GREEK COLONIES IN THE EAST

The Black Sea littoral, initially called by the Greeks "inhospitable," was colonized intensively by them. Ancient written sources number these colonies between 75 and 90. According to the ancient Greek geographer Strabo, Miletus, the most prosperous city of Ionia (ancient East Greece, the western part of modern-day turkey), was known to many. Its fame was due mainly to the large number of its colonies, since the whole of Pontus Euxinus (the Black Sea), Propontis (Sea of Marmara), and many other places had been settled by Milesians.

The reasons for Ionian colonization have been argued for many decades as one aspect of the general debate about why the Greeks established so many colonies. Nowadays, most scholars agree that colonization was enforced migration. Ionian cities were situated in favorable geographical locations and possessed large tracts of fertile land. Miletus, called "the pearl of Ionia," was, the center of Greek culture during the Archaic period. At the end of the 8th century, Ionians began advancing deeply into the hinterland: Miletus, for example, pushed its frontiers twenty to thirty miles up the river valley. This expansion led to conflict between Lydians and Ionians, with Lydian kings seeking to push the Ionians back toward the coast. The principal outcome was to diminish the amount of cultivable land available to the Ionians. This was the chief reason why from the mid-7th century, Miletus, which had never undertaken colonization, became the last Greek city to do so.

The struggles between Lydia and Ionia came to an end at the beginning of the 6th century, when Miletus was obliged to accept a treaty reducing its territorial possessions. This, in turn, provoked an internal crisis in Miletus, whose resolution prompted large-scale migration and the establishment of new colonies on the Black Sea. New and hitherto unparalleled difficulties arose in the middle of the 6th century, as the expanding Persian empire conquered Ionian cities. Ancient written sources state directly that the Ionians faced a stark choice: death and enslavement or flight. In these circumstances migration was the obvious course, leading to the foundation of more new colonies. This did not mark the end of forced migration: in 499 B.C.E. an Ionian uprising against Persian rule was crushed, and in 494 BCE Miletus was sacked and burned. In consequence, a final wave of Ionian colonies was established on the Black Sea at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.E.

Archaeology provides the principal evidence for Greek colonies on the Black Sea. There are a few written sources on the establishment of Pontic Greek cities, but they are contradictory, giving different dates of foundation and mixing myths with other explanations of the colonization process. The first colonies appeared in the last third of the 7th century, and by the end of it Berezan, Histria, Sinope, possibly Amisus and Trapezus, Apollonia Pontica, and the Taganrog settlement on the Sea of Azov had been founded. All were very small, situated on peninsulas. The next wave of colonization dates to the beginning of the 6th century and witnessed the establishment of Olbia, Panticapaeum, Nymphaeum, Theodosia, Myrmekion, Kepoi, Patraeus, Tomis, and others. Hermonassa, on the Taman Peninsula (South Russia), was a joint foundation of Miletus and Mytilene in the second quarter of the 6th century B.C.E.

From the middle of the 6th century, other Ionian Greek cities were in the business of establishing colonies: Teos founded Phanagoria (Taman Peninsula), and the (non-Ionian) Megarians and Boeotians founded Heraclea, on the southern shores of the Pontus circa 556 B.C.E. The latter colony developed as a major trading center for the whole Pontus and, in turn, established its own colonies: Chersonesus in the Crimea was founded in the last quarter of the 5th century (where a small Ionian settlement had existed from the end of the 6th century) and, later, Callatis on the Western coast. Also, during the mid-6th century  Miletus established three colonies on the eastern Black Sea (in the ancient country of Colchis)—Phasis, Gyenos, and Dioscurias. The final Ionian colonizers arrived at the end of the 6th/beginning of the 5th century B.C.E., establishing new colonies (Mesambria, Kerkinitis, and others) and settling in existing ones. In newly established colonies, Apollo was the major deity, as He was in Miletus.

During  their first 60 to 80 years of existence, the colonies were very simple in terms of architecture and urban planning.  There was virtually no stone architecture; instead there were pit houses. Nor was there regular town planning. The only colony with fortification walls was Histria. A complete change of appearance took place at the end of the 6th/first half of the 5h century. Pit houses gave way to typical Greek stone dwellings. It is possible to identify clearly standard features of Greek urbanization, such as the agora, temenos, acropolis, and craftsmen's quarter, among others. Temples were built in the Ionic and Doric orders. As the result of a change in the local political situation, cities began to construct stone fortification walls. The exception is the region of the eastern Black Sea, where, thanks to natural conditions (wetlands and marshes, for example), temples and fortification walls as well as dwellings were constructed of wood.

