View source for Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley

{{Short description|Ancient Persian conquest in the Indian subcontinent}}
{{POV|date=November 2018|talk=Hindush dispute}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley
| partof            = 
| image             = India 500 BCE.jpg
| image_size        = 200px
| caption           = Map of [[History of India|ancient India]], {{circa|500 BCE}}, with the Persian frontier delineated along the [[Indus River]] and the [[Jhelum River]]{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}<ref name="Philip's Atlas of World History">[http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/101/wk05/images/NEWachaemexp.jpg Philip's Atlas of World History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017082134/http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/101/wk05/images/NEWachaemexp.jpg |date=2018-10-17}} (1999)</ref><ref name="Atlas of World History">{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick Karl |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195219210 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=15|isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=052}}</ref>
| date              = {{circa|535/518 BCE – 323 BCE}}{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}
| result            = Persian victory
| place             = [[Indus River#Geography|Indus Valley]]
| casus             = 
| combatant1        = [[Achaemenid Empire]]
| combatant2        = [[Gandhāra (kingdom)|Gandhara]]<br/>[[Sindhu-Sauvīra]]<br />[[Kambojas]]
| territory         = Annexation of the Indus Valley by the Persians
| strength1         = Unknown
| strength2         = Unknown
| casualties1       = Unknown
| casualties2       = Unknown
| commander1        = [[Cyrus the Great]]<br />[[Darius the Great]]
| commander2        = [[Pushkarasarin]]
}}
 
[[File:Chaman Hazouri coin type.jpg|thumb|Achaemenid coin, an imitation of an [[Athenian]] coin type, of the sort found in the [[Kabul hoard]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Trust |first2=Ancient India and Iran |last3=Museum |first3=Fitzwilliam |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=9780951839911 |pages=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>]]
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great]] initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of northwestern [[Indian subcontinent]] into his nascent [[Achaemenid Empire]].{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} In this initial incursion, the Persian army annexed a large region to the west of the [[Indus River]], consolidating the early eastern borders of their new realm. With a brief pause after Cyrus' death around 530 BCE, the campaign continued under [[Darius the Great]], who began to re-conquer former provinces and further expand the Achaemenid Empire's political boundaries. Around 518 BCE, the Persian army pushed further into India to initiate a second period of conquest by annexing regions up to the [[Jhelum River]] in what is today known as [[Punjab]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=André-Salvini |first=Béatrice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24731-4 |language=en}}</ref> At peak, the Persians managed to take control of most of modern-day [[Pakistan]] and incorporate it into their territory.

The first secure epigraphic evidence through the [[Behistun Inscription]] gives a date before or around 518 BCE. Persian penetration into the Indian subcontinent occurred in multiple stages, beginning from the northern parts of the Indus River and moving southward.<ref>(Fussman, 1993, p. 84).{{full citation needed|date=October 2018}} "This is inferred from the fact that Gandhara (OPers. Gandāra) is already mentioned at [[Behistun Inscription|Bisotun]], while the toponym Hinduš ([[History of Sindh|Sindhu]]) is added only in later inscriptions."</ref> As mentioned in several Achaemenid-era inscriptions, the Indus Valley was formally incorporated into the Persian realm through provincial divisions: [[Gandāra]], [[Hindush]], and [[Sattagydia]].

Persian rule over the Indus Valley decreased over successive rulers and formally ended with the [[Alexander the Great#Conquest of the Achaemenid Persian Empire|Greek conquest of Persia]], led by [[Alexander the Great]]. This brief period gave rise to independent Indian kings, such as [[Abisares]], [[Porus]], and [[Taxiles|Ambhi]], as well as numerous {{Transliteration|sa|[[gaṇasaṅgha]]s}}, which would later confront the [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonian army]] as it massed into the region for [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|Alexander's Indian campaign]].{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} The Achaemenid Empire set a precedence of governance through the use of [[satrap]]ies,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Briant |first=Pierre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDULEAAAQBAJ |title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire |date=2002-07-21 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-1-57506-574-8 |language=en}}</ref> which was further implemented by Alexander's [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian Empire]], the [[Indo-Scythians]], and the [[Kushan Empire]].

==Background and invasion==
[[File:Bhir_Mound,_excavation_(2).jpg|thumb|Ruins at [[Bhir Mound]] representing the city of [[Taxila]] during the Achaemenid period]]
For millennia, the northwestern part of India had maintained some level of [[Indus-Mesopotamia relations|trade relations with the Near East]]. Finally, the [[Achaemenid Empire]] underwent a considerable expansion, both east and west, during the reign of [[Cyrus the Great]] (c.600–530 BC), leading the dynasty to take a direct interest into the region of northwestern India.{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}

===Cyrus the Great===
The conquest is often thought to have started circa 535 BCE, during the time of [[Cyrus the Great]] (600-530 BCE).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kerr |first1=Gordon |title=A Short History of India: From the Earliest Civilisations to Today's Economic Powerhouse |date=2017 |publisher=Oldcastle Books |isbn=9781843449232 |page=PT16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07HGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Thapar |first1=Romila |title=A History of India |date=1990 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=9780141949765 |page=422 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Y02AiEu1kcC&pg=PT422 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} Cyrus probably went as far as the banks of the [[Indus river]] and organized the conquered territories under the Satrapy of ''Gandara'' ([[Old Persian]] cuneiform: [[:Wikt:𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼|𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼]], ''Gadāra'', also transliterated as ''Ga<sup>n</sup>dāra'' since the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified as ''Gandara'')<ref name="Old Persian">Some sounds are omitted in the writing of Old Persian, and are shown with a raised letter.[https://archive.org/stream/OldPersian#page/n177/mode/2up/ Old Persian p.164][https://archive.org/stream/OldPersian#page/n23/mode/2up/ Old Persian p.13]. In particular Old Persian nasals such as "n" were omitted in writing before consonants [https://archive.org/stream/OldPersian#page/n27/mode/2up/ Old Persian p.17][https://archive.org/stream/OldPersian#page/n35/mode/2up/ Old Persian p.25]</ref> according to the [[Behistun Inscription]].<ref name="PC2004"/> The Province was also referred to as ''[[Paruparaesanna]]'' (Greek: Parapamisadae) in the [[Babylonian language|Babylonian]] and [[Elamite language|Elamite]] versions of the Behistun inscription.<ref name="PC2004">Perfrancesco Callieri, [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/india-ii-historical-geography INDIA ii. Historical Geography], Encyclopaedia Iranica, 15 December 2004.</ref> The geographical extent of this province was wider than the Indian [[Gandhara]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan|1975|p=177}}: "One should, therefore, be careful to distinguish the limited geographical unit of Gandhāra from the political one bearing the same name."</ref> Various accounts, such as those of [[Xenophon]] or [[Ctesias]], who wrote ''[[Indica (Ctesias)|Indica]]'', also suggest that Cyrus conquered parts of India.<ref name="Tauqeer Ahmad">Tauqeer Ahmad, University of the Punjab, Lahore, South Asian Studies, A Research Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, January–June 2012, pp. 221-232 [http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/csas/PDF/14.%20Touqeer%20Warraich_January-June%202012.pdf p.222]</ref>{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} Another Indian Province was conquered named [[Sattagydia]] ([[:Wikt:𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁]], ''Thataguš'') in the Behistun inscription. It was probably contiguous to Gandhara, but its actual location is uncertain. Fleming locates it between [[Arachosia]] and the middle [[Indus]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=FLEMING |first1=DAVID |title=Where was Achaemenid India? |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |volume=7 |pages=67–72 |date=1993 |jstor=24048427 }}</ref> Fleming also mentions [[Maka (satrapy)|Maka]], in the area of [[Gedrosia (satrapy)|Gedrosia]], as one of the Indian satrapies.<ref name="Where was Achaemenid India">{{cite journal |last1=FLEMING |first1=DAVID |title=Where was Achaemenid India? |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |volume=7 |date=1993 |page=70 |jstor=24048427 }}</ref>

===Darius I===
A successor of Cyrus the Great, [[Darius I]] was back in 518 BCE. The date of 518 BCE is given by the [[Behistun inscription]], and is also often the one given for the secure occupation of [[Gandhara]] in Punjab.<ref>Marshall, John (1975) [1951]. Taxila: Volume I. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 83.</ref> Darius I later conquered an additional province that he calls ''"Hidūš"'' in [[DNa inscription|his inscriptions]] ([[Old Persian cuneiform]]: [[:Wikt:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁|𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁]], ''H-i-du-u-š'', also transliterated as ''Hi<sup>n</sup>dūš'' since the nasal "n" before consonants was omitted in the Old Persian script, and simplified as ''Hindush''), corresponding to the [[Indus Valley]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Waters |first1=Matt |title=Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107009608 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjhEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Old Persian"/><ref name="DNa - Livius">{{cite book |title=DNa - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dna/ |language=en}}</ref> The Hamadan Gold and Silver Tablet inscription<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dh/ Hamadan Gold and Silver Tablet inscription]</ref> of Darius I also refers to his conquests in India.{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}

