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  situated on middle reaches of the Ganges and at the time ruled by the

  Nanda dynasty, did not come into contact with Alexander’s army, but

  many much smaller states in north-western India did. Quintus Curtius

  Rufus does mention that at least some of these states had paid tribute to the

  satrap of Arachosia and in this sense declared their fealty to the Great

  King.2

  As usual, all the extant sources fail to provide the reasons for what was

  to be Alexander’s successive military expedition. Moreover, no convincing

  strategic reasons can be found. Modern historians have come up with a

  large number of theories to make up for the lack of explanations in the

  sources. By and large these explanations chiefly reflect how individual

  modern historians perceive Alexander. Some argue, for example, that it

  was hoped the shared experiences and victories of a successive war would

  rebuild the bonds between the Macedonians and their leader as they had

  been weakened by a series of internal conflicts over preceding winter and

  spring. Similarly, ties were supposed to be strengthened this way between

  Alexander and the Iranian cavalry. The legendary wealth of India has also

  been stressed as a lure for prospective conquerors. Moreover, it has been

  noted that such a campaign could earn Alexander respect among Iranians

  as the successor of the Achaemenids. It is claimed that Alexander was

  striving to extend the Persian Empire to the borders it had had at its

  greatest moment in history under Darius I. This would not only bring

  political gains but increase royal revenues many times over. The

  Achaemenid theme in Alexander’s plans is the most popular theory in

  modern historiography but it has one weakness in that the sources clearly

  show Alexander’s plan was to conquer territories extending beyond the

  empire’s most far-flung borders as had existed during the reign of Darius I.

