Did India Influence Early Greek Philosophies?

Author(s): George P. Conger

Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jul., 1952), pp. 102-128
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
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GEORGE P. CONGER

DidIndiaInfluence
EarlyGreek
Philosophies
In the beliefthatthis intriguing
nestof
to
needs
I
in
be
some
months
re-examined,
India,
recently
problems
spent
in EuropeandAmerica.An adeGreece,andtheNearEastandin libraries
oftheproblems
wouldrequire
some
I offer
quatestudy
years.In thisreport
to
which
I
hesitate
call
but
at
which
serve
conclusions,
impressions
may
leastto statesomeof thequestions.
is madeto enumerate
No attempt
the
who
in
all
scholars
these
me
countries
welcomed
and
me.
I
kindly
helped
wouldbe gladtoreceive
further
criticisms
fromanyone
who
andsuggestions
at anypointwhereI mayhavefollowed
is interested-especially
thewrong
is herealmostentirely
confined
expert.It shouldbe notedthatconsideration
to
the
of
tophilosophers
Eastern
influences
prior Socrates; problems possible
on Plato and Aristotle
are too involvedforbrieftreatment,
and in the
Hellenistic
conditions
weredifferent
period,aftertheblazeof Alexander,
fromthoseoftheearlydays.
I
of thisquestion
It beginsto appearthattheolderdiscussions
havebeen
of
eitherhastyandsuperficial,
basedon inadequate
knowledge oneor more
or havebeentooexclusively
of thecultures
basedtoo
studied,
philological,
textual
available
evidence.
a
writer
the
exhibits
narrowly
upon
Occasionally
no
one
can
that
it
doubt
bothfaults.'As regards
has
its
indisphilology,
by
1Briefmentionof earlierworksin the fieldusuallyincludesthe veryloose comparisons
Sir WilliamJones,Works(London: G. G. and J. Robinson,1799), Vol. I, pp. 360 ff.,and
by H. Gladisch,Die Religionund die Philosophiein ihrerWeltgeschichtlichen
Entwicklung
(Breslau:F. Hirt,1852), and otherworks.Morecautiousaffirmative
opinionswereexpressed
by R. Garbe,Philosophyof AncientIndia (Chicago: Open Court,1899), pp. 32 ff.,52 ff.
These were counteredby the strongly
negativeopinionsof E. Zeller,Die Philosophieder
4thed. (Leipzig:Fues,R. Riesland,1870), Vol. I, pp. 28 ff.Zellerhasbeenfollowed
Griechen,
4th ed. (New York: The MacmillanCompany,1948),
by J. Burnet,EarlyGreekPhilosophy,
betweenIndia and the WesternWorldfromthe
pp. 15 ff. H. G. Rawlinson'sIntercourse
EarliestTimesto theFall of Rome (Cambridge:Cambridge
Press,1916) is valuable
University
in his paper in the volume
for background,
but some statements
about Greekphilosophies
The Legacyof India (Oxford:ClarendonPress,1937), pp. 4 ff.,need
editedby G. T. Garratt,
to be scrutinized.
For an extensive
see E. Zeller,La filosofia
dei Grecntranslated
bibliography,
by R. Mondolfo(Florence:La nuovaItalia,1932), Vol. I, Parte1, pp. 63-99.
102

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

103

to detecta commonAryan,
in attempts
pensableplace and value,particularly
Forourimmediate
or
Indo-Iranian
"Indo-German,"
heritage.
Indo-European,
textual
remains
state
of
the
the
imposesmarked
problem,however, present
it
is
limitations.The Indian textsare relativelyample,but
impossibleto
datethemwithsufficient
precision.The Greektextspriorto Plato can,with
butthematerialsareonly
theusualallowances,be datedwithsomeaccuracy,
from
The
both
texts
suffer
Iranian
defects-onlya fractionis
fragments.
and someof theimportant
datesare open to muchquestion.The
preserved,
texts
and
also well dated,butusuallytheyare
are
Egyptian
ample
relatively
eithertooearlyor too lateforourpurposes.
Unless someone
There remain,too,the formidable
linguisticdifficulties.
unearthsa whole Alexandrianlibrary,duly equippedwithRosettastones,
and translating
a dozen or morelanguages
the wearyworkof deciphering
mustgo on. With our presentknowledgethereare manyunsolvedquesand shiftsof opinion.Forexample,itwas once
controversies,
tions,unsettled
fora Greek "Yavana"-'IJFcov),"Ionian"that
the
Indian
word
thought
the
by echoing digamma,pointedto a timebeforetheuse of thatletterwas
discontinued,
i.e.,as earlyas the eighthcentury
B.C.2This,however,is now
other
for
and
the
term
are offered-forinstance,
questioned,
explanations
thatit is a falsereconstruction
and at all eventsthatit does notalwaysmean
"Greek."''3
When one thinksofthedifficulties,
he wondersif,evenwithEduardMeyer
and a galaxyof contemporary
therealexpertin thesethings
Frenchscholars,
has yetbeen born. Certainit is thatwhateverlightphilologycan throwon
theproblemsbeforeus can be considerably
enhancedbyotherconsiderations.
II
in a largersetting,
thenatural
The wholequestionneedsto be considered
of
human
affairs.
the
of
and
setting geography history, setting
one mustrecallthatin thisconnection
"India" meansless
Geographically
means
and "Greece"meansmorethanmodernusage indicates.The former
at mostthe regionof the Indus Riveror perhapsthe westerncoastof the
peninsula;the latterincludesthe Greek islandsand the coloniesin Asia
Minor, Egypt,Italy, and Sicily. The expression"Oriental influenceon
fromwhatwe now call theNear East.
Greece"oftenmeansonlyinfluence
BetweenIndia and the Greekworldthereweretwo principalavenuesof
2

between
Indiaandthe Western
See Rawlinson,
Intercourse
World,p. 20.
*See A. F.
derclassischen
Altertumswissenschaft
Pauly,G. Wissowa,W. Kroll,Realencyclopidie
(Stuttgart:
J. B. Metzlersche
Buchhandlung,
1916), Vol. IX, col. 1316; C. Lassen,Indische
Altertumskande
(Leipzig:L. A. Kittler,1867), Vol. I, p. 1034; P. Meile,in M9langesasiatiques
de la SocigtlAsiatique(Paris,1940-41), fasc.2, p. 123.

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104

GEORGE P. CONGER

One was by watervia the ArabianSea, thenby

possiblecommunication.
thePersianGulfor theRed Sea, and eventually
bylandto theMediterranean
or Aegean.The otherrouteran overland,throughthe Iranianplateauand
to different
theMesopotamianrivervalleysand thenby variousbranchings
via Arabiaon the
sectionsof the Mediterranean
coast. (Otherpossibilities
southand the Oxus Riverand Black Sea on the northare here leftout of
account.) Anyof the routesin ancienttimesrequireda long hardjourney
in the faceof forbidding
naturalconditions.Each was subjectto occasional
or
war
disruptions
by
piracy,but it appearsthat generallythe routes,at
or another,wereopen. By sea the littleshipscould
least by one makeshift
with
the
coast
the use of homingbirds,ventureoccasionallyout
or,
hug
of sightof the shores. Scylaxof Caryandra,
at the commandof Darius I,
about 516 B.C.,sailed down the Indus and aroundto Egypt,a voyageof
thirtymonths.4By land the caravanscould plod along, say twentymiles
per day,fromone haltingplace to another.When by any meansthe coast
of theMediterranean
was reached,therestwas relatively
easy. Greece,with
itsindentedcoastline,was naturally
adaptedforseafaring.The manyislands
on threesideswerelike steppingstonesand almostlike bridgesforancient
travelers.One does notneedto thinkof continuous
journeysbyadventurous
ofmilesand sustained
formonthaftermonth.
individuals,
coveringthousands
route
either
there
were
settlements
under
conditions,
where,
Along
ordinary
for
considerable
interwith
them
their
ideas,mighttarry
travelers,
bringing
vals beforepressingonward.
With or withoutbenefitof such haltingplaces,the numeroustraditions
visitedremoteregionsand eithergave or received
thatancientphilosophers
withconsiderablecare. The storiesare usually
to
ideas need be scrutinized
or
tendencies
currentin the daysof chroniclers
late and are likelyto reflect
who
or
At
not
careful
critical.
time
it
must
were
the
same
very
interpreters
wereinprinciplepossibleandthataccounts
thatsuchjourneys
be remembered
of themdid not seem utterlyabsurdto the originalwritersand readers.
I haveseentakesa fewofthestoriesseriously.5
Eventhemostincisivecriticism
The most strikingof the storiesis the one which Eusebius,quoting
ascribesto Aristoxenus.The storyhas it thata certainIndianat
Aristocles,
Athens,when he asked Socratesabout his philosophyand was told that
Socratesdiscussedhumanlife,answered,"How is it possibleto be sureabout
humanaffairsif one is ignorantof thingsdivine?"6The storyis usually
motivatedby some late criticism,
dismissedas improbableand apocryphal,
' Herodotus,
iv. 44.
Der Alte Orient,Beihefte4 (1925),
'T. Hopfner,"Orientund Griechische
Philosophie,"
8-27.
in
xi, 3, 8. The storyis criticized
by A. J. Festugiere
6Eusebius,Praeparatioevangelica,
CXXX (1945), 34 ff.
desreligions,
Revuede l'histoire

