How Alexander the Great Influenced Indian Art

Indo-Greek art merged two remarkable ancient cultures

The story usually goes like this: Alexander, the brilliant and ruthless young ruler of the Macedonian Empire, conquered some of the oldest and most powerful societies in Africa, Europe, and Asia — Greece, Egypt, and Persia. After this, his army was tired and depleted, having marched and fought from the Nile to the Hindu Kush. They found themselves in a place called Hyphasis on the Beas River, a tributary of the Indus. To the army’s east lay the many kingdoms of yet another great civilization: India.

Alexander, unsatisfied with his conquests thus far, wanted to push further east, into the heart of India. His troops refused. They’d seen enough, and they wanted to go home. Alexander sulked in his tent for three days, but he finally realized that he could go no further. He and his army marched back west, leaving India behind.

Most of the time, Alexander’s retreat from India is presented as a what-if story — what if the Macedonians had conquered India? How would that have changed the history of the world?

But we don’t focus that much on what did happen. Alexander didn’t try to conquer India, but that doesn’t mean that the Macedonians and the Indians didn’t have an effect on each other. Alexander’s armies carried Greek culture — and Greek people, some of whom stayed behind — to the places he attacked, and India was no different.