New discoveries? Poros defeating Alexander?

[rpcov1]

Are there any significant new discoveries about Alexander? Did Poros defeat Alexander as asserted by Indian scholar Buddha Prakash in his 1994 book "Poros the Great?"

[dean]

Hello,
This debate has been around quite a while and thoroughly talked about here if memory serves me rightly.
I think that what we decided in the end was that Alexander and his men faced a terrible enemy and fought elephants which no Greek army had ever faced before but in spite of the horrors of this particular battle not to mention electrical storm, monsoon etc Alexander did defeat Porus although it was quite a Phyric victory.
Best regards,
Dean.

[susan]

I don't think there are significant attested new discoveries that everyone will agree upon.The story of Poros defeating Alexander has been around for a long time, without any very convincing evidence. We've discussed it several times on this forum.There are other threads - Dr Ranajit Pal believes that Asoka's pillars are in fact Alexander's lost altars, that the geographical location of Alexander's later Indian campaigns are wrong, and that the Gedrosian expedition was partly a pursuit of an Indian foe.I have found and transcribed an Indian paper from 1937 which suggests that traces of Alexander's campaigns appear in Indian legend as the Skanda Romance. The author speculates that Alexander was believed to be a re-incarnation of an Indian deity, Skanda, and so he was welcomed in some places in India - much as the invading Spanish were welcomed by the Incas of Peru.Susan

[marcus]

Of course, they didn't call it a Pyrrhic Victory then! I believe the term they used pre-Pyrrhus was "Cadmeian Victory".:-)All the bestMarcus

[agesilaos]

A B Bosworth in 'Alexander and the East; Tragedy and Triumph.' Assesses the probable strength of Porus' army at the Hydaspes as significantly lower than Alexander's available forces and paints the picture of a fairly simple and bloody victory. The story of a hard fought battle serving to excuse the withdrawl from the Hyphasis. Porus became a vassal, unusual had he won. This story of a defeat seems akin to the Scots boasting that they were never conquered by Rome, the Romans didn't bother to stay it is true but they marched to the end of the island under Septimius Severus and do not seem over taxed by keeping the Caledonian element where they wanted it. Alexander withdrew from India therefore patriotic Indians posit a defeat, had tat happened I doubt we would know much of Alexander at all the decent historians would all be feeding the worms by the Jhelum.

[dean]

Yes Marcus,
I suppose in retrospect the term "Pyrrhic victory" is slightly out, time wise as in Alexander's day the term was yet to be born,
Yes, let's call it a Cadmean victory,
Regards,
Dean.