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

105

of thehumanistic
Socrates.It raisessomecomplicated
perhapsPythagorean,
the
First
Socrates
is made to saythathe who looks
In
Alcibiades,
questions.
at the divinepartof the soul and at thingsdivinewill be mostlikelyto
know himself.'This passage has been used to supportthe argumentthat
the FirstAlcibiadesis not by Plato,sbut is an attemptby a Platonistto
restatesome Platonicthesesand to defendSocratesagainstthe "Indian"
criticism
by makingknowledgeof the divinecrucialfortheproperconduct
of humanaffairs.Criticsof the storyoverlookwhat mighthave been its
is said to have been a friendof one of theyoungest
provenance;Aristoxenus
followersof Socratesand to have been eithera son or a contemporary
of
who is also said to have knownSocratespersonally.'As to the
Spintharus,
of the storyaboutthe Indian,one mayperhapssuspendfurther
authenticity
while
matters
discussedbelow.
judgment
considering
It is true that for a time the Greekshad theirsuperiority
complexas
to
have
but
the
seems
"barbarians,"
regards
prejudice
developedin the
classicalperiod,partlyas a reactionto the Persianwars. In theearlierdays
the youngand tentativecivilizationof Greecemusthave been powerfully
impressedby the much older civilizationsaroundit, by Egyptif not by
have magnified
the Greeks,somewhatas theyhave
Babylon. Our traditions
magnifiedthe Israelites,makingthemappear culturallymore independent
thanwe needto supposetheywereor couldhavebeen.
of Asia Minorthroughout
The history
millenniums
is a bewildering
mixtureof migrations,
and butcheries.Viewingit
invasions,wars,destructions,
end-on,as we do fromour more or less safe distance,one wondershow
therewas anythingleftfor the archaeologists
or historians.Destruction,
as
well
as
buries
the
havebeenable to recover
however,
burns; archaeologists
farmorethanmighthave been expected,and theend is notyet. The more
men declarethat archaeologyis in its infancy.Ancientwars,
progressive
violentas theywere,were culturalcatalysts;mercenary
troopson one side
and enslavedcaptiveson theotherhelpedin the diffusion
of ideas. Out of
thewelterof war occasionallya greatempirewas formedand,at leastfora
was given to the artsof peace. Babylonwas by no
time,encouragement
meansthe boorishmonsterwhichsome of our literature
suggests,and the
as a greatintermediary
LydianEmpirefromtheeighthto the sixthcentury,
betweentheOrientand theOccident,10
was apparently
attractive
to visitors.
Of prime importancewas the AchaemenianEmpire,beginningwith
7 Alcibiades I

133c.

8 J. Bidez,Eos

(Brussels:M. Hayez,1945), pp. 123 ff.

'K. von Fritz,PythagoreanPolitics in SouthernItaly (New York: Columbia UniversityPress,

1940),
p. 28.
:0

G. Radet, La Lydie et le monde grecque (Paris: Thorin et fils, 1893), p. 270; A. Rey,
La scienceorientaleavant les Grecques (Paris: A. Michel, 1942), p. 21.

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106

GEORGE P. CONGER

CyrusI, who capturedSardisin 546 B.C.and Babylonin 539, and continuing

untilits overthrowby Alexanderthe Great in 333. In its greatdays the
fromthe Indus to the Mediterempireof Darius I and Xerxes stretched
ranean.In thesculptures
on thestaircase
at Persepolis,
showingtheprocession
of representatives
of morethantwentynationsbringingtributeto theGreat
King, some emissarieswear the tunicof Ionia, some lead the two-humped
camelof Bactria,and somethehumpedbull of India. ExceptforMarathon
and the later battles,the empiremighthave includedGreece itself,as it
includedthe Greekcitiesof Ionia. Heraclituslived in the PersianEmpire,
Xenophaneswas bornthere,and therewereIndiansin thearmyof Xerxes."
and beliefs,
The generalpolicywas one of toleranceof local institutions
as long as therewere no revoltsand tributewas dulypaid. Fromearlier
timestherewas a roadof sortsfromIran to Sardis;theAchaemeniankings
made it the "Royal Road," a greathighwayformilitaryand commercial
and overtonesof culture.
purposeswiththeinevitableby-products
of
commercial
as revealedbyarchaeology,
The study
relations,
particularly
forour problem. There is now widespread
offerssome resultssignificant
that
from
remote
times
theancientnationstradedwithone another
agreement
muchmorethanhas usuallybeen supposed.We have ratedtoo highlythe
whichafterall were semi-permeable
mempoliticaland linguisticbarriers,
of recentyearshave been the indicabranes. Amongthe notablesurprises
tionsthatthe Indus Valley civilizationof about 2500 B.C. importedsome
of each area
articlesfromMesopotamia,and viceversa;objectscharacteristic
have been foundin theruinsof theother.In theAegeancopperage, down
to about 2400 B.C.,therewas livelytradein the Cyclades.'2 Creteseems
to have been an emporium.In fact,no greatcitylike Ninevehor Babylon
or
or Miletus could have grownup withoutcommerceborne indirectly
land
and
sea.
directly
by
A fewitemsof detailare like strawsshowingvariouswaysin whichthe
are said to have had
tradewindsblew. The Chaldeansin the ninthcentury
Greekcompetition
forced
an activetradewithIndia."3In theeighthcentury,
from
Phoenicians
the
even theroving
Assurbanipalin the
Mediterranean."4
seventhcenturyis said to have sent to India forthe "wool-bearing
tree,"
whichwe know as cotton."lAt about the same time rice was knownin
Mesopotamia."6In thatsame centuryPhrygiaand Lydiahad an extensive
' Herodotus,
vii. 65.
2
14thed. (1942), Vol. X, p. 754.
Britannica,
Encyclopaedia
of BabylonwithIndia,"Journalof theRoyalAsiaticSociety
"EarlyCommerce
13J. Kennedy,
of GreatBritainandIreland(1898), pp. 246 ff.
" Encyclopaedia
14thed.,Vol. X, p. 762.
Britannica,
' Rawlinson,
Indiaandthe Western
between
Intercourse
World,pp. 2 ff.
" R. C.
in Iraq,VI (1939), 182.
Thompson

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

107

tradewiththeEast.17In theruinsof Babylon,datingfromthesixthcentury,

the excavatorsfoundteak wood, presumablyfromIndia."s An inscription
of Darius I, now in the Louvre,saysthathe broughtwood fromtheHindu
Kush regionand ivoryfromAbyssiniaand India. Shipsof Darius are said
to have sailedfromtheNile throughtheRed Sea to Iran.'" A marbletorso,
Greek,was foundat Persepolisand is now in the Teheran
unmistakably
Museum.
By this timeEgypt,which for centurieshad been closed to foreigners,
had so farmodifiedits policyas to invitethe Greeksto make a settlement
in the Nile Delta. The importanttradingcenterNaucratis,significantly
to flourish
untilabout520 B.C.,
enough,was a colonyofMiletus.It continued
withtemplesto the Greekgods showingthatlifetherewas not withoutits
HerodotussaysthatfromNaucratistheGreeksweretransferred
intangibles.20
to Memphis.21 Fromthe fourthcenturytherewas a templeof Isis in the
Peiraeus.22Faure saysthatfrom620 to 525 the Greekscould go to India
freely.23
An indicationof widespreadGreek commerceappearsin the work of
Sir LeonardWooley at Al Mina in northern
Syria.Here was a commercial
portwiththe remainsof buildingsso stockedwithGreekpotterythatthe
inferenceis thattheywere warehouses.The dates assignedto the pottery
indicate,too, thatthe tradebetweenGreece and the East continuedright
throughtheperiodof the Persianwars.24 Rice was knownin Greecein the
timeof Sophocles;25
too,wereon Greektables
perhapspepperand mustard,
in thefifth
century.26
the physicalremainsof such comExceptforpotteryand its fragments,
was in perishable
mercearescanty.Doubtlessmuch,and perhapsmost,traffic
In
textiles.
and
one
notable
as
food
such
wines,
products,
respectthe
goods
of
indications
cultural
from
influences
the East;
potsherdsthemselvesgive
this,about 700 B.c., is the shiftin Greecefromthe earlygeometrical
type
to themoremobile"orientalized"
with
freer
ofdecoration
delineation
designs,
Historyof the AncientWorld (Oxford:ClarendonPress,1926), Vol. I,
1 M. Rostovtzef,
p. 193.
De LacyO'Leary,How GreekSciencePassedto theArabs (London: Routledgeand Kegan
XV (1941), 248.
Paul, 1948), p. 97. Cf.J.Horrell,"Sea Tradein EarlyTimes,"Antiquity,
GreekMariners(New York: OxfordUniversity
Press,1947), p. 176.
10W. W. Hyde,Ancient
H. G. Rawlinson,Historyof AncientEgypt(Boston: Cassino,Estesand Lauriat,1882),
Vol. II, pp. 480 ff.
' Herodotus,
ii. 154; butcf.D. H. Gordon,"The BuddhistOriginsof the'Sumerian'Heads
fromMemphis,"
Iraq,VI (1939), 37.
' P. Foucart,
Les
d'Eleusis(Paris:A. Picard,1914), p. 17.
' A. Faure, mystdres
et lespresocratiques
(Paris: Stock,1923), p. 21.
L'Agypte
J.
at Al Mina,"JournalofHellenicStudies,LVIII (1938), 13, 22.
SC. L. Wooley,"Excavations
' Kennedy,
op. cit.,p. 268.
" W. W. Tarn,
The Greeksin Bactriaand India (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
Press,
1938), pp. 365, 370.

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GEORGE P. CONGER

108

of animaland humanfigures.27It has been suggestedthatthe new designs

were adaptedfromimportedtextileswhichare now lost.
To trace commercebetweenancientnationsone need not depend alon materialculturelaid barein archaeology;
instances
thenumerous
together
knownin comparative
philologyin whichforeignwordsforvariousarticles
in
out
after
language
languageindicatethatthe articlesthusnamed
crop
came withthe words. No attemptcan be made hereto go intothe details
and the controversies,
but sometimesome superphilologist
should bring
in
of
into
which
one
or
thevarious
the
words
another
one
together
picture
for
for
almonds,aloes, apes, beryll,camphor,
languagesstand,
example,
carpets,cassia, chicory,ginger,ivory,myrrh,pepper,rice,tin, and other
things.A specialcase appearsin the wordfora kindof woolen mantle.28
and philologyalike,one mustadmitthat
Beyondthedata of archaeology
withor withoutdocuments,
variousarticlesof merchandise,
are oftennot
and maywell cometrailingideaswiththem.We may
lackingin suggestion
if
doubt
always
highlydevelopedtheoriesabout the world are accurately
men along the traderoutes,but stories,legends,
transmitted
untrained
by
and mythspass currenteverywhere;
Scythiannomads,Phoeniciansailors
and peasants
(fromthenationwhichinventedthealphabet),cameldrivers,
of all landsand timeshave had a kindof giftof tongues.Garbledideasand
to findlodgmentin mindscapable
suggestions
rudimentary
easilyslipthrough
of developingthem.

