Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c25.38

c25.38

§ 138. The Kabul-Yavanas had been organised in a city-state of the Indian republican type in the time of Alexander—a fact which comes in perfect harmony with the description of Aśoka's rāja-vishaya. These were probably Perso-Greeks—Greeks or Ionians who had moved and immigrated under the suzerainty of the Persian Empire. The name of their city, Nysa, is a strong evidence of their Persian connection. They had been Hinduised; Alexander's companions first regarded them as Indians. As stated by the Macedonian writers the Nysians claimed to have been Greek in origin. They knew their Greek gods and Greek mythology and tradition.¹