Every Greek city became a center of craft production. In Histria and Nymphaeum pottery kilns were found dating from the mid-6th centuryB.C.E..; in Panticapaeum from the end of the century; and in Chersonesus, Gorgippia, Histria, Phanagoria, and Sinope from the 5th to the2nd centuries. They produced such things as terra-cotta figurines, lamps, loom weights, and tableware; in Heraclea, Sinope, and Chersonesus, amphorae were made as well. Through the migration of Sinopean potters, the Greek cities of Colchis began to produce their own amphorae from the second half of the 4th century B.C.E. From the 4th century, tiles and architectural terra-cotta were manufactured in Apollonia Pontica, Chersonesus, Olbia, Tyras, and the Bosporan cities (on the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas). The Bosporan cities and Histria produced simple painted pottery, which imitated the shapes of East Greek and Attic pottery.

Nearly every Greek city has left traces of metalworking. In Panticapaeum, for example, workshops were found in two areas. The workshops, which produced iron, bronze, and lead objects (including weapons), contained numerous moulds, iron ore, and slags in the remains of furnaces. In Phanagoria, pottery and metal workshops were situated at the edge of the city. One produced life-size bronze statues. Metalworking in the Pontic Greek cities was based mainly on the use of ingots specially produced for them, for example, in wooden-steppe Scythia for the northern Black Sea cities. The same situation most probably obtained in the other parts of the Black Sea.

Agriculture was the main economic activity. Greek cities established their agricultural territories, called chorai, almost immediately. Their size varied over time; initially they were small but grew larger with the appearance of new colonists and the expansion of the cities. In the 4th century B.C.E., the chorai of Olbia and Chersonesus and of the cities of the Bosporan Kingdom each covered an area of about 150,000 hectares and contained several hundred settlements. These rural settlements were sources of agricultural produce for the inhabitants of the cities. There were several settlements specializing entirely in craft production. The wonderfully preserved chora of Chersonesus in the Crimea is unique, as is Metapontum in Italy. Chersonesus was situated in the Heraclean Peninsula, approximately 11,000 hectares of which was divided c. 350 B.C.E. into four hundred lots, each with six subdivisions, to make 2,400 small allotments. They were used mainly for viticulture and growing fruit trees. About 4,000 hectares along the north coast were the basis of the earliest allotments. There was a second chora of Chersonesus in the northwestern Crimea, entirely for grain production.

Trade was one of the principal economic activities of Greek cities. The main sources for the study of trade relations are pottery and amphorae. In the 7th and early 6th centuries B.C.E., pottery from southern Ionia was common throughout the Pontic region; later it was displaced by pottery from northern Ionia. Goods transported in amphorae came from Chios, Lesbos, and Clazomenae. The small quantities of Corinthian and Naucratite goods probably were brought by Ionian merchants, who also were responsible, with Aeginetans, for the appearance of the first Archaic Athenian pottery in the region. In the Classical period Athenian pottery predominates, as evidence discoverd  from the excavation of the Pontic Greek cities demonstrates. This pottery probably reflects direct links between them and Athens.

Trade between the Pontic Greek cities and the local peoples is an extremely important but complex question. All discussion is based on the finds of Greek pottery made in local settlements, some as far as 500–600 kilometers inland from the Black Sea. Overall, about 10 percent of known and excavated local sites, especially for the Classical period, yield examples, but usually they are few in number (as is the case, for example, in both the Thracian and Colchian hinterlands). At the same time, local elite tombs each provide several examples of Athenian painted pottery. Thus, a simple explanation of the very close trade relationship between Greeks and locals is no longer tenable.

There are other ways in which pottery could have reached local settlements, and the small quantity cannot support the argument that the more examples, the closer and more intense the links. Painted pottery from elite tombs cannot be viewed only from the perspective of trade relationships: it is not known how the locals interpreted the scenes depicted on the painted pottery, which could have been a gift from the Greeks and not traded. Furthermore, the tombs contained jewelry and metal vessels, on which the local elite was much keener, in far greater quantities than pottery.

Over time the composition of imports and exports changed. The best account is found in the Histories of the Greek historian Polybius (book 4):

'As regards necessities, it is an undisputed fact that the most plentiful supplies and best qualities of cattle and slaves reach us from the countries lying around the Pontus, while among luxuries, the same countries furnish us with an abundance of honey, wax and preserved fish; from the surplus of our countries they take olive-oil and every kind of wine. As for grain, there is give and take—with them sometimes supplying us when we require it and sometimes importing it from us.'

From the start, the history of the colonies is inseparable from that of the local population. Many ethnic groups lived around the Black Sea, among whom the most prominent were the Thracians, Getae, Scythians, Tauri, Maeotians, Colchians, Mariandyni, and Chalybes. From the earliest days of the colonies, locals formed part of their population. For the Archaic period not much is known about the relationship between Greeks and local peoples, although it was most probably peaceful until the end of the 6th century/beginning of the 5th century B.C.E. Thereafter, local kingdoms grew up, such as the Thracian (Odrysian), Colchian, and Scythian. Relations between these kingdoms and the Greek colonies were at times peaceful and at others hostile. In about 480 B.C.E. a phenomenon unique for the whole Greek world in the Classical period took place: the Greek cities situated on the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas united, to withstand Scythian pressure, in a single state, known as the Bosporan Kingdom (whose capital was Panticapaeum). The rulers of this state were tyrants. Its final consolidation was completed by the middle of the 4th century B.C.E. In character it was akin to the kingdoms that mushroomed in the Hellenistic period.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/greek-colonies-east

GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES ON INDO-SCYTHIAN COINS

The Scythians or Sakas were originally a nomadic people from Central Asia who made their way into Bactria in the second century BCE. It is likely that they were responsible for the burning of Ai-Khanoum in what is now northern Afghanistan around 150 BCE.

