The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.278

v1.c26.278

In whatever circumstances the Indian campaigns of Demetrius may have been inaugurated, there can be no question as to their brilliant outcome. Unfortunately the true extent of his territorial acquisitions can no longer be exactly determined. Strabo, in the passage (xi, 516) which is our chief authority on the point, is quoting from Apollodorus of Artemita, and the original reference of Apollodorus is merely a casual one. He is drawing attention in passing to the remarkable way in which the kingdom of Bactria expanded beyond its original limits, and he mentions incidentally that the kings chiefly responsible were Demetrius and Menander. The advance towards Chinese Tartary which he records may well have been the work of Demetrius or of his father Euthydemus. But, as Menander left a far deeper mark on the traditions of India than did Demetrius, it would be unreasonable to give the latter credit for subduing the whole of the Indian districts that Apollodorus enumerates. Yet there is nothing to show where the line should be drawn. It is probably safe to say that Demetrius made himself master of the Indus valley. When we try to take him further, we enter a doubtful region. It is, indeed, sometimes stated that he fixed his capital at Sangala or Sagala, which he called Euthydemia in honour of his father. But, if the statement be probed, its value is considerably diminished. It is not certain, though it may be very likely, that the Σάγγαλα of Arrian (v, 22) is the same as the Σάγαλα ἡ καὶ Εὐθυμέδεια (*al.* Εὐθυμηδία) of Ptolemy (VII, 1, 46). Granted, however, that the two may be identical and may both represent the Pāli Sāgala (Siālkot), it is necessary, in order to establish a connexion with Demetrius, to resort to conjecture and to substitute Εὐθυδημία for the Εὐθυμέδεια of the manuscripts, a proceeding which is plausible enough in itself but nevertheless open to challenge. More satisfactory, if much vaguer, evidence of the firmness of the footing that he gained to the south of the Hindu Kush is furnished by one or two very rare bronze pieces, which have the square shape characteristic of the early native coinage of India. That they were intended for circulation there, is clear from their bearing a bilingual inscription—Greek on the obverse, Kharoshṭhī on the reverse. It is significant that on these the king employs the title of ἀνίκητος or ‘the Invincible.’ As usual, he is wearing a head-dress made of the skin of an elephant.