  We know that Alexander intended to continue marching east way past the

  borders of Darius’ I empire and it was only the passive but resolute

  opposition of his army that stopped him from doing so. It is therefore not

  improbable that Alexander wanted to conquer the whole of India perhaps

  as part of his plan to rule over the entire known world. It is possible that

  non-economic or non-strategic factors began to predominate in these plans

  as the campaign proceeded or were indeed present from the start. Modern

  man would call such factors irrational but that is not how they were

  perceived in Antiquity. Alexander had always attached great importance to

  religion and the heroic tradition. Hence he could have wished to match the

  achievements of Dionysus and his mythological ancestor, Heracles, as

  2 Curt., 9.7.14. Vogelsang 1992, p. 227; Briant 1996, pp. 777-778.

  Expedition to India

  297

  well as historic figures of the Near East such as Semiramis or Cyrus the

  Great, all of whom fate had at one time or another sent to India. On top of

  that there were other obvious aspects of Alexander’s character, his natural

  curiosity and the urge to take up new challenges, which for the greatest

  military leader of ancient times meant new wars. We will most probably

  never know exactly why Alexander chose to invade India; quite probably

  Alexander himself did not really know either.3

  While Alexander was still in Sogdiana he received envoys from

  Mophis/Omphis (Ambhi), the ruler of the Kingdom of Taxila. The

  kingdom’s capital, also called Taxila, i.e. Takşaśilā (Takshasila) in

  Gandhara, was both a centre of foreign trade and also one of academic

  learning with numerous schools for Brahmans, the sons of princes and rich

  merchants. The city was the home of, among others, the famous author of

  Sanskrit grammar Panini. It also had an Iranian colony, probably from

  where interpreters were later to join the Macedonian camp. We have

  reason to assume this, as the Indian names recorded in Greek in works of

  Alexander’s companions appear to have been translated indirectly from

  Sanskrit through Persian. The Taxilan envoys asked Alexander to help

  Omphis in a war against his enemies. At the time a former Indian ally of

  Bessus’ called Sisicottus ( Sasigupta) was also present in Alexander’s

  camp. Thus the grounds for starting an invasion were prepared and

  political unrest in Northwest India provided a convenient pretext to

  intervene.4

  In the early summer of 327 the Macedonian army set off from Bactria

  and crossed the Hindu Kush, most probably using either the shortest route

  through the Salang Pass or the somewhat longer but easier route through

  the Bamiyan valley and Shibar Pass, to reach the Kabul valley within ten

  days. There two years earlier Alexander had founded Alexandria in the

  Caucasus. Now he added more settlers, nominated one of his hetairoi,

  Nicanor, commandant of the garrison and perhaps a Persian called

  3 Str., 15.1.5-7. Tarn 1948, i, pp. 86-87; Badian 1964, pp. 199-200; Narain 1965,

  pp. 161-162; Brunt 1965, pp. 207-209; Wilcken 1967, pp. 173-174; Schachermeyr

  1973, pp. 407-413; Lane Fox 1973, pp. 331-334; Green 1974, p. 380; Goukowsky

  1981, pp. 11-14; Bosworth 1988, p. 119; Carlier 1995, p. 160; Hahn 2000, pp. 15-

  19; Briant 2002, p. 35.

  4 Curt., 8.12.5; Diod., 17.86.4; Arr., An. , 4.30.4; Plin., Nat. , 6.78; ME, 49. Wheeler 1968, pp. 103-106; Dani 1986, pp. 1, 12, 42-43; Bosworth 1995, pp. 192-193;

  Stoneman 1995, p. 107; Karttunen 1997, pp. 31-33, 61.

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  Tyriespis/Terioltes as satrap of Paropamisus. 5 From there the army

  marched to Nicaea, a town somewhere near Kabul but whose exact

  location is now unknown. After offering sacrifices to the goddess Athena,

  the army reached the river Cophen (Kabul) and thence proceeded

  eastwards along this watercourse. In keeping with customs established in

  the days of the Achaemenid monarchy the rulers of Taxila and of some

  smaller states situated on the western side of the Indus met Alexander on

  the border and presented him with gifts, including 25 elephants.6

  It was there that the Macedonian army was divided into two units. One

  of them, comprising half of the Macedonian troops and all of the Greek

  mercenaries, was commanded by Hephaestion and Perdiccas. This corps

  headed along the southern road through the Khyber Pass (in south-western

  Afghanistan) towards the Indus, conquering the lands it passed. Its mission

  was to prepare a passage for the entire Macedonian army across the Indus.

  Hephaestion’s corps was joined by Indian vassals, no doubt with their own

  armies. The only military operation of note was the conquest of the land of

  Peucelaotis together with its capital, also called Peucelaotis

  ( Puşkalāvatī/ Puşkarāvatī or Pushkaravati, the ‘Lotus City’ in Gandhara

  some 5 km from today’s Charsadda in western Pakistan). After a 30-day

  siege the city was captured, the king, Astis, was killed and a certain

  Sangaius was installed in his place by the Macedonians. After that the

  Macedonian army only had to build a bridge over the Indus and wait for

  Alexander’s troops to arrive.7

  The king’s corps comprised the ve
ry best units, including hypaspists,

  Agrianians and hetairoi, who were all selected on account of the far more

  difficult task they had to face. The first operations were directed against

  the tribes of Aspasians, Guraeans and Assacenians, who inhabited the

  fertile highland and mountain regions to the north of the river Cophen and

  east of the river Choes. Most scholars believe the latter river to be what is

  now called the river Kunar, a northern tributary of the Kabul (Cophen),

  though some reckon it is another Kabul tributary located further west and

  called Alingar. Alexander led the vanguard, comprising cavalry and 800

  mounted infantry, while the rest of the army, commanded by Craterus,

  followed on foot. The first battle was fought outside a city called Silex.

  5 Arr., An. , 4.22.3-5; Curt., 9.8.9; It. Alex. , 104. Schachermeyr 1973, pp. 676-681; Engels 1978, p. 107; Jacobs 1994, pp. 76-77; Bosworth 1995, pp. 141-146; Heckel

  2006, p. 269.

  6 Arr., An. , 4.22.6; Curt., 8.10.1-2. Bosworth 1995, pp. 146-149; Fraser 1996, p.

  146, n. 79; Briant 1996, p. 777.