Maues was a king of this tribe, who appears to have conquered territory in Kashmir and then acquired control of the area around Taxila in the Punjab. At this point, the Scythians were perhaps not as distinct from the Greeks as might be imagined, as considerable inter-marriage was probably taking place. We also see this inter-mingling of cultures in the fact that most of Maues's coin types follow Greek prototypes. 

   There is a coin telling us that the Indo-Greek king Artemidoros was the son of Maues. Whether or not Artemidoros was Maues' son is still under some debate, and you can find extra information about him by clicking here. 

The date of Maues is still not entirely clear.The traditional dates are c. 90-60 BCE, but Artemidoros is dated to c. 85 BCE, which suggests Maues should be earlier.  
As we have already seen in the pictures, the Greek Gods and Goddesses are prevalent on the Indo- Scythian coins. On the Artemidoros' coin, Artemis, the Goddess of hunting is seen in action, with Her bow stretched. 

Another frequently seen Goddess is Athena, the Goddess of strategy, wisdom and war. She is depicted in the common Greek manner, helmeted and armed. Goddess Nike, with wings is another familiar Greek Goddess. She represents speed and victory in battle.

Also, the famous Greek hero Heracles is depicted with his famous club at hand. Heracles had been well-known in the Indo-Greek kingdoms, and since he is the role model for heroism and virility, he was ideal for depiction on coins.

Zeus, the Leader of the Greek Pantheon is a most frequent depiction on the Indo- Scythian coins. Armed with His thunderbolt, and often holding a sceptre, His image was highly honoured by the mints of the Indo-Scythians.

When we see these coins,as well as the coins of the Kushan Empire afterwards, we  easily understand that the Greek culture and Religion were deeply rooted and respected in the areas of the Indo- Greek Kingdoms. 

HERACLES ~ THE GREEK HERO WHO CROSSED BORDERS AND SHAPED NATIONS

Heracles ( Greek: Ηρακλής )  is the most well -known divine Hero in Greek Religion. Son of Zeus and Alcmene, he travelled to many different countries of the ancient world.

Birth

A major factor in the well-known stories about Heracles is the hatred that the Goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, had for him. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, when there were many illegitimate offspring sired by Zeus.  Zeus made love to the mortal Alcmene after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, home early from war -Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at the same time. Heracles'twin mortal brother was Iphicles.

When Heracles was born,Fear of Hera's revenge led Alcmene to expose the infant. However, he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena, who played an important role as protectress of heroes. Hera did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and She pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural powers. Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was raised by his parents.

Heracles as a boy strangling a snake (marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE). Capitoline Museums in Rome, Italy.

The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles, being renamed Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to appease Hera. He and his twin were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his brother grabbed a snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias, who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters.

After killing his music tutor Linus with a lyre, Heracles was sent to tend cattle on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon. Here, according to an allegorical parable, "The Choice of Heracles", he was visited by two allegorical figures—Vice and Virtue—who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life: he chose the latter.

Later in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon's daughter, Megara. In a fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles killed his children and Megara. After his madness had been cured by Antikyreus, he realized what he had done and fled to the Oracle of Delphi. He didn't know that the Oracle was guided by Hera. He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for ten years and do any task Eurystheus required of him. Eurystheus decided to give Heracles ten labours, but after completing them, Heracles was cheated by Eurystheus when he added two more, resulting in the Twelve Labours of Heracles.

1. The Slaying of the Nemean Lion
Heracles defeated a lion that was attacking the city of Nemea with his bare hands. After he succeeded, he wore the skin as a cloak to demonstrate his power over the opponent he had defeated.

2. The Slaying of the 9-headed Lernaean Hydra

The Hydra was a fire-breathing monster with a lion's head and a body of many snakes which lay in a swamp near Lerna. Hera had sent it in hope it would destroy Heracles' home city because she thought it was invincible. With help from his nephew Iolaus, he killed the Hydra and dipped his arrows in its poisoned blood, making them more lethal.

3. The Capturing of the Golden Hind of Artemis

Hercules was ordered not to kill, but to catch, this monster- different, but still difficult, task. It cost time but, having chased it for a year, Heracles wore out the Hind and presented it alive to Eurystheus.

