---
title: Opening the Way to India
author: Sanujit
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/202/opening-the-way-to-india/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2026-01-27
---
# Opening the Way to India
_Authored by [Sanujit](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/Sanujit/)_
Possibly being overjoyed by the tales of mythical exploits of Heracles, [Semiramis](https://www.worldhistory.org/Semiramis/), the fabled queen of [Assyria](https://www.worldhistory.org/assyria/), [Cyrus](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Cyrus/), King of [Persia](https://www.worldhistory.org/Persia/) and so on, [Alexander the Great](https://www.worldhistory.org/Alexander_the_Great/) set out from the tiny kingdom of [Macedon](https://www.worldhistory.org/macedon/) for a daring adventure, unheard of in the entire civilized world. His [theatre](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/theatre/) of [war](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/War/) was vast, extending from out of the Danube River to beyond Indus in northwest [India](https://www.worldhistory.org/india/). If one takes the present-day geography into account, it included Asiatic [Turkey](https://www.worldhistory.org/Asia_Minor/), [Syria](https://www.worldhistory.org/syria/), [Palestine](https://www.worldhistory.org/palestine/), half of [Egypt](https://www.worldhistory.org/egypt/), Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and southern Turkistan – in all about 2,000,000 square miles with an estimated 50,000,000 people during [Alexander](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Alexander/)'s time. It covered every type of terrain: fertile plains, arid deserts, vast mountain ranges and great rivers. Besides the vast army under Alexander's veteran commanders, there were historians, botanists, geographers, [medicine](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/medicine/) professionals – in short scholars of almost every description travelling alongside. They left behind a vast store of information of what they saw and heard in the strange lands in the course of their journeys.
For the first time the sea routes got busy and the merchants began to trail with a variety of goods unknown to [Europe](https://www.worldhistory.org/europe/) until then. To cite just one example, the merchants and seamen of [Roman Egypt](https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Egypt/) knew India well and there survives a remarkable seaman's guide, compiled in [Greece](https://www.worldhistory.org/greece/) by an anonymous author towards the end of the first century AD, known by the title The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. Drawing upon this text, [Ptolemy](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Ptolemy/)'s Geography of the following century appeared on the scene. In this one reads of Indian fortune-tellers, conjurers and prostitutes in [Rome](https://www.worldhistory.org/Rome/), while mahouts often accompanied the elephants to the West. There are records of several ambassadors from Indian kings to the Caesars. The earliest of these is said by Strabo to have been sent by the king of the Pandyas, and was met by [Augustus](https://www.worldhistory.org/augustus/) at [Athens](https://www.worldhistory.org/Athens/) in about 20 BC. This mission included an Indian ascetic called Zarmanochegas (Śramaņācarya in [Sanskrit](https://www.worldhistory.org/Sanskrit/)) who, growing tired of a life of earthly bondage, burnt himself to [death](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Death/) in Athens.
[  Hellenistic Trade Routes, 300 BCE Jan van der Crabben (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/67/hellenistic-trade-routes-300-bce/ "Hellenistic Trade Routes, 300 BCE")The main items sought after were, of course, spices, perfumes, jewels and fine textiles. Other high-profile [trade](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/trade/) items were live animals and birds, elephants, lions, tigers and buffalos for the wild beast shows of the [Roman](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Roman/) emperors. These large animals went overland through the desert [city](https://www.worldhistory.org/city/) of Palmyra. Smaller animals and birds went overseas in larger quantities as pets of wealthy Roman ladies. Emperor [Claudius](https://www.worldhistory.org/claudius/) succeeded in obtaining from India a specimen of the fabulous phoenix, probably a golden pheasant, one of the loveliest of Indian birds.
Beginning with [Arrian](https://www.worldhistory.org/Arrian/) and proceeding through all the biographers, historians, and scholars, even to modern times with Sir William Tarn, all affirm that Alexander the Great stood at the crossroads of history between Asia and Europe. A new dawn in the civilized world began with political, commercial, and cultural cross-fertilization across the continents. Between his time and the middle of the fifteenth century AD, when [Vasco da Gama](https://www.worldhistory.org/Vasco_da_Gama/) ventured out to sail to the western coast of India, Alexander's influence on every walk of life continued to hold its sway – an unbroken period of eighteen [hundred years](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Hundred_Years/). Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. As truly great as de Gama was, he owed his opportunity for success, finally, to the exploits of Alexander in opening the way to India.
#### Editorial Review
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## Bibliography
- [A.L. Basham. *Wonder That Was India.* Picador, 2005.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/033043909X/)
## Cite This Work
### APA
Sanujit. (2011, January 12). Opening the Way to India. *World History Encyclopedia*.
### Chicago
Sanujit. "Opening the Way to India." *World History Encyclopedia*, January 12, 2011. .
### MLA
Sanujit. "Opening the Way to India." *World History Encyclopedia*, 12 Jan 2011, .
## License & Copyright
Submitted by [Sanujit](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/Sanujit/ "User Page: Sanujit"), published on 12 January 2011. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.