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  the south of Bir-Kot and Udegram, are not compatible with the

  information provided by ancient sources. Aornos Mountain is

  approximately 3 km long, 100-200 m wide with precipices on three sides

  and connected to a neighbouring plateau by the Bumar ravine, which was

  the only route the Macedonians could have used to attack. The army

  camped at the foot of the plateau, while Alexander sent an elite

  detachment of Agrianians, light infantry and hypaspists under the

  11 Thphr., HP, 4.4.1; Curt., 8.10.7-18; Str., 15.1.7-9 (reference to Eratosthenes);

  Arr., An. , 5.1.1-3.4, 6.2.3; Plu., Alex. , 58.6-9; Plu., mor. , 332a-b; ME, 36-38; Just., 12.7. Green 1974, p. 384; Lane Fox 1980, pp. 313-317; Goukowsky 1981, pp. 21-38; Bosworth 1995, pp. 218-219; Bosworth 1996a, pp. 121-122; Bosworth 1996b,

  pp. 149-154; Hahn 2000, pp. 81, n. 51, 86, n. 52.

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  command of Ptolemy to ascend a mountain path and take up defensive

  positions on top of the plateau. The Indians tried to destroy Ptolemy’s

  detachments but had to give way when the main Macedonian forces

  advanced. The next day the Macedonians set about building a bridge

  between the plateau and mount Aornos, keeping the Indian defenders at

  bay by firing arrows and catapult missiles. By the fourth day a small group

  of Macedonian soldiers managed to reach a protrusion of the Aornos rock

  and from there it was possible to access to the fort itself. It was at this

  stage that the Indians declared that their willingness to negotiate

  capitulation. Alexander agreed to parlay but once he managed to bring

  over his bodyguards and 700 hypaspists he launched a surprise attack. The

  massacre of the defenders that followed was of a comparable scale to the

  slaughter of the Indian mercenaries and their families outside Massaga.

  The fortress and surrounding territory were next handed over to Sisicottus.

  Before the battle, Alexander had learned that Heracles had once also tried

  to capture the fortress, though in his case unsuccessfully. What was meant

  by local people was probably the Indian god Shiva, who is described in a

  similar way to the Greek hero and was particularly worshiped in this

  region. The urge to measure up against the achievements of his

  mythological ancestor was most probably one of the major reasons why

  Alexander decided to undertake this difficult military task.12

  The capture of the Aornos rock was the last important episode in the

  Assacenian campaign. Aphrikes, the brother of the king of Assacenians,

  did intend to stop Alexander’s army with 20,000 troops and 15 elephants

  but he was murdered by his own subjects, who thus saved themselves from

  defeat and death. Now two detachments commanded by Nearchus and

  Antiochus were sent out to reconnoitre the area while Alexander and most

  of the army marched towards the Indus. The winter march through the

  wilderness took the Macedonians 16 days. In that time, before they

  reached the river, Alexander ordered a hunt for elephants that the fleeing

  Indians had left in pasture. On the Indus his soldiers built boats and they

  sailed down river to the place where they arranged to meet up with the

  units commanded by Hephaestion and Perdiccas. This did not happen until

  the start of the spring of 326 and then the reunited army rested for thirty

  days. Before it moved on, magnificent sacrifices were made to the gods.

  12 Megasth., fr. 21.10; Arr., An. , 4.27.5-30.4; Diod., 17.85; Curt., 8.11; Str., 15.1.8; Plu., mor. , 327c, 332a; Luc., DMort. , 12.6; Philostr., VA, 2.10; ME, 46-47; Just., 12.7; It. Alex. , 107-108. Stein 1929, pp. 46-48, 53-61, 113-154; Goukowsky 1981,

  pp. 36-40; Seibert 1985, pp. 152-154; Bosworth 1995, pp. 176-182; Bosworth

  1996a, pp. 47-53; Hammond 1996, pp. 204-206; Karttunen 1997, p. 49; Huttner

  1997, pp. 106-109.