[[File:Tomb of Darius I Image of Darius I.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Darius I on [[Tomb of Darius I|his tomb]]]]
The exact area of the Province of ''Hindush'' is uncertain. Some scholars have described it as the middle and lower [[Indus Valley]] and the approximate region of modern [[Sindh]],<ref>{{harvnb|Dandamaev, A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire|1989|p=147}}; {{harvnb|Neelis, Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks|2010|pp=96–97}}; {{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sailendra Nath |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |date=1999 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=9788122411980 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA117 |language=en}}</ref> but there is no known evidence of Achaemenid presence in this region, and deposits of gold, which [[Herodotus]] says was produced in vast quantities by this Province, are also unknown in the Indus delta region.<ref name="CAH">"The region was soon to appear as Hi<sup>n</sup>dūš in the Old Persian inscriptions... Transparent though the name appears at first sight, its location is not without problems. Foucher, Kent and many subsequent writers have identified Hi<sup>n</sup>dūš with its etymological equivalent, Sind, thereby placing it on the lower Indus towards the delta. However, (...) no material evidence of Achaemenid activity in this region is so far available. (...) There seems no evidence at present of gold production in the Indus delta, so this detail seems to weight against the location of the Hi<sup>n</sup>dūš province in Sind. (...) The alternative location to Sind for an Achaemenid province of Hi<sup>n</sup>dūš is naturally at Taxila and in the West Punjab, where there are indications that a Persian satrapy may have existed, though no clear evidence of its name." in {{cite book |title=Cambridge Ancient History |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521228046 |pages=203–204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNDpPqeDjo0C&pg=PA203 |language=en}}</ref> Alternatively, ''Hindush'' may have been the region of [[Taxila]] and Western [[Punjab]], where there are indications that a Persian satrapy may have existed.<ref name="CAH"/> There are few remains of Achaemenid presence in the east, but, according to Fleming, the archaeological site of [[Bhir Mound]] in [[Taxila]] remains the "most plausible candidate for the capital of Achaemenid India", based on the fact that numerous pottery styles similar to those of the Achaemenids in the East have been found there, and that "there are no other sites in the region with Bhir Mound's potential".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=FLEMING |first1=DAVID |title=Where was Achaemenid India? |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |volume=7 |date=1993 |page=69 |jstor=24048427 }}</ref>

According to Herodotus, Darius I sent the Greek explorer [[Scylax of Caryanda]] to sail down the [[Indus River]], heading a team of spies, in order to explore the course of the Indus River. After a periplus of 30 months, Scylax is said to have returned to Egypt near the Red Sea, and the seas between the Near East and India were made use of by Darius.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Grant |title=The Making of Roman India |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521858342 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahMXbSFxGhUC&pg=PA15 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=144–145}}

Also according to Herodotus, the territories of Gandhara, Sattagydia, Dadicae and Aparytae formed the 7th province of the Achaemenid Empire for tax-payment purposes, while ''Indus'' (called ''Ἰνδός'', "Indos" in Greek sources) formed the 20th tax region.

===Achaemenid army===
{{see also|Achaemenid army}}
[[File:Yavanas Sakas Parasikas on the Tomb of Xerxes I circa 480 BCE.jpg|thumb|Greek Ionian (''[[Yavanas]]''), [[Scythian]] (''[[Sakas]]'') and [[Persian Empire|Persian]] (''Parasikas'') soldiers of the Achaemenid army, as described on Achaemenid royal tombs from c. 500 to 338 BCE]]
Throughout its existence, the Achaemenid were constantly engaging in wars. Either through conquering new territories or by quelling rebellions throughout the empire. To fulfil this need, the Achaemenid Empire had to maintain a professional standing army which levied and employed personnel from all of its satraps and territories.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Samad|first=Rafi U.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNUwBYGYgxsC&pg=PA36|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|date=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-859-2|language=en}}</ref>

The Achaemenid army was not uniquely Persian. Rather it was composed of many different ethnicities that were part of the vast and diverse Achaemenid Empire. Herodotus gives a full list of the ethnicities of the Achaemenid army, in which are included [[Bactrians]], [[Sakas]] ([[Scythians]]), [[Parthia]]ns, [[Sogdians]],<ref name="Beckwith p.5">
{{cite book|last1=Beckwith|first1=Christopher I.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlCUBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia|date=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400866328|page=5|language=en}}
</ref> [[Yona|Ionians]] (Greeks), [[Egyptians]], [[People of Ethiopia|Ethiopia]]ns, etc.<ref>
Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B*.html VII 65]</ref><ref name="Beckwith p.5" /> These ethnicities are likely to have been included in the Achaemenid army during the invasions of India.<ref name="Beckwith p.5" />

==Inscriptions and accounts==
{{multiple image
| title=Indian satrapies<br>on the [[:Commons:Category:Statue of Darius I|Statue of Darius I]]
| align    = right
| caption_align = center
| image1   = Darius I statue India.jpg
| width1   = 80
| caption1 = '''<big><big>𓉔𓈖𓂧𓍯𓇌</big></big>'''<br><small>''h-n-d-[[Aleph|wꜣ]]-y''</small><br>''[[Hindush]]'' ("[[India (Herodotus)|India]]")<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/>
| image2   = Darius I statue Sattagydia.jpg
| width2   = 61
| caption2 = '''<big><big>𓐠𓂧𓎼𓍯𓍒</big></big>'''<br><small>''sꜣ-d-g-wꜣ-ḏꜣ''</small><br>[[Sattagydia]]
| image3   = Darius I statue Gandhara.jpg
| width3   = 63
| caption3 = '''<big><big>𓉔𓃭𓐍𓂧𓇌</big></big>'''<br><small>''h-rw-ḫ-d-y''</small><br>[[Gandara (Achaemenid province)|Gandara]]
}}
These events were recorded in the imperial inscriptions of the Achaemenids (the Behistun inscription and the Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription, as well as the accounts of [[Herodotus]] (483–431 BCE). The Greek Scylax of Caryanda, who had been appointed by Darius I to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez left an account, the ''Periplous'', of which fragments from secondary sources have survived. [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] (circa 500 BCE) also wrote about the "Indus Satrapies" of the Achaemenids.

===Behistun inscription===
The 'DB' Behistun inscription<ref>{{cite book |title=Behistun T 02 - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/behistun-persian-text/behistun-t-02/ |language=en}}</ref> of [[Darius I]] (circa 510 BCE) mentions Gandara ([[:Wikt:𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼|𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼]], ''Gadāra'') and the adjacent territory of [[Sattagydia]] ([[:Wikt:𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁]], ''Thataguš'') as part of the Achaemenid Empire:

{{blockquote|King [[Darius I of Persia|Darius]] says: These are the countries which are subject unto me, and by the grace of [[Ahuramazda]] I became king of them: [[Persis|Persia]] [Pârsa], [[Elam]] [Ûvja], [[Babylon]]ia [Bâbiruš], [[Assyria]] [Athurâ], [[Arabia]] [Arabâya], [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] [Mudrâya], the countries by the Sea, [[Lydia]] [Sparda], [[Ionia|the Greeks]] [Yauna ([[Ionia]])], [[Medes|Media]] [Mâda], [[History of Armenia|Armenia]] [Armina], [[Cappadocia]] [Katpatuka], [[Parthia]] [Parthava], [[Drangiana]] [Zraka], [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]] [Haraiva], [[Chorasmia]] [Uvârazmîy], [[Bactria]] [Bâxtriš], [[Sogdia]] [Suguda], [[Gandara (Achaemenid province)|Gandara]] [Gadāra], [[Skudra|Scythia]] [Saka], [[Sattagydia]] [Thataguš], [[Arachosia]] [Harauvatiš] and [[Maka (satrapy)|Maka]] [Maka]; twenty-three lands in all.|[[Behistun Inscription]] of [[Darius I]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=L. W. (Leonard William) |last2=Thompson |first2=R. Campbell (Reginald Campbell) |title=The sculptures and inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia : a new collation of the Persian, Susian and Babylonian texts |date=1907 |publisher=London : Longmans |page=[https://archive.org/details/sculpturesinscri00brituoft/page/3 3] |url=https://archive.org/details/sculpturesinscri00brituoft}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sagar |first1=Krishna Chandra |title=Foreign Influence on Ancient India |date=1992 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=9788172110284 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC&pg=PA21 |language=en}}</ref>}}

From the dating of the Behistun inscription, it is possible to infer that the Achaemenids first conquered the areas of Gandara and Sattagydia circa 518 BCE.

===Statue of Darius inscriptions===
Hinduš is also mentioned as one of 24 subject countries of the Achaemenid Empire, illustrated with the drawing of a kneeling subject and a [[hieroglyphic]] cartridge reading <big>'''[[:File:Darius I statue India.jpg|𓉔𓈖𓂧𓍯𓇌]]'''</big> (''h-n-d-[[Aleph|wꜣ]]-y''), on the Egyptian [[:Commons:Category:Statue of Darius I|Statue of Darius I]], now in the [[National Museum of Iran]]. Sattagydia also appears (<big>'''[[:File:Darius I statue Sattagydia.jpg|𓐠𓂧𓎼𓍯𓍒]]'''</big>, ''sꜣ-d-g-[[Aleph|wꜣ]]-ḏꜣ'', Sattagydia), and probably Gandara (<big>'''[[:File:Darius I statue Gandhara.jpg|𓉔𓃭𓐍𓂧𓇌]]'''</big>, ''h-rw-ḫ-d-y'', although this could be [[Arachosia]]), with their own illustrations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Susa, Statue of Darius - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/place/susa/susa-photos/susa-statue-of-darius/ |website=www.livius.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/>