III
thatIndia,Iran,and Greecehad a commonheritagefrom
It is understood
Aryandays,althoughjust whatthe heritagewas and how it came to them
are difficult
questions.At all eventswe mayinferthatsomewhereback in
therewas a primevalstage in which the cosmoswas
human prehistory
as
regarded vaguelyalive and as moreor less similarto man'sbody,or conor mind,or thought,or word,or rightaction. Insteadof mere
sciousness,
thegods of polytheism
mayhave been so manycrystallizations,
projections,
within
and
dissolved
sucha matrix.The godsareregarded
formed
alternately
and sooneror lateras
as being,or beinglike,naturalobjectsand processes,
food
substances
or symbols,
or
figures,
being, being like,animals,fertility
ancestors,and heroes. Sometimestheyembodyor reflectethicalideals or
what laterbecomelogical principles.When the curtainbeginsto risefor
seem to exhibitsome of thesecharacteristics.
The
us, the Aryantraditions

" D. Beazleyand D. S. Robertson

in Cambridge
AncientHistory(New York: The MacJ.
Vol. IV, pp. 582 ff.
millanCompany,
1926),
'
"L'Influenced'Iran en Grece et dans l'Inde," Revue de l'Universitede
J. Przyluski,
XXXVII (1932), 284.
Bruxelles,

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

109

heritagein East and West is plainestin the name of the skygod Dyaus
Pitar- Zeus Pater- Jupiter;thereare a fewotherindications
of common
ancestralcultureand institutions.
For our problemsthesedata may work
eitherway--on the one hand, makinglater culturaltransmissions
easier,
and, on the otherhand,makingthemunnecessary.It is easierto discern
commonelementsfortheIndo-Iranian
groupthanforthelesscloselyrelated
Indo-European
familyas a whole. It beginsto be clearthattheIndiansand
Iranianshad in common,forexample,the gods Mitraand Yama, the use
of the sacredplant haoma,or soma,and some dualitybetweenright(rta,
of a commonsocietal
arta) and wrong(drubh,
druj).29 Dumezil'sdetection
in variousmythologies
structure
reflected
appliesto India and Iran,although
it is moreevidentin Rome thanin Greecebeforethe timeof Plato."3

IV
In such a quest as this,one mustfollowvarioustrails,not all of which
yield appreciablereturn.For instance,the law codes of ancientpeoples
exhibitcountlesssimilarities,
but it is a questionwhethermuch is to be
gained here by comparisons.In any earlysocietythereare only about so
manyrulesto observeand onlyaboutso manycrimeswhichmarkinfractions
of therules. It is notstrangeifmanyor all primitive
peoplesarriveat pretty
muchthe samestandards.Only an occasionalpeculiarity
needbe noticed-for a well-knownexample,the factthatthe Buddhists,
and
Pythagoreans,
all
forbade
the
of
beans.
eating
Empedocles"1
to showthatthestylesof earlyarchitecture
Efforts
and sculpture
of India,
Iran, Assyria,Egypt,and Greeceare variouslyintertwined
may offersome
forour study,butnow seemto yieldlittleindicationof possible
suggestions
communication.Somebodyhad to learn to substitutestone columnsfor
treetrunksin supportof a roof,and perhapssomeGreekfirstsaw thedevice
in Egyptor elsewhere.Egypt'stechniquesof stoneworkmay have helped
the Greeks,32
and elementsof ornamentation
maywell have been adopted
fromothercultures.But theflutings
of a columnor thevolutesof a capital,
even if theycould speak with Ionic clarity,mightnot conveyany great
ideas. The famousGandhdrasculptures,
with theirGreek or Roman inare
several
centuries
too
recent
for
ourstudy.
fluence, by
It is plausibleto supposethatthe traditions
of ancientIndian medicine,

"
Zoroastre(Paris: Maisonneuve
et Cie, 1948), pp. 62 ff.
Duchesne-Guillemin,
* J.
See G. Dumezil,L'hUritage
~aRome (Paris: Gallimard,1949).
indo-europen
81H.Diels, ed. W. Kranz,Die Fragmente
der Vorsokratiker,
6thed. (Berlin:Wiedmannsche
B 141. Diels's fragments
Verlagsbuchhandlung,
1951), Vol. I, p. 368, Empedocles
are hereafter
citedbyauthors'names,withletters
and numbers.
a See H. Frankfort,
Seals (London:The Macmillan
Cylinder
Company,
1939), p. 308.

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GEORGE P. CONGER

110

on Greekmedicine.33
olderthantheextanttexts,wereof someinfluence
As to otherbranches
ofscience,
it appearsthatin ancient
India,muchmore
of religious
rituals.We shall
was an accessory
thanin Greece,cosmology
andthemicrocosm,
seethata fewideas,likethoseoftheelements
mayhave
and
lostor crossed
andexported,
butthelinesarenoweither
beendetached
cannotbe clearly
traced.
Greekphilosophies,
there
Whatever
mayhavebeenthecaseas regards
on theGreekreligion
or religions.It is
influences
is no doubtof foreign
thatthe namesforthe Greekgods camefromforeign
an old tradition
to havebeen
of Eleusisappearat thisdistance
andthemysteries
sources,34
The Aristotelian
an amalgamofold cultsfromthenorth,
east,andsouth."3
to
not
do
did
of
the
justice theirreligious
pre-Socratics
interpretation
are
the
In
all
these
countries
religions so closelyrelatedto the
interests.3"
below.
thatweleavethemforconsideration
philosophies
aretheworksof thepoets.No
Also closelyrelatedto thephilosophies
Indianor Iraniansecularpoetis earlyenoughor wellenoughknownto be
ofhelptous,andmostoftheearlypoetsofIoniaandtheCyclades,
although
to
unusual
or
add
little
as
traveled
well
have
nothing
sang,
they
theymay
ourideas.
or nothe was"synthetic,"
andwhether
Aboveall Greekpoets,however,
weknowas Homer.Someofhim,at least,appearstohave
thefigure
towers
or fromChios,on or justofftheIoniancoast.
comeeitherfromSmyrna
ofanyregionoutside
known
have
little
He seemsto
Ionia,buthe knewtin
His "Eastern
andothermerchandise
Ethiopians"
may
bySanskrit
names.37
olderthanthebrilliant
havebeenIndians.3In hispoemstherearestrands
someof themseemto reachbackto Indo-European
days.His
Olympians;
is a materialcontinuum,
alive and divine,
to Cornford,
according
IOvbo-tg,
of Greek
outof whichthedivinities
substance
withtheprimitive
identical
that
the
Homeric
finds
divine
Hack
took
powersare not
religion
shape.3"
or personal.Fear,terror,
war,strife,
prayer,
necessarily
anthropomorphic
The name"Zeus" is
and justiceappearas divinities.
the Graces,rumor,
usedin severalsenses,withdifferent
degreesand shadesof meaning.The
I
grecs,"
J. Filliozat,"Le sommeilet les revesselonles medecinsindienset les physiologues
XL (1947), 338, 346. Cf. E. Benveniste,
"'La doctrinem'dicaledes
Journalde psychologie,

indoeurop6ens,"Revue de l'histoiredes religions,CXXX (1945), 5 If.

8 Herodotus,
ii. 43, 49, 50; Foucart,
op. cit.,p. 18.

35Cf.ibid.,Chap.IX.
Aristotle'sCriticismof the Pre-SocraticPhilosophy (Baltimore: JohnsHopkins
8 H. Cherniss,
Press, 1935), p. 374; W. Jaeger,The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers (Oxford:

citedas Theology.
Clarendon
Press,1947). The latterworkis hereafter
14thed., Vol. XII, p. 185. See R. M. Cook,"Ionia and Greece
Britannica,
7Encyclopaedia
in the Eighth and SeventhCenturiesB.C.," Journalof Hellenic Studies,LXVI (1946), 86.
India and the WesternWorld, pp. 18 ff.
8 Odysseyi. 23 ff.;Rawlinson,Intercoursebetween
134.

to Philosophy(London:E. Arnold,1912), pp. x,

FromReligion
9 F. M. Cornford,

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

111

reservoirof divinepower may manifestitselfas impersonalMoira or as

personaldeities.40 All this servesto recall the incompletepersonifications
of theRg Veda; therealso,in thedawnthegodsare forming.In Hinduism
to thisday the variousdeitiesare manifestations
of the one Brahman,and
theword"Brahman,"liketheGreekword h50o-tg,
stemsfroma rootmeaning
"to grow."41 Jaegersaysthatin Homer thereis a deep senseof harmony
betweenman and nature;one greatrhythm
themovingwhole.42
penetrates
Hesiod'sfatherwas fromCymein Asia Minor;he himselflivedin Boeotia,
never far fromthe sea which framedthe islands and on its otherside
mentionthe Nile, Nineveh,the
washed the Asian coast. His fragments
thatHesiod'sgloomyoutand
the
one
No
supposes
Scythians,
Ethiopians.43
for
look reflectsanythingOriental; oppressionand poverty,particularly
and may even suggestcontrastsbetweenconpeasants,are everywhere,
and
and gradations
of ages of history,
past
temporary
history.Enumerations
has
are
while
more
Hesiod
India
and Iran stop
five,
however,
significant;
withfour.44
As in theRg Veda and theHomericpoems,Hesiod'stheogonyis peopled
in part with shadowyabstractions,
manyof themcertainly
pre-Hellenic.45
His gods arose fromthe elements"4;he could see divinepersonalitiesin
physicalforces.47Fromthe confusedmedleyof mythhe broughttogether
into somethinglike a systemthe old storiesof gods and goddesses,with
theirnumerousoffspring
and battles. It is not clear thathis Cronus,the
son who rebelledagainstZeus, was Chronos,Time48;it is somewhatmore
likelythatChronosas Time appearsin the Greek world in the workof
Pherecydes.Cornforddetectsin Hesiod the convictionof a magicalsymwhichat aboutthistimewas
pathybetweenman and nature49-something
being ritualizedand exaggeratedin the Hindu Brdhmanas,but no one
supposesthattherewas anyconnection.
Along with the poets,some of the "tsevensages" should be examined.
When we stop to look at it, Solon's "Know thyself"standsout rather
againstthe older Greekinterestin myths,on the one hand,and
strangely
' R. K.
to theTime of Socrates(Princeton:Princeton
Hack,God in GreekPhilosophy
UniPress,1931), pp. 6, 8, 10, 13,35.
versity
"See S. Radhakrishnan,
IndianPhilosophy,
Vol. I (New York: The MacmillanCompany,
1922), p. 163, n. 1.
SW. Jaeger,
Press,1945), Vol. I, p. 50.
Paideia(New York: OxfordUniversity
*
Cook, loc. cit.

