Greek kings ruled the Indus two centuries after Alexander
When Graeco-Bactrian Demetrius I pushed into India around 200 BC, Hellenistic states took root from Taxila to Sagala. Their coins mixed Greek and Indian scripts and gods; Menander I became the best-remembered king before Indo-Scythian invasions erased Greek rule around 10 AD.
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also called the Yavana Kingdom, names Hellenistic-era Greek polities across the northwestern Indian subcontinent—covering most of today's Pakistan, slices of northwestern India, and eastern Afghanistan. Known seats of power include Taxila, Sagala, Pushkalavati, and Bagram, while Ptolemy's geography and later royal names only hint at further towns such as a southern center linked to Theophilus. Demetrius I of Bactria opened the chapter by invading from Bactria around 200 BC, separating eastern Greeks into Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek spheres.
For roughly two centuries rulers blended Greek and Indian languages and symbols on coinage and fused ideas visible in archaeology. That cultural mix still echoes, especially through Buddhism's later visual language. Menander I, often simply "Menander," ruled from Sakala in the Punjab (today Sialkot); after his death most of his realm fragmented among successors including a distinct Menander II. Diffusion of this hybrid culture left traces still felt in later art and religious imagery.
Indo-Greek political power ended around 10 AD under Indo-Scythian pressure, though Greek communities likely lingered under Indo-Parthians, Kushans, and later Western Satraps. Greek authority in the northwest had older roots: Achaemenid conquest brought Greeks under Persian rule, and in 326 BC Alexander reached the Hyphasis, founding cities such as Bucephala before his army refused to march farther. The Indo-Greek experiment was thus a second, longer Hellenistic chapter on Indian soil, not a one-campaign occupation.
Source: Indo-Greek Kingdom