4. The Capturing of the Erymanthian Boar

This was a fearsome marauding boar on the loose. Eurystheus set Heracles the Labour of catching it, and bringing it to Mycenae. Again, a time-consuming task, but the tireless hero found the beast, captured it, and brought it to its final spot. Patience is the heroic quality in the third and fourth Labours.

5. The Cleaning of the Augean Stables in a single day

The Augean stables were the home of 3,000 cattle with poisoned faeces which Augeas had been given by his father Helios. Heracles was given the near impossible task of cleaning the stables of the diseased faeces in only one day. He accomplished it by digging ditches on both sides of the stables, moving them into the ditches, and then diverting the rivers Alpheios and Peneios to wash the ditches clean.

6. The Slaying of the Stymphalian Birds

These aggressive man-eating birds were terrorizing a forest near Lake Stymphalia in northern Arcadia. Heracles scared them with a rattle given to him by Athena, to frighten them into flight away from the forest, allowing him to shoot many of them with his bow and arrow and bring back this proof of his success to Eurystheus.

7. The Capturing of the Cretan Bull

This harmful bull was destroying the lands round Knossos on Crete. Heracles captured it, and carried it on his shoulders to Eurystheus in Tiryns. Eurystheus released it, and it wandered to Marathon which it then terrorized, until killed by Theseus.

Heracles capturing the Cretan Bull. Statue in Germany. 

8. The Theft of the Mares of Diomedes

His next challenge was to steal the horses from Diomedes' stables- horses that had been trained by their owner to feed on human flesh. Heracles' task was to capture them and hand them over to Eurystheus. He accomplished this labour by feeding King Diomedes to the animals before binding their mouths shut.

9.  The  Belt of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons

Hippolyta was an Amazon queen and she had a girdle given to her by her father. Heracles had to retrieve the girdle and return it to Eurystheus. He and his band of companions received a rough welcome because, ordered by Hera, the Amazons were supposed to attack them; however, against all odds, Heracles completed the task and secured the girdle for Eurystheus.

10. The Theft of the Cattle of the Monster Geryon

The next labour was to capture the herd guarded by a two-headed dog called Orthrus, the herdsman Erytion and the owner, Geryon; a giant with three heads and six arms. He killed the first two with his club and the third with a poisoned arrow. Heracles then herded the cattle and, with difficulty, took them to Eurytheus.

11.  The Theft of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides

Hercules and Atlas statue, by Michel Anguier, 1668. Louvre Museum 

These sacred fruits were protected by Hera who had set Ladon, a fearsome hundred-headed dragon as their guardian. Heracles had to first find where the garden was; he asked Nereus for help. He came across Prometheus on his journey. Heracles shot the eagle eating at his liver, and in return he helped Heracles with knowledge that his brother would know where the garden was. His brother Atlas offered him help with the apples if he would hold up the heavens while he was gone. Atlas tricked him and did not return. Heracles returned the trickery and managed to get Atlas taking the burden of the heavens once again, and returned the apples to Mycenae.

12. The Capturing of Cerberus

Heracles capturing Cerberus by Antonin Wagner. Hofburg, Vienna 

His last labour and undoubtedly the riskiest. Eurystheus was so frustrated that Heracles was completing all the tasks, that he had 
given him a challenge, which he thought was impossible: Heracles had to go down into the Underworld of Hades and capture the ferocious three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the gates. Heracles used the souls to help convince Hades to hand over the dog. Hades agreed to give Heracles the dog if he used no weapons to obtain him, and on the condition that Cerberus would later be returned safe to his master. Heracles succeeded and took the creature to Mycenae, causing Eurystheus to be fearful of the power and strength of this hero.

Mortal Death and Rise to Olympus

Heracles killing Nessus the Centaur.1599, Florence

 Having wrestled and defeated Achelous, god of the Acheloos river, Heracles takes Deianira as his wife. Travelling to Tiryns, a centaur, Nessus, offers to help Deianira across a fast flowing river while Heracles swims it. However, Nessus tries to steal Deianira away while Heracles is still in the water. Angry, Heracles shoots him with his arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Lernaean Hydra. Thinking of revenge, Nessus gives Deianira his blood-soaked tunic before he dies, telling her it will "excite the love of her husband".

Several years later, rumor tells Deianira that she has a rival for the love of Heracles. Deianira, remembering Nessus' words, gives Heracles the bloodstained shirt. Lichas, the herald, delivers the shirt to Heracles. However, it is still covered in the Hydra's blood from Heracles' arrows, and this poisons him, tearing his skin and exposing his bones. Before he dies, Heracles throws Lichas into the sea, thinking he was the one who poisoned him .Heracles then uproots several trees and builds a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta, which Poeas, father of Philoctetes, lights. As his body burns, only his immortal side is left. Through Zeus' apotheosis, Heracles rises to Olympus as he dies.
No one but Heracles' friend Philoctetes would light his funeral pyre. For this action, Philoctetes or Poeas received Heracles' bow and arrows, which were later needed by the Greeks to defeat Troy in the Trojan War.
According to Herodotus, Heracles lived 900 years before Herodotus' own time (c. 1300 BCE).