" R. Reitzenstein
and H. Schaeder,
StudienzumantikenSynkretismus
aus Iranund GriechenStudiender Bibliothek
land,
Warburg,Vol. VII (Leipzigand Berlin:Teubner,1926), p. 65.
* OxfordClassical
Dictionary
(Oxford:OxfordUniversity
Press,1949), p. 670.
" Cornford,
op. cit.,p. 39.
' Jaeger,
Theology,
p. 12.
11thed. (1910), Vol. XXIV, p. 231; Jaeger,
8 Encyclopaedia
Britannica,
Theology,
pp. 68,
220, n. 62.
' Cornford,
170.
op. cit.,p.

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112

GEORGE P. CONGER

the newerinterest
in nature,on the other.Is thegreatmaximto be understoodin the lightof the age-longIndian emphasison the innerlife? Did
Solon,even if he did not see Croesusat Sardis,makecontactthereor elsefromIndia?
wherewithsomevagranttradition
from
of
the
island
of Thales and
Pherecydes,
Syros,was a contemporary
lived at Athens. Like Thales, he is creditedwith the view that the first
is water,50
but to a greaterdegreethan Thales he
principleof everything
is stillwithintheage ofmyth.In histheogony,
Time (Chronos),alongwith
Zas (Zeus) and Chthonie(GE, Earth), existedalways.5"Damasciusin the
sixthcenturyA.D. reportsthat Pherecydesmade Time the parentof fire,
earth,and water; fromsuch elementsvariousgods originatedand were
in a five-chambered
distributed
world.52
These and otherpassagesmaypointin variousdirections.Egypt,at least
at a later date, correlatedthe elementsand the gods."3 The Chsandogya
of a five-fold
Upanisad has a detaileddescription
world.54In Iran, five
elementswerethoughtof as unitedin Zarvan,or Time,55although,again,
the Iraniandoctrinemaybe later. In Pherecydes,
too,the notionsof Time
a fragment
whichcomesfromCelsusvia Origenmakes
are not consistent;
Chronostheleaderof an armyin an old war betweengods or titans."
At his weddingwithChthonie,says Pherecydes,
Zeus presentsher with
a robe whichhe has woven. The robe is presumably
the phenomenalapof
In
the
is
also
there
an
obscurereference
same
fragment
pearance things.
to an allegoryof a wingedoak on whichtheembroidered
robewas hung.57
FreemanthinksthatPherecydes'
mentionof titansand the robe showsthe
influenceof Orphism,58whichis traditionally
moreor less associatedwith
hiscareer.
Diels's thirdfragment
comesfromProclus,perhapsa thousandyearsafter
it containsthegermsof severaldoctrines
ifit is authentic
which
Pherecydes;
made laterphilosophersfamous. It saysthatZeus, when about to create,
changedinto Eros,becauseby combiningthe cosmosout of oppositeshe
and love,and sowedlikenessin all and unityextendbroughtit intoharmony
This
all
is hardlyan Iraniandualism,althoughit is an
ing through things.
instanceof the widespreaddoctrinesconcerning
oppositeswhichappearin
the Greekworld,perhapsaboutthe timeof Zoroaster.On theotherhand,
* Ibid.,B 1.
' Diels,Pherecydes
B la.
5 Ibid.,A 8.
" Reitzenstein
and Schaeder,
75.
cit.,
op.
p.
"
ChindogyaUpanisadII. 2-7.
in ihrerBedeutung
die Gegenwart
1Wilhelm Nestle, GriechischeWeltanschauung
fir
81.
HeinrichF. C. Hannsmann,
1946),
p.
(Stuttgart:
" Diels,B 4.
MIbid., B 2.
" K. Freeman,
The Pre-Socratic
Press,1946),
(Cambridge:HarvardUniversity
Philosophers
pp. 39 ff.

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

113

if it is authentic,
it showsthatlaterpre-Socratics
did notneedto look outside
of someof theircardinalteachings.
the Greekheritageforsuggestions
Hesiod and Pherecydesare on the thresholdbetweenmythology
and
philosophy.Shadowyfiguresfloatin theirworld,a worldwhichis as yet
hardlyanalyzedbut is beginningto be anatomized.And thereis a traceof
empiricalcaution-if, as Diogenes tells us, Pherecydesin his "Letterto
Thales" reallywrotethathe did notclaimto have arrivedat thetruth.
It is oftenheld thatOrientalinfluences
on Greeceare to be seen in the
doctrinesand practicesof the Orphics;the usual argumentis thatOrphism
is so "non-Greek"thatit musthave come fromoutside,and thatit has so
manyfeaturesin commonwithOrientalfaithsand cultsthatit musthave
come fromthatdirection.59
Probablyit came well beforethe sixthcentury
its
cultintoGreeceand blending
mythsand mystery
B.c., bringing theogonic
withmythsand mysteries
alreadythere. It can be tracedback withsome
confidence
to the forestsof Thrace and fromthere,allowingformodifications,eastwardas faras Phrygia.In bothplaces it was coarseand orgiastic.
The Greeksapparentlyrefinedit, abandoningits moregruesomefeatures,
fora timeretainingitsprimitive
and alwayskeepingsomething
theogonies,
of its enthusiasms
forunionwiththe deityand hope of lifeafterdeath. It
at Athensaroundthe year
appearsto have been developedby Onomacritus
500 and in the broaderGreekworldto have influenced
in South
Pythagoras
and
shade
into
each
some
of the
other;
Italy. Orphism
Pythagoreanism
oftheformer
is whatwe knowas thelatter.
refinement
A majorquestioninvolvingall theseculturesand a numberof individual
concernsthe originof the beliefsin reincarnation
or metemphilosophers
There
are
and
often
adherents
foralmost
traditions,
psychosis.
arguments,
any theory0--somany that thereis not as much supportas one might
Greece.
expectfortheviewthatIndia influenced
of
in
India
the
Greek
world
of theperiodappearsto havebeen
Knowledge
scantyand faulty.Hecateusof Miletusmentionedthe Indus,the Indi, and
the Gandarii.6"Herodotuswas moreconcernedwiththe Egyptiansand the
Persians,whom he had visited,than withthe Indians,whomhe regarded
as livingawayto theEast at theextremeboundsof humanhabitation,
next
to the greatdesert.For some of his information
about themhe depended
on whatthe Persianssaid; he mayalso have used the workof Scylax. He
called India the mostpopuloussatrapyof the PersianEmpire.He reported
see S. Radhakrishnan,
EasternReligionsand Western
Thought(Ox9On the resemblances,
ford:Clarendon
Press,1939), pp. 135 ff.
'For variousopinions,see, e.g., F. Cumont,Lux perpetua(Paris: P. Geuthner,1949),
pp. 408 ff.;E. Rohde,Psyche(London: Kegan Paul, 1925), p. 346; Jaeger,Theology,
p. 84;
in Cambridge
Vol. IV, p. 535.
Cornford
AncientHistory,
' Rawlinson,
Indiaandthe Western
Intercourse
between
World,p. 19.

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114

GEORGE P. CONGER

thatsomeof the Indianswerenomadsand somewerevegetarians,

thatthey
had a hotclimateand worecottongarments.But he also toldthetale about
ant-goldand madethefamousmistakeof callingMitraa goddess.62Ctesias,
the physicianto ArtaxerxesMemnon,accompaniedhim on his expedition
somefantastic
againstCyrustheYoungerin 401. In hisPersicahe presented
storiesaboutIndia,evidently
basedon whatthePersianstoldhim. Xenophon
notedthatCyrusruledoverIndia,whosekingwas verywealthy;thePersians
a dispute.Xenophon'smostnotablestateonce sentforthekingto arbitrate
mentis thattheChaldeanmercenaries
werefrequently
employedbyIndia,63
for
buthisworkis notrenowned accuracy.
V
In the histories,if not the history,of Westernphilosophythe three
Milesianslead off.They come too earlyforthe AchaemenianEmpire,but
belongin thegreatdaysof Miletus,aftertheEgyptianPharaohhad allowed
the cityto foundNaucratisin the delta as a commercialcenterfor the
thatThales learnedgeometry
Greeks. It is thuseasyto creditthe tradition
fromtheEgyptians,
who had developedtheirland measurements
as a result
withthe errantNile,64althoughThales,as a Greek,would
of experiences
naturallygo on to more theoreticalgeneralizations.If he predictedthe
eclipseof 585,65he almostcertainlyhad access to recordsof Babylonian
as a Greek,too,he wouldbe likelyto generalizetheBabylonian
observations;
ideas about numbers.The traditionalinterpretation
of his teachingabout
water calls it a "principle,"forgetting
that Thales is hardlyout of the
age of myth. In Egyptthe god Rd comes fromNoun,66the primordial
abyss,and the symbolforthisis accompaniedby the brokenor wavylines
and the
indicating
water.67In Mesopotamiawateris regardedas primordial
gods are descendedfromit.68Eitheror bothof thesemythscouldhave been
familiarto Thales, and servedbetterthanthe lodestoneto accountforhis
dictumthatall thingsare fullof gods. Such myths,however,are not confinedto theseneighborsof Miletus.The awe-filling
hymnRg Veda X. 129
asks whetherat the beginningof things,when the gods did not yetexist,
water. Severalpassagesin the Upanisadsconall was deep unfathomable
The
Iliad
and the Book of Genesiscarrytracesof the
tinuethe tradition.69
2
i.
iii. 94-106.
' Herodotus, 131;
Xenophon,Cyropaediai. 1. 4; ii. 4. 8; iii. 2. 25-27; viii. 6. 21.
8 Herodotus,ii. 109.
SIbid., i. 74.
op. cit.,pp. 62, 146.
a Faure,
E. Amblineau,"La cosmogonie de Thales et les doctrinesde '1gypte,"Revue de l'histoire
des religions,LXII (1910) : 18, 23.
' See
EncyclopaediaBritannica,14th ed., Vol. II, pp. 860 ff.

