The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s4.111

c10.s4.111

The towns of the empire, Greek or non-Indian, must now be considered. Ptolemy has preserved a valuable list of those in Menander’s home kingdom, but before coming to that one must notice what there is elsewhere. South of the Punjab only two Greek cities are known, Demetrias and Theophila, which have already been considered; there must have been a Greek centre in Surastrene, but it is not known what it was, unless it was Barygaza, the principal port of this period. Alexander’s two Alexandrias on the Indus had either never been built or had failed (p. 168); part one of the Milindapañha only knows of one Alexandria, Alexandria of the Caucasus, which can be alluded to without any mark of distinction from others,³ for Bucephala and Iomousa (post) were known by nicknames. Ptolemy’s Parabalei on the Indus may perhaps mark a Greek settlement (p. 86 n. 6); but the other names sometimes cited have nothing to do with Greeks or Greek rule. Ptolemy’s Pentagramma⁴ is not a Greek name, though it may look like one;