  Expedition to India

  303

  Security in the regions to the west of the Indus was entrusted to the

  hetairos Nicanor, who had been nominated satrap shortly before the

  Aornos siege.13

  2. Taxila and Porus

  The kingdom of Taxila, which was ruled by Omphis, stretched from the

  eastern bank of the Indus to the river Hydaspes (modern Jhelum). In other

  words it was in the centre of modern Pakistan and its capital was some 30

  km from today’s Islamabad. On the edge of his kingdom, at the point

  where the Macedonian crossed the Indus, Omphis presented his new

  sovereign with 200 talents of silver, cattle, sheep and 30 elephants.

  Omphis was de facto an independent ruler but his behaviour towards

  Alexander (the paying of homage and presenting of gifts at the border)

  was discernibly similar to the customs practiced in Persia and suggests that

  the Achaemenid tradition of feudal allegiance had survived in India to that

  day. He also sent Alexander 700 horsemen and ceded him rule over the

  kingdom’s capital. The Macedonian army crossed the Indus over a

  pontoon bridge and marched from there 65 km to the city of Taxila.14

  Omphis had become king when Alexander was still in Sogdiana planning

  his India campaign and had tried to reach an understanding with the

  Macedonian ruler from the outset. More recently he had supplied the

  armies of Hephaestion and Perdiccas with provisions. With such actions

  the young ruler saved his kingdom from destruction and the massacres that

  had characterised Alexander’s campaigns in eastern Iran and India over

  the last three years. But it seems that Omphis also had other strategic

  considerations behind his actions. Taxila had powerful enemies in that part

  of India whom the Western sources called Abisares and Porus. The arrival

  of such a powerful and as yet unbeatable Macedonian army gave hope that

  Taxila’s enemies could be disposed of. Obviously Omphis had quickly

  realised the Greek scope of geographical knowledge regarding India, or

  rather lack thereof. The Westerners believed the Indus to be the largest

  river in world and the Indian subcontinent was narrow enough for them

  reach the Outer Ocean within just a few days. Aristotle thought that the

  ocean could already be seen from the Paropamisus (Hindu Kush)

  13 Arr., An. , 4.28.6, 4.30.5-9; Diod., 17.86.2-3; Curt., 8.12.1-5; ME, 48; It. Alex. , 109. Bosworth 1983, p. 37; Bosworth 1995, pp. 193-196; Seibert 1985, pp. 153-154; Hammond 1996, pp. 206-207; Klinkott 2000, p. 92, n. 288.

  14 Ar., An. , 5.3.5-6, 5.7.1-8.2; Diod., 17.86.3-4; Curt., 8.12.5-6; ME, 49.

  Eggermont 1975, pp. 187-188; Badian 1985, p. 463; Bosworth 1995, pp. 219-222,

  254-255.

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  mountains. However, because the kingdom of Omphis’s enemy Porus lay

