Another form of the native tradition assigns his paternity to Dhanananda (the last of the eight Nanda kings, who ruled in succession over Magadha), though not by his queen, but by a woman of low caste—a sudra called Mura. The Brahmans made this base-born scion of the royal house the instrument of their rebellious designs, and with the help of a northern prince, to whom they offered an accession of territory, raised him to the throne while he was yet a youth, and put Nanda and his eight sons to death. They did not make good their promise to their ally, but rid themselves of him by assassination. His son Malayaketu marched with a large army, in which were Yavanas (Greeks), to revenge his death, but returned without success to his country. It has been supposed that this expedition may have been the same as that of Seleukos.
The Nanda dynasty which was supplanted by the Mauryan in 315 B.C. had succeeded to that of Sisunâga in 370 B.C. Its last member, whom the Greeks call Xandrames and Curtius Agrammes, is variously named in native writings Dhanananda, Nanda Mahâpadma, and Hiranyagupta. Xandramas (of which Agrammes seems to be a distorted form) transliterates the Sanskrit Chandramas, which means Moon-god. A Hindu play—the Mudrâ Râkshasa—produced early in the Mahommedan period refers to the revolution by which Chânakya raised Chandragupta to power, but is of no historical value. Chandragupta was succeeded by his son Vindusâra, who is called by Strabo Allitrochades, and by Athênaios (xiv. 67),[419] Amitrochates, a form which transliterates the Sanskrit Amitraghâta, a title by which he was frequently designated, and which means enemy-slayer. He was succeeded by his son Aśôka in 270 B.C.
Seleukos Nikator, one of Alexander’s great generals who made himself king of Syria, was the son of Antiochos, an officer of high rank in the service of King Philip. Seleukos was distinguished for his great personal strength and courage, and when he accompanied Alexander into Asia held a command in the companion cavalry. He crossed the Hydaspês with Alexander himself, and took an important part in the great battle which followed. At Sousa he was rewarded for his eminent services with the hand of Apama, an Asiatic princess, the daughter of Spitamenes. In the dissensions which broke out after Alexander’s death among his generals, Seleukos sided with Perdikkas and the cavalry against Meleager and the infantry, and was in consequence made Chiliarch of the companions, one of the highest offices, and one which Perdikkas himself had previously held. He accompanied Perdikkas into Egypt, but he there put himself at the head of the mutineers by whom his patron was assassinated. At the second partition of the provinces made at Triparadeisos 321 B.C. he obtained the Babylonian satrapy, and established himself in Babylon. He assisted Antigonos in the war against Eumenes, but afterwards contended against him in alliance with Ptolemy. During an interval when hostilities were suspended between himself and his rivals, Seleukos undertook an expedition into India to regain the conquests of Alexander over which Sandrokottos had established his authority. We do not know how far he advanced into India, but he probably again crossed the Hydaspês, which he had crossed twenty years before along with the great conqueror himself. The result of the expedition was a treaty by which Seleukos ceded to Sandrokottos his Indian provinces and the regions west of the Indus as far as the range of Paropanisos, in exchange for 500 elephants, and a marriage alliance by which the daughter of Seleukos became the bride of the Indian king. Immediately either before or after this expedition, Seleukos in 306 B.C., following the examples of Antigonos and Ptolemy, formally assumed the regal title and diadem. In the battle of Ipsos 301 B.C., where Seleukos, in league with Ptolemy, Lysimachos, and Kassander, fought against Antigonos, the cavalry and elephants which the Syrian king brought into the field were mainly instrumental in securing the victory. The empire of Seleukos then became the most extensive of those which had been formed out of Alexander’s conquests, extending from Phoenicia to Baktria and Sogdiana. After being engaged in other wars, Seleukos crossed the Hellespont with an army with a view to seize the crown of Macedonia, but was assassinated at Lysimachia by Ptolemy Keraunos in the beginning of the year 280 B.C. in the thirty-second year of his reign.
Sisikottos was an Indian who had deserted his countrymen and taken service under Bessos. After the conquest of Baktria he took service under Alexander, who, no doubt, obtained from him much valuable information regarding India and its affairs. After the capture of the rock Aornos, Sisikottos was left in command of the garrison which Alexander established there. He afterwards sent messengers to inform Alexander that the Assakênians had revolted from him.
Sitalkes was a leader of Thracian light-armed troops in Alexander’s service. He was left under Parmenion in Media, and on Alexander’s return from India was put to death for misgovernment.
Solinus was the author of a compendium of geography extracted mostly from the Natural History of Pliny. He lived about the middle of the third century A.D.
Sôpheites or Sôpeithês was, according to Curtius and Diodôros, king of a territory situated to the west of the Hyphasis. According to Arrian his dominions (or those of a king of the same name) lay along the banks of the Hydaspês, and, as we learn from Strabo, embraced the salt range of mountains called Oromenus by Pliny. With regard to the name, Lassen took it to represent the Sanskrit Aśvapati, “lord of horses.” M. Sylvain Lévi, however, thinks this a fanciful identification of the two names, erring against Greek and against Sanskrit. He then says: “A drachma of Indian silver coined towards the end of the fourth century B.C. in imitation of Greek money bears the inscription ΣΩΦΥΤΟΥ. The form Sophytes is, then, the only one to be considered. The laws of transcription established by numerous examples give the equivalents: ω = ô or aw, φ = bh. Sophytes then leads back to Sobûtha or Saubh. The Gana-pâtha knows precisely a country of the name of Saubhûta. Pânini (IV. ii. 67 sqq.) shows by examples how local names are formed.... The name of Sâmkala, etc., is formed in this way. M. Bhandarkar has already recognised in the city of Sâmkala the famous fortress of Sangala, ... but the Indian savant has not overcome the old prejudice which, regardless of the laws of transcription, identifies Sangala with Śâkala, capital of the Madras (Lassen, Ind. Alt. i. 801).... The identification firmly fixed of Sophytes and Saubhûta dissipates henceforward all doubts. Among the names classed in the Gana-pâtha under the rubric Sâmkala, etc., is found Subhûta, which gives, in virtue of the rule stated, Saubhûta as the name of a locality. Everything concurs in proving the correctness of our identification.”
Sphinês.—See [Kalânos].
Spitakes is supposed to be the same as the Pittakos mentioned by Polyainos. He was slain fighting on the side of Pôros in the battle of the Hydaspês. His territories lay near that river.