===Apadana Palace foundation tablets===
[[File:Deposition plate of Darius I in Persepolis with the word Hidauv.jpg|thumb|Gold foundation plate of Darius I in the [[Apadana Palace]] in [[Persepolis]] with the word ''Hidauv'', [[locative]] of "[[Hindush|Hiduš]]"<ref>Also described [https://magazine.harvardartmuseums.org/article/persepolis-from-a-photographer-s-perspective here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701150039/https://magazine.harvardartmuseums.org/article/persepolis-from-a-photographer-s-perspective |date=2019-07-01 }}</ref>]]
Four identical foundation tablets of gold and silver, found in two deposition boxes in the foundations of the [[Apadana Palace]], also contained an inscription by Darius I in [[Old Persian cuneiform]], which describes the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms, from the [[Indus valley]] in the east to [[Lydia]] in the west, and from the [[Scythians]] beyond [[Sogdia]] in the north, to the African [[Kingdom of Kush]] in the south. This is known as the DPh inscription.<ref name="ACH">{{cite journal |last1=Zournatzi |first1=Antigoni |title=The Apadana Coin Hoards, Darius I, and the West |journal=American Journal of Numismatics |volume=15 |date=2003 |pages=1–28 |jstor=43580364 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Persepolis : discovery and afterlife of a world wonder |date=2012 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/persepolis_discovery_and_afterlife_of_a_world_wonder/page/n195 171]–181 |url=https://archive.org/details/persepolis_discovery_and_afterlife_of_a_world_wonder |language=en}}</ref> The deposition of these foundation tablets and the [[Apadana hoard|Apadana coin hoard]] found under them, is dated to circa 515 BCE.<ref name="ACH"/>

{{Blockquote|Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the [[Scythians|Sacae]] who are beyond [[Sogdia]] to [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]], and from [[History of Sindh|Sind]] ([[Old Persian]]: [[Wikt:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁|𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺]], "Hidauv", [[locative]] of "[[Hindush|Hiduš]]", i.e. "[[Indus valley]]") to [[Lydia]] ([[Old Persian]]: "Spardâ") - [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!|DPh inscription of Darius I in the foundations of the Apadana Palace<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dph/? DPh inscription], also [https://magazine.harvardartmuseums.org/article/persepolis-from-a-photographer-s-perspective Photographs of one of the gold plaques] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701150039/https://magazine.harvardartmuseums.org/article/persepolis-from-a-photographer-s-perspective |date=2019-07-01 }}</ref>}}

===Naqsh-e Rustam inscription===
[[File:Tomb of Darius I DNa inscription with mentions of the territories of Tathagus, Gadara and Hidush.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] [[DNa inscription]], on the [[tomb of Darius I]], mentioning all three Indian territories: [[Sattagydia]] ([[:Wikt:𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎰𐎫𐎦𐎢𐏁]], ''Thataguš''), [[Gandara (Achaemenid province)|Gandara]] ([[:Wikt:𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼|𐎥𐎭𐎠𐎼]], ''Gadāra'')  and India ([[:Wikt:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁|𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁]], ''Hidūš'') as part of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dna/? Livius DNa inscription]</ref>]]
The DSe inscription<ref name="Livius DSe"/> and DSm inscription<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dsm/ DSm inscription]</ref> of Darius in Susa gives ''Thataguš'' (Sattagydia), ''Gadāra'' (Gandara) and ''Hiduš'' (Sind) among the nations that he rules.<ref name="Livius DSe">{{cite book |title=DSe - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dse/ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/>

''Hidūš'' ([[:Wikt:𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁|𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁]] in [[Old Persian cuneiform]]) also appears later as a Satrapy in the Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription at the end of the reign of Darius, who died in 486 BCE.<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/> The [[DNa inscription]]<ref name="DNa - Livius"/> on Darius' tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam near [[Persepolis]] records ''Gadāra'' (Gandāra) along with ''Hiduš'' and ''Thataguš'' ([[Sattagydia]]) in the list of satrapies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sagar |first1=Krishna Chandra |title=Foreign Influence on Ancient India |date=1992 |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=9788172110284 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UA4rkm9MgkC&pg=PA20 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|King Darius says: By the favor of Ahuramazda these are the countries which I seized outside of Persia; I ruled over them; they bore tribute to me; they did what was said to them by me; they held my law firmly; [[Media (region)|Media]], [[Elam]], [[Parthia]], [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]], [[Bactria]], [[Sogdia]], [[Chorasmia]], [[Drangiana]], [[Arachosia]], [[Sattagydia]], [[Gandara (Achaemenid province)|Gandara]] (''Gadāra''), [[History of Sindh|India]] (''Hiduš''), the [[haoma]]-drinking [[Scythians]], the Scythians with pointed caps, [[Babylonia]], [[Assyria]], [[Arabia]], [[Egypt]], [[Armenia]], [[Cappadocia]], [[Lydia]], the Greeks ([[Yavana|Yauna]]), the Scythians across the sea ([[Saka|Sakâ]]), [[Thrace]], the [[petasos]]-wearing Greeks [Yaunâ], the [[Libyans]], the [[Nubians]], the men of [[Maka (satrapy)|Maka]] and the [[Carians]].|[[Naqsh-e Rustam]] inscription of [[Darius I]] (circa 490 BCE)<ref name="livius.org">{{cite web |title=DNa - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dna/? |website=www.livius.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Alcock |first1=Susan E. |last2=Alcock |first2=John H. D'Arms Collegiate Professor of Classical Archaeology and Classics and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Susan E. |last3=D'Altroy |first3=Terence N. |last4=Morrison |first4=Kathleen D. |last5=Sinopoli |first5=Carla M. |title=Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521770200 |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MBuPx1rdGYIC&pg=PA105 |language=en}}</ref>}}

===Strabo===
The extent of Achaemenid territories is also affirmed by [[Strabo]] in his "Geography" (Book XV), describing the Persian holdings along the Indus:<ref name="PB756">{{cite book |last1=Briant |first1=Pierre |title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-1-57506-120-7 |page=756 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxQ9W6F1oSYC&pg=PA756 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The geographical position of the tribes is as follows: along the Indus are the [[Paropamisadae]], above whom lies the [[Hindu Kush|Paropamisus mountain]]: then, towards the south, the [[Arachosia|Arachoti]]: then next, towards the south, the [[Gedrosia|Gedroseni]], with the other tribes that occupy the seaboard; and the Indus lies, latitudinally, alongside all these places; and of these places, in part, some that lie along the Indus are held by Indians, although they formerly belonged to the Persians.|The Geography of Strabo, Book XV, Chapter 2, 9.<ref name="PB756"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Strabo Geography, Book XV, Chapter 2, 9|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/15B*.html |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>}}

==Achaemenid administration==
[[File:Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|Eastern territories of the Achaemenid Empire<ref name="Philip's Atlas of World History" /><ref name="Atlas of World History">{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick Karl |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195219210 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="The Times Atlas of World History">{{cite book |last1=Barraclough |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Times Atlas of World History |date=1989 |publisher=Times Books |isbn=9780723009061 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IYYAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:Persepolis Tomb of Artaxerxes II Mnemon (r.404-358 BCE) Upper Relief soldiers with labels.jpg|thumb|The names of the three [[Ancient India]]n provinces still appear in trilingual cuneiform labels above their respective figures on the tomb of [[Artaxerxes II]] (c.358 BCE).<ref name="Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire 1948 291–292">{{harvnb|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=291–292}}: "The Gandarians thus make their last appearance as Persian tribute paying subjects in the lists of Artaxerxes, though the land continued to be known under the name of Gandhara down to classic Indian times."</ref><ref name="Inscription A2Pa of Artaxerxes II">[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/a2pa/? Inscription A2Pa of Artaxerxes II]</ref><ref name="PL271"/>]]
The nature of the administration under the Achaemenids is uncertain. Even though the Indian provinces are called "satrapies" by convention, there is no evidence of there being any satraps in these provinces. When [[Wars of Alexander the Great|Alexander invaded the region]], he did not encounter Achaemenid satraps in the Indian provinces, but local Indian rulers referred to as ''hyparchs'' ("Vice-Regents"), a term that connotes subordination to the Achaemenid rulers.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}} The local rulers may have reported to the satraps of Bactria and Arachosia.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}

===Achaemenid lists of provinces===
Darius I listed three Indian provinces:  ''[[Sattagydia]]'' (''Thataguš)'', ''[[Gandāra]]'' (Gandhara) and ''[[Hindush|Hidūš]]'' (Sind),<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/> in which "Sind" should be understood as "[[Indus Valley]]".<ref name="FT159">{{cite journal |last1=Tola |first1=Fernando |title=India and Greece before Alexander |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=67 |issue=1/4 |pages=159–194 |date=1986 |language=en|jstor=41693244 }}</ref>

Gandhara included the entire Peshawar Valley which was bound by the [[Swat District]] in the north, Afghanistan in the West, the Indus River to the south east, and [[Kohat Division|Kohat District]] in the south.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Samad|first=Rafi U.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNUwBYGYgxsC&pg=PA32|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|date=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-859-2|language=en}}</ref> The capital of the Gandhara satrapy was [[Pushkalavati]]. Archeological excavations of Pushkalavati were conducted by [[Mortimer Wheeler]] in 1962 who discovered structures built during the Achaemenid period as well as artifacts.<ref name=":0" />

The Achaemenid Satrapy of Hindush incorporated the Greater Punjab region in the Indus Valley. It was bound by the [[Hazara region]] to the north, the Indus River to the west, and the Jhelum River in the south and east. The satrapy's capital was [[Bhir Mound]] in [[Takshashila]] (Taxila).<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Samad|first=Rafi U.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNUwBYGYgxsC&pg=PA33|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|date=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-859-2|language=en}}</ref> Bhir Mound was excavated by [[John Marshall (archaeologist)|John Marshall]] between 1913 and 1934. Fortified structures and canals were found dating to the Achaemenid period, as well as ornamental jewelry.<ref name=":1" />