"

UpanisadI. i. 3;
UpanisadVII. x. 1; Aitareya
Brhad4ranyaka
UpanisadV. v. 1; Chdndogya

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DID

INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

115

view,70and, as we said,it is ascribedto Thales' contemporary

Pherecydes.

All this makes any theoryof specificderivationarbitrary;

Thales' theory
aboutprimordial
watercouldhave come,notmerelyfromtheMeander,but
fromtheNile, theEuphrates,
or eventheIndus.
Anaximanderlived in the sixth century,the centuryin which some
authorities
date Zoroaster.In the fragments
a cosmicdualityof opposites
becomesmorepronouncedthanin Pherecydes,
but it is hardlyZoroastrian;
to
both
are
members
according Anaximander,
punishedand givesatisfaction,
and the characteristics
indicated(hot and cold,moistand dry) are not the
Zoroastrianlightand darkness.The punishment
and satisfaction
proceed
the
of
we
to
decree
but
cannot
be
sure thatthe Iranian
Time,
according
ofZarvangoesbacktothedaysofZoroaster.
doctrine
It wouldseem,however,
thata suggestionof dualitycomingfromsomewherewas beginningto be
developedwith Greek variationson the theme. Influencedoes not mean
mere imitation.The Greeks,to be Greeks,musthave shownoriginality,
butno one butan extremist
needsto supposethatin theirworld,particularly
at Miletus,theywereentirely
original.
Curiouslyenough, in Anaximander'sfragmentsthere seems to be
closerresemblanceto Indian than to Iranianthought.The "unlimited"which is not to be thoughtof as an undifferentiated
mass, or as mere
as
but
a
matrix
of
emptiness,
everything is eternaland ageless and
encompasses
(rTEPLE'XEi, A 11) all theworlds.In theRg Veda, among
many otherviews,we findthat Aditi,the unbounded,unlimited,is the
matrixfromwhich all the gods and all the world originate." In the
ChandogyaUpanisad,Jana regardsAtmanas akafa,the boundlesssky,but
thereare severalalternative
views,includingthosethatAtmanis water,wind,
and earth.7"If,as Jaegermaintains,
Anaximander
spokeof hisfirst
principle
as "divine,"73
the resemblanceto Indian thoughtis stillcloser.
In otherfragments
thereis the unmistakable
Greekcharacteristic,
almost
or actuallythebeginningof thatopen-eyed
observation
of naturewhichgave
theMilesiansthenameof naturalists.
In the case of Anaximenes,FragmentB 2 calls for special attention"Justas our soul whichis air holdsus together(crvyKparTEE),so breathand
air encompassthewholeworld." Breathand wind (Vdyu), if notair,have
Katha Upanisad IV. 6. R. E. Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (Oxford: Oxford
UniversityPress, 1921), pp. 151, 256, 294, 354. The Upanisads fromthis volume are hereafter
cited by names and textualreferences.
Iliad XIV. 201, 246; Genesis 1: 2.
70o
71Rg Veda I. 89. 10. Radhakrishnan,Indian Philosophy,Vol. I, p. 82, says that Aditi corresponds to Anaximander'sinfinite.
72
ChandogyaV. xiv. 1; xvi. 1; xvii. 1.
3Jaeger,Theology,p. 71. A close reading of Aristotle,Physica,203b 13 ff.,may not support
this interpretation.

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116

GEORGE P. CONGER

been associatedin Indian thoughtever since the Purusa Sikta.74 The

theview thatAtman
ChandogyaUpanisadhas,amongitsotherhypotheses,
is wind; anotherof its passages comparesthe macrocosmicwind to the
microcosmicbreath.75In the Kausitaki Upanisad the cosmicpowersare
declaredto be revertibleinto wind,and an individual'spowersrevertible
into breath."76
Anaximenesmay also be set in strikingparallel with the
Brhadaranyaka
Upanisad-"As all the spokesare held togetherin the hub
and fellyof a wheel,so in thissoul all things... all breathing
thingsare
another
held together."If the GreekcrvyKparEZis translated"constrains,"
in
all
the
the
thread
which
parallelappears:
things,including
by
Upanisad
the limbsof a body,are tied togetheris said to be wind,whichin Hindu
Rubendeclaresthatbefore
fashionis identified
withthe"InnerController.""77
the timeof Anaximenessevenmen in India had expressedan idea similar
to thatof thefragment.7"
fromthesestray
We must not expecttoo much clarityor consistency
of
lost.
too
are
On the other
the
fragments; manypieces
picturepuzzle
or a miracle.
must
not
of
Miletus
either
a
cultural
island
we
make
hand,
Someofthepiecesbeginto indicatebroaderhorizons.
It is customaryto considerPythagorasafterthe Milesiansand before
about the sources,dates,and contentof
Heraclitus,althoughuncertainties
of some of the uncertainties
the Pythagoreanteachings-reminiscent
in
Indian philosophy--make
anyplacementopen to some question.It is best
not to attemptto distinguish
the so-calledteachingsof Pythagorasfrom
thoseof the Pythagoreans.
We assumethattherewas a long development
fromearly stages in South Italy under Orphic influence,throughmore
rationaland theoretical
interests,
especiallywithPhilolausand otherPythagoreansof Plato'stime,to Plato and laterwriters.
Pythagorasof Samos apparentlywent to Crotona and, influencedby
which,as mighthave been expected
Orphismthere,foundeda community
than were the myth-loving
of Greeks,becamemore interested
Orphicsin
and philosophy.The community
mathematics,
problemsof government,
influencedEmpedoclesof Agrigentumand perhaps Parmenidesof Elea.
in
Afterthe colonywas drivenfromCrotonabecauseof too muchinterest
other
in
thesuccessors Greecedeveloped
interests,
concentrating
government,
of
and
famous
their
theories
on theoretical
numbers,
developing
problems,
on the religiousside moreor less amalgamatingwiththe local mysteries.
Philolausand
theirteachingsattracted
Towardthe end of the fifthcentury
Plato.
' Chbidogya IV. iii. 1-3.
6KasqitakiII. 12-13.
"1Rg Veda X. 90. 13.
II. v. 15; III. vii. 1-3.
77 Brhaddranyaka
8sW. Ruben,Die Philosophie
derUpanishaden
1947), p. 168.
(Bern: A Francke,

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

117

are intertwined;
by and large,however,
Orphismand Pythagoreanism
while
is a religious
is
a
religion,
Pythagoreanism
myth-loving
Orphism
Orientalism
that
whatever
There
is
room
for
the
thesis
good
metaphysics.
and
has
come
fromthe
the
is
second-hand
is foundamong
Pythagoreans
said to
Orphicside. This mayaccountforthe doctrineof metempsychosis,
withoutmakinghim journeyto India to
have been taughtby Pythagoras,
to Philolaus,could have
get it. The theoryof the fiveelements,attributed
beenan adaptationfromPherecydes.
had a list of ten pairsof cosmologicalopposites,but
The Pythagoreans
is only
"light and darkness,"whichmightsuggestZoroastrianinfluence,
in
one of the tenpairs,theeighthon the list."7This is a markedreduction
fact
that
has
not
overlook
somebut
we
must
the
here,
also,
rank,
opposition
The Pythagoreans
how becomeimportant.
emphasizedoppositesin theirfantasticspeculationsabout odd and even numbers,the "limited"and the
and the"indeterminate
dyad."80 Plato'sdoctrineof ideas,elab"unlimited,"
showsthatin his timethe processof
oratedunderPythagorean
influence,
it was notunderwas usedwithoutbeingunderstood.
abstraction
Apparently
stoodby the Pythagoreans
either,and theywerestillmoreat sea in dealing
of a second
withnumberswhich,as classesof classes,involveabstractions
to connectthe Pythagorean
theoriesaboutnumor higherorder.Attempts
enumeration
of the constituents
of theworldreflect
berswiththe Sdrihkhya
a confusion,one mightsay,betweencardinaland ordinalnumbers.Such
theirdatacouldhardlyhavebeenfetched
arefarfetched--or,
rather,
attempts
so far.
FromHeraclitusmanytraditions
have been recoveredand judgedworthy
His datesare roughlyfrom540 to 475; he livedat
to be called fragments.
in
the
Persian
Empire,and livedthroughtheIonianrevolt,in which
Ephesus,
was
Miletus
neighboring
ruthlessly
destroyed.It has sometimesbeen held
thathis description
of theprimary
realityas fireand his emphasison opposition may have been due to Persianinfluences,
but the differences
are so
transmission
that
could
have
been
more
than
a
great
any
hardly
suggestion.
His oft-noted
remindsone ofthesztrasofthesixHindusystems;
obscurity
one could wish forHeraclitusa similarfullnessand continuity
amongthe
commentators.
Reminiscent
ofIndia,too,is hismethod;he soughtin himself
and foundthesoulverydeep."8Likea Greek,however,he honorsmostthose
thingswhichhe can learn by sightand hearing,althoughhe is cautiously
criticalof both.82
7 See Freeman,op. cit.,p. 248.

1081a 15, 1085b7.

Ibid.,pp. 222, 230; Plato,Philebus25d,26d; Aristotle,
Metaphysica
's
B 45, 101.
Diels,Heraclitus
82Ibid.,B 46, 55, 101a,107.

