The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, were Hellenistic-era Greek kingdoms in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent covering most of modern-day Pakistan, parts of northwestern India and some eastern parts of Afghanistan.
The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various Hellenistic states, ruling from regional capitals like Taxila, Sagala, Pushkalavati, and Bagram. Other centers are only hinted at; e.g. Ptolemy's Geographia and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that Theophilus in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have had a royal seat there at one time.
The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius I of Bactria invaded India from Bactria in about 200 BC. The Greeks to the east of the Seleucid Empire were eventually divided to the Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms in the North Western Indian Subcontinent.
During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Greek and Indian ideas, as seen in the archaeological remains. The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, particularly through the influence of Greco-Buddhist art. The ethnicity of the Indo-Greek may also have been hybrid to some degree. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius, a Magnesian Greek. Euthydemus I was an Ionian-Greek from one of the Magnesias in Ionia, though it is uncertain from which one (Magnesia on the Maeander or Magnesia ad Sipylum). His son, Demetrius I, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek ethnicity at least by his father. A marriage treaty was arranged for the same Demetrius with a daughter of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III. The ethnicity of later Indo-Greek rulers is sometimes less clear. For example, Artemidoros (80 BC) was supposed to have been of Indo-Scythian descent, although he is now seen as a regular Indo-Greek king.
Menander I, being the most well known amongst the Indo-Greek kings, is often referred to simply as "Menander," despite the fact that there was indeed another Indo-Greek King known as Menander II. Menander I's capital was at Sakala in the Punjab (present-day Sialkot). Following the death of Menander, most of his empire splintered and Indo-Greek influence was considerably reduced. Many new kingdoms and republics east of the Ravi River began to mint new coinage depicting military victories. The most prominent entities to form were the Yaudheya Republic, Arjunayanas, and the Audumbaras. The Yaudheyas and Arjunayanas both are said to have won "victory by the sword". The Datta dynasty and Mitra dynasty soon followed in Mathura.
The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 AD following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer under the subsequent rule of the Indo-Parthians, the Kushans, and the Indo-Scythians, whose Western Satraps state lingered on encompassing local Greeks, up to 415 AD.
Background
Initial Greek presence in the Indian subcontinent
thumb|[[Pataliputra capital|Pataliputra Palace capital, showing Greek and Persian influence, early Mauryan Empire period, 3rd century BC.]]
Greeks first began to establish authority in the Northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Darius the Great conquered the area, but along with his successors also conquered much of the Greek world, which at the time included all of the western Anatolian peninsula. When Greek villages rebelled under the Persian yoke, they were sometimes ethnically cleansed, by relocation to the far side of the empire around today's Afghanistan. Over time they grew influential politically and rose to power establishing their own independent kingdoms and expanding their realm in all directions.
In the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great defeated and conquered the Persian empire. In 326 BC, this included the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent as far as the Hyphasis River. Alexander established satrapies and founded several cities, including Bucephala; he turned south when his troops refused to go further east. The Indian satrapies of the Punjab were left to the rule of Porus and Taxiles, who were confirmed again at the Treaty of Triparadisus in 321 BC, and the remaining Greek troops in these satrapies were left under the command of Alexander's general Eudemus. After 321 BC Eudemus toppled Taxiles, until he left India in 316 BC. To the south, another general also ruled over the Greek colonies of the Indus: Peithon, son of Agenor, until his departure for Babylon in 316 BC.
Around 322 BC, the Greeks (described as Yona or Yavana in Indian sources) may then have participated, together with other groups, in the uprising of Chandragupta Maurya against the Nanda dynasty, and gone as far as Pataliputra for the capture of the city from the Nandas. The Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, often identified with Porus, and according to these accounts, this alliance gave Chandragupta a composite and powerful army made up of Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas (Nepalese), Parasikas (Persians) and Bahlikas (Bactrians) who took Pataliputra.
In 305 BC, Seleucus I led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta. The confrontation ended with a peace treaty, and "an intermarriage agreement" (Epigamia, Greek: Ἐπιγαμία), meaning either a dynastic marriage or an agreement for intermarriage between Indians and Greeks. Accordingly, Seleucus ceded his eastern territories to Chandragupta, possibly as far as Arachosia and received 500 war elephants (which played a key role in Seleucus's victory at the Battle of Ipsus):
The details of the marriage agreement are not known, but since the extensive sources available on Seleucus never mention an Indian princess, it is thought that the marital alliance went the other way, with Chandragupta himself or his son Bindusara marrying a Seleucid princess, in accordance with contemporary Greek practices to form dynastic alliances. An Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, described the marriage of Chandragupta with a Greek ("Yavana") princess, daughter of Seleucus, before accurately detailing early Mauryan genealogy: