| Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Map of ancient India, c. 500 BCE, with the Persian frontier delineated along the Indus River and the Jhelum River[1][2][3][4] | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Achaemenid Empire |
Gandhara Sindhu-Sauvīra Kambojas | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Cyrus the Great Darius the Great | Various | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
Around 535 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great initiated a protracted campaign to absorb parts of India into his nascent Achaemenid Empire.[1] 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.[6] 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.[7] 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 Greek conquest of Persia, led by Alexander the Great. This brief period gave rise to independent Indian kings, such as Abisares, Porus, and Ambhi, as well as numerous gaṇasaṅghas, which would later confront the Macedonian army as it massed into the region for Alexander's Indian campaign.[1] The Achaemenid Empire set a precedence of governance through the use of satrapies,[8] which was further implemented by Alexander's Macedonian Empire, the Indo-Scythians, and the Kushan Empire.
- ^ a b c d Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization 1999, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Philip's Atlas of World History Archived 2018-10-17 at the Wayback Machine (1999)
- ^ O'Brien, Patrick Karl (2002). Atlas of World History. Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780195219210.
- ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 15. ISBN 0226742210.
- ^ Errington, Elizabeth; Trust, Ancient India and Iran; Museum, Fitzwilliam (1992). The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ancient India and Iran Trust. p. 56. ISBN 9780951839911.
- ^ André-Salvini, Béatrice (2005). Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24731-4.
- ^ (Fussman, 1993, p. 84).[full citation needed] "This is inferred from the fact that Gandhara (OPers. Gandāra) is already mentioned at Bisotun, while the toponym Hinduš (Sindhu) is added only in later inscriptions."
- ^ Briant, Pierre (2002-07-21). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-1-57506-574-8.