The three regions remained represented among Achaemenid Provinces on all the tombs of the Achaemenid rulers after [[Darius I|Darius]], except for the last ruler [[Darius III]] who was vanquished by Alexander at Gaugamela, suggesting that the Indians were under Achaemenid dominion at least until 338 BCE, date of the end of the reign of [[Artaxerxes III]], before the accession of Darius III, that is, less than 10 years before the campaigns of Alexander in the East and his victory at [[Gaugamela]].{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}} The last known appearance of Gandhara in name as an Achaemenid province is [[:File:Artaxerxes_II_tomb_ethnicities.jpg|on the list]] of the tomb of [[Artaxerxes II]], circa 358 BCE, date of his burial.<ref name="Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire 1948 291–292" /><ref name="Inscription A2Pa of Artaxerxes II" /><ref name="PL271">{{cite book |last1=Lecoq |first1=Pierre |title=Les inscriptions de la perse achemenide (1997) |pages=271–272 |url=https://archive.org/details/LesInscriptionsDeLaPerseAchemenide1997/page/n141 |language=fr}}</ref>

===List of Herodotus===
Herodotus (III-91 and III-94), gives a list with a slightly different structure, as some province which are presented separately in the Achaemenid inscriptions are grouped together by Herodotus when he described the tribute paid by each territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=291–292}}</ref><ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html Herodotus III 91], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html Herodotus III 94]</ref>{{sfn|Mitchiner, The Ancient & Classical World|1978|p=44}} Herodotus presents ''Indos'' ([[:Wikt:Ἰνδός|Ἰνδός]]) as "the 20th province", while "the Sattagydae, Gandarii, [[Dadicae]], and [[Aparytae]]" together form "the 7th Province".{{sfn|Mitchiner, The Ancient & Classical World|1978|p=44}} According to historian A.&nbsp;T.&nbsp;Olmstead, the fact that some Achaemenid regions are grouped together in this list may have represented some loss of territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=291–292}}: "...the official tribute list incorporated by Herodotus shows decided administrative change. As under Cyrus, there were again twenty satrapies, but the larger number of Darius had been reduced by the union of some hitherto separate. This process, already to be detected in the army list of Xerxes, but accelerated in the tribute list of Artaxerxes, again suggests actual loss of territory. ''(25 lines later)''.... Two satrapies are united in the case of the Sattagydians, Gandarians, Dadicae, and Aparytae, whose tribute was 170 talents."</ref>

The ''Hindūš'' province, remained loyal till Alexander's invasion.{{sfn|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=291–292}} Circa 400 BC, [[Ctesias of Cnidus]] related that the Persian king was receiving numerous gifts from the kings of "India" (''Hindūš'').<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations">{{cite web |title=INDIA RELATIONS: ACHAEMENID PERIOD – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/india-iii-relations-achaemenid-period |website=www.iranicaonline.org |language=en}}</ref>{{efn|Ctesias: "The Indians also include this substance among their most precious gifts for the Persian king who receives it as a prize revered above all others."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Complete Fragments of Ctesias of Cnidus |pages=120–121 |url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022521/00001 |language=en}}</ref>}} Ctesias also reported Indian elephants and Indian [[mahouts]] making demonstrations of the elephant's strength at the Achaemenid court.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Complete Fragments of Ctesias of Cnidus |page=Page 116 Fragment F45bα) and Page 219 Note F45bα) |url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022521/00001 |language=en}}</ref>

By about 380 BC, the Persian hold on the region was weakening, but the area continued to be a part of the Achaemenid Empire until [[Alexander's invasion of India|Alexander's invasion]].<ref>The hypothesis that the region had already become independent by the end of the reign of Darius I or during the reign of [[Artaxerxes II of Persia|Artaxerxes II]] (Chattopadhyaya, 1974, pp. 25-26) appears to be contradicted by Ctesias's reference to gifts received from the kings of India and by the fact that even Darius III still had some Indian units in his army (Briant, 1996, pp. 699, 774). At the time of the arrival of the [[Alexander the Great|Alexander's]] Macedonian army in the Indus Valley, there is no mention of officers of the Persian kings in India; but this does not mean (Dittmann, 1984, p. 185) that the Achaemenids had no power there. Other data indicate that they still exercised control over the area, although in ways that differed from those of Darius I's time (Briant, 1996, pp. 776-78).</ref>

[[Darius III]] (c. 380 – July 330 BC) still had Indian units in his army, albeit very few in comparison to his predecessors.<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/> In particular he had 15 [[war elephants]] at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]] for his fight against [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Kistler"/>
<gallery>
File:Tomb of Darius I Soldiers of the Empire with labels Indians.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Darius I]] (c. 500 BCE)
File:Indian warriors (Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush) circa 480 BCE in the Naqsh-e Roastam reliefs of Xerxes I.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Xerxes I]] (c. 480 BCE)
File:Tomb of Artaxerxes I ethnicities Indians.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Artaxerxes I]] (c. 430 BCE)
File:Tomb of Darius II Indians.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Darius II]] (c. 410 BCE)
File:Persepolis Tomb of Artaxerxes II Mnemon (r.404-358 BCE) Upper Relief Indian soldiers with labels.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Artaxerxes II]] (c. 370 BCE)
File:Artaxerxes III Indian soldiers.jpg|Indian soldiers on the tomb of [[Artaxerxes III]] (c. 340 BCE)
</gallery>

==Indian tributes==
===Apadana Palace===
[[File:Apadana Palace Indians.jpg|thumb|left|upright=2|Hindush Tribute Bearers on the Apadana Staircase 8, c. 500 BCE]]
[[File:Indian gold tribute donor Apadana.jpg|thumb|upright|A small but heavy load: Indian tribute bearer at Apadana, probably carrying gold dust.<ref name="CDA"/> 1 liter of gold weighs 19.3kg.]]
The reliefs at the [[Apadana Palace]] in [[Persepolis]] describe tribute bearers from 23 satrapies visiting the Achaemenid court. These are located at the southern end of the Apadana Staircase. Among the foreigners the Arabs, the Thracians, the Bactrians, the Indians (from the Indus valley area), the Parthians, the Cappadocians, the Elamites or the Medians. The Indians from the Indus valley are bare-chested, except for their leader, and barefooted and wear the [[dhoti]]. They bring baskets with vases inside, carry axes, and drive along a donkey.<ref>{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520247314 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA49 |language=en}}</ref> One man in the Indian procession carries a small but visibly heavy load of four jars on a [[yoke]], suggesting that he was carrying some of the gold dust paid by the Indians as tribute to the Achaemenid court.<ref name="CDA">"Furthermore the second member of Delegation XVIII is carrying four small but evidently heavy jars on a yoke, probably containing the gold dust which was the tribute paid by the Indians." in {{cite book |last1=Iran |first1=Délégation archéologique française en |title=Cahiers de la Délégation archéologique française en Iran |date=1972 |publisher=Institut français de recherches en Iran (section archéologique) |pages=146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itIRAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

According to the Naqsh-e Rustam inscription of [[Darius I]] (circa 490 BCE), there were three Achaemenid Satrapies in the subcontinent: Sattagydia, Gandara, Hidūš.<ref name="livius.org">{{cite web |title=DNa - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dna/? |website=www.livius.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Bosworth>{{cite book |last1=Bosworth |first1=A. B. |title=Alexander and the East : The Tragedy of Triumph: The Tragedy of Triumph |date=1996 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9780191589454 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alexandereasttra00bosw_0/page/154 154] |url=https://archive.org/details/alexandereasttra00bosw_0 |url-access=registration |language=en}}</ref>

{{clear left}}

===Tribute payments===
{{see also|Districts of the Achaemenid Empire}}
[[File:Tribute in the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Districts of the Achaemenid Empire|Volume of annual tribute per district]], in the Achaemenid Empire, according to [[Herodotus]]<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95">Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html Book III, 89-95]</ref><ref name=ZA>{{cite book |last1=Archibald |first1=Zosia |last2=Davies |first2=John K. |last3=Gabrielsen |first3=Vincent |title=The Economies of Hellenistic Societies, Third to First Centuries BC |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199587926 |page=404 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9YUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA404 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/>]]
The conquered area was the most fertile and populous region of the Achaemenid Empire. An amount of tribute was fixed according to the richness of each territory.{{sfn|Archibald, Davies & Gabrielsen, The Economies of Hellenistic Societies|2011|p=404}}<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95"/> India was already fabled for its gold.

[[Herodotus]] (who makes [[India (Herodotus)|several comments on India]]) published [[Districts of the Achaemenid Empire|a list of tribute-paying nations]], classifying them in 20 Provinces.<ref>Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html#ref6 III, 89]</ref>{{sfn|Mitchiner, The Ancient & Classical World|1978|p=44}} The Province of ''Indos'' ([[:Wikt:Ἰνδός|Ἰνδός]], the [[Indus valley]]) formed the 20th Province, and was the richest and most populous of the Achaemenid Provinces.

