A History of Greco-India

By John Bartram

Panhellenism in Asia
India in Antiquity is not the subcontinent, but the eastern satrapies of Persia, conquered by the
Macedonian army led by Alexander, then settled by Greeks, whose culture dominated the region through
his successors and on into the modern era. Throughout these centuries of Greek culture, this region
(today: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and their neighbours), shared much with the rest of the Hellenistic
world, including, in Greco-Roman times, the chrestic practice of conjuring up divine men.

Persian Achaemenid Empire during the wars of Alexander.

The history of the Greeks in Asia is but one part of the history of apotheosis, for as the Persian kings
conquered and ruled Egypt in order to claim for themselves the celestial divinity of the pharaohs, so the
Macedonians conquered the Persian Empire. This is the repetitive patten of Antiquity, as men fought to
become kings and then emperors, worshipped as messiahs or even as God. For the Greeks and Greco-
Romans, we call this Panhellenism and it came to cover Western Europe, North Africa and the whole of
the Levant (from the Balkans to Egypt), the Middle East and Central Asia as far as India and much of the
Himalayas.

Apotheosis is defined by the Roman Church as deification, the exaltation of men to the rank of gods.
There is evidence for sacral kingship in Proto-Indo-European society and later examples are found in the
pharaohs of Egypt, the kingdom of Israel, Persia and Rome (Rex Sacrorum, Pontifex Maximus and
Augustus).

From the Bronze Age Near East, enthronement and anointment of a monarch is a central religious ritual,
reflected in the titles Messiah or Christ which became separated from worldly kingship. Thus, Sargon of
Akkad described himself as "deputy of Ishtar", just as the Pope is considered the "Vicar of Christ".

The king is styled as a shepherd from earliest times, e.g., the term was applied to Sumerian princes such
as Lugalbanda in the 3rd millennium BCE. The image of the shepherd combines the themes of leadership
and the responsibility to supply food and protection as well as superiority.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BCE) is a black limestone Neo-Assyrian bas-
relief sculpture from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), in northern Iraq. The obelisk depicts five different subdued
kings, bringing tribute and prostrating before the Assyrian king, here: Jehu of Bit Omri of northern Israel.

The kings of Achaemenid Persia were divine and their conquest and subsequent interaction with Egypt
brought to Asia changes whose significance has not been full understood. One of these is royal sibling
intermarriage - incest - and another is their special relationship with God.

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BCE or 576 BCE–530 BCE), or Cyrus of Persia, was the founder of the Persian
Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. From the Mediterranean sea and Hellespont in the west to the
Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.
 Winged Sun over the World

The winged sun is a symbol associated with

divinity, royalty and power in the Ancient Near
East (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and
Persia).

The Cyrus cylinder, a contemporary cuneiform script

proclaiming Cyrus as legitimate king of Babylon.

Aside from his own nation, Cyrus the Great left a lasting
legacy on the Jewish religion through his Edict of
Restoration, where because of his policies in Babylonia,
he is referred to by the people of the Jewish faith, as "the
anointed of the Lord" or a "Messiah."
"Winged Sun of Thebes" (from Egyptian
Mythology and Egyptian Christianity by
Samuel Sharpe, 1863)

1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to

Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations
before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open
doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2 I will
go before you and will level the mountains[a]; I will
break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of
iron. 3 I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in
secret places, so that you may know that I am the
LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. 4
For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I
summon you by name and bestow on you a title of
honor, though you do not acknowledge me. 5 I am the Stele to Assurnasiripal II at Nimrud (9th
LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no century BCE), detail showing the winged
God. I will strengthen you, though you have not sun.
acknowledged me, 6 so that from the rising of the sun to
the place of its setting people may know there is none
besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7 I
form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity
and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
(Isaiah 45:1-7)

Visual depictions from the ancient Near East of

royal figures contribute to a context for
interpreting the book of Isaiah. Scenes that include
the king enthroned, mythic creatures in the
presence of the king, and representatives of the
nations bringing tribute to the king are especially
relevant to the scene described in Isa 6:1-5. With
these symbols as a significant element of an
ancient Near Eastern Context it is plausible to
interpret Isa 6:1-5 as a counter to the claims of
soverignty made by human kings. When reading 9th century BCE orthostat relief found in
the book of Isaiah wholistically, the images of Kapara's palace, Tell Halaf, depicting
chapter 6 contribute to a theme throughout the rest "Gilgamesh Between Two Bull-Men
of the book that is critical of empires. Supporting a Winged Sun Disk".

