The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.165

v1.c24.165

In the same connexion may be mentioned the fact that Ctesias, especially in the tenth book of his lost *Persica*, if we may judge from quotations in later authors regarding the nations involved, appears to have given an account of the campaigns by Cyrus in this region¹. The stories, moreover, regarding the death of Cyrus differ considerably²; but the account recorded by Ctesias (fragm. 37, ed. Gilmore), which reflects local Persian tradition, narrates that Cyrus died in consequence of a wound inflicted in battle by ‘an Indian,’ in an engagement when ‘the Indians were fighting on the side of the Derbikes and supplied them with elephants.’ The Derbikes might therefore be supposed to have been located somewhere near the Indian frontier, but the subject is still open to debate³.