{{blockquote|The Indians ( Ἰνδῶν) made up the twentieth province. These are more in number than any nation known to me, and they paid a greater tribute than any other province, namely three hundred and sixty talents of gold dust.|[[Herodotus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html III 94].{{sfn|Mitchiner, The Ancient & Classical World|1978|p=44}}}}

According to Herodotus, the "Indians" ('Ινδοι, ''Indoi'')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=*%29indoi%2F&la=greek&can=*%29indoi%2F0&prior=oi( 'Ινδοι], Greek Word Study Tool, Tufts University</ref>), as separate from the Gandarei and the Sattagydians, formed the 20th taxation Province, and were required to supply gold dust in tribute to the Achaemenid central government for an amount of 360 Euboean [[Talent (measurement)|talents]] (equivalent to about 8300&nbsp;kg or 8.3 tons of gold annually, a volume of gold that would fit in a cube of side 75&nbsp;cm).{{sfn|Archibald, Davies & Gabrielsen, The Economies of Hellenistic Societies|2011|p=404}}<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95"/> The exchange rate between gold and silver at the time of Herodotus being 13 to 1, this was equal in value to the very large amount of 4680 Euboean talents of silver, equivalent to 3600 Babylonian talents of silver (equivalent in value to about 108 tons of silver annually).{{sfn|Archibald, Davies & Gabrielsen, The Economies of Hellenistic Societies|2011|p=404}}<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95"/> The country of the "Indians" ('Ινδοι, ''Indoi'') was the Achaemenid district paying the largest tribute, and alone represented 32% of the total tribute revenues of the whole Achaemenid Empire.{{sfn|Archibald, Davies & Gabrielsen, The Economies of Hellenistic Societies|2011|p=404}}<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95"/><ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/> It also means that ''Indos'' was the richest Achaemenid region in the subcontinent, much richer than Gandara or Sattagydia.<ref name="Iranica - Achaemenid Relations"/> However the amount of gold in question is quite enormous, so there is a possibility that Herodotus was mistaken and that his own sources actually only meant something like the gold equivalent of 360 Babylonian talents of silver.<ref name="CAH"/>

[[File:Apadana Palace Gandharans.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|Gandaran delegation at [[Apadana Palace]]]]
The territories of [[Gandara (Achaemenid province)|Gandara]], [[Sattagydia]], [[Dadicae]] (north-west of the [[Kashmir Valley]]) and the [[Aparytae]] ([[Afridi]]s) are named separately, and were aggregated together for taxation purposes, forming the 7th Achaemenid Province, and paying overall a much lower tribute of 170 talents together (about 5151&nbsp;kg, or 5.1 tons of silver), hence only about 1.5% of the total revenues of the Achaemenid Empire:{{sfn|Archibald, Davies & Gabrielsen, The Economies of Hellenistic Societies|2011|p=404}}<ref name="Herodotus III.89-95"/>

{{blockquote|The Sattagydae (Σατταγύδαι), Gandarii (Γανδάριοι), Dadicae, and Aparytae (Ἀπαρύται) paid together a hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh province||[[Herodotus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/3D*.html III 91].{{sfn|Mitchiner, The Ancient & Classical World|1978|p=44}}}}

[[File:Indian warriors (Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush) circa 480 BCE in the Naqsh-e Roastam reliefs of Xerxes I.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Ancient India]]n soldiers of the three territories of [[Sattagydia]], [[Gandhara]] and [[Hindush]]  respectively,<ref>[[:File:Top side darius I tomb.jpg|Nations of the soldiers on the tombs]], Walser. Also [http://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/files/Clothing/v5f7a014_f1_300.jpg]</ref> supporting the throne of [[Xerxes I]] on his tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam.<ref>The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations in Akra in Northwest Pakistan Peter Magee, Cameron Petrie, Robert Knox, Farid Khan, Ken Thomas [https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=arch_pubs p.713]</ref><ref name="Iranica Naqsh-e Rostam"/> See also [[:File:Xerxes all ethnicities.jpg|complete relief]]. c. 480 BCE.]]
[[File:Second_Persian_Invasion.jpg|thumb|upright|Indian soldiers of the Achaemenid army participated to the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]] (480-479 BCE)]]
The Indians also supplied Yaka wood (teak) for the construction of Achaemenid palaces,<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dsf/ DSf inscription]</ref><ref name=Bosworth/> as well as war elephants such as those used at [[Gaugamela]].<ref name=Bosworth/> The Susa inscriptions of Darius explain that Indian ivory and teak were sold on Persian markets, and used in the construction of his palace.{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}

===Contribution to Achaemenid war efforts===
====Second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BCE)====
Indians were employed in the Achaemenid army of [[Xerxes I|Xerxes]] in the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]] (480-479 BCE). All troops were stationed in [[Sardis]], [[Lydia]], during the winter of 481-480 BCE to prepare for the invasion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stoneman |first1=Richard |title=Xerxes: A Persian Life |date=2015 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300180077 |page=118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6pJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Herodotus |title=LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book VII: Chapters 1‑56 |pages=VII-26 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7A*.html}}</ref> In the spring of 480 BCE "Indian troops marched with Xerxes's army across the [[Hellespont]]".<ref name="Where was Achaemenid India"/><ref name="CB7"/> It was the "first-ever force from India to fight on the continent of Europe", storming Greek troops at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] in 480 BCE, and fighting as one of the main nations until the final [[Battle of Plataea]] in 479 BCE.<ref name="AD"/><ref name="GS">"A Sindhu contingent formed a part of his army which invaded Greece and stormed the defile at Thermopylae in 480 BC, thus becoming the first ever force from India to fight on the continent of Europe. It, apparently, distinguished itself in battle because it was followed by another contingent which formed a part of the Persian army under Mardonius which lost the battle of Platea"{{cite book |last1=Sandhu |first1=Gurcharn Singh |title=A military history of ancient India |date=2000 |publisher=Vision Books |page=179 |isbn=9788170943754 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yXcAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="H9-32"/>

Herodotus, in his description of the multi-ethnic Achaemenid army invading Greece, described the equipment of the Indians:<ref name="CB7">{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400866328 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlCUBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The Indians wore garments of tree-wool, and carried bows of reed and iron-tipped arrows of the same. Such was their equipment; they were appointed to march under the command of Pharnazathres son of Artabates.|Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B*.html VII 65]}}
[[File:Hoplite and Hidus Achaemenid warrior.jpg|thumb|left|Probable [[Spartan]] [[hoplite]] ([[Vix crater]], c. 500 BCE),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Charles |title=Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199651917 |page=154 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXIVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT172 |language=en}}</ref> and a ''Hindush'' warrior of the [[Achaemenid army]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/naqs-e-rostam |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Naqs-e Rostam – Encyclopaedia Iranica List of nationalities of the Achaemenid military with corresponding drawings|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/files/Clothing/v5f7a014_f1_300.jpg |language=en}}</ref> (tomb of [[Xerxes I]], c. 480 BCE), at the time of the [[Second Persian invasion of Greece]] (480–479 BCE)]]
Herodotus also explains that the Indian cavalry under the Achaemenids had an equipment similar to that of their foot soldiers:

{{blockquote|The Indians were armed in like manner as their foot; they rode swift horses and drove chariots drawn by horses and wild asses.|Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B*.html VII 86]}}

The Gandharis had a different equipment, akin to that of the Bactrians:

{{blockquote|The Bactrians in the army wore a headgear most like to the Median, carrying their native bows of reed, and short spears. (...) The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, Gandarians, and Dadicae in the army had the same equipment as the Bactrians. The Parthians and Chorasmians had for their commander [[Artabazos I of Phrygia|Artabazus son of Pharnaces]], the Sogdians Azanes son of Artaeus, the Gandarians and Dadicae [[Artyphius]] son of [[Artabanus (son of Hystaspes)|Artabanus]].|Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B*.html VII 64-66]}}

====Destruction of Athens and Battle of Plataea (479 BCE)====
After the first part of the campaign directly under the orders Xerxes I, the Indian troops are reported to have stayed in Greece as one of the 5 main nations among the 300,000 elite troops of General [[Mardonius (general)|Mardonius]]. They fought in the last stages of the war, took part in the [[Destruction of Athens]], but were finally vanquished at the [[Battle of Plataea]]:<ref name="FT165">{{cite journal |last1=Tola |first1=Fernando |title=India and Greece before Alexander |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=67 |issue=1/4 |date=1986 |page=165 |language=en|jstor=41693244 }}</ref>

[[File:Indians at the Battle of Plataea 479 BCE.jpg|thumb|Indian corps at the [[Battle of Plataea]], 479 BCE]]
{{blockquote|Mardonius there chose out first all the Persians called [[Immortals (Persian Empire)|Immortals]], save only [[Hydarnes]] their general, who said that he would not quit the king's person; and next, the Persian cuirassiers, and the thousand horse, and the [[Medes]] and [[Scythians|Sacae]] and Bactrians and Indians, alike their footmen and the rest of the horsemen. He chose these nations entire; of the rest of his allies he picked out a few from each people, the goodliest men and those that he knew to have done some good service... Thereby the whole number, with the horsemen, grew to three hundred thousand men.|Herodotus VIII, 113.<ref>{{cite book |title=LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book VIII: Chapters 97‑144 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/8C*.html|page=Herodotus VIII, 113}}</ref><ref name="FT165"/>}}

At the final [[Battle of Plataea]] in 479 BCE, Indians formed one of the main corps of Achaemenid troops (one of "the greatest of the nations").<ref name="GS"/><ref name="H9-32">{{cite book |title=LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book IX: Chapters 1‑89 |pages=IX-32 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/9A*.html}}</ref><ref name="AD">{{cite book |last1=Daniélou |first1=Alain |title=A Brief History of India |date=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781594777943 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT67 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Kaushik |title=Warfare in Pre-British India – 1500BCE to 1740CE |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317586920 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xx7ICQAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |language=en}}</ref> They were one of the main battle corps, positioned near the center of the Achaemenid battle line, between the [[Bactrians]] and the [[Saka]]e, facing against the enemy Greek troops of "[[Ermioni|Hermione]] and [[Eretria]] and [[Styra]] and [[Chalcis]]".<ref name="H9-31">{{cite book |title=LacusCurtius • Herodotus — Book IX: Chapters 1‑89 |pages=IX-31 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/9A*.html}}</ref><ref name="GS"/> According to modern estimates, the Bactrians, Indians and Sakae probably numbered about 20,000 men altogether, whereas the Persian troops on their left amounted to about 40,000.<ref name="WS36"/> There were also Greek allies of the Persians, positioned on the right, whom Herodotus numbers at 50,000, a number which however might be "extravagant",<ref name="WS36">{{cite book |last1=Shepherd |first1=William |title=Plataea 479 BC: The most glorious victory ever seen |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781849085557 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFm3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |language=en}}</ref> and is nowadays estimated to around 20,000.<ref name="WS51">{{cite book |last1=Shepherd |first1=William |title=Plataea 479 BC: The most glorious victory ever seen |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781849085557 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFm3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |language=en}}</ref> Indians also supplied part of the cavalry, the total of which was about 5,000.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shepherd |first1=William |title=Plataea 479 BC: The most glorious victory ever seen |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781849085557 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFm3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="WS51"/>