(An Interpretation of Isaiah 6:1-5 in Response to

the Art and Ideology of the Achaemenid Empire,
 dissertation by Trevor D. Cochell, Ph.D. and Mentor: James M. Kennedy, Ph.D., 2008)

Darius I (550 — 486 BCE), also known as Darius the Great, held the empire at its peak, then including
Egypt, Balochistan, and parts of Greece. Darius organized the empire, by dividing it into provinces and
placing satraps to govern it. He organized a new uniform monetary system, along with making Aramaic
the official language of the empire. Darius also worked on construction projects throughout the empire,
focusing on Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon, and Egypt.

One of the repetitive mysteries of Antiquity is the 'double identity', in which there are two, different
people both claiming to be the same person. In each case, we do not know who is actually who and worse,
if the story is historical, or trying to tell us something else. Later, for example, we have the story by
Josephus for the man claiming to be the eldest son and heir to Herod the Great, Alexander, who had been
executed for treason ca. 7 BCE. Here, the mysterious double concerns the ascent to the throne of Darius.

Bardiya was the younger son of Cyrus the Great and (full or half) brother of Cambyses II. According to
Ctesias, on his deathbed Cyrus appointed Bardiya as satrap (governor) of some of the far-eastern
provinces. According to Darius the Great, Cambyses II, after becoming king of Persia but before setting
out for Egypt, killed Bardiya and kept this secret. However according to Herodotus who gives two
detailed stories, Bardiya went to Egypt with Cambyses and was there for some time but later Cambyses
sent him back to Susa out of envy, because "Bardiya alone could draw the bow brought from the
Ethiopian king." Herodotus then states that "Cambyses had a dream in which he saw his brother sitting on
the royal throne. As a result of this dream Cambyses sent his trusted counselor Prexaspes from Egypt to
Susa with the order to kill Smerdis" (i.e. Bardiya).

Bardiya's death was not known to the people, and so in the spring of 522 BCE a usurper pretended to be
him and proclaimed himself king on a mountain near the Persian town of Paishiyauvada. Darius claimed
that the real name of the usurper was Gaumata, a Magian priest from Media; this name has been
preserved by Justin i. 9 (from Charon of Lampsacus?) but given to his brother Cambyses (called
Patizeithes by Herodotus) who is said to have been the real promoter of the intrigue. According to
Herodotus, the name of the Magian usurper was Oropastes, but according to Ctesias it was Sphendadates.

The despotic rule of Cambyses, coupled with his long absence in Egypt, contributed to the fact that "the
whole people, Persians, Medes and all the other nations," acknowledged the usurper, especially as he
granted a remission of taxes for three years.

Cambyses began to march against him, but died in the spring of 522 BCE in disputed circumstances.
Before his death he confessed to the murder of his brother, and publicly explained the whole fraud, but
this was not generally believed. Nobody had the courage to oppose the new king, who ruled for seven
months over the whole empire. The new king transferred the seat of government to Media.

A number of Persian nobles discovered that their new ruler was an impostor, and a group of seven nobles
formed a plot to kill him. They surprised him at a castle in Nisa, home of the Nisean horses, and stabbed
him to death in September 522 BCE. One of the seven, Darius, was proclaimed as ruler shortly after.

Some modern historians believe that the person who ruled for a few months was the real son of Cyrus,
and that the story of his impersonation by a magus was an invention of Darius to justify his seizure of the
throne.

