The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c14.6

c14.6

The conquest of a part of India by the Achaemenian Persians or rather the conquest of India in the narrow and original sense of the word, that is to say of the Indus valley, is attributed to Darius I, but it should go back partly to Cyrus, as has been shown by Foucher.¹ In fact Darius, in his inscription of Behistan, declares that he has re-established his authority on the entire domain of Cyrus and mentions amongst the satrapies forming this domain of Gadara, that is to say Gandhara which, at that time, extended from the Hindukush up to the Hydraotes at least, descending towards the south up to Multan, thus comprising the entire far North-West and the greater part of the Punjab. Moreover, Pliny has reproduced an older piece of information which said that Cyrus had destroyed Cappissa, that is to say, Kāpiśī, to the South of the Hindukush, therefore at the beginning of his conquest of Gandhara.