Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s21.27

c11.s21.27

The same monarchs are mentioned more summarily in the second Rock-Edict as : ‘the Yona king Antiyoka and the kings who are the neighbours of this Antiyoka’. These kings are now identified respectively with Antiochus II Theos of Syria (261-46 B.C.), Ptolemy II Philadelphus cf Egypt (285-247), Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia (276—239), Magas of Cyrene (c. 300-250) and Alexander of Corinth (252-c.244). The date of the edict, thirteen years after the *abhisheka* would fall therefore between 252 and 250 B.C.¹, the period when all the kings mentioned were living, and the year of Aśoka’s coronation must therefore lie between 265 and 263, and of his accession between 269 and 267 B.C. It is seen thus that these two lines of reasoning confirm and corroborate each other.