The Greeks in Bactria and India c12.77

c12.77

Nāgasena has been investigated most thoroughly, and the conclusion reached is that he was an invented character; he has no known existence apart from the Milinda.⁸ It seems therefore that the Indian Buddhist who wrote Part 1 of the Milinda, with a large selection of Buddhist monarchs and Buddhist sages to choose from, selected as the principal characters in his Dialogue a foreign king and a non-existent sage. Why? To answer that question, which goes to the root of the matter, I must leave the Milinda for the present and turn to Pseudo-Aristeas. The investigation, I fear, is going to take us right down one of the by-paths of Hellenistic literature; and I must begin by analysing Pseudo-Aristeas.