What has this tale of intrigue to do with India, or Greco-India? There are two points:

1. The name Gaumata and other evidences have allowed the scholar Ranajit Pal to claim that this Magian
is Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha:

"A careful study shows that Gotama was the same as Gaumata who hangs like a ghost in Persian history.
His tussle with Darius-I as recorded in stone at Behistun is one of the greatest stories and scandals of
history yet little is known about the nature or cause of his revolt. P. Briant's account of Gomata in the
Encyclopedia Iranica lacks insight but historians like Toynbee and Olmstead suspected Darius’
veracity and concluded that Gaumata was not an imposter. Although R. N. Frye fails to notice the overlap
with Indian history, Gaumata was a namesake of Gotama. Gut-ama in Sumerian means ‘one whose
mother is a cow’ which agrees with the meaning of Gau-mata in Sanskrit and old Persian. Gaumata
was an immensely popular figure. That Darius had lied is also noted by Chester Starr, Dandamayev and
W. Culican. T. C. Young Jr. a noted expert on Iran, also saw through the tirades of Darius-I and came
very near recognizing the true nature of Gaumata who was also a religious leader. Young writes with rare
vision,

Finally, it should be remarked that Darius hurls the epithet ‘Magian’, ‘priest’, at
Gaumata almost as though this were the worst possible thing he could say about the rebel in
order to discredit his enemy and to support his own cause in the eyes of his followers, if not in
those of the populace.

"Young also suggests with remarkable insight that Gomata may have preached a new religion,

He then tells us that, 'As before, so I made the sanctuaries which Gaumata the Magian
destroyed.’ Clearly Darius and Gaumata had a difference of opinion about sanctuaries,
and, therefore, we may assume about religion or, at least, about ritual forms of religious
expression. The details of this disagreement escapes us. Indeed, we are not even sure who was
the innovator; the Achaemenians may have introduced forms of religion which adherents of
an older faith reacted against under Gaumata’s leadership; or the Magian could have been
attempting to introduce a new religion which offended the establishment. What is critical in
the present context is that the story of Darius’ overthrow of Gaumata probably contains
evidence of a religious as well as dynastic, social/economic and political struggle.

"This new religion propounded by Gomata is Buddhism which proves beyond doubt that Gaumata was
the true Gotama. Gomata was a very popular figure who, together with Bardiya, ruled Persia for a period
but no statue or other representation of him."

In an Egyptian temple at the Kharga Oasis, Eugene Cruz-Uribe discovered the cartouche of the Persian
king Darius: Son of Re, Lord of Appearances, the Great, Darius, given life.

The India conquered by Alexander had for a long time been part of the same dominion as Egypt, as well
as Judea, part of Greece and many Greek colonies. It was not some exotic, mysterious land, but fully
integrated into the same world as inhabited by Egyptians, Greeks, Syrians and Jews - and this continued
into the the modern era and the period of the Roman Empire.

The Macedonian successor of Alexander in Persia founded the Seleukid Empire and at the height of its
power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and
parts of Pakistan. The Seleucid Empire was a major centre of Hellenistic culture which maintained the
preeminence of Greek customs and where a Macedonian political elite dominated.

The eastern satrapies are Greco-India.

 "Tribute of the land of Musri" - Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer III. There have long been debates on
whether Musri is a king or a nation, and the general consensus has been that it is either Egypt, or North
Syria, and the elephant therefore African. However, the animal appears here to be Asian and probably
Indian.

Volume 2 of Explorations in Turkestan; Expedition of 1904: Prehistoric Civilizations of Anau; Origins,

Growth, and Influence of Environment by Raphael Pumpelly (Carnegie institution of Washington, 1908)
identifies the land of Musri as in the neighbourhood of Kara Dagh and speculates on the importation of
animals from Bactria.

Image of coins: Left, silver tetradrachm depicting the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius (r.ca. 205-171
BCE), draped and wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests in India. Right, coin of Apollodotis
I Soter/Saviour, an Indo-Greek king ca. 175-165 BCE.

This is a small example of how scholars tend to ignore Greco-India, even when the alternative - in this
case, an African elephant - is unrealistic in the extreme.

2. The second point of the mysterious double identity is "Cyrus appointed Bardiya as satrap (governor) of
some of the far-eastern provinces" - this is the region which became Greco-India.

