ABSTRACT
This chapter no longer concerns the Greeks living in India, but the Greeks who lived in the Mediterranean world. Two sources, which will be discussed here, namely Philostratus’ Vita Apollonii and Bardaisan’s Ἰνδικά are dated to the time long after the fall of the Indo-Greek kingdom, and therefore they do not constitute a primary object of study but concern the aftermath of the direct Greco-Buddhist relations. Both these works were written in the third century AD, but Vita Apollonii supposedly concerns earlier times, namely the first century AD. However, as will be shown, the state of knowledge about India represented in this work relates rather to the times of Philostratus than of Apollonius. Thus, these works are analysed for the presentation of the image of India in the eyes of the Greeks in the third century AD. Particularly valuable is the account of Bardaisan, who most probably got a first-hand information about India and a Buddhist Order.
