The Greeks in Bactria and India c28.5

c28.5

First, the Era was used by a Saca king and was therefore a Saca Era; theories like that of Mr Banerji³ which make it a Parthian Era can be ruled out. Certainly it was for long believed that in India Sacas and Parthians (Pahlavas) were so closely associated that they could not be distinguished; but they *must* be distinguished, for they were perpetual antagonists,⁴ and it is incredible that a Saca king would have used a Parthian Era. This also puts out of court the view of M. A. Foucher,⁵ that this Era was the Arsacid Era with the hundreds omitted; moreover, apart from systems with omitted hundreds being open to damaging criticism,⁶ the Arsacid Era is not known to have been used by the Pahlava kings in India, which means that it was not used in the east Parthian realm of the Surens of Seistan.