Question

Megasthenes was the ambassador of ____________.

Answer 1

Hint: Megasthenes (350-290 B.C.) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and explorer in the Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic king who sent Megasthenes as an ambassador to the court of King Chandragupta Maurya in India was a Greek general before assuming the title of basileus (king).

Complete answer:
Megasthenes (350-290 B.C.) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and explorer in the Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic period spans between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and the emergence of the Roman empire, which was the period of Mediterranean history. Megasthenes was the first person to describe ancient India, and hence he has been called “the father of Indian history.

Megasthenes was a Greek ambassador of Seleucus I Nicator in the court of King Chandragupta Maurya. Seleucus I, the Hellenistic king, sent Megasthenes as an ambassador to the court of King Chandragupta Maurya in India. He visited India during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, but his exact date of visit and duration of stay in India is uncertain. He compiled all the information regarding India in the form of a book named ‘Indika’, an account of India, which is now a lost book but survives in the form of quotations by the later writers. He gave the most complete account of India that was then known to the Greek world and became the source for work by the later historians Diodorus, Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian. He described India's culture, history and religion that formed the basis of Western knowledge about India.

Thus, Megasthenes was the ambassador of Seleucus I Nicator.

Note: Among the ancient writers, Arrian (2nd century CE) is the only one who speaks well of Megasthenes. Diodorus (1st century BCE) was an ancient Greek historian who quoted Megasthenes by removing some parts of his narratives. Other writers openly criticize Megasthenes, for example- Eratosthenes (2nd century BCE) although he borrowed much of his content about India from Megasthenes, accused Megasthenes of engaging in falsehood.