  7 Arr., An. , 4.22.7-8, 4.30.9; It. Alex. , 104. Seibert 1985, pp. 147-150; Bosworth 1995, pp. 149-154; Karttunen 1997, p. 50.

  Expedition to India

  299

  According to the Metz Epitome, which is the only source that gives it a

  name, this city was located to the east of the river Choes. The natives were

  defeated but Alexander was wounded in the fighting. The following day

  the Macedonians took over the city and, in revenge for their king’s injury,

  slaughtered all the inhabitants who had failed to escape into the mountains.

  Terrified by this atrocity, the next town the Macedonian army approached,

  Andaka, surrendered without putting up resistance.8

  After these initial successes Craterus was entrusted with capturing

  other towns in the region, while Alexander commanded the best soldiers

  against the Aspasians. Once Craterus’ corps had completed their mission,

  they rejoined Alexander’s army. The Aspasians burnt their settlements and

  retreated into the mountains. That is why the campaign mainly involved

  chasing the enemy and fighting them in the mountains. The region was to

  be controlled from a town inhabited by natives and veterans of

  Alexander’s army. The founding of this town was left to Craterus.

  According to Arrian, who is quoting after Ptolemy, the Macedonians

  captured 230,000 head of cattle and 40,000 prisoners. These figures must

  be grossly exaggerated, for a British survey conducted in 1908 states that

  the region’s entire population at the dawn of the industrial age was

  approximately 100,000 and therefore in Antiquity it must have been

  decidedly smaller.9

  On completing these operations the Macedonians marched through the

  land of the Guraeans ( Gauri) and having crossed the river Guraion (today

  Panjkora) attacked the Assacenians ( Aśvakayana), who inhabited

  territories further east on the river Swat. Though supported by 7,000

  mercenaries recruited from beyond the Indus, the Assaceni did not choose

  to confront Alexander’s in open field and instead decided to defend

  themselves in fortified towns. The Macedonians faced the biggest problem

  in capturing the region’s capital, Massaga. For four days the city resisted

  persistent assaults, during which Alexander himself was hit by an arrow.

  On seeing this, the pancratiast Dioxippus compared Alexander’s wound to

  that Diomedes inflicted on Aphrodite at Troy and cited a verse from the

  Iliad (5.340): ‘The ichor, such as flows in blessed gods.’ Suffering from

  this wound but still having a sober mind, Alexander rebuked the shameless

  flatterer by telling him this was normal blood, not ichor, and added that

  although he was considered the son of Zeus, he felt physical pain

  reminding him that he was a mortal. The defenders of Massaga only

  decided to start negotiations after their leader was killed by a missile fired

  8 Arr., An. , 4.23; Curt., 8.10.4-6; Str., 15.1.26; ME, 35; It. Alex. , 105. Wheeler 1968, pp. 95-97; Seibert 1985, pp. 146-147, 150-151; Bosworth 1995, pp. 154-158.

  9 Arr., An. , 4.24.1-25.4. Bosworth 1995, pp. 158-167.

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  from a catapult. The mercenaries from beyond the Indus were encouraged

