The Greeks in Bactria and India c21.33

c21.33

as late as 90 B.C. (p. 314). Wu-ti’s communication was certainly not with Antialcidas himself: the Chinese could never have been given, or obtained, the name Kophen as the name of Antialcidas’ extensive realm, for to the Greeks Kabul was of very secondary importance. At the same time, the great Saca state in northern India created by Maues had not formed by 87 (Chap. VIII); Wu-ti’s Ki-pin therefore was Kabul and whatever the Sacas (Parsii) of Kabul ruled at the time, which may have been a large part of the Paropamisadae (p. 332). This too is the meaning of Ki-pin in the story of Yin-mo-fu given in the Ch’ien-han-shu (set out pp. 339 sq.), which Pan-ku must have taken from Wen-chung’s Report, no other source being possible. But shortly after this episode communication with the Paropamisadae was abandoned by the Emperor Yuan-ti (48–33 B.C.), and a memorandum drawn up by Tu-k’in for the next Han Emperor Ching-ti (32–7 B.C.) said that it was impossible to reach that country effectively and that it was best to leave it alone (p. 350); Wen-chung was probably the last Chinese official to visit it.