Pakistan and ancient Persian empires

Interesting. I dont know what Persian maps you're talking about though or what archeological sites there are in Pakistan indicating the presence of the Achaemenids and/or Sassanids over there. Perhaps you could post some pictures or news reports of these finds here because this is the first time i've heard about this. Its not surprising that Persian coins have been found in the subcontinent because Persians traded with India and there have been coins dating back to the Sassanid empire that have been found as far away as Malaysia so that's nothing new. Persia traded with much of Asia during the Sassinid period by land and by sea. But these Persian "archeological sites" in Pakistan is news to me because according to everything i have read the only sources there are for the Persian defeat of India comes from Darius' inscription left behind in Persepolis and i believe there may also be another reference to the invasion of India in an inscription found in Egypt if im not mistaken. But these are the only proofs that Darius did invade India and extracted some of the highest tribute the Achaemenid empire received from its subordinate peoples.

 

Yes you're right that Indians were used in some of the Persian campaigns. The Achaemind army consisted of its primary force made up of Iranian contingents (Persians, Medes, Scythians) and then its auxiliary units who fought in their own ethnic regiments and used their own ethnic attire, equipment etc. These auxiliary units came from the subordinate peoples like the Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians and Indians who all were made to fight for the Persians. But this worked against the Achaemenids especially during the invasions of Greece.

 

By the way i wouldn't trust those maps you find online. We were discussing this on one of the other forums and these maps you find online are usually inflated and based on estimates. They also make no distinction between the territories ruled by the Achaemenids and the actual extent of how far the Persians campaigned militarily. So this is why you find parts of the subcontinent and north eastern Central Asia included in these maps which were no doubt invaded but there are no actual Persian or Greco-Roman sources on the military campaigns in India or how far Darius invaded. All that is known from Persian sources (inscriptions at Persepolis, and possibly one in Egypt) is that Darius invaded India and defeated the Indians after which the Achaemenids extracted very large tributes from them so i really wonder what archeological sites you were talking about because these have never been reported in history books or Iranian archeological and cultural surveys.