Character 

Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females are among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice. Together with Hermes, he is the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his Labours and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor.

Heracles and his child Telephus. (Marble, Roman copy of the 1st or 2nd century CE)

 Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends - such as wrestling with Thanatos ( Death ) on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown- and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him. 

Presence of Heracles around the world

Iconographical evolution from the Greek Heracles to Shukongōshin. From left to right:

1) Heracles (Louvre Museum).

2) Heracles on coin of Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I.

3 Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha, depicted as Heracles in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.

4) Shukongōshin of Buddhist temples in Japan.（Sensō-ji）

 As Buddhism expanded in Central Asia and fused with Hellenistic influences into Greco-Buddhism, the Greek hero Heracles became Vajrapāni. In that era, he was typically depicted as a hairy, muscular athlete, wielding a short "diamond" club. Via the Greco-Buddhist culture, Heraclean symbolism was transmitted to the Far East. An example remains to this day in the Nio guardian deities in front of Japanese Buddhist temples.

Heracles as protector of Buddha, Vajrapani, 1st-century C.E.. Gandhara.

The protector Vajrapani of the Buddha is another incarnation of Heracles ( Gandhara Art )

Iran 
Strabo reports, probably on authority of Nearchus reports in his Geographika  that the Karmanians worshipped a divinity of victory. That this was Bahram/Verethragna is unlikely if, as per Strabo, he was their "only god." However, the account does reveal that divinities of war were known to the people who were not of the Iranian plateau, evidence for which also comes from Herodotus.

Under the Seleucids (330–150 BCE) and Arsacids (250 BCE–226 CE),  the Empires influenced by Hellenic culture, Verethragna was both identified as Ares and associated with Heracles, and given the Greek name Artagnes. This syncretism is well attested in statuary and iconography, most notably in that of the inscription of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, in which all three names occur together.

Hellenistic-era depiction of the Zoroastrian divinity Bahram as Hercules carved in 153 BCE at Kermanshah, Iran.

That Bahram was considered the patron divinity of travelers is perhaps reflected by the life-size rock sculpture of the divinity on the main highway at Behistun. There Bahram reclines with a goblet in his hand, a club at his feet and a lion-skin beneath him.
In the early Sassanid period Bahram is still represented as the Greek Heracles. In the relief of Ardeshir I at Naqs-e Rajab III, Bahram appears as one of the two smaller figures between Ahura Mazda and the king. There, he has a lion's skin in his left hand and brandishes a club in his right. The other small figure - who appears to be paying homage to Bahram - is the future king Bahram I.

India

Megasthenes' Herakles is the conventional name of reference of an ancient Indian deity. Herakles was originally a classical Greek divinity. However, in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's conflicts in North-Western India, an Indian version of this classical Greek deity was identified by Megasthenes, who travelled to India as the ambassador of the Seleucids during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. Upon visiting Mathurai of the Early Pandyan Kingdom, he described the kingdom as being named after Pandaea, Herakles' only daughter.

The Mathura Herakles, strangling the Nemean lion (Kolkata Indian Museum).

Many scholars have suggested that the deity identified as Herakles was Krishna. Edwin Francis Bryant adds the following in this regard:

“ According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshipped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common in the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Mehtora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Quintus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard. ”

— Krishna: a sourcebook, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 2007

James Tod associated Herakles primarily with Baladeva, Krishna's older sibling, but also indicated that Herakles could be associated with both:
“ How invaluable such remnants of ancient race of Harikula! How refreshing to the mind yet to discover, amidst the ruins on the Yamuna, Hercules (Baldeva, god of strength) retaining his club and lion's hide, standing on his pedestal at Baldeo, and yet worshipped by Suraseni! This was name given to a large tract of country round Mathura, or rather round Surpura, the ancient capital founded by Surasena, the grandfather of the Indian brother-deities, Krishna and Baldeva, Apollo and Hercules. The title would apply to either ; though Baldeva has the attributes of 'god of strength'. Both are es (lords) of the race (kula) of Hari (Hari-kul-es), of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules. ”

— James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan 

Megasthenes' Herakles as Shiva

According to Quintus Curtius, the Sibae, whom he calls Sobii, occupied the country between the Hydaspes and the Akesines. They may have derived their name from the god Siva.
“ Again when Alexander had captured at the first assault the rock called Aornos, the base of which is washed by the Indus near its source, his followers, magnifying the affairs, affirmed that Herakles had thrice assaulted the same rock and had been thrice repulsed. They said also that the Sibae were descended from those who accompanied Herakles on his expedition, and that they preserved badges of their descent, for they wore skins like Herakles and carried clubs, and branded the mark of a cudgel on their oxen and mules. ”
— Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian - Dr. Schwanbeck and J.W. McCrindle (1877), pp. 128–129 