====Depictions====
Indian soldiers of the three territories of Gandara, Sattagydia (Tathagatus) and Hindush are shown, together with soldiers of all the other nations, supporting the throne of their Achaemenid ruler, at Naqsh-e Rostam on the tombs of Darius I, [[Xerxes I]], [[Artaxerxes I]] and [[Darius II]], and at [[Persepolis]] on the tombs of [[Artaxerxes II of Persia|Artaxerxes II]] and [[Artaxerxes III]]. The last Achaemenid ruler [[Darius III]] never had time to finish his own tomb due to his hasty defeat by [[Alexander the Great]], and therefore does not have such depictions.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}<ref name="Iranica Naqsh-e Rostam">{{cite book |title=NAQŠ-E ROSTAM – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/naqs-e-rostam |language=en}}</ref> The soldiers from India are characterized by their particular clothing, only composed of a loin cloth and sandals, with bare upper body, in contrast to all the other ethnicities of the Achaemenid army, who are fully clothed, and in contrast also to the neighbouring provinces of [[Bactria]] or [[Arachosia]], who are also fully clothed.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}

[[File:Artaxerxes_III_soldiers_of_the_Empire,_with_labels.jpg|thumb|300px|The three types of Indian soldiers still appear (upper right corner) among the soldiers of the Achaemenid Empire on the tomb of [[Artaxerxes III]] (who died in 338 BCE).{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}<ref name="Iranica Naqsh-e Rostam"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Heckel |first1=Waldemar |last2=Tritle |first2=Lawrence A. |title=Alexander the Great: A New History |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444360158 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZPcdr5yYs0C&pg=PA164 |language=en}}</ref>]]
The presence of the three ethnicities of Indian soldiers on all the tombs of the Achaemenid rulers after [[Darius I|Darius]], except for the last ruler [[Darius III]] who was vanquished by Alexander at [[Gaugamela]], suggests that the Indians were under Achaemenid dominion at least until 338 BCE, the date of the end of the reign of [[Artaxerxes III]], before the accession of Darius III, that is, less than 10 years before the campaigns of Alexander in the East and his victory at Gaugamela.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}

====Indians at the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE)====
According to [[Arrian]], Indian troops were still deployed under Darius III at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]] (331 BCE). He explains that Darius III "obtained the help of those Indians who bordered on the Bactrians, together with the Bactrians and Sogdianians themselves, all under the command of Bessus, the Satrap of Bactria".{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}} The Indians in questions were probably from the area of Gandara.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}} Indian "hill-men" are also said by Arrian to have joined the [[Arachosia|Arachotian]]s under Satrap Barsentes, and are thought to have been either the Sattagydians or the Hindush.{{sfn|Magee et al., The Achaemenid Empire in South Asia and Recent Excavations|2005|pp=713-714}}

Fifteen Indian war elephants were also part of the army of Darius III at Gaugamela.<ref name=Kistler/> They had specifically been brought from India.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yenne |first1=Bill |title=Alexander the Great: Lessons from History's Undefeated General |date=2010 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9780230106406 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kngnd0GlUc4C&pg=PA71 |language=en}}</ref> Still, it seems they did not participate to the final battle, probably because of fatigue.<ref name=Kistler>{{cite book |last1=Kistler |first1=John M. |title=War Elephants |date=2007 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0803260047 |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5RHK4Ol15QC&pg=PA29 |language=en}}</ref> This was a relief for the armies of Alexander, who had no previous experience of combat against war elephants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kistler |first1=John M. |title=War Elephants |date=2007 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0803260047 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5RHK4Ol15QC&pg=PA29 |language=en}}</ref> The elephants were captured with the baggage train by the Greeks after the engagement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holt |first1=Frank L. |title=Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520938786 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZKpi1vpHanAC&pg=PA72 |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery>
Xerxes detail Gandharan enhanced.jpg|Gandaran soldier of the Achaemenid army, c. 480 BCE. [[Xerxes I]] tomb.
Xerxes detail Gandharan head enhanced.jpg|Gandaran soldier (enhanced detail)
Xerxes detail Sattagydian.jpg|{{center|Sattagydian soldier of the Achaemenid army, c. 480 BCE. [[Xerxes I]] tomb.}}|alt=Sattagydian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 480 BCE. Xerxes I tomb.
Xerxes detail Sattagydian head enhanced.jpg|Sattagydian soldier (enhanced detail)
Xerxes_Hidush_warrior_480_BCE.jpg|Hindush soldier of the Achaemenid army, c. 480 BCE. [[Xerxes I]] tomb.
Xerxes detail Hidush head enhanced.jpg|Hindush soldier (enhanced detail)
</gallery>

==Greek and Achaemenid coinage==
{{See also|Ancient Greek coinage|Achaemenid coinage}}
[[File:Achaemenid siglos Kabul.jpg|thumb|upright|Strike of an Achaemenid [[siglos]], [[Kabul]], [[Afghanistan]], c. 5th century BCE. [[:File:Tetradrachm, Halikarnassos protectorate, Persian empire, 350-333 BC.jpg|Archer king type]]. Coins of this type were also found in the [[Bhir Mound]] hoard in Taxila.<ref>"Coins of this type found in [[Chaman Hazouri]] (deposited c.350 BC) and Bhir Mound hoards (deposited c.300 BC)." Article by [[Joe Cribb]] and [[Osmund Bopearachchi]] in {{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Trust |first2=Ancient India and Iran |last3=Museum |first3=Fitzwilliam |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=9780951839911 |pages=57–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:Achaemenid Empire coin. Uncertain mint in the Kabul Valley. Circa 500-380 BCE.jpg|thumb|Achaemenid Empire coin minted in the Kabul Valley. C. 500-380 BCE.<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=309874 Classical Numismatic Group, Coin page]</ref><ref name=JC>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992|pp=57–59}}</ref>]]
[[File:Gandhara bent bar.jpg|thumb|"Bent bar" minted under Achaemenid administration, of the type found in large quantities in the [[Chaman Hazouri hoard]] and the [[Bhir Mound]] hoard in Taxila<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=309206 CNG Coins]</ref><ref>"Silver bent-bar punch-marked coin of Kabul region under the Achaemenid Empire, c.350 BC: Coins of this type found in quantity in Chaman Hazouri and Bhir Mound hoards" Article by [[Joe Cribb]] and [[Osmund Bopearachchi]] in {{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Trust |first2=Ancient India and Iran |last3=Museum |first3=Fitzwilliam |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=9780951839911 |pages=57–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>]]
Coins found in the [[Chaman Hazouri hoard]] in [[Kabul]],  the Shaikhan Dehri hoard in [[Pushkalavati]] in Gandhara, near [[Charsadda]], as well as in the [[Bhir Mound]] hoard in Taxila, have revealed numerous Achaemenid coins as well as many [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] coins from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. These circulated in the area, at least as far as the [[Indus]] during the reign of the Achaemenids, who were in control of the areas as far as Gandhara.{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pp=300-301}}<ref name="US Department of Defense">{{Cite web |url=https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh05-106.html |title=US Department of Defense |access-date=2018-10-06 |archive-date=2020-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610004813/https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/afgh05-106.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=JC/>{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pp=308-}}

===Kabul and Bhir Mound hoards===
{{see also|Kabul hoard}}
The [[Kabul hoard]], also called the Chaman Hazouri, Chaman Hazouri or Tchamani-i Hazouri hoard,{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pp=300-301}} is a coin hoard discovered in the vicinity of [[Kabul]], [[Afghanistan]]. The hoard, discovered in 1933, contained numerous Achaemenid coins as well as many [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] coins from the 5th and 4th centuries BCE.<ref name=JC/> Approximately one thousand coins were in the hoard.{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pp=300-301}}<ref name="US Department of Defense"/> The hoard is dated to approximately 380 BCE as no coins in the hoard were later than that date.{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|p=308}}

This numismatic discovery has been very important in studying and dating the history of [[coinage of India]], since it is one of the very rare instances when punch-marked coins can actually be dated, due to their association with known and dated Greek and Achaemenid coins in the hoard.{{sfn|Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India|1983|pp=85-86}} The hoard supports the view that punch-marked coins existed in 360 BCE, as suggested by literary evidence.{{sfn|Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India|1983|pp=85-86}}

[[Daniel Schlumberger]] also considers that punch-marked bars, similar to the many punch-marked bars found in north-western India, initially originated in the Achaemenid Empire, rather than in the Indian heartland:

{{blockquote|The punch-marked bars were up to now considered to be Indian (...) However the weight standard is considered by some expert to be Persian, and now that we see them also being uncovered in the soil of Afghanistan, we must take into account the possibility that their country of origin should not be sought beyond the Indus, but rather in the oriental provinces of the Achaemenid Empire|[[Daniel Schlumberger]], quoted from Trésors Monétaires, p.42.{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pp=308-}}}}

