THEME: Hellenistic diplomacy THEME SETTING UP SELEUCID-MAURYAN RELATIONS
After the death of Alexander the Great, his empire was carved up by his generals. Within two decades, they took the royal title and established their own dynasties. The competition between these successor states characterized the Hellenistic period. Seleucus, a Macedonian general who carved an empire out of Alexander's Asian territories, had to balance his relations with his Macedonian rivals with a new power rising in India - the Mauryan Empire.
Seleucus and Chandragupta
One pivotal moment in Seleucus’ reign occurred in the final years of the fourth century, when he led an expedition to India. India, too, had changed since Alexander’s day. His foe-turned-ally, Porus, disappears from the historical record in the 310s as a new power came to dominate the Indian subcontinent, the Mauryan Empire. Founded by Chandragupta in the late 320s, the Mauryans spread southwards and westwards from Pataliputra (modern Patna; known as Palimbothra in the Greek sources), reaching the Indus Valley where they encountered the Macedonians. It is hard to know what had happened in this frontier zone since Alexander had left, which makes it hard to understand Seleucus’ motivations for his Indian expedition. It is easy to assume that this was a war of aggression, an attempt to follow in Alexander’s footsteps and to separate himself from his Mediterranean rivals by portraying himself as a conqueror of the east. However, Mauryan expansion means that this may have been a defensive
