olive oil (presumably not a native product of Bactria) and cinnamon, to intellectual materials like philosophical and dramatic texts.22’ [Morris_Reden 2022, p. 164]