{{Short description|Ruler of Taxila from 326 to 316 BCE}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2016}} {{use Indian English|date=February 2016}} {{redirect|Taxilas||Taxila (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox royalty | name = Taxiles | image = Taxiles offering presents to Alexander.jpg | caption = Ambhi offering presents to Alexander the Great | succession = King of Taxila | reign = c. 326–316 BCE<ref name="Majumdar1953">{{cite book |last=Majumdar |first=R.C. |title=The History and Culture of the Indian People |volume=2 |year=1953 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |location=Mumbai |pages=xx-xx}}</ref><ref name="Bosworth2002">{{cite book |last=Bosworth |first=A.B. |title=The Legacy of Alexander |year=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-815306-6 |pages=xx-xx}}</ref> | coronation = | predecessor = | successor = | birth_date = | birth_name = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | father = | mother = | spouse = | issue = }}
'''Taxiles''' or '''Taxilas''' ({{langx|grc|Tαξίλης, Taxílēs or Ταξίλας, Taxílas}}; {{reign|326|316 BCE}}) was the Greek chroniclers' name for the ruler who reigned over the tract between the Indus and the Jhelum (Hydaspes) Rivers in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander the Great's expedition. His real name may have been '''Ambhi''' (Greek: '''Omphis'''), and the Greeks appear to have called him Taxiles or Taxilas, after the name of his capital city of Taxila, near the modern city of Attock, Pakistan.<ref name="Heckel2002">{{cite book |author=Waldemar Heckel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DO6QMPLRiEUC&pg=PA48 |title=The Wars of Alexander the Great, 336-323 B.C. |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-415-96855-3 |pages=48}}</ref><ref name="Diodorus_17_86">Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Diod.+17.86.1 xvii. 86]</ref><ref>Curtius Rufus, ''Historiae Alexandri Magni'', [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/quintecurce/huit.htm viii. 12]</ref>
==Life==
Ambhi ascended to throne of Takshasila.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=55}} He sent an embassy to Alexander along with presents consisting of 200 Talents of silver, 3,000 fat oxen and 10,000 sheep or more (both are estimated around 600 talents of silver), a force of 700 horsemen and offered for surrender.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=55}} He appears to have been on hostile terms with his neighbour, Porus, who held the territories east of the Hydaspes.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=46}}<ref name="KenoyerHeuston2005">{{citation | author=Jonathan Mark Kenoyer | author2=Kimberly Burton Heuston | title=The Ancient South Asian World | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CjvF88iEE8C&pg=PA110 | date=1 October 2005 | publisher=Oxford University Press | isbn=978-0-19-522243-2 | page=110 }}</ref> It was probably with a view to strengthening himself against this foe that he sent an embassy to Alexander, while the latter was still in Sogdiana, with offers of assistance and support, perhaps in return for money.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=46}} [[File:Meeting of Porus and Taxiles.jpg|thumb|''Meeting of king Porus and king Ambhi'', a 20th century artist's imagination.]] Alexander was cautious by the sight of Ambhi's forces on his first descent into India in 327 BC and ordered his own forces to form up.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=56}} Ambhi hastened to relieve Alexander of his apprehension and met him with valuable presents, placing himself and all his forces at his disposal.{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=56}} Alexander not only returned Ambhi his title and the gifts but he also presented him with a wardrobe of "Persian robes, gold and silver ornaments, 30 horses and 1000 talents in gold".{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=56}}{{sfn|Sastri|1988|p=36}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |date=2004 |title=Alexander the Great |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxyz0v9T74sC&pg=PA99 |page=99 |publisher=Haus Publishing}}</ref> Alexander was emboldened to divide his forces, and Ambhi assisted Hephaestion and Perdiccas in constructing a bridge over the Indus where it bends at Hund (Fox 1973), supplied their troops with provisions, and received Alexander himself, and his whole army, in his capital city of Taxila, with every demonstration of friendship and the most liberal hospitality.<ref>Arrian, ''Anabasis Alexandri'', [http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book4a.asp iv. 12], [http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book5a.asp v. 3, 8]</ref><ref name="Curtius_huit">Curtius, [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/quintecurce/huit.htm viii. 14], [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/quintecurce/neuf.htm ix. 3]</ref><ref name="Diodorus_17_86"/><ref>Plutarch, ''Parallel Lives'', "Alexander", [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Caes.+59.1 59], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Caes.+65.1 65]</ref>
On the subsequent advance of the Macedonian king, Taxiles accompanied him with a force of 5000 men and took part in the Battle of the Hydaspes.
Later Eudemus took over Taxila briefly, after which Chandragupta Maurya conquered Alexander's satraps in the Indian subcontinent by 317 BC.
==See also== * Abisares * Cleophis * Pushkarasarin
==References== {{Reflist}} * Robin Lane Fox, 1973. ''Alexander the Great'', Chapters 24 ff * {{citation |editor-last=Sastri |editor-first=K. A. Nilakanta |editor-link=K. A. Nilakanta Sastri |title=Age of the Nandas and Mauryas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoAwor58utYC |date=1988 |orig-year=1967 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=81-208-0465-1 |edition=Second }} * Smith, William (editor) 1867. ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130102011643/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3318.html "Taxiles (1)"]}}, (Boston) * {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Taxiles |encyclopedia=Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft |url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Taxiles |last=Stein |first=Otto |volume=V A,1 |pages=78–85}}
{{DGRBM |title=Taxiles |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=taxiles-bio-1 |author=WS}}
Category:Taxila Tehsil Category:Satraps of the Alexandrian Empire Category:4th-century BC Indian monarchs Category:4th-century BC births Category:Kings of Gandhara