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118

GEORGE P. CONGER

We can makethefragments
consistent
onlybyassumingthattheimagery
shifts,as it oftendoes in Indian texts. First,thereis the factof change,
of Buddha, who
universalflux; Heraclituswas a youngercontemporary
the
of
Into
constituents beingare transitory.83 thesamerivers
taughtthatall
we step and do not step; in thisrespect,and in a way,then,we are, and
are not.84So, anyone tendency
or property
entailsitsopposite.Opposition
But
for
all
the
is characteristic
and essential.
oppositionthereis a reciprocal
unity;the universealwayswas, and
change,a harmony,an encompassing
an
and
shall
ever
fire,
be, ever-living in whichthereare "fixedmeasures"
is,
and
kindling dyingout.85
The chiefexpressionof thisencompassing
unityis the logos. It is not
in different
is
senses.Someword
used
and
the
theonlyexpression,
however,
or
of
characteristic
it
is
the
times
general
property things,accordingto which
sense,the"reason"thingsare
everything
happens-in thenon-psychological
as theyare-although it is not recognizedby men.86Again,it is the sense
commonto all men,bywhichall oughtto live.87Once it
or reasonableness
of current
events-"a foolishman
featureor effect
seemsto be a superficial
at everylogos."88And once it marksthecharacter
is wontto be in a flutter
as in Babylonian
ofthedevelopingor growingsoul.8"Thereis no suggestion,
thatthe "word"is the expressionor commandof
and Egyptiantraditions,
a divinity,
and no echo of the Vedic "voice" (vac)."o Any connectionof
the logos of B 72 withhumanspeechof B 73 is hardlysignificant.
the generalregulationof the worldis indicatedby
In severalfragments
and the still
words otherthan
-we find
~,r
,
pa,
yvc/t4Pv,
X6yo
v/ol
or a-ro-o6v.91
morepuzzlinga-roov
In B 41 the latterexpressionis oftentranslatedas "wisdom"and interbutin B 112 thewordforhuman
pretedas implyinghumanunderstanding,
wisdomis o-orl', and B 32 indicatesthat -o o-o0o'vis morethanhuman,a
cosmicprinciple"willingand unwillingto be called Zeus"-i.e., sometimes
in personaland again in impersonalterms.B 108 indicates
interpretable
thatalthoughmen do not understand-ro46vit is a thingapart.B 78 declaresthatthe human"ethos"does not have yva4at but thatthe divine
does. Can T' croo'dvin B 41, then,refernot to humanwisdom,but to a
' See H. C. Warren,Buddhismin Translations(Cambridge:HarvardUniversity,
1896),
p. 109.
S
85 B 8, 30, 76, 111, 126.
8 B 49a.
B 1, 72.
"B 115.
"B 87.
wB 2.
' Cf. W. F. Albright,
FromtheStoneAge to Christianity
(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsPress,
The Dawn of Conscience(New York: CharlesScribner's
1940), pp. 145 ff.;J. H. Breasted,
Sons,1933), p. 37; R.gVedaX. 125.
* B 30, 41, 108, 114.

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

119

cosmicprinciplewhichis one? The moreusual interpretation

would accommodatethe infinitive,
"to know,"but,if thereis no otherexplanation,
perwas garbledby Diogenes.92
haps the quotation,quite likelymisunderstood,
At all events,the One Wise cosmicprinciplecould hardlyhave been an
unfamiliar
conceptin theempirewhichveneratedAhuraMazda, the "Wise
now personal
Lord,"and 7-obro-o4v,regardedas cosmicand transcendent,
and now impersonal,is surprisingly
similarto the Hindu Brahman,with
itsquasi-personal
attributes.
The wordalwv in B 52 is sometimes
held to reflect
an Orphicinfluence,
butit can be translated
merelyas an "age" and setin a Heracliteancontrast
witha child--as if he had said thata thousandyearsare a day.
Xenophanesof Colophon,near Ephesusand Miletus,lived at the time
of the PersianEmpire,butis said to have leftAsia becauseof hostility
to it.
His denial of anthropomorphic
not
leads
him
so
much
to a
polytheism
monotheism
as to a monism.Thereis one God, buttheone God is not like
mortalsin form(8it~/a) or thought.God seesas a whole,thinksas a whole,
hearsas a whole.93One of theoldestUpanisadsputsit theotherwayround:
when breathing,
Brahmanbecomesbreathby name; when seeing,the eye;
whenhearing,
theear; whenthinking,
themind."9
Withouttoil,saysXenophin motionbythepowerof his mind;in theAitareya
anes,he setseverything
himselfand createdtheworlds.95
God
Upanisad,theOne Atmanbethought
alwaysremainsin the same place, saysXenophanes.The lid Upanisadis
moreparadoxical--Brahman
"goes,standing";it movesand does notmove
at thesametime."
Xenophanes sees that men cannot have certainknowledgeof these
is morepreciselylocated:
things.97In the MaitriUpanisad,the difficulty
"Whereknowledgeis ofa dual naturethereone hears,sees... thesoulknows
Where knowledgeis not of a dual nature,what is that?It is
everything.
impossibleto say.""8Monism,when it triesto be explicitor descriptive,
alwaysleads to problemsand paradoxes;it is not strangethatthe Greek
and the Indian,thoughcomingat monismfromdifferent
angles,encounter
the same difficulties.
It is plausible to say thatXenophanes,in his own
Greekway,was trying
to developa suggestion
or twowhichhad comefrom
the insightsof India.
The name of Parmenidesis associatedwithElea, in southernItaly,but
ix. 1.
DiogenesLaertius,
B 23, 24.
* Diels,Xenophanes
yakaI. iv. 7.
SB
I. 1.
25; Aitareya
SB.rhadjran.
B 26; TIa UpaniFsad
IV. 5.
*
9 B 34, 35.
9 Maitri
UpaniSadVI. 7 fin.

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120

GEORGE P. CONGER

thatfactbyno meansexcludeshimfromtheGreekworld.The sea in those

days,formen and forideas,was as mucha highwayas a barrier.His poem,
liketheIliad,openswithan invocationto a goddesswho,as a Greekgoddess
should,tellshim to submitwhatshe saysto the judgmentof reason."9The
majordivisionof the poem intotwo partsputsintohighreliefthe distinction betweentrueknowledgeobtainedby reason,on theone hand,and,on
the otherhand,opinionbased on the senses.Heraclitusand, in effect,
Xenophaneshad alreadyquestionedthelatter.Did thegreatideasofParmenides
We may,indeed,look to Xenophanes,but thereare
have any precursors?
differences
whichlead us to look beyondhim,to theEast.
To formulate
theproblem(to saynothingofsolvingit) at leastsixtextual
and linguistic
questionsmustbe examined.All of themcenteraroundFragmentB 3, withthe disputedtranslation
whichhas sometimesmade it say,
is to stand,
"One and the same are thinkingand being." If thistranslation
idealism.Let us call this,forshort,
we have whatlookslike a metaphysical
the"metaphysical
interpretation."
The firstquestionis whetherFragmentB 3 can be separatedfromB 2,
especiallyline 2, wherethe goddessrevealsthe onlywaysof investigation
whichareto be thoughtof.The nextlineis difficult
to renderliterally-"the
how it is and that [conjunction](what) is not (is) not to be"-but the
purportis plain enough. Reason is to be concernedwithwhatexists,with
whatis real,withbeing,notwithwhatdoes notexist,withwhatis notreal,
or with"not-being."When B 3 is read in connectionwiththis,one must
to realitybutdoes not
makeit mean,in effect,
thatourthinking
corresponds
it.
This
we
will
for
the
call,
short, "epistemological
go beyond
interpretawhichhardlyfitsB 2 if B 2 is to standalone. Do
tion"-an interpretation
the two fragments
belongtogether?Apparently
theymust,if Parmenides
in
sixth
A.D.combinesthem,
is to be madeconsistent.Simplicius the
century
B 2 in Proclus
in oldersources-as Diels indicates,
buttheyoccurseparately
and B 3 in Plotinus.
The next questionconcernstheprecisemeaningoftheverbvoEiv. A careful study by von Fritz indicates that voEtv means to become aware of an
it as the thingthatit is.100This is citedin favorof the
objectand identify

but if all thatthe verbimpliesis a realistic

interpretation,
epistemological
can servean objectiveidealism.And
a realisticepistemology
epistemology,
must
if reasonis to be appliedto a monisticidealism,the ultimateidentity
of its object.
involve a proximateidentification
A furtherquestion is whetherthe infinitive
voEZv in B 3 can be made the
B 7, line 5.
Diels,Parmenides

:'0 See Jaeger,

Theology,
p. 103 andnn.

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

121

Here the doctorsdisagree.BurnetsaysNo:

subjectof the verb ro-riv.
must
it werea dative,"forthinking,"
be
as
if
andsimilarly
rendered
voEty
must
be rendered
"forbeing."'0'Thiswouldmakethefragment
mean
EtlaL
thatwhatcan be thought
andwhatis areone andthesame,thusagreeing
withB 2 in supporting
theepistemological
ButHack says
interpretation.
thatGildersleeve
inhisSyntax
ofClassicalGreekgivesthirty-three
examples,
from
Homeron,inwhichaninfinitive
without
thearticle
isusedas subject.'02
This in turnis questioned
byBurneton thegroundthatvoEtyis notan
articular
Hack
to showthatParmenides
means,
infinitive.1'3 is concerned
notthatnot-being
cannotbe thought
of it righthere
of--wearethinking
and now--butthatit cannotbe treated
as reality.Thisis a variant
of the
It
is
not
B
what 3, takenalone,says,butthe
epistemological
interpretation.
viewthatnot-being
canbe thought
ofappearsto be supported
bytheplural
o~ vaL in B 2, line2, andbytheTE Kat Ofline3.
60o80t
A fourth
Shouldthe Co-rwV
inB 3 be read
question
getsdowntoaccents.'4
or orUrT
? If,withDiels,wereadtheformer,
as Clement
andPlotinus
Ercriv
withthinking,
and we havethemetaphysical
interdid,beingis identical
If
we
the
as
read
Zeller
and
then
Burnet
we maysay,
latter,
did,
pretation.
"Thatwhichit is possibletothinkandthatwhichis areoneandthesame,"
andwehavetheepistemological
Thepointis thatwhen o-rtV
interpretation.
denotesexistence
is
on
or possibility
theaccent
thefirst
butthe
syllable,'05
orpossibility,
so themetaphysical
rule,bythebook,saysexistence
interpretationisnotquiteeliminated.
It isnotnecessary
totranslate
the or0t... o-grwV
ofB 6, lines1 and2, as "itis possible";
thepassageis better
readas referring
to existence--"Being
is and not-being
is
not."
The
(Ij-8&v)
EorTLV... EroTL
ofB 2, line3,iftheaccents
aretobeplacedon thefirst
can,likethe
syllable,
in
line
same
4, be read this
Eart of
way.
The fifth
Whatis therelais,again,oneofcollating
fragments.
question
if
B
B
and
line
between
has
taken
3
34?
8,
tion, any,
Simplicius apparently
In B 8, line34,we findagainthetroublesome
themto be consistent.
words
in
of
and
the
two
forms
the
verb
as
E
o,
voEZv;
r(ar'v),
'or"t,
do-rE given
byDielstheaccents
vary.
The translation
of the line raisesa finalquestion,the meaningof
andthatforthesakeof
OVVEKEV-.If we say,"It is thesamethingto think
whichthereis thinking,"
we support
themetaphysical
ofB 3.
interpretation
ButifoVVEKEJVis takenas a conjunction,
thelinewouldread,"It isthesame
A. and C. Black,1892), p. 185
EarlyGreekPhilosophy
(LondonandEdinburgh:
1o J.Burnet,
and n.; same,4thed. (New York: The MacmillanCompany,
1948), p. 173, n. 2.
'1 Burnet,
"2Hack,op. cit.,p. 81, n.
op. cit. (1948), p. 173,n. 2.
op. cit.,p. 147,n. 1.
xoSee Freeman,
W. W. Goodwin,GreekGrammar(Boston:GinnandCompany,
1892), p. 32.
105