Diodotus, the governor of the thousand cities of Bactria (Latin: "Theodotus, mille urbium
Bactrianarum praefectus"), defected and proclaimed himself king; all the other people of the
Orient followed his example and seceded from the Macedonians. (Justin, XLI,4)
Gold stater of the Bactrian king Diodotos, in the name of the Seleucid emperor Antiochus I, c. 250 BCE

Dr. Pal further identifies one of these satraps - Diodotus I - as Ashoka the Great.

One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of
military conquests. His empire stretched from present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan and eastern parts of Iran
in the west, to the present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam in the east, and as far south as
northern Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. He conquered the kingdom named Kalinga, which no one in his
dynasty had conquered starting from Chandragupta Maurya. His reign was headquartered in Magadha
(present-day Bihar, India).

Ashoka played a critical role in helping make Buddhism a world religion. As the peace-loving ruler of
one of the world's largest, richest and most powerful multi-ethnic states, he is considered an exemplary
ruler, who tried to put into practice a secular state ethic of non-violence. The emblem of the modern
Republic of India is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka.

Sculpture of an old man, possibly a philosopher. Ai Khanoum, 2nd century BCE

Two edicts in Afghanistan have been found with Greek inscriptions, one of these being a bilingual edict
in Greek language and Aramaic. This edict, found in Kandahar, advocates the adoption of "Piety" (using
the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma) to the Greek community:

Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (one of the titles of Ashoka:
Piyadassi or Priyadarsi, "He who is the beloved of the Gods and who regards everyone
amiably") made known (the doctrine of) Piety (Greek: Eusebeia) to men; and from this
moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world.
And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are)
huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were)
intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to
their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so
acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily. (Trans. by G. P. Carratelli)

The Greco-Bactrians were known for their high level of Hellenistic sophistication, and kept regular
contact with both the Mediterranean and neighbouring India. They were on friendly terms with India and
exchanged ambassadors.

Their cities, such as Ai-Khanoum in northeastern Afghanistan (probably Alexandria on the Oxus), and
Bactra (modern Balkh) where Hellenistic remains have been found, demonstrate a sophisticated
Hellenistic urban culture.

The coins of the Indo-Greek king Menander (reigned 160 to 135 BCE), found from Afghanistan to central
India, bear the inscription "Saviour King Menander" in Greek on the front. Several Indo-Greek kings after
Menander, such as Zoilos I, Strato I, Heliokles II, Theophilos, Peukolaos, Menander II and Archebios
display on their coins the title of "Maharajasa Dharmika" (lit. "King of the Dharma") in the Prakrit
language and in the Kharoshthi script.

Some of the coins of Menander I and Menander II incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the eight-spoked
wheel, associated with the Greek symbols of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory wreath
handed over by the goddess Nike. According to the Milinda Pañha, at the end of his reign Menander I
became a Buddhist arhat,[8] a fact also echoed by Plutarch, who explains that his relics were shared and
enshrined.
Vitarka Mudra gestures on Indo-Greek coinage. Top: Divinities Tyche and Zeus. Bottom: Depiction of
Indo-Greek kings Nicias and Menander II.

After the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers, such as Amyntas, King Nicias, Peukolaos,
Hermaeus, Hippostratos and Menander II, depicted themselves or their Greek deities forming with the
right hand a benediction gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka mudra (thumb and index joined
together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism signifies the transmission of Buddha's
teaching.

The Kushans, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi confederation settled in Bactria since around 125 BCE
when they displaced the Greco-Bactrians, invaded the northern parts of Pakistan and India from around 1
CE.

By that time they had already been in contact with Greek culture and the Indo-Greek kingdoms for more
than a century. They used the Greek script to write their language, as exemplified by their coins and their
adoption of the Greek alphabet. The absorption of Greek historical and mythological culture is suggested
by Kushan sculptures representing Dionysiac scenes or even the story of the Trojan horse and it is
probable that Greek communities remained under Kushan rule.

Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line),
according to the Rabatak inscription.

Cultural exchanges also flourished, encouraging the development of Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of

Hellenistic and Buddhist cultural elements, that was to expand into central and northern Asia.

Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir.
Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or Prakrit, Buddhist texts translated into the language
of Hybrid Sanskrit.

