Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c15.s1.t2.26

c15.s1.t2.26

Aśoka maintained friendly relations not only with the Tamil powers of the south, but also with his **Hellenistic frontager**, Antiochos II Theos, king of Syria and Western Asia (B.C. 261-246); and even with the kings the neighbours of Antiochos, namely, Ptolemy II, Philadelphos, king of Egypt (B.C. 285-247); Magas, king of Cyrene in North Africa (who probably died not later than B.C. 258)³; Antigonos Gonatas, king of Macedonia (B.C. 277 or 276-239); and Alexander who ruled over Epirus (B.C. 272-*c.*255) according to Norris, Westergaard, Lassen, Senart, Smith and Marshall.⁴ Beloch and Hultzsch, however, suggest¹ that Alikasudara of Edict XIII is the comparatively insignificant ruler, Alexander of Corinth, the son of Craterus (B.C. 252—*cir.* 244) and not Alexander of Epirus (272—*cir.* 255), the son of Pyrrhus.