ABSTRACT
For Alexander and his contemporaries, India was the land of the Indus and its tributaries. The Macedonian army marched towards the plain of the Indus down the valley of the Cophen, and it was there that Alexander split it in two. Hephaestion and Perdiccas were given command of one half of the army and all of the mercenaries. Alexander led the other half of the army, which included the hypaspists and valuable Agrianians, and marched through the Bajaur and Swat regions, which were north of the river. As Alexander continued his march into the Kunar Valley and beyond into Banjaur, in early 326, the natives fled before him into the mountains. Aornus was connected with the Indian deity Krishna, whose counterpart in Greek mythology was Heracles. Within a year, however, the Assaceni revolted, which showed that the Indians too would seize the first chance to oust the Macedonian presence.