  to surrender with an offer to serve in the Macedonian army. However, on

  leaving the city both they and their families were surrounded and, using

  the pretext of a supposed attempt to escape, slaughtered. On the other hand,

  Alexander accepted the surrender of Massaga and confirmed Cleophis, the

  mother of the deceased ruler, as Queen of the Assacenians. In some of the

  sources there is a (spurious) story that Alexander and Cleophis had an

  affair after which she bore him a son.10

  At a stage in the campaign that is difficult to pinpoint, though most

  probably before the operations against the Aspasians and Assacenians, the

  Macedonians reached a city the sources call Nysa. According to the Metz

  Epitome it was some 230 stades (41 km) from Andaka. Nysa had an

  aristocratic system of government in which power was held by 300 of the

  ‘best’ families. This so much appealed to Alexander that he even withdrew

  his original demand for aristocratic hostages for fear of weakening the

  ruling elite. Instead he took from Nysa an auxiliary detachment of cavalry

  which accompanied him right up to his return to the Hydaspes in the

  autumn 326. The local ruler, King Acuphis, surrendered to Alexander and

  it was on this occasion that the soldiers heard the story of how Nysa had

  been founded by the god Dionysus and that its inhabitants are the

  descendants of the Bacchants. The credibility of this story was confirmed

  by the fact that ivy grew on a neighbouring mountain called Merus ( Meru

  in Sanskrit; perhaps the mountain called today Koh-i-Mor to the west of

  the middle course of the Panjkora). This plant was associated with the cult

  of Dionysus and Alexander’s soldiers had not seen it since they left the

  Mediterranean area. Grapevines were grown there as well and the

  inhabitants produced wine. The Macedonians offered sacrifices to

  Dionysus, wove garlands out of ivy and against a backdrop of laurel trees,

  boxwood and myrtle they celebrated their bacchanalia for ten days. This

  story seems like the pure fantasy of ancient authors and doubt was already

  cast upon it by Eratosthenes, but it actually fits very well into the

  landscape of northeast Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan (Nuristan and

  Chitral). The region has the same vegetation as described by the sources,

  whereas the locals have produced wine since time immemorial. Moreover,

  they bury their dead in wooden coffins kept above the ground. According

  10 Arr., An. , 4.25.5-27.4; Arr., Ind. , 1.8; Str., 15.1.27; Diod., 17.84; Curt., 8.10.22-36; Plu., Alex. , 59.6-7; Polyaen., 4.3.20; ME, 39-45; It. Alex. , 106. Alexander’s wound: Aristobul., ap. Ath., 6.57; Arr., An. , 4.26.4; Curt., 8.10.28-29; Plu., Alex. , 28.2; Plu., mor. , 341b; Sen., Ep. , 59.12; D.Chr., 64.21; ME, 40; Zonar., 4.10.

  Quotation from The Illiad after Murray (Loeb). Goukowsky 1981, p. 90; Bosworth 1995, pp. 169-172; Karttunen 1997, p. 33; Heckel 2009, pp. 47-48.

  Expedition to India

  301

 
to Curtius Rufus, Alexander’s soldiers had used such coffins for firewood.

  The local highlanders, called Kafirs, distinguish themselves from

  neighbouring peoples with pale complexions, blue eyes and fair hair.

  Moreover, they use of an archaic Indoeuropean language which indicates

  that their ancestors originated from the West. It was only towards the end

  of the 19th century that the Kafirs of Afghanistan were forcefully

  converted to Islam, whereas those in what is now Pakistan are currently

  fighting a losing battle for the remnants of their ancient culture against the

  influences of Islamic fundamentalism promoted by Pakistani regime. To

  this day they have worshipped the god Indra in his most ancient form. Like

  the Greek Dionysus, Indra was an originator of the growing of grapevines

  and the production of wine and so when his tale was translated into Greek

  he was easily associated with the former. It is therefore hardly surprising

  that their stay with the Kafirs evoked reminiscences among Alexander’s

  soldiers of their Balkan homeland. The stay at Nysa contributed to the

  propagation if not actual creation of the myth regarding Dionysus’s

  invasion of India. In turn today the inhabitants of Nuristan and Chitral

  willingly claim to be the descendants of Alexander’s soldiers.11

  After the taking of Massaga, in the winter of 327/326, Alexander sent

  his commanders against other Assacenian towns in the hope that news of

  what had happened at the capital would induce them to quickly surrender.

  This, however, did not happen and Alexander himself had to supervise the

  capture of the town of Ora (today Udegram) on the Swat. Meanwhile the

  defenders of Bazira (Bir-Kot on the Swat) and other towns escaped to a

  fortress perched on a steep rock called Aornos ( Avarana in Sanskrit, which

  simply means ‘Fortress’). By analysing areas to the north of the Indus and

  the rock’s characteristic shape Sir Aurel Stein identified Aornos to be

  today’s Pir-Sar, a 2,670-m mountain 40 km to the east of Udegram. Recent

  attempts to revise this and associate Aornos with Mount Ilam, situated to

 

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