Until Kanishka, whatever exactly Buddhism had been, its representation had been entirely aniconic -
without images, with no representation of Buddha. The symbols used were ancient even then and we find
them first in the archaeology of the Indus Valley Civilization, a Bronze Age civilization (3300–1300
BCE; mature period 2600–1900 BCE) that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian
Subcontinent - later to become Greco-India.

These symbols, such as the eight-spoked wheel and the swastika, are solar.
One of the first representations of the Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE, Gandhara: Standing Buddha (Tokyo
National Museum).

Buddha first takes human form under the Kushans and he also is solar, portrayed with the disk of the sun.

Many of the stylistic elements in the representations of the Buddha point to Greek influence: the Greek
himation (a light toga-like wavy robe covering both shoulders: Buddhist characters are always
represented with a dhoti loincloth before this innovation), the halo, the contrapposto stance of the upright
figures, the stylized Mediterranean curly hair and top-knot apparently derived from the style of the
Belvedere Apollo (330 BCE), and the measured quality of the faces, all rendered with strong artistic
realism.

Some of the standing Buddhas (as the one pictured, left) were sculpted using the specific Greek technique
of making the hands and sometimes the feet in marble to increase the realistic effect, and the rest of the
body in another material.

In our opinion, what we are seeing in Greco-India is 'chrestic': resurrection of a cultic hero, in the same
magical manner as we see other divine men conjured into being in the West.

The cities of Alexander are strung like pearls from Egypt to Greco-India, as Panhellenistic cultural
centres and trading posts.

Several Roman sources describe the visit of ambassadors from the Kings of Bactria and India during the
2nd century, probably referring to the Kushans.

Historia Augusta, speaking of Emperor Hadrian (117–138) tells:

"Reges Bactrianorum legatos ad eum, amicitiae petendae causa, supplices miserunt"

"The kings of the Bactrians sent supplicant ambassadors to him, to seek his friendship."

In 138, according to Aurelius Victor (Epitome‚ XV, 4), and Appian (Praef., 7), Antoninus Pius,
successor to Hadrian, received some Indian, Bactrian ambassadors.

As Gandhara, this region was a part of the Persian Empire, then, through Alexander, it became Greco-
India, still in the same dominion as the Levant, including Egypt. Though dynasties came and went, the
cultural ties and their syncretisms continued, and during the Roman Empire, this multiplied, for sea trade
with Egypt became massive.

The ancient Royal Road of Persia expanded into the Silk Road and by sea, convoys of merchant ships
travelled the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The transfer of vast quantities of gold from Rome to the Kushans
made them rich and virtually broke the imperial Roman economy.

Kanishka coin with Greek lettering "BODDO" (i.e. Buddha).

Summary

The term Greco-India is broad, covering the the colonies founded by the successors of Alexander,
becoming satrapies of Seleukid Persia and later, the trading posts, cities and ports of the Gondphares and
Kushan dynasties, as their Greek culture was slowly subsumed into the local and changing cultural
landscape of Asia.

Buddha first appears in human form during the time of the Roman Empire, when trade between East and
West was at its height. He is a solar deity, from the same chrestic mould as his Panhellenistic compatriots,
such as resurrected Pythagoras, Mithras, Sol Invictus, Alexander Helios, Bacchus, Jesus Aberamentho
and Jesus Chrest, amongst others.
Isis, bearing her solar disk and horns nurses her infant, Horus

Solar, because this is the tradition taken from Egypt, where sun worship had been exceptionally prevalent,
with Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and
nurse Horus and Ra. Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-
nurse to Horus. The Sun's movement across the sky represents a struggle between the Pharaoh's soul and
an avatar of Osiris.

The Persian conquest and occupation of Egypt - with Jewish troops whose sacrifice of animals
worshipped by Egyptians earned lasting hatred - changed the character of both sacral kingship and
Zoroastrianism.

