1. A Greek writer, to whom the subsequent Greek writers were chiefly indebted for their
accounts of India. Megasthenes was a friend and companion of Seleucus Nicator (Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 305d), and was sent by that monarch as ambassador to
Sandracottus, king of the Prasii, whose capital was Palibothra, a town, probably, near the
confluence of the Ganges and Sone in the neighbourhood of the modern Patna. * Sandracottus is called Chandragupta in the Sanscrit writers and his capital
Pâtaliptra. (Strab. ii. p.70, xv. p. 702;
Arrian, Arr. Anab. 5.6, Ind. 5; Plin. Nat. 6.17. s.21.) We know nothing more respecting the
personal history of Megasthenes, except the statement of Arrian (Anab.
l.c.), that he lived with Sibyrtius, the satrap of Arachosia, who obtained the satrapies
of Arachosia and Gedrosia, in B. C. 323. (Diod.
18.3.) Whether Megasthenes accompanied Alexander or not in his invasion of India, is uncertain. The time at which he was sent
to Sandracottus, and the reason for which he was sent, are also equally uncertain. Clinton
(Fasti Hell. vol. iii. p. 482, note z) places the embassy a little
before B. C. 302, since it was about this time that Seleucus
concluded an alliance with Sandracottus ; but it is no where stated that it was through the
means of Megasthenes that the alliance was concluded ; and as the latter resided some time at
the court of Sandracottus, he may have been sent into India at a subsequent period. Since,
however, Sandracottus died in B. C. 288, the mission of Megasthenes
must be placed previous to that year. We have more certain information respecting the parts of
India which Megasthenes visited. He entered the country through the district of the
Pentapotamia, of the rivers of which he gave a full account (Arrian, Ind.
cc. 4, 8, &c.), and proceeded thence by the royal road to Palibothra, but appears not to
have visited any other parts of India. (Comp. Strab. xv.
p.689.) Most modern writers, from the time of Robertson, have supposed, from a passage
of Arrian (πολλάκις δὲ λέγει (Μεγασθένης) ἀφικέσθαι παρὰ Σανδράκοττον τὸν
Ἰνδῶν Βασιλέα, Anab. 5.6), that Megasthenes paid several
visits to India, but since neither Megasthenes himself, nor any other writer, alludes to more
than one visit, these words may simply mean that he had several interviews with Sandracottus
during his residence in the country.
Works
τὰ Ἰνδικά
The work of Megasthenes was entitled
τὰ Ἰνδικά, and
was probably divided into four books (Athen. 4.153e.; Clem. Al. Strom. i. p. 305; Strab. xv. p.687; Joseph. c. Apion. 1.20, Ant. 10.11.1). It appears to have been written in the Attic dialect, and not in the
Ionic, as some modern writers have asserted; for in the passage of Eusebius (Euseb. Praep. Ev. 9.41), which has been quoted to prove
that Megasthenes employed the Ionic dialect, the quotation from Megasthenes concludes with
the word κατοικίσαι and the remaining words are an
extract from Abydenus (comp. Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. iii. p. 483,
note b.). Megasthenes is repeatedly referred to by Arrian, Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny. Of
these writers Arrian, on whose judgment most reliance is to be placed, speaks most highly of
Megasthenes (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 5.5, Ind.
7), but Strabo (ii. p.70) and Pliny (l.c.) treat him with less respect. Although his work contained many fabulous stories,
similar to those which we find in the Indica of Ctesias, yet these tales appear not to have
been fabrications of Megasthenes, but accounts which he received from the natives,
frequently containing, as modern writers have shown, real truth, though disguised by popular
legends and fancy. There is every reason for believing that Megasthenes gave a faithful
account of every thing that fell under his own observation; and the picture which he
presents of Indian manners and institutions is upon the whole more correct than might have
been expected.
Edition
Every thing that is known respecting Megasthenes and his work, is collected with
great diligence by Schwanbeck, in a treatise entitled "Megasthenis Indica. Fragmenta
collegit, commentationem et indices addidit E. A. Schwanbeck, Bonnae, 1846."