L50 



V. A. Smith — Grieco-Boman influenct 



[No. 3, 



by the Greeks who ruled the country," as Sir A. Cunningham affirms 

 that it must have been, because, with the exception of coins, not a 

 vestige of Bactrian arc is known to exist, and we know nothing almost 

 about the Greeks who ruled the country beyond the names of some of 

 them. 



But, whoever introduced Greek art into India, so far as our present 

 knowledge extends, the Taxilan Ionic temples are certainly our oldest 

 specimens of Indo-Greek architecture, and the statuette of Athene, in 

 the same posture in which she is shown on the coins of Azes, is our 

 oldest Indo-Greek sculpture from the Gandhara region. Both the 

 temples and statuette must date approximately from the beginning of 

 the Christian era. 



It has been shown above (p. 112) that Greek art influenced Indian 

 sculpture and architectural decoration from the time of Asoka B. C. 

 250, and that more or less distinct traces of its influence may be traced 

 in the interior of India for several centuries afterwards. Greek ideas 

 reached India by at least two routes, namely, overland through Bactria, 

 and by sea through the ports of the western coast. 



The Athene and the Taxilan Ionic pillars are, I think, to be classed 

 among the results of this old and long-continued Hellenistic influence. 



The bases of the Ionic pillars at Taxila, according to the measure- 

 ments of their discoverer, correspond exactly with the pure Attic model, 

 as seen in the Erectheum. " The capitals differ from the usual Greek 

 forms very considerably, and more especially in the extreme height of 

 the abacus. The volutes also differ, but they present the same side 

 views of a baluster, which is common to all the Greek forms of the 

 Ionic order."* In other words, the pillars, though with peculiarities of 

 their own, are Greek, not Roman. The Roman modification of the 

 Ionic order was characterized by corner volutes. 



At the beginning of the Christian era Roman art, as will be exjdain- 

 cd presently, had not affected India, and the fact that the Taxilan Ionic 

 pillars are Greek, not Roman, in stylo, harmonizes perfectly with tho 

 numismatic evidence that they were erected soon after B. C. 30. 



So fur, then, as the Athene and tho Ionic pillars are concerned, it 

 must bo admitted that tho Gandhara sculptures go back to the be- 

 ginning of the Christian era, and A. D. 1 may be taken as the anterior 

 limiting date. Nothing older is known in tho Gandhara region. I 

 shall endeavour to prove subsequently that nothing else which has been 

 found there is nearly so old. 



I shall now try to fix the posterior limiting date, which Mr. Fergus- 



* Arohecol. Rep. Vol. V, p. 71, PI. XVIII. 



