Answers for Milinda
“The lands of the Bactriania is of a manifold and varied nature. In one part many trees and vines produced plentiful and mellow fruits, frequent brooks irrigate rich soil, and milder parts of this they sow with grain, and the rest they leave for pasture. Farther on a greater part of the same land is occupied by sterile sands… indeed, when the winds blow they sweep together whatever sand lies on the plains, and sweep away all traces of the roads, burying men in the sand. But where the land is milder it breeds a great multitude of men and horsesâ€-Curtius, Greek Historian
Few today have ever heard of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, which is not surprising. Bactria, on the fringes of the Hellenistic World, stretched from Northern India to Central Asia; yet it has vanished, beneath the sands of time. It is hard to believe that this land was once home to a rich and vibrant civilization, a land of Buddhist Greeks and Saviour Kings. For decades it was thought that the kingdom as a myth, or at best an exaggeration; but it has become clear that the Bactrians succeeded in developing a rich and cosmopolitan civilization, and, unlike many of their fellow Hellenistic Monarchs, integrated with their Indian Subjects.
Of course, this state was cut off from the west by the Parthians, and divided and defeated, but as Chris (dominusnovus) and I ask, What if it had survived?
It is only appropriate, as we explore the effects of a long term survival of a Hellenistic Kingdom in India, that we title it Answers for King Milinda. (For the person who guesses why, you will get a reward).