PANDAIE THE DAUGHTER OF HERACLES WHO BECAME QUEEN OF THE PANDYAN KINGDOM

 

In Greek Religion , Pandaie or Pandae (Ancient Greek: Πανδαίη) was a daughter of Heracles who was born in India, and became the ruler of a kingdom in South India. In the account of the historian Megasthenes, she was a queen of the Pandya dynasty.

Pandaie was said to have been assigned a kingdom in India by her father, who established specific laws for it, and to become its eponym. According to Megasthenes, she was also given by Heracles 500 elephants, 4000 horses and infantry of 130 000.

According to Pliny the Elder, Pandaie was the only female child of Heracles (which, however, contradicts the accounts that mention Macaria, Eucleia and Manto as his daughters), and was therefore especially favored by Him. For that reason He made her queen of the Pandae, who since then became the only nation throughout India to be ruled by women. Pandaie's descendants, Pliny relates, reigned over three hundred cities and commanded an army of 5,100 plus five hundred elephants.

Polyaenus informs that Heracles allotted to Pandaie the southern part of India which is by the sea, subdividing it into 365 cantons and imposing on each a yearly tax that was to be paid on a certain fixed day of the year. Should a canton refuse to pay, other ones would be obliged to compensate the loss.

Pandyas are also mentioned in the inscriptions of Maurya emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE). In his inscriptions (2nd and 13th Major Rock Edict), Ashoka refers to the peoples of south India – the Cheras, Pandyas and Satiyaputras. These polities, possibly not part of the Maurya empire, were on friendly terms with Ashoka:

The conquest by dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas (5,400–9,600 km) away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni river.

(Major Rock Edict No.13), Ven. S. Dhammika translation.

Everywhere within the conquered province of King Piyadasi (Ashoka), the beloved of the gods, as well as in the parts occupied by the faithful, such as Chola, Pandya, Satiyaputra, and Keralaputra, even as far as Tambapanni (Ceylon) and within the dominions the Greek (of which Antiochus generals are the rulers ) everywhere the heaven-beloved Raja Piyadasi’s double system of medical aid is established- both medical aid for men and medical aid for animals.

Major Rock Edict No.2), James Prinsep translation.

Edited from Wikipedia

ZEUS ~ SERAPIS ~ OHRMAZD WITH KUSHAN WORSHIPPER ~ BACTRIA

 

This rare Central Asian votive panel depicts a deity (with nimbus) being approached by a male worshiper, probably nonroyal but portrayed as of equal stature to the god. Compositionally, they follow scenes of homage and investiture from the post-Hellenistic West and from Iran in which a king and a god appear side by side. A majestic figure with a full beard and long wavy hair, who has been identified as the supreme deity Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, receives a suppliant in the characteristic Iranian short tunic and leggings, hands clasped in adoration. Here, the rich intercultural style that developed in the Kushan realm is clearly displayed: Indian divine iconography; the Iranian type of two-figured composition; and Greco-Roman naturalism in the drapery and pose, as well as in the use of light and shadow to suggest modeling. The panel has holes at the corners and was probably set up, together with three others acquired by the Museum (MMA 2000.42.1, .3, .4), on the interior walls of a sanctuary, perhaps a family shrine. 

Source MET  Museum

THE GREEK KINGDOMS OF CENTRAL ASIA ~ FREE PDF

 

Greek rulers became involved in the power struggle for Central Asia from the mid-third century BCE. There remain few written records from this time, but archaeological excavations have revealed a fascinating legacy of Hellenistic artistic culture in Central Asia from this era.  Sites such as Taxila were ancient centers of international cultural exchange from the times of the earliest Greek conquests, when the great east-west trade routes were controlled by the Greeks.   

An article of 31 pages, written by P.Bernard, on the history of  Greeks  in the Central Asia. All credit goes to the author.

For those who wish to read it, it's available in pdf form for free , in the link below.

https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/knowledge-bank/greek-kingdoms-central-asia

HELLENISTIC STYLE HELMET ~ NISA TURKMENISTAN

A sculpted head of a Parthian soldier wearing a Hellenistic-style helmet, from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of Nisa, Turkmenistan, 2nd century BCE