Modern numismatists now tend to consider the Achaemenid punch-marked coins as the precursors of the Indian [[punch-marked coins]].<ref>"the local coins of the Achaemenid era (...) were the precursors of the bent and punch-marked bars" in {{cite book |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |title=Coin Production and Circulation in Central Asia and North-West India (Before and after Alexander's Conquest) |pages=311 |url=https://www.academia.edu/15798938 |language=en}}</ref><ref>About the hoard in Kabul: "In the same hoard there were also discovered two series of local silver coins which appear to be the product of local Achaemenid administration. One series (...) was made in a new way, which relates it to the punch-marked silver coins of India. It appears that it was these local coins, using technology adapted from Greek coins, which provided the prototypes for punch-marked coins made in India." p.57 "In the territories to the south of the Hindu Kush the punch-marked coins, descendants of the local coins of the Achaemenid administration in the same area, were issued by the Mauryan kings of India for local circulation." in {{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Trust |first2=Ancient India and Iran |last3=Museum |first3=Fitzwilliam |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |date=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=9780951839911 |pages=57–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

===Pushkalavati hoard===
{{see also|Shaikhan Dehri hoard}}
In 2007, a small coin hoard was discovered at the site of ancient [[Pushkalavati]] (the [[Shaikhan Dehri hoard]]) near [[Charsada]] in [[Pakistan]]. The hoard contained a [[tetradrachm]] minted in [[Athens]] circa 500/490-485/0 BCE, typically used as a currency for trade in the Achaemenid Empire, together with a number of local types as well as silver cast ingots. The Athens coin is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far to the east.<ref>O. Bopearachchi, "Premières frappes locales de l'Inde du Nord-Ouest: nouvelles données," in Trésors d'Orient: Mélanges offerts à Rika Gyselen, Fig. 1 (this coin) [https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=199773 CNG Coins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225205951/https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=199773 |date=2019-12-25 }}</ref>{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|p=309}}

According to [[Joe Cribb]], these early Greek coins were at the origin of Indian [[punch-marked coins]], the earliest coins developed in India, which used minting technology derived from Greek coinage.<ref name=JC />

==Cultural exchange==
===Palatial art and architecture: Pataliputra===
[[File:Masarh_lion_sculpture.jpg|thumb|The [[Masarh lion]]. The sculptural style is "unquestionably [[Achaemenid art|Achaemenid]]".<ref name="Gupta 88"/>]]
Various Indian artefacts tend to suggest some Perso-Hellenistic artistic influence in India, mainly felt during the time of the [[Mauryan Empire]].{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} The sculpture of the [[Masarh lion]], found near the Maurya capital of [[Pataliputra]], raises the question of the Achaemenid and Greek influence on the art of the [[Mauryan art|Maurya Empire]], and on the western origins of stone carving in India. The lion is carved in [[Chunar stone|Chunar sandstone]], like the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], and its finish is polished, a feature of the [[Mauryan art|Maurya sculpture]].<ref name="Gupta 88"/> According to [[Swaraj Prakash Gupta|S.P. Gupta]], the sculptural style is unquestionably [[Achaemenid art|Achaemenid]].<ref name="Gupta 88"/> This is particularly the case for the well-ordered tubular representation of whiskers ([[vibrissa]]s) and the geometrical representation of inflated veins flush with the entire face.<ref name="Gupta 88"/> The mane, on the other hand, with tufts of hair represented in wavelets, is rather naturalistic.<ref name="Gupta 88"/> Very similar examples are however known in Greece and [[Persepolis]].<ref name="Gupta 88"/> It is possible that this sculpture was made by an Achaemenid or Greek sculptor in India and either remained without effect, or was the Indian imitation of a Greek or Achaemenid model, somewhere between the fifth century B.C. and the first century B.C., although it is generally dated from the time of the [[Maurya Empire]], around the 3rd century B.C.<ref name="Gupta 88">Page 88: "There is one fragmentary lion head from Masarh, Distt. Bhojpur, Bihar. It is carved out of Chunar sandstone and it also bears the typical Mauryan polish. But it is undoubtedly based on the Achaemenian idiom. The tubular or wick-like whiskers and highly decorated neck with long locks of the mane with one series arranged like sea waves is somewhat non-Indian in approach . But, to be exact, we have an example of a lion from a sculptural frieze from Persepolis of 5th century BCE in which it is overpowering a bull which may be compared with the Masarh lion."...  Page 122: "This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their basecamps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C."... in {{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Swarajya Prakash |author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan |year=1980 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-391-02172-3 |pages=88, 122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}. Also {{cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Vinay (Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Faculty Member) |title=West Asian Influence on Lion Motifs in Mauryan Art |journal=Heritage and Us |date=2015 |issue=4 |page=14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10709971 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Pataliputra]] palace with its pillared hall shows decorative influences of the Achaemenid palaces and Persepolis and may have used the help of foreign craftsmen.<ref>[http://jsr.usb.ac.ir/article_1659_265.html The Analysis of Indian Muria Empire affected from Achaemenid's architecture art] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144452/http://jsr.usb.ac.ir/article_1659_265.html |date=2 April 2015 }}. In: Journal of Subcontinent Researches. Article 8, Volume 6, Issue 19, Summer 2014, Page 149-174.</ref>{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}} Mauryan rulers may have even imported craftsmen from abroad to build royal monuments.<ref>Monuments, Power and Poverty in India: From Ashoka to the Raj, A. S. Bhalla, I.B.Tauris, 2015 p.18 [https://books.google.com/books?id=emATBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18]</ref> This may be the result of the formative influence of craftsmen employed from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great.<ref name="auto1">"The Archaeology of South Asia: From the Indus to Asoka, c.6500 BCE-200 CE" Robin Coningham, Ruth Young Cambridge University Press, 31 aout 2015,  p.414 [https://books.google.com/books?id=hB5TCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA414]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/reportonexcavat01waddgoog Report on the excavations at Pātaliputra (Patna); the Palibothra of the Greeks by Waddell, L. A. (Laurence Austine)]</ref> The [[Pataliputra capital]], or also the Hellenistic friezes of the [[Rampurva capitals]], [[Sankissa]], and the [[Vajrasana, Bodh Gaya|diamond throne]] of [[Bodh Gaya]] are other examples.<ref>The Origins of Indian Stone Architecture, 1998, John Boardman [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24049089?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents {{p.|13-22}}].</ref>

The renowned [[Mauryan polish]], especially used in the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], may also have been a technique imported from the Achaemenid Empire.{{sfn|Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization|1999|pages=116–117}}
 
<gallery>
File:Mauryan ruins of pillared hall at Kumrahar site of Pataliputra ASIEC 1912-13.jpg|Ruins of pillared hall at [[Kumrahar]] site at Pataliputra
File:Kumhrar Maurya level ASIEC 1912-1913.jpg|Plan of the 80-column pillared hall in Pataliputra
File:Pataliputra_capital,_Bihar_Museum,_Patna,_3rd_century_BCE.jpg|The [[Pataliputra capital]], generally described as "Perso-Hellenistic"
File:Patna griffin.jpg|[[Griffin]] of Pataliputra<ref>"A griffin carved from milky white chalcedony represents a blend of Greek and Achaemenid Persian cultures", ''National Geographic'', Volume 177, National Geographic Society, 1990</ref>
File:Pataliputra lotus motif.jpg|Lotus motifs in Pataliputra
</gallery>

===Monumental columns: the Pillars of Ashoka===
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Achaemenid_capital_Persepolis.jpg
| caption1          = Highly polished [[Persian columns|Achaemenid load-bearing column]] with lotus capital and animals, [[Persepolis]], c. 5th-4th BCE
| image2            = Sarnath capital.jpg
| caption2          = [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]] from [[Sarnath]]
}}
{{see also|Pillars of Ashoka}}
Regarding the [[Pillars of Ashoka]], there has been much discussion of the extent of influence from [[Achaemenid Persia]],<ref>Boardman (1998), 13</ref> since the column capitals supporting the roofs at [[Persepolis]] have similarities, and the "rather cold, hieratic style" of the Sarnath [[Lion Capital of Ashoka]] especially shows "obvious Achaemenid and [[Sargon II|Sargonid]] influence".<ref>Harle, 22, 24, quoted in turn</ref>


===Figurines of West Asian foreigners in Mathura, Sarnath and Patna (4th-2nd century BCE)===
{{see also|Mathura art}}
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| header            = Figurines of foreigners in India
| total_width       = 400
| caption_align     = center
| image1            = Ethnic Head - Circa 2nd Century BCE - Showcase 18-11 - Prehistory and Terracotta Gallery - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6365.JPG
| caption1          = "Ethnic head", [[Mathura]], c. 2nd century BCE. [[Mathura Museum]].<ref name="AV141"/>
| image2            = Persian Nobleman Clad in Coat Dupatta Trouser and Turban - Circa 2nd Century BCE - Showcase 18-11 - Prehistory and Terracotta Gallery - Government Museum - Mathura.jpg
| caption2          = "Persian Nobleman clad in coat dupatta trouser and turban", Mathura, c. 2nd Century BCE. [[Mathura Museum]].<ref name="AV141"/>
| footer            = 
| image3            = Mauryan head from Sarnath.jpg
| caption3          = Figure of a foreigner, from [[Sarnath]]<ref name="Gupta 122">Page 122: About the [[Masarh lion]]: "This particular example of a foreign model gets added support from the male heads of foreigners from Patna city and Sarnath since they also prove beyond doubt that a section of the elite in the Gangetic Basin was of foreign origin. However, as noted earlier, this is an example of the late Mauryan period since this is not the type adopted in any Ashoka pillar. We are, therefore, visualizing a historical situation in India in which the West Asian influence on Indian art was felt more in the late Mauryan than in the early Mauryan period. The term West Asia in this context stands for Iran and Afghanistan, where the Sakas and Pahlavas had their base-camps for eastward movement. The prelude to future inroads of the Indo-Bactrians in India had after all started in the second century B.C."... in {{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Swarajya Prakash |author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan |year=1980 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-391-02172-3 |pages=88, 122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}.</ref><ref name="Gupta 318">According to Gupta [[:File:Mauryan head from Sarnath.jpg|this is]] a non-Indian face of a foreigner with a conical hat: "If there are a few faces which are nonIndian, such as one head from Sarnath with conical cap ( Bachhofer, Vol . I, Pl . 13 ), they are due to the presence of the foreigners their costumes, tastes and liking for portrait art and not their art styles." in {{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Swarajya Prakash |author-link=Swaraj Prakash Gupta|title=The Roots of Indian Art: A Detailed Study of the Formative Period of Indian Art and Architecture, Third and Second Centuries B.C., Mauryan and Late Mauryan |year=1980 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-391-02172-3 |page=318 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0lDqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
}}