  to the east it was in the Taxilan ruler’s interest not to enlighten Alexander

  too much about geography and instead encourage his army to proceed in

  that very direction.15

  Omphis came out with his army, including elephants, to greet

  Alexander 40 stades (7 km) from the city of Taxila. On seeing the

  approaching Indian army and fearing a surprise attack, Alexander ordered

  his troops to take up battle positions. Therefore, leaving his army behind,

  Omphis approached with only a small retinue and thus surrendered his

  kingdom to Alexander. The Macedonian confirmed Om
phis as king and it

  was only then that the latter, in keeping with an Indian custom, was

  supposed to take the dynastic title Taxiles, derived from the name of his

  people. Omphis-Taxiles offered Alexander another 56 elephants, cattle and

  80 talents in coined silver as well as provisions and quarters for the

  Macedonian army. According to a tradition recorded in the works of

  Plutarch and Curtius Rufus Alexander reciprocated by giving Omphis-

  Taxiles as many as 1,000 talents.16 Soon envoys arrived at Taxila from

  Omphis’s enemy Abisares, ruler of the Abisaroi ( Abhisāras), who

  inhabited mountains to the north of Taxila, and from a certain Doxares, the

  prince of a today unidentified territory in India. Alexander accepted their

  surrender. It was then that he also founded a new satrapy to be governed

  by his hetairos Philip and left in Taxila a garrison of troops who were

  unfit for battle due to ill health.17

  The stay at Taxila, the first major Indian city Alexander’s army had

  encountered, gave the Greeks and Macedonians their first contact with

  exotic Indian culture. In his description of Taxila, Aristobulus relates the

  shocking custom of daughters being sold in the marketplace by people too

  poor to be able to provide them with a dowry. Before purchase, to the

  sound of trumpets and drums, potential buyers were allowed to examine

  the young women’s bodies, always starting off with the back. Aristobulus

  also records the already then existing custom of widows burnt on a pyre

  together with their deceased husband ( suttee). Finally he relates

  Alexander’s first meeting with ascetic Brahman sages who taught in that

  15 Arist., Mete. , 350a; Arr., An. , 5.18.7; Diod., 17.89.4-5; Curt., 8.12.6; Plu., mor. , 332a; ME, 63; Just., 12.7. Wilcken 1967, pp. 174-175; Bosworth 1996a, pp. 78-80;

  Briant 2002, p. 36.

  16 Arr., An. , 5.8.2-3; Diod., 17.86.4-7; Curt., 8.12.5-18; Str., 15.1.28; Plu., Alex. , 59.1-5; ME, 49-54.

  17 Arr., An. , 5.8.3; Diod., 17.87.2; Curt., 8.13.1; ME, 55. Bosworth 1995, pp. 260-261; Karttunen 1997, p. 33.

  Expedition to India

  305

  city. 18 The cynic philosopher Onesicritus, who also accompanied

  Alexander on this expedition, recalls a whole colony of ascetics living

  some 20 stades (4 km) from Taxila. They were said to spend whole days

  sitting or lying quite naked and motionless in the scorching sun,

  meditating. Only at night did they return to the town but they never

  accepted invitations to other people’s houses and remained uninterested in

  the outside world. Unlike many of the other accounts of India this report

  does not seem to contain any information that is blatantly untrue though

  instead of being completely naked the ascetics would have for decency’s

  sake worn loincloths. On account of this virtual if not complete lack of

  attire the Greeks called them gymnosophists (‘naked philosophers’).19

  The tale of Alexander’s meeting and conversation with the Indian

  sages is one of the most frequently repeated anecdotes regarding the great

  Macedonian. There is no reason to doubt the historicity of this meeting as

  such ascetics were very much a part of the Indian social landscape and

  Alexander’s natural curiosity would not have allowed him to forego

  meeting such exotic people. The ancient accounts differ as to where

  Alexander actually met the gymnosophists but it seems most likely that it

  occurred in or near Taxila. Onesicritus writes that he himself was first

  delegated to meet the Indian sages and only after that did Alexander

  personally meet them. The ancient authors give two somewhat different

  versions of Alexander’s conversation with the gymnosophists but both

  relate nine or ten questions asked by the Macedonian king and answered

  by the Indian sages. The king was also supposed to have said that whoever

  gave a wrong answer would be killed. According to Plutarch, Alexander

  asked the first sage whether there were more of fewer dead people than

  living ones to which he received the reply that the living were more

  numerous as the dead no longer existed. The next sage was asked whether

  the earth or the sea produced the largest animals, to which he responded

  that it was the earth as the sea was only its part. The third sage was asked

  which was the most cunning of animals, to which the reply came that it

  was the one that had not yet been discovered. The fourth was asked why

  he had incited a certain Sabbas to rebel, to which he responded that he

  wished him to have neither a noble life nor death. The fifth was told to

  state whether day or night came first. The reply was supposed to be that

  day was older than night by one day, though in the Alexander Romance the

  sage explains that a child first experiences darkness in a mother’s womb

  and therefore night comes first. The sixth gymnosophist was asked which

  18 Aristobul., ap. Str., 15.1.61-62.

  19 Onesicritus, ap. Str., 15.1.63. Bosworth 1998, p. 188; Karttunen 1997, pp. 56-60;

  Hamilton 1999, pp. 178-180.

