The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks

An exploration of how the Greeks reacted to and interacted with India from the third to first centuries BCE

When the Greeks and Macedonians in Alexander’s army reached India in 326 BCE, they entered a new and strange world. They knew a few legends and travelers’ tales, but their categories of thought were inadequate to encompass what they witnessed. The plants were unrecognizable, their properties unknown. The customs of the people were various and puzzling. While Alexander’s conquest was br...