Some relatively high quality terracotta statuettes have been recovered from the [[Mauryan Empire]] strata in the excavations of [[Mathura]] in northern India.<ref>"The relatively high quality of terracotta sculptures recovered from Maurya strata at Mathura suggests some level of artistic activity prior to the second century BCE." {{cite book |last1=Quintanilla |first1=Sonya Rhie |title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004155374 |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA35 |language=en}}</ref> Most of these terracottas show what appears to be female deities or mother goddesses.<ref name="SCK5">{{cite book |last1=Kala |first1=Satish Chandra |title=Terracottas in the Allahabad Museum |date=1980 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=9780391022348 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ha_C1ofYmxoC&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>"The largest number of mother-goddess figurines has been found in western Uttar Pradesh in Mathura, which in the Mauryan period became an important terracotta making centre outside Magadh." in {{cite book |last1=Sant |first1=Urmila |title=Terracotta Art of Rajasthan: From Pre-Harappan and Harappan Times to the Gupta Period |date=1997 |publisher=Aryan Books International |isbn=9788173051159 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nT_WAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> However, several figures of foreigners also appear in the terracottas from the 4th to the 2nd century BCE, which are either described simply as "foreigners" or Persian or Iranian because of their foreign features.<ref name="AV141"/><ref name="SKS">"Iranian Heads From Mathura, some terracotta male-heads were recovered, which portray the Iranian people with whom the Indians came into closer contact during the fourth and third centuries B.C. Agrawala calls them the representatives of Iranian people because their facial features present foreign ethnic affinities." {{cite book |last1=Srivastava |first1=Surendra Kumar |title=Terracotta art in northern India |date=1996 |publisher=Parimal Publications |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4MsAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>"Mathura has also yielded a special class of terracotta heads in which the facial features present foreign ethnic affinities." {{cite book |last1=Dhavalikar |first1=Madhukar Keshav |title=Masterpieces of Indian Terracottas |date=1977 |publisher=Taraporevala |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WzqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> These figurines might reflect the increased contacts of Indians with Iranian people during this period.<ref name="SKS"/> Several of these seem to represent foreign soldiers who visited India during the Mauryan period and influenced modellers in Mathura with their peculiar ethnic features and uniforms.<ref>"Soldier heads. During the Mauryan period, the military activity was more evidenced in the public life. Possibly, foreign soldiers frequently visited India and attracted Indian modellers with their ethnic features and uncommon uniform. From Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Basarh in Bihar, some terracotta heads have been reported, which represent soldiers. Artistically, the Basarh terracotta soldier-heads are better, executed than those from Mathura." in {{cite book |last1=Srivastava |first1=Surendra Kumar |title=Terracotta art in northern India |date=1996 |publisher=Parimal Publications |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4MsAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref> One of the terracotta statuettes, a man nicknamed the "Persian nobleman" and dated to the 2nd century BCE, can be seen wearing a coat, scarf, trousers and a turban.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vishnu |first1=Asha |title=Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C. |date=1993 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=9788170994107 |page=XV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaJ5oyrqBakC&pg=PR15 |language=en}}</ref><ref>"The figure of a Persian youth (35.2556) wearing coat, scarf, trousers and turban is a rare item." {{cite book |last1=Museum |first1=Mathura Archaeological |title=Mathura Museum Introduction: A Pictorial Guide Book |date=1971 |publisher=Archaeological Museum |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3XqAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sharma |first1=Ramesh Chandra |title=The Splendour of Mathurā Art and Museum |date=1994 |publisher=D.K. Printworld |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-vVAAAAMAA }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="AV141">{{cite book |last1=Vishnu |first1=Asha |title=Material Life of Northern India: Based on an Archaeological Study, 3rd Century B.C. to 1st Century B.C. |date=1993 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=9788170994107 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaJ5oyrqBakC&pg=PA141 |language=en}}</ref>

===Religion===
According to [[Ammianus Marcellinus]],<ref>xxiii. 6 in {{cite book |title=Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 23. pp.316-345. |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_23_book23.htm}}</ref> a 4th-century CE Roman author, [[Hystaspes (father of Darius I)|Hystaspes]], the father of [[Darius I]], studied under the Brahmanas in India, thus contributing to the development of the religion of the [[Magi]] ([[Zoroastrianism]]):<ref name="MRJ">{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Montague Rhodes |title=The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament: their titles and fragments |date=2007 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=9781556352898 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvpJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA93 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Hystaspes, a very wise monarch, the father of Darius. Who while boldly penetrating into the remoter districts of upper India, came to a certain woody retreat, of which with its tranquil silence the Brahmans, men of sublime genius, were the possessors. From their teaching he learnt the principles of the motion of the world and of the stars, and the pure rites of sacrifice, as far as he could; and of what he learnt he infused some portion into the minds of the Magi, which they have handed down by tradition to later ages, each instructing his own children, and adding to it their own system of divination.|[[Ammianus Marcellinus]], XXIII. 6.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History. London: Bohn (1862) Book 23. pp.316-345. |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_23_book23.htm}}</ref><ref name="MRJ"/>}}

In ancient sources, Hystapes is sometimes considered as identical with [[Vishtaspa]] (the [[Avestan]] and [[Old Persian]] name for Hystapes), an early patron of [[Zoroaster]].<ref name="MRJ"/>

According to [[Christopher I. Beckwith]], commenting on the content of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]], the early Buddhist concepts of [[karma]], rebirth, and affirming that good deeds will be rewarded in this life and the next, in [[Heaven]], probably find their origin in Achaemenid [[Mazdaism]], which had been introduced in India from the time of the Achaemenid conquest of Gandara.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400866328 |pages=132–133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlCUBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |language=en}}</ref>

Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as [[Johannes Bronkhorst]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bronkhorst |first1=Johannes |title=How the Brahmins Won |date=21 March 2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-31551-8 |pages=483–489 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/33009?language=en |access-date=21 March 2016 |language=en |chapter=How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas}}</ref> [[Osmund Bopearachchi]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Osmund |first1=Bopearachchi |title=Reviews |journal=Ancient West & East |date=2016 |volume=15|pages=303–486 |doi=10.2143/AWE.15.0.3167478 |url=https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?id=3167478&url=article.php}}</ref> [[Stephen Batchelor (author)|Stephen Batchelor]]<ref>[[Stephen Batchelor (author)|Stephen Batchelor]] "Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's encounter with early Buddhism in central Asia", ''Contemporary Buddhism'', 2016, pp 195-215</ref> and Charles Goodman.<ref>Charles Goodman, "Neither Scythian nor Greek: A Response to Beckwith's Greek Buddha and Kuzminski's "Early Buddhism Reconsidered"", ''Philosophy East and West'', University of Hawai'i Press Volume 68, Number 3, July 2018 pp. 984-1006</ref> According to [[Patrick Olivelle]], Beckwith's theory about [[Ashoka]] is "an outlier and no mainstream Ashokan scholar would subscribe to that view."<ref>{{cite book | last=Olivelle | first=Patrick | title=Ashoka: Portrait of a Philosopher King | publisher=Yale University Press | date=2024 | page=xxviii | isbn=978-0-300-27000-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TE3gEAAAQBAJ}}</ref>

==List of satrapies==
Several satrapies were founded by the Achaemenid empire in the [[Indian subcontinent]], including; 
*[[Gandāra]] satrapy
*[[Hindush]] satrapy
*[[Sattagydia]] satrapy
Other important satrapies in South Asia (in modern day's [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]]) include;
*[[Arachosia]] satrapy
*[[Gedrosia]] satrapy
*[[Drangiana]] satrapy

==See also==
* [[Persian Immortals]]
* [[Zoroastrianism in India]]
* [[Indians in Iran]]
* [[Hinduism in Iran]]
* [[Parsis]]
* [[India–Iran relations]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
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==External links==
* ''Ancient India, A History Textbook for Class XI'', Ram Sharan Sharma, [[National Council of Educational Research and Training]], India Iranian and Macedonian Invasion, pp 108
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/india-iii-relations-achaemenid-period INDIA iii. RELATIONS: ACHAEMENID PERIOD]

{{India topics}}
{{Achaemenid Empire}}
{{Ancient Iranian wars}}

[[Category:6th-century BC conflicts]]
[[Category:5th-century BC conflicts]]
[[Category:4th-century BC conflicts]]
[[Category:6th century BC in Iran]]
[[Category:5th century BC in Iran]]
[[Category:4th century BC in Iran]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Achaemenid Empire|Indus Valley]]
[[Category:Wars involving ancient India]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of ancient India]]
[[Category:Darius the Great]]
[[Category:Invasions of India]]