According to Dr. Schwanbeck and J. W. McCrindle, Megasthenes meant Siva when he mentioned Herakles in his book Indika
“ Such, then are the traditions regarding Dionysus and his descendants current among the Indians who inhabit the hill-country. They further assert that Herakles also was born among them. They assign to him like Greeks, the clubs and the lion's skin. He far surpassed other men in personal strength and prowess, and cleared sea and land of evil beasts. Marrying many wives he begot many sons, but one daughter only. The sons having reached man's estate, he divided all India into equal portions for his children, whom he made kings in different parts of his dominion. He provided similarly for his daughter, whom he reared up and made a queen. He was the founder, also, of no small number of cities, the most renowned and greatest of which he called Palibothra (Pataliputra). He built therein many sumptuous palaces, and settled within its walls a numerous population. The city he fortified with trenches of notable dimensions, which were filled with water introduced from the river. Herakles, accordingly, after his removal from among the men, obtained immortal honor; and his descendants, having reigned for many generations and signalized themselves by great achievements, neither made any expedition beyond the confines of India, nor sent out any colony abroad. At last however, after many years had gone, most of the cities adopted the democratic form of government, though some retained the kingly until the invasion of the country by Alexander. ”

— Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian - Dr. Schwanbeck and J.W. McCrindle (1877), pp. 57–58 

Father of the Scythians

 When Heracles carried away the oxen of Geryon, he also visited the country of the Scythians. Once there, while asleep, his horses suddenly disappeared. When he woke and wandered about in search of them, he came into the country of Hylaea. He then found the dracaena of Scythia in a cave. When he asked whether she knew anything about his horses, she answered, that they were in her own possession, but that she would not give them up, unless he would consent to stay with her for a time. Heracles accepted the request, and became by her the father of Agathyrsus, Gelonus, and Scythes. The last of them became king of the Scythians, according to his father's arrangement, because he was the only one among the three brothers that was able to manage the bow which Heracles had left behind and to use his father's girdle.

Heracles in Africa 

On his way to the Garden of Hesperides as his 11th Labour,  Heracles had to fight against Antaeus, who was the half-giant son of Poseidon and Gaia.Antaeus killed people and built a temple to his father using their skulls. Ancient sources place him in Libya.

Plutarch recounts what he says to be a local myth, according to which Heracles, after the death of Antaeus, consorted with his wife, Tinge. They had a son called Sophax, who named a city in North Africa Tingis after his mother. Sophax in his turn was father of Diodorus who conquered many Libyan peoples with his army of Olbians and Mycenaeans brought to Libya by Heracles.

Egypt

Herodotus connected Heracles to the Egyptian god Shu. Also he was associated with Khonsu, another Egyptian god who was in some ways similar to Shu. As Khonsu, Heracles was worshipped at the now sunken city of Heracleion, where a large temple was constructed.

Most often the Egyptians identified Heracles with Heryshaf, transcribed in Greek as Arsaphes or Harsaphes (Ἁρσαφής). He was an ancient ram-god whose cult was centered in Herakleopolis Magna.

 Spain

When Heracles was assigned to take the cattle of Geryon, he travelled to the Iberian Peninsula- that is, modern day Spain. 

This marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage of Pindar quoted by Strabo was the earliest traceable reference in this context: "the pillars which Pindar calls the 'gates of Gades' when he asserts that they are the farthermost limits reached by Heracles." Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles and Melqart since Herodotus, the "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modern Cádiz) have sometimes been considered to be the true Pillars of Hercules.

According to some sources,while on his way to the garden of the Hesperides on the island of Erytheia, Hercules had to cross the mountain that was once Atlas. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules used his superhuman strength to smash through it. By doing so, he connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and formed the Strait of Gibraltar. One part of the split mountain is Gibraltar and the other is either Monte Hacho or Jebel Musa. These two mountains taken together have since then been known as the Pillars of Hercules, though other natural features have been associated with the name. Diodorus Siculus, however, held that instead of smashing through an isthmus to create the Straits of Gibraltar, Hercules narrowed an already existing strait to prevent monsters from the Atlantic Ocean from entering the Mediterranean Sea. In some versions, Heracles instead built the two to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas from his damnation.

Having killed Geryon, he freed the locals from his tyranny and founded cities. For example, the founding of Gadeira ( Cadiz ) by Heracles is still commemorated on the city's coat of arms. Another city, Helike ( modern-day Elche ) is said to have been founded by Heracles. 

Sallust mentions in his work on the Jugurthine War that the Africans believe Heracles to have died in Spain where, his multicultural army being left without a leader, the Medes, Persians, and Armenians who were once under his command split off and populated the Mediterranean coast of Africa.

 Gaul 

Heracles sculpture, Louvre Museum

Temples dedicated to Heracles abounded all along the Mediterranean coastal countries. For example, the temple of Heracles Monoikos (i.e. the lone dweller), built far from any nearby town upon a promontory in what is now the Côte d'Azur, gave its name to the area's more recent name, Monaco.

