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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.
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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
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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.
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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