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122

GEORGE P. CONGER

[thing} to thinkand the thoughtthat it is," and we are back with the
epistemological
interpretation.
Here we mayforthepresentleave thequestions.The weightof evidence,
suchas it is, and of currentopinionfavorsthe epistemological
side,butwe
thatone can
cannotbe too sure. Gigon saysthatit is onlywithdifficulty
of Parmenidesin sucha way as to do justiceto all
the traditions
interpret
is to stand,one
the accountsof them.'06 If the metaphysical
interpretation
mustthinkat onceofIndiaand theUpanisads.Up to thetimeofParmenides
no suchidealisticmonismhad appearedin theGreekworld,butit had been
perhapsmorethanseveralcenturies,
developedin India morethana century,
before.
The weightof evidenceand opinion,as we said,favorstheepistemological
is correctwe are in dangerof
but even if thisinterpretation
interpretation,
thrust
notseeingthe forestforthetrees.The suspicionof Indianinfluence,
out throughthe window,comesrightback in throughthe door. One may
idealismfromIndia, but,
doubt that Parmenidesderiveda metaphysical
attacksquestionswhichtheIndian
whetherhe did or not,his epistemology
mind had uncoveredlong before--thehard problemsof being and notbeing. Gigon saysthatthe originof the idea of being is a riddle.7"' The
contrastbetweenbeingand not-being(sometimesrenderednon-being)apVedic creationhymn"'8and, for example,in the
pears in the awe-filling
ChandogyaUpanisad.'o9It is oftenthoughtthat the Upanisadspreserve
if therewere
doctrines
whichweremoreor less secret,butsuchrestrictions,
any,neednothaveappliedto theVedas,and somehintof theirmetaphysical
problemmayhave beenwaftedall thewayto theGreekworld. Nor should
we forgetthatIndia had also encountered
someof theepistemological
questionsraisedbythe conceptof being. Buddhism,as we said,declaredthatall
of beingare transitory,
the constituents
and maintainedthatour supposed
is stoutly
knowledgeof it reducesto utterignorance.Parmenides
bycontrast
can be thoughtand we can get at the truthabout it;
affirmative--being
or at leastcannotbe thoughtto be real. Parcannotbe thought,
not-being
is
thatbeing heldfastand limitedbynecessity"represents
menides'doctrine
fromtheUpanisads.It is thekindof difference
a markeddifference
which
an attempt
to thinkouta monismwouldintroduce.
Viewed in such a setting,the workof Parmenidesreads like a protest,
not only,as is oftensaid, againstthe Heracliteanflux,but also against
1
der Griechischen
Philosophie(Basle: B. Schwabe,etc.,1945),
O. Gigon,Der Ursprung
p. 283.
I
LREg
VedaX. 129. 4.
Ibid.,p. 270.
VI. ii. 1-2.
1oB 8, lines14 ff.
1' Chdndogya

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

123

andthe(later?)
oflightanddarkness,"'
theZoroastrian
Buddhism,
duality
ofpurusa's
tostart
theworldprocess,
doctrine
stirring
up112prakrti
Srimkhya
Itwouldseemthat,
ofhisowndoctrine
whatever
thesources
were,Parmenides
wasatleastawareofvarious
in
time.
his
currents
ofthought
WithEmpedocles,
ofOriental
thepossibility
influences
beginstodiminish.
He writes
the
to
about
and,according
traditions,
goes
actinglikean Orphic,
if
but his fragments
whichmayindicate
are scrutinized
forresemblances
onedoesnotneedtolookoutside
theGreekworld.Hisfour"roots"sources
notyet"elements"-could
havebeensuggested
orbyobservabyPherecydes
benefit
ofearth,etc.,
ofEgypt,
tion,without
Iran,or India. His correlation
in B 109 is quitedifferent
withvariousperceptions
fromtheteaching
of
of
the
His ErosmayhavebeenHesiodic.11"
The opposition
Sriikhya.113
exhalationand condensation
recallsthatof Anaximenes,
althoughtheir
A
of
number
indicate
that
of
terminologies
passages
Empedocles
differ."5
was
In
influenced
Parmenides
of
Elea.
other
Greek
words,
Agrigentum
by
likeanygoodinfant,
oncehavinglearnedsomething
culture,
byimitation,
to
own
and
strike
out
for
use
its
accumulated
resources
itself.
begins
A similarfadingof possibilities
is discernible
in Anaxagoras.He was
thanIonian,andheverges
fromClazomenae,
buthisworkis moreAthenian
his
classical
With
reduction
of
the
period.
upon
thingsto "seeds"he is a
than
or
in
more
step
analytical Empedocles anyone theEast.The doctrine
thatnousintroduces
motion
intotheworldreminds
oneoftheactofpurusa
in the S5rihkhya,
but the idea maywell have cometo Anaxagoras
from
Parmenides.
Democritus
bringsus to theclassicalperiod.It is quitelikelythathe
but
thathe metanyPersiansfromXerxes'armyat
traveled,"' unlikely
unlesstheyremained
therefortwenty
his
Abdera,
yearsormore."'7Neither
atomism
bearsanycloseresemblance
to theso-called
northatofLeucippus
atomism
oftheVaisesika
itis notstrange
thatbothhadtodealwith
system;
of emptyspace,buttheydealtwithit quite
whatamounts
to theproblem
mentionsthe construction
of geometrical
299
Fragment
differently."l
out
of
lines
thisis a Greekwordfor
figures
by Egyptian
"arpedonapts";
who is quitenegativeon thequestionof Indian
"cord-fastener."
Burnet,
on Greece,saysit is a striking
influence
coincidence
thattheoldestIndian
mIbid.,lines57-59; B 9, lines1-3.

S112B8, line9. The wordwpaevis perhapssignificant.

" See S. N. Dasgupta,
HistoryofIndianPhilosophy(Cambridge:Cambridge
Press,
University

1932), Vol. I, pp. 252 ff.

n1Jaeger,
Theology,
p. 15.
' See Freeman,
op. cit.,p. 188,n. a 1.
ix. 34.
11 A 1. Cf.DiogenesLaertius,

' Diels (Vol.

B 247.
II), Democritus
op. cit.,Vol. I, p. 304.
'11 See Dasgupta,

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124

GEORGE P. CONGER

treatise
is calledSulva-sfitras
("Rulesof theCord"),119but,as
geometrical
thepedigree
ofFragment
299 is sometimes
Democritus,
regards
questioned,
as by Diels.120David of Nerken,an Armenian
of
philosopher the fifth
if thatis
that
man
a
asserts
called
Democritus
microcosml21;
A.D.,
century
thecase,Democritus
hadsomething
in common
witha viewfoundin many
countries
andperiods,
andmayhavebeenthefirst
to makeitexplicit
in the
Greekworld.
VI
to manyquestions
Answers
relations
betweenancientIndia
concerning
in Iran,whichinthosedaysincluded
whatis now
andGreecemaybe sought
in
to
a
between
Eastand
and
was
be
Afghanistan
long,highbridge
position
and much
has beendevastated
West. The country
invasions,
by repeated
and
thatphilological
has beenlost. It is to be expected
valuablematerial
in
in
work
now
will
be
of
recoverconsiderable
archaeological
help
progress
of comparative
butone can scarcely
culture,
ingdataforstudies
hopethat
all thegapswillbe filled.
Severalquestions
ofthelife-dates
center
aroundthequestion
ofZoroaster;
herethecontroversies
stilldiffer.
havebeenlongandtheconclusions
Withit can be saidthatno authority
outcitinga scoreof references,
placeshim
B.C. He maywellhavebeenearlier.The conlaterthanthesixthcentury
of Hystaspes,
thefather
of
sensusnowappearsto be thattheidentification
was
therulerwhowas thepatronof Zoroaster,
DariusI, withVishtaspa,
couldhavelived
Zoroaster
wrong,so that,as faras thispointis involved,
thatthegreatAchaemenian
before570-500.122 It is nowthought
kings,
The
of AhuraMazda,werenotZoroastrians.
whiletheywereworshippers
is
Xanthus
of
about
mention
Zoroaster
first
Greekto
writing
Lydia,probably
The
a datesix hundred
to theprophet
470 and ascribing
yearsearlier.123
in
that
the
Vedas
and
of
the
Gdthas
resemblances
direction.124
point
linguistic
of thesubjectsaysthatZoroaster
in a freshtreatment
Duchesne-Guillemin
he was
thetwelfth
B.C.125At all events,
century
mayhavelivedevenbefore
and
some
influence
on
Greek
have
had
to
philosophies may
earlyenough
19Burnet,
op. cit. (London:A. andC. Black,1920), p. 20.

12 B 299.

"I See G. P. Conger, Theories of Macrocosmsand Microcosmsin the History of [Western]

Press,1922), p. 6.
(New York: ColumbiaUniversity
Philosophy
" See A. V. W. Jackson,
Studies(New York: ColumbiaUniversity
Press,1928),
Zoroastrian

p. 17, n. 5.
"1 A. V. W. Jackson,Zoroaster,The Prophet of Ancient Iran (New York: The Macmillan

translated
byD. D. P.
1901), pp. 9, 232; F. von Spiegel,"Gushtispand Zoroaster,"
Company,
IndiaPress,1932), p. 391.
in Sanjana'sCollectedWorks(Bombay:British
Sanjana,
mK. Geldner,"Persian(Iranian) Languages,"
quotedbySanjana,op. cit.,p. 384.
'

Duchesne-Guillemin,op. cit.,p. 108.