The Gauls had particular reason for their attachment to this hero. They associated Heracles with numerous local stories, since he was said to have passed through Gaul during one of his Twelve Labours (the rustling of Geryon’s cattle). So it was that the cities of Autun, Alesia and Nîmes declared themselves to have been founded by Heracles and that the Lepontians boasted of their descent from his companions.During his stay, Heracles had affairs with many local princesses, whose children were (depending on the version of the story) Celtos, Galatos and/or Iberus, the eponymous ancestors of the Celts, Galatians and Iberians.Heracles’ passage across Gaul thus linked these provinces to the Græco-Roman world starting from the earliest days of antiquity. Furthermore, the Gauls had to admire Hercules as the incarnation of that strength and spontaneous ardour so dear to the Celtic heart, if one can believe the ancient stereotype.

Inscriptions in Hercules’ honour are not particularly abundant in Gaul. Nonetheless, his image is frequently to be encountered, especially on the monumental Jupiter columns typical of the Rhenish region.

In the Rhenish and Danubian regions, dedications are most often made to Hercules Saxanus.This is a Latin adjective—saxanus, belonging to stones, having to do with stones. As it happens, the myth that links Hercules to stones also anchors him in the soil of Gaul.  The epithet 'saxanus' refers to an ambush suffered by Hercules while bringing back the cattle of Geryon. Returning from Spain by way of present-day Provence, Hercules found himself surrounded by enemy Ligurians. The hero prayed to his father Zeus to come to his aid, and the latter caused rocks to rain down on the enemy. In this way, the rocky landscape of the Crau was formed. In memory of this moment of piety and extraordinary aid, people might invoke Heracles Saxanus at times when, surrounded by enemies, they feared for their lives and only divine intervention might save them. Having become a God, Heracles is inclined to recall his own distress and aid in turn those who are suddenly in need of him.

 Inscriptions in honour of Hercules Saxsanus stretched from Germania Inferior and Gallia Belgica as far as Noricum and Venetia, with a special concentration in Germania Superior.

SOURCE : Wikipedia 

HERACLES ~ THE FOREFATHER OF SCYTHIANS

 Scythia was filled with Greek colonies and Herodotus has recorded a fascinating story about the origin of Scythians.  He says: "According to them, Heracles, when he was carrying off the cows of Geryon, arrived in the region which is now inhabited by the Scyths, but which was then a desert. Geryon lived outside the Pontus, in an island called by the Greeks Erytheia, near Gades, which is beyond the Pillars of Heracles upon the Ocean.

  "Heracles came from there into the region now called Scythia, and, being overtaken by storm and frost, drew his lion’s skin about him, and fell fast asleep. While he slept, his mares, which he had freed from his chariot to graze, by some wonderful chance disappeared."

 " Upon waking, he went in quest of them, and after wandering over the whole country, came at last to the district called ‘the Woodland’, where he found in a cave a strange being, between a maiden and a serpent, whose form from the waste upwards was like that of a woman, while all below was like a snake. He looked at her wonderingly; but nevertheless inquired, whether she had chanced to see his strayed mares anywhere.

  "She answered him, 'Yes', and they were now in her keeping but never would she consent to give them back, unless he took her for his mistress.

  "So Heracles, to get his mares back, agreed, but afterwards she put him off and delayed restoring the mares, since she wished to keep him with her as long as possible. He, on the other hand, was only anxious to secure them and to get away.

  "At last, when she gave them up, she said to him, ‘When thy mares strayed hither, it was I who saved them for thee: now thou has paid their salvage; for lo! I bear in my womb three sons of thine. Tell me therefore when thy sons grow up, what must I do with them? Wouldst thou wish that I should settle them here in this land, whereof I am mistress, or shall I send them to thee? Thus questioned, they say, Heracles answered, ‘When the lads have grown to manhood, do thus, and assuredly thou wilt not err. Watch them, and when thou sees one of them bend his bow as I now bend it, and gird himself with this girdle thus, choose him to remain in the land. Those who fail in this trial, send away. Thus wilt thou at once please thyself and obey me.


  "Hereupon he strung one of his bows – up to that time he had carried two – and showed her how to fasten the belt. Then he gave both bow and belt into her hands. Now the belt had a golden goblet attached to its clasp. So after he had given them to her, he went his way; and the woman, when her children grew to manhood, first gave them severally their names.

  "One she called Agathyrsus, one Gelonus, and the other, who was the youngest, Scythes. Then she remembered the instructions she had received from Heracles, and, in obedience to his orders, she put her sons to the test. Two of them, Agathyrsus and Gelonus, proving unequal to the task enjoined, their mother sent them out of the land; Scythes, the youngest, succeeded, and so he was allowed to remain.