The Zoroastrian Festival of Mihragan is one of the most ancient festivals known, dating back at least as
far as the earliest Indo-Europeans. According to Taqizadeh, (1938, p. 38: "The feast of Mithra or baga
was, no doubt, one of the most popular if not the greatest of all the festivals in ancient Iran, where it was
celebrated with the greatest attention. This was originally a pre-Zoroastrian and old Aryan feast
consecrated to the sun god, and its place in the Old-Persian calendar was surely in the month belonging to
this deity. This month was called Bagayadi or Bagayadish and almost certainly corresponded to the
seventh Babylonian month Tishritu, the patron of which was also Shamash, the Babylonian sun god. This
month was, as has already been stated, probably the first month of the Old-Persian year, and its more or
less fixed place was in the early part of the autumn. The feast was in all probability Old-Persian rather
than Old- or Young-Avestan, and it was perhaps the survival of an earlier Iranian New Year festival
dating from some prehistoric phase of the Aryo-Iranian [Indo-Iranian] calendar, when the year began at
the autumnal equinox. It was connected with the worship of one of the oldest Aryan dieties (Baga-
Mithra), of whom traces are found as far back as in the fourteenth century B.C."

The Indo-Iranian Mithra merged syncretically with the Egyptian household god, Bes.

The image of the Egyptian deity Bes appears on a wide and diverse array of objects dating to
the time of the Achaemenid Empire. Some of these objects may have been brought to Western
Asia by Egyptians, but some examples seem to demonstrate appropriation of the Bes-image
 into the Achaemenid repertoire. It has been arguedt that this appropriation may have had some
cultural connotation. In other words, other nations of the Achaemenid Empire may have
found a resonance with the protective capacity of the Bes-image and adopted Bes as a
counterpart for local deities. In the case of the Iranians, in particular, it has been suggested
that Bes may have been assimilated to the Iranian deity Mithra. (Bes in the Achaemenid
Empire, by Kamyar AbdiSource, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 29 (1999), pp. 111+113-140, Freer
Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution.)

Surya. The Sun God in Hinduism is an ancient and revered deity. In later Hindu usage, all the Vedic
Adityas lost identity and metamorphosed into one composite deity, Surya, the Sun. The attributes of all
other Adityas merged into that of Surya and the names of all other Adityas became synonymous with or
epithets of Surya.

The anthropological term for how these divine men emerge as local variants of a common, solar theme, is
syncretism. The sun is central to Panhellenism and in each region of the Greco-Roman world - including
Greco-India - chrestic practices resurrect divine men in stone, to become the living pillars of new
Churches.

To give a simple explanation for all of the sun god images in Buddhist art is impossible... The
images of the solar deity found from Gandhara and the Central Asian regions often seem
ambiguous to scholars as to whether he is the Iranian Mithra or Indian Surya. Therefore, this
paper will examine how the name of the sun god was conceived and twisted by the Buddhist
in the Buddhist texts... What related to our study is Surya and Mithra. Surya is the sun god in
the Indian tradition. The textual history of Surya can be traced to the Rg Veda. Surya is a
major god in the Vedas as well as in the later Hindu pantheon. In early Iranian (and European)
tradition, Mithra is the god of light and truth, later of the sun, also a judge of people's
behavior in life after death. The image of the sun god appearing in the Buddhist context leads
scholars to seek links between the Buddha and the sun worship. And, indeed, fragments of
allusions have been found from literature sources. A common epithet of the Buddha, "Adicca-
bandhu" in Pali, "Aditya-bandhu" in Sanskrit, which can be translated as "kinsman of the sun"
occurred in eight texts of the Pali cannon. It seems there is a kinship between the Buddha and
the sun. (The Sun God and the Wind Deity at Kizil, by Tianshu Zhu, Webfestschrift Marshak
2003)

This, of course, led to the appearance out of Egypt of Mithras, who led to Sol Invictus and eventually,
Christianity.
Articles

Augustus: the Roman MessiahAn army of divine men and the secret army of MithrasGreco-Indian
contact with RomeArchaeology of a magical, distant landArchaeology and identity of the first
BuddhistsThe language of Buddhist archaeologyThe Zen of Buddhist archaeology: earliest textsThe god
of merchandiseCleopatra’s legacy: the Sacred Lotus of IndiaThree Hares of the Silk RoadHelios and
Selene in Alexandria on the OxusGreco-India: an introductionArchaeology of good governanceAn Asian
in an estate of Augustus