The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.228

v1.c24.228

The period following the defeat of the Persian arms under Xerxes by Greece marks the beginning of the decadence of the Achaemenian Empire. For this reason it is easy to understand why there was no forward movement on Persia's part in India, even though the Irānian sway in that territory endured for a century and longer. Among other proofs of this close and continued connexion may be mentioned the fact that Ctesias, who was resident physician at the Persian court about the beginning of the fourth century B.C., could hardly have written his *Indica* without the information he must have received regarding India from envoys sent as tribute-bearers to the Great King or from Persian officials who visited India on state business, as well as from his intercourse with travellers and traders of the two countries¹. If the work of Ctesias on India had been preserved in full, and not merely in the epitome by Photius and in fragmentary citations by other authors, we should be better informed to-day as to Persia's control over Indian territory during the period under consideration².