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

125

have been earlyenoughand conspicuousenoughto suggestto the Greeks

a cosmicdualitywhichspurredthemto develop theirvarioustheoriesof
to remember,
too,thatIndia mustnotbe leftout
opposites.It is important
of this picturealtogether;in the ChandogyaUpanisadthe gods (devas)
and the devils (asuras) are said to have contendedwitheach otheruntil
thelatterwerefinallyvanquished.126
to decideon the basis
Otherquestionscrowdupon us but are difficult
of extantdocuments.In the documentsthereare a numberof doctrines
betweenphilosophiesin India and
whichshow a kindof logical transition
in Greece; it is temptingto suppose that the logical transitionmarksa
transmission,
alongthetraderoutes
especiallybyslowprogress
chronological
excepttheGdthas,are
duringthe Achaemenianperiod. But thedocuments,
so latethatif theyare of anyuse fortheearlyproblemwe mustassumethat
and olderthanthe writtensources.Such an
the doctrineswere traditional
as regardsIndia; ifmade
be madewithconfidence
can sometimes
assumption
in thecaseofIranitinvolvessomerisk.
In doctrineswhichcome to lightat variousperiodsin one and another
of these countriesthereare some notable resemblances,
accompaniedby
The inwhichcan be construedas signsof logical transition.
differences
survived
have
for
Vedic
of
the
deities, example,may
completepersonification
abstract
in attenuatedformin the AmneshaSpentas,the quasi-personified
attributes
makes
the
old
to
which
Zoroaster, placate
polytheism,
principles
of Ahura Mazda.127The Greeks,at least afterHomer,
and/orattendants
is morepronounced.
are moreclean-cut;theirbreakwithpolytheism
its
with
The PurusaSfikta,
Veda
X.90,
mythof thepartsof thebody
1Rg
to
of the world Personcorresponding partsof the universe,leads in the
Upanisadsto comparisonsbetweenthe partsof the humanmicrocosmand
the universeor macrocosm.Iranianparallelsforthisappear,if not in the
doctrineof the cosmicman Gayomard,at least in the relativelylate BunAll this,however,belonged
The Orphicshad a similardoctrine.129
dahishn.128
too muchin the realmof myth;the Greeks,as always,tendedto be more
empiricaland reasonable.Anaximenesseemsto have impliedthe doctrine,
it.The doctrine
mentioned
if David of Nerkenwas correct,
and Democritus,
of Anthroposin the Greek world is relativelylate; it appears in the
Hellenisticperiod,outsidetherangeofthepresentstudy.
In Iran,Gayomardappearsaccordingto someviewsmerelyas an ancestral
's ChandogyaI. ii. 1-7.

* See G. Dumezil,Naissanced'archanges
1945).
(Paris: Gallimard,

Zoroastrische
Studien(Berlin:Diimmler
1863), pp. 56 ff.;
Verhandlung,
1" F. Windischmann,
fir Indologie und Iranistik,II (1923), 60 ff.,167 if.
O. Gitze in Zeitschrift
* C. A. Lobeck,Aglaophamus
1829), Vol. II, p. 912.
(Konigsberg:Borntraeger,

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126

GEORGE P. CONGER

is represented
as
figure.130In India,Brahman,as the ancestorof humanity,

so is Gayomardin Iran.132
In Platowe havethestrangefigure
androgynous131;
of Aristophanes'
in
the
speech
Symposium,
althoughapparentlyno Greek
was expectedto takethestoryseriously.
A long-standing
in variousascriptions
of divinity
puzzle is encountered
to Time. In theAtharvaVeda XIX. 53 and 54, Kala is called undecaying;
in Kdla, mind,breath,and name are fixedand joined. Kala embracesor
includesBrahmanand has createdall things.At some periodin Iranian
Zarvan akarana,endlessTime, came to be regardedas the
development,
unifiedgroundof all things;we know fromEudemusof Rhodes,a pupil
ofAristotle,133
thatthisdoctrine
is at leastas old as thefourth
century.It may
well be older.The Iraniantermseemsto be directlyechoedin the Greek
A.D.
expression
Xpo'vov&yjpaov, ascribedbyDamasciusin thesixthcentury
to the Orphics.134Damascius,the last head of the schoolat Athens,ought
to have knownhis Greektraditions,
butaftertheschoolwas closedhe went
to thecourtof ChosroesI and mayhave readtheSassanianphrasebackinto
his memoriesof the Greek teachings.One shouldrecall thatamong the
made Time primaland thatforAnaximander
the satisGreeks,Pherecydes
factiongivenby one memberof his dualityto the otherwas "accordingto
the arrangement(r6'tLV) of Time."'"

On the whole there is some support

fortheviewthathintsor fragments
of Indianand Iraniandoctrines
managed
to findtheirwaywestward.
Taken along the centuries,
the doctrinesof a cosmicor divineVoice,
are
and
Reason
intertwined.
The VedicVac is at leastnotinconsistent
Word,
withtheZoroastriandoctrinethatAhuraMazda createsbyhis word,Ahuna
thoughthelatterseemsmorenearlyakinto theBabylonianEnem
Vairya,136
We saw thatHeraclitus,
and theEgyptianMa-Kherou.,37
further
awayfrom
mythsthan any of theseand more concernedwith the reasonablenessof
thecosmos,has theessentially
impersonallogos. The Logos as God's Word
in
Fourth
the
Gospel and in Philo. Apart fromthe hymnsto
reappears
Vac thereseemsto be no clearlogos doctrinein India at theperiodwhich
us. Againand againitwas leftto theGreekstodetectandemphasize
concerns
oftheuniverse.
thereasonor thereasonableness
M. Falk, II mitopsicologiconell' India antica (Rome: G. Bardi, 1939), p. 408.
'3 BrhadaranyakaI. iv. 3.
132 R. Reitzenstein,
Altgriechische
Theologie in ihre Quellen, Vortrigeder BibliothekWarburg,
130

1924-25 (Leipzig:B. G. Teubner,1927), p. 15.

cit.,p. 96.
Diels, Orpheus B 13. Cf. EmpedoclesB 16.
15 Diels, PherecydesB 1; AnaximanderB 1.
136M. Falk, Nama Rupa and Dharma Rupa (Calcutta: Universityof Calcutta, 1943), p. 21;
of Vohu Manu as Logos, attributed
Reitzensteinand Schaeder,op. cit.,p. 15. The interpretation
to Darmstetter,
is now generallyrejected.
1
Albright,op. cit.,p. 145; Faure,op. cit.,pp. 126 ff.
.33 Duchesne-Guillemin,op.

134

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DID INDIA INFLUENCE EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHIES?

127

It will have been notedthatsome membersof thesesequences,like the

ancestor,the Anthroposdoctrine,and Philo's Logos, do not
androgynous
worlduntilthetimeof Plato or theHellenistic
appearin theMediterranean
There
seems
to
be
no IndianparallelforPlato's ideas,though
syncretism.
theZoroastrian
showsomeresemblance
to them.138
Some
guardianfravashis
otheralleged sequencesof views are doubtfulbecause thereare so many
varianttraditions
thatone sourceor direction
forthemis hardlymorelikely
thananother.This is thecase withbeliefsin metempsychosis,
withtheories
of the fouror fiveelements,and withthe divisionsof humanhistoryinto
agesor periods.
In thepresentstateof research,
one may,indeed,regardall thesedoctrines
as notdemonstrably
related,buton theotherhandone may,withallowances
formarkeddifferences
in datesof documents
and withfavorableassumptions
theperiodsproperto thetraditions,
at leastwatchfornew indicaregarding
tionsof transitions
whichwill strengthen
thecase fortransmissions.
This bringsus,forthepresent,
to theconclusionof ourstudy.What once
were brokenlong ago in the
may have been plain threadsof transmission
befell
the
ancient
world.
The
which
whichremain
fragments
cataclysms
are scantyand tenuousenough to encouragedoubtsthat theyever were
connected.There is no place for bold assertions,
but when the fragments
are viewed in theirsetting-geographical,
commercial,
and, we may add,
logical-the argumentfor at least indirectIndian influenceon Greece
acquiressomesupport.
VII
Sooneror laterwe mustrisefromall thesedetailsand surveytheancient
culturesof Asia in a broaderhorizon.It has oftenseemedremarkable
that
so manyreligiousgeniusesin the ancientworld shouldhave been nearly
or actuallycontemporaries.
Dates ascribedto Zoroaster,the rsis of the
of Jainism),GautamatheBuddha,Confounder
Mahdvira
(the
Upanisads,
Deutero-Isaiah
and
show
fucius,
strangecoincidences,
strangerstill when
even with
coupledwiththoseof the Ionian philosophers.Taken together,
allowanceforuncertainties,
that
indicate
several
centuries,
they
throughout
the peoples of Asia wereoutsay fromthe eighthor seventhto the fifth,
of theRg Veda, theIliad, and othertraditions.
growingtheold polytheisms
formand swiftlyor slowly
In each culturethe processtakes a different
to
men's
to
the
world.The rsisdevelop a quasitends change
adjustment
spiritualisticmonism,Lao-tzii, let us say, a quietisticcosmism,Zoroaster or
mSee
op. cit.,pp. 23 ff.,83, 141.
Jackson,

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128

GEORGE P. CONGER

his followersan ethicalduality,Confuciusa cosmichumanism,Gautama

an ethicalself-discipline,
the Hebrewprophetsan ethicalmonotheism,
and
the Ionian philosophersa kind of religiousnaturalism.With or without
or interchange,
it is as if a greatculturalwave or groundcommunication
swell sweptacrossAsia, demandingthatthechildishpolytheisms
giveplace
to something
moreadvanced.This dwarfs,althoughit by no meanseliminates,the problemsof relationsbetweenIndia and Greece.Those relations,
dimlydiscernibleat our distance,are items and incidentsin a broader
panoramawhichshould lead us to look fora morenearlyunifiedhistory
of philosophy.

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