Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c17.s3.45

c17.s3.45

The final destruction of Greek rule was, as Justin says, the work of the Parthians. Marshall tells us¹ that the last surviving Greek principality,² that of Hermaios in the Kābul valley, was overthrown by the Parthian king Gondophernes.³ The Chinese historian Fan-ye also refers to the Parthian occupation of Kābul.⁴ "Whenever any of the three kingdoms of Tien-tchou (India Proper), Ki-pin (Kāpiśa) or Ngansi (Parthia), became powerful, it brought Kābul into subjection. When it grew weak it lost Kābul. . . . Later, Kābul fell under the rule of Parthia."¹ The real conquest of Kābul by the Parthians could hardly have taken place till after the time of Isidore (last quarter of the first century B.C.)² because the writings of that geographer do not include the Kābul valley in the list of the eastern provinces of the Parthian Empire. By A.D. 43-44, however, Parthian rule had extended to this region as we learn from Philostratos.