  "From Scythes, the son of Heracles,  the kings of Scythia descend; and from the incident of the goblet which hung from the belt, the Scythians to this day wear goblets at their girdles. This was the only thing that the mother of Scythes did for him. Such is the tale told by the Greeks who dwell around the Pontus. According to the account that the Scythians themselves give, they are the youngest of all nations. Their tradition is as follows. A certain Targitaus was the first man who ever lived in their country, which before his time was a desert without inhabitants. He was a child of Zeus.

 This event may have taken place soon after the Great War (of Mahabharata). These people must have multiplied over a period of time and with many kings before entering India and founding Taxila.The entire tribe most probably may not have migrated to Taxila and a large part of it must still have continued to live in Scythia.

  These people after a time may have made second inroad into India of which Herodotus is speaking here. Those who penetrated many countries like Baktria, Sogdiana, etc. and then India must have belonged to a second wave of penetration. This process must have  continued for many years, as the Scythians reached Samarkand.
 These people settled at Taxila, Samarkand, Bokhara, Bactria, Kabul, Kandahar, Sind, and Punjab.


  Herodotus says: "It appears likewise that the Cimmerians, when they fled into Asia to escape Scyths, made a settlement in the peninsula where the Greek City of Sinope was afterwards built. The Scyths pursued them, and missing their road, poured into Media (Media is identified with Azerbaijan). For the Cimmerians kept the line which led along the sea-shore, but the Scyths in their pursuit held the Caucasus upon their right, thus proceeding inland, and falling upon Media. This accounts one that is common both to Greeks and barbarians ( Scythians).”

 Strabo mentions that Heracles travelled to the East and the West, reaching the extremities of the known world.Alexander the Great took pride in belonging to the mortal bloodline of Heracles- the Greek hero who roamed the world and His achivements made Him a God in Greece, India, and other countries. 



  



Edited from: Indian People's Congress

THE BOSPORAN KINGDOM

The Bosporan Kingdom was on the extreme north-eastern rim of the classical Greek, and later of the Hellenistic world. In the 4th century the Bosporan state comprised some 5,000 sq. km. of territory and a population of approximately 100,000-120,000 citizens and subjects. Greeks probably first sailed into the Black Sea in the second half of the 8th century BCE. The Greeks of the North Black Sea cities were subject to the demands of an acknowledged major power. Satyrus' rule over the Bosporan state lasted until 389/8 BCE, when his son, Leucon, succeeded him and ruled for forty years. After Leucon, two of his sons, Spartocus II and Paerisades I, ruled jointly for five years. After the death of Spartocus, Paerisades ruled alone for thirty-three years. During the 4th c.BCE, the Bosporan rulers were seen as barbarians; however, their status as kings was acknowledged by the new Hellenistic social context in the beginning of the 3rd c.BCE. 

After the death of Perissad I, a struggle broke out between his sons. Ancient sources describe the political connections of the Spartacides with Athens, Delphi, Delos, Miletus and Egypt. The last of the Spartacides, Perissad V, was forced to give up his throne to the ruler of the Pontian kingdom, Mithridates VI, in 108 BCE. Mithridates became a so powerful, that he posed a threat even to Rome. 
The basis of the Bosporan commerce was the export of grain.Also, Bosporus exported salted and dried fish, cattle, skins, furs and slaves to Greece. In exchange for all these goods, the states of Greece sent wine, olive oil, metal products, expensive fabrics, precious metals, and artifacts to Bosporus. Part of these imported goods was kept in Bosporan cities, whereas other parts were taken by the Bosporan traders to the mainland, in order to be purchased by the noblemen of the local tribes. 

After the accession of the Bosporus to Pontus, trade relations began to develop actively with the cities of this state, primarily with Sinopa. 

ANCIENT GREEK CITIES IN SCYTHIA

Scythia ( Greek: Σκυθική) was a region of Central Eurasia in classical antiquity, occupied by the Eastern Iranian Scythians, incorporating Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe east of the Vistula River, with the eastern edges of the region vaguely defined by the Greeks. The Ancient Greeks gave the name Scythia (or Great Scythia) to all the lands north-east of Europe and the northern coast of the Black Sea.

The Scythians inhabited Scythia from at least the 11th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.In the 7th century BCE, they controlled large swaths of territory throughout Eurasia, from the Black Sea across Siberia to the borders of China.
The founding of the Greek settlements on the Black Sea Coast dates back to the 7th and the 6th century BCE. It was a part of the  Great Greek colonization. Most of the cities in the north and west areas of Pontos were established by colonists from Miletus. Cities in this territory became essential economic and political units, playing a significant role in the area of continental Greece.

The Greek population came more often into contact with neighbouring tribes new trade centers were founded in the area. Scythians and Thracians became the main trading partners of Greeks and their neighbours in the eastern Mediterranean. The Bosporan kingdom, with the city of Pantikapaion as its center, was a substantial trade area.The commerce was focused on ceramics, food,and also slaves. Written evidence from that era include epigraphic records (records of ownership) from various Greek colonial cities, as well as accounts from ancient authors.

Triptolemos - relief