Indo-Greek Kingdom | |||||||||||||
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200 BC–AD 10 | |||||||||||||
The Elephant and the Caduceus on a coin of Demetrius I, the founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom.
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![]() Territory of the Indo-Greeks circa 150 BC.[1] | |||||||||||||
Capital | Alexandria in the Caucasus (modern Bagram) [2] | ||||||||||||
Common languages | Greek (Greek alphabet) Pali (Kharoshthi script) Sanskrit Prakrit (Brahmi script) | ||||||||||||
Religion | Buddhism Hinduism Hellenism Zoroastrianism | ||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
Basileus | |||||||||||||
• 200 – 180 BC | Demetrius I (first) | ||||||||||||
• 25 BC – 10 AD | Strato III (last) | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||||||
• Established | 200 BC | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | AD 10 | ||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
150 BC[3] | 1,100,000 km2 (420,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
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Today part of | Afghanistan Pakistan India |
Indo-Greek Kingdom (200 BCE–10 CE) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom (also Yavanarajya[4] after the word Yona, which comes from Ionians), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.[5][6][7][8][9][10] It existed from c. 200 BC to c. 10 AD.
The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various Hellenistic states, ruling from regional capitals like Taxila, Sagala, Pushkalavati,and Alexandria in the Caucasus (now Bagram).[11][12][13] Other centers are only hinted at; e.g. Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophilus in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have been a royal seat at one time.
The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius I of Bactria invaded India from Bactria in about 200 BC.[14] The Greeks to the east of the Seleucid Empire were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms in the North Western Indian Subcontinent.[15]
During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Greek and Indian ideas, as seen in the archaeological remains.[16] The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco-Buddhist art.[17] The ethnicity of the Indo-Greek may also have been hybrid to some degree. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius,[18] a Magnesian Greek. His son, Demetrius I, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek ethnicity at least by his father. A marriage treaty was arranged for the same Demetrius with a daughter of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III. The ethnicity of later Indo-Greek rulers is sometimes less clear.[19] For example, Artemidoros (80 BC) was supposed to have been of Indo-Scythian descent, although he is now seen as a regular Indo-Greek king.[20]
Menander I Soter, being the most well known amongst the Indo-Greek kings, is often referred to simply as "Menander," despite the fact that there was indeed another Indo-Greek King known as Menander II. Menander I's capital was at Sagala in the Punjab (present-day Sialkot). Following the death of Menander, most of his empire splintered and Indo-Greek influence was considerably reduced. Many new kingdoms and republics east of the Ravi River began to mint new coinage depicting military victories.[21] The most prominent entities to form were the Yaudheya Republic, Arjunayanas, and the Audumbaras. The Yaudheyas and Arjunayanas both are said to have won "victory by the sword".[22] The Datta dynasty and Mitra dynasty soon followed in Mathura.
The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 AD following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer under the subsequent rule of the Indo-Parthians, the Kushans,[a] and the Indo-Scythians, whose Western Satraps state lingered on encompassing local Greeks, up to 415 CE.
The invasion of India by a Greco-Bactrian army in ... led to the creation of an Indo-Greek kingdom in northwestern India (present-day India and Pakistan).
Three phases must be distinguished, (a) The Greek rulers of Bactria (the Oxus region) expand their power to the south, conquer Afghanistan and considerable parts of north-western India, and establish an Indo-Greek kingdom in the Panjab where they rule as 'kings of India'; i
There were later Indo-Greek kingdoms in northwest India. ...
They are referred to as 'Indo-Greeks' and there were about forty such kings and rulers who controlled large areas of northwestern India and Afghanistan. Their history ...
Since parts of their territories comprised northwestern India, these later rulers of Greek origin are generally referred to as Indo-Greeks.
The existence of Greek kingdoms in Central Asia and northwestern India after Alexander's conquests had been known for a long time from a few fragmentary texts from Greek and Latin classical sources and from allusions in contemporary Chinese chronicles and later Indian texts.
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