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  man was the most loved and he replied that it would be the most powerful

  ruler on condition that he did not arouse fear. The seventh was to say how

  a man could become a god and the reply was that he would have to

  achieve things that are impossible for a man to achieve. The eighth was

  asked whether life was stronger than death or death stronger than life. The

  gymnosophist replied that life was stronger as it could put up with so

  much evil. Finally the ninth was asked how long one should live, to which

  answered that up to moment when death seemed better than life.20

  Bearing in mind the exceptional circumstances of this encounter

  between Indian sages and a pupil of the greatest of Western philosophers

  one cannot but fail to be disappointed by the level of a debate that

  basically resembles a brain teasing parlour game. The questions asked

  were popular themes in Greek philosophy, especially in Cynic ‘diatribes’.

  The subject of Alexander’s conversation with the sages, though not the

  fact that such a conversation took place, was most probably invented by

  the Cynic philosopher Onesicritus, who put into the mouths of these exotic

  Indian naked philosophers the doctrines of his mentor, Diogenes, to thus

  give him even greater prestige. The Greek authors had information

  regarding various religious and philosophical trends in India but they were

  unable to fully distinguish between them. Therefore even if the

  gymnosophists Alexander conversed with may have been called by the

  Greek authors Brahmans that does not mean that they belonged to that

  particular varna. Their description suggests that they more probably

  belonged to the Jinist sect. The method of arriving at the truth through

  questions and answers known in the Greek world as Socratic Dialogues

  was also practiced in ancient India. Therefore the idea of such a dialogue

  with Alexander was not alien to Indian culture. However, the language

  barrier between the Indians and Europeans would have been very difficult

  to overcome as it would have probably involved at least two if not even

  three interpreters. In such circumstan
ces, with the meanings of words

  being inevitably lost in translation like in a game of Chinese whispers,

  conducting an intercultural philosophical debate would have been

  extremely difficult if not impossible.21

  The sources mention two sages from Taxila – Dandamis and Calanus.

  Calanus’ real name was Sphines, but when the Greeks asked him his name

  they heard him say ‘Kale’. The word ‘ kale’ stems from the Sanskrit word

  kalyānam, which is a form of greeting. Sphines-Calanus simply thought

  20 Plu., Alex. , 64. Other accounts: P.Berol. , 13044; ME, 79-84; Ps.-Callisth., 3.5-6.

  Hamilton 1999, pp. 178-179.

  21 Wilcken 1967, pp. 180-181; Stoneman 1995, pp. 108-114; Karttunen 1997, pp.

  60-62; Bosworth 1998, p. 173; Pushkas 2001.

  Expedition to India

  307

  the foreigners were greeting him in their language and so he greeted them

  in his language. Thus the Europeans misinterpreted his greeting to mean

  his name. Onesicritus was the first to speak with Dandamis and Calanus. It

  is reported that Calanus, who had recently completed many years of study

  in aesthetics, laughed at Onesicritus’s Macedonian attire as he felt it was

  quite inappropriate for someone wishing to converse with sages.

  Eventually, however, it was Calanus who joined Alexander’s court and

  followed the king for two years. There were also other Indian sages who

  joined Alexander, for it was indeed part of the local tradition for rulers to

  have Brahman advisers. Using a dried up animal hide, Calanus is said to

  have demonstrated to Alexander how a state should be governed. He

  placed the hide on the ground and trod upon its edges. As he did so the

  other edges rose up, but when he stood in the middle of the hide, it stayed

  flat around all the edges. The meaning of this demonstration was that

  Alexander should desist from travelling around the edges of his empire

  and concentrate on governing from the centre. Alas, this story may well

  have also been made up for the fortune teller Oibares is said to have given

 

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