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Megasthenes also comments on the presence of pre-Socratic views among the Brahmans in India and Jews in Syria. Five centuries later Clement of Alexandria, in his Stromateis , may have misunderstood Megasthenes to be responding to claims of Greek primacy by admitting Greek views of physics were preceded by those of Jews and Indians.
The Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana describes events in the form of a prophecy, which may have been historical, [160] [161] [162] relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, [163] a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes, [164] and describes the ultimate destruction of the city ...
Pataliputra capital front and side view. Bihar Museum.. The top is made of a band of rosettes, eleven in total for the fronts and four for the sides.Below that is a band of bead and reel pattern, then under it a band of waves, generally right-to-left, except for the back where they are left-to-right.
Megasthenes in particular was a notable Greek ambassador in the court of Chandragupta Maurya. [76] His book Indika is a major literary source for information about the Mauryan Empire. According to Arrian , ambassador Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BCE) lived in Arachosia and travelled to Pataliputra . [ 77 ]
Pataliputra (IAST: Pāṭaliputra), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, [1] was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort (Pāṭaligrāma) near the Ganges river.
It is clear from Megasthenes that the Mauryans had painting of some quality, but no examples have survived. Many centuries later, the paintings of the Ajanta Caves , the oldest significant body of Indian painting, show there was a well-developed tradition, which may well stretch back to Mauryan times.
He quoted Scylax to refer to Indian politics and mentions seven Indian animals, by clearly drawing on Ctesias. [43] The Peripatetic philosopher Clearchus of Soli traveled to the east to study Indian religions. [44] The Peripatetic philosopher Theophrastus, in his book on the history of plants, wrote an excursus on Indian species. [43]
The rest of the book is devoted to describing the various other peoples of Asia. He first describes India, drawing on Megasthenes (chapters 35-42), [6] then the Scythians of the Eurasian steppe, including the Amazons and the Hyperboreans (chapters 43-47), and Arabia Felix (chapters 48-54).