# Maues' conquest of Taxila
Maues' conquest of Taxila was the takeover of the city of Taxila in Gandhara by the [Saka](https://www.edgepedia.org/saka) (Scythian) king Maues from the Indo-Greeks, accomplished around 85 BCE and making Taxila the capital of the first Indo-Scythian kingdom in India.[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) Maues (Maukes in Greek sources, Moa or Moga in Kharoshthi records) thereby founded the Indo-Scythian dynasty in Gandhara on the institutional pattern of the Indo-Greek kingdom it replaced.[2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) • [3](https://www.gssrjournal.com/jadmin/Auther/31rvIolA2LALJouq9hkR/rztEth4vWM.pdf)
| Fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Date | Around 85 BCE, within a reign dated variously c. 120–85, 90–75, or 85–57 BCE[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) • [4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/) |
| Place | Taxila, in Gandhara[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) |
| Sides | Sakas under Maues against the Indo-Greek kingdom[2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) |
| Commanders | Maues; the Indo-Greek king Apollodotus II is named as the ruler overthrown in one reconstruction[2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) |
| Outcome | Maues established his authority at Taxila and made it his capital[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) |
| Aftermath | Indo-Greeks recovered part of the lost territory after Maues' death[2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) • [5](https://greekreporter.com/2026/01/04/ancient-greeks-nomadic-sakas-india/) |
## Background and causes
The Sakas were pushed toward India from Central Asia. According to the Encyclopædia Iranica article on the Indo-Scythian dynasty, the Chinese chronicle Han Shu records that the Saka (Sai) peoples were expelled after a confrontation with the Ta Yüeh-chih.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/)
The target was a fragmented Indo-Greek state. According to the Oriental Numismatic Society's journal on [Indo-Scythian coinage](https://www.edgepedia.org/indo-scythian-coinage), Maues' advance drove a wedge between Indo-Greek kingdoms, and he is said to have helped [Strato I](https://www.edgepedia.org/strato-i) to power in the Eastern Kingdom before extinguishing it shortly after 75 BC.[6](https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/IS_007.pdf)
## Course of events
Maues took the Indo-Greek provinces in sequence: Udayana (the [Swat Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/swat-valley)), then Taxila, the lands east of the Indus, part of eastern Gandhara, and, toward the end of his reign, the provinces east of the Jhelum.[6](https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/IS_007.pdf) The capture of Taxila itself is placed around 85 BCE, when he established his authority in the city; one journal account identifies the defeated Indo-Greek king as Apollodotus II.[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) According to a study of the Scythian advent in the [Indian subcontinent](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-subcontinent), an inscription from Shah Dheri at ancient Taxila records a pious act in the year 78 of the old Shaka Era of 170 BC, that is by about 92 BC, by [Patika](https://www.edgepedia.org/patika), son of Liaka Kusuluka, Kshatrapa of Chukhsa, during the reign of the Great King, the Great Moga, a figure universally identified with Maues; this places Maues' authority over the Taxila region within the same window.[7](https://www.wisdomlib.org/uploads/ocr/essays/scythian-elements/07-chapter-3-2.pdf)
Dating is the main uncertainty: Encyclopaedia Iranica dates Maues' activity to about 120–85 BCE with death circa 85/80 BCE, while other reconstructions run from 85 to 57 BCE or from about 90 to 75 BCE.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/) • [1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433)
## Conduct of the fighting
The takeover appears to have involved little open battle. Maues' encroachment into Indo-Greek territory does not appear to have been violent on the numismatic record: he did not restrike Indo-Greek coins, and only one uncertain overstrike on his own coins exists.[8](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/?generate_pdf=1) One scholarly reconstruction holds that he supplanted the local Indo-Greek dynasty not by defeating its armies, nor by marrying into it, but by offering his troops as help against rival Indo-Greeks and by plotting with a Chinese platoon against the widow and only son of the last local potentate, Artemidorus; coins of Maues and of the Indo-Greek Telephos, together with the Chinese notice on Yin-mofu, support this reading.[9](https://journals.ur.edu.pl/anabasis/article/view/10429) A separate tradition has him conquering Gandhara west of the Indus from Artemidorus outright.[7](https://www.wisdomlib.org/uploads/ocr/essays/scythian-elements/07-chapter-3-2.pdf)
His coinage shows how he presented himself in the conquered city. In the Taxila province he struck his commonest silver issue with the types "Zeus left – Nike right," and his commonest bronze there imitates the Bactrian king Demetrios I (ca. 186–170 BCE), suggesting a claim to be Demetrios' successor as a conqueror of India; his bronze animal types (bull, elephant) had appeared on the city's coinage even before the Greek occupation.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/)
## Outcome and losses
The established outcome is territorial: Maues ruled from Taxila over a realm that included Kashmir, Hazara, parts of the western Panjab, and part of the Peshawar valley with Kohat, limits based on numerous coin finds.[9](https://journals.ur.edu.pl/anabasis/article/view/10429) Coins minted under his rule have been found at most major archaeological sites in Gandhara, including Hazara, Kashmir, Gandhara, and the Swat Valley.[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) One joint issue with Queen Machene, bearing the types of his Kashmir province but a Taxila monogram, may commemorate an alliance, probably through matrimony, with a powerful Indo-Greek family in Taxila.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/)
## Consequences and political influence
Maues' conquest founded the Indo-Scythian kingdom in Gandhara and a political system initially modeled on the Indo-Greek one, with Taxila as capital.[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) He governed through satraps, some of whom, after his death, called themselves Kshaharatas; his independent satraps extended Indo-Scythian rule as far as Mathura.[6](https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/IS_007.pdf) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433) Under Indo-Scythian rule Gandhara saw developments in art and architecture combining Scythian, Greek, and Indian styles.[2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433)
The conquest did not end Indo-Greek power. According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica, Maues did not displace all the Indo-Greek kings in the Taxila and northwest provinces, several of whom continued to strike coins during his lifetime and those of his successors.[8](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/?generate_pdf=1)
## Historians' assessment
Maues' political history is reconstructed almost entirely from material culture, chiefly coins and inscriptions such as the Patika Kharoshthi inscription, which shed light on socio-political and religious conditions under Indo-Scythian rule; the sequence of kings has been established from hoard evidence, monogram sequences, and overstruck coins.[1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [8](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/?generate_pdf=1) On the character of the takeover the reconstructions differ: the numismatic evidence points to a largely non-violent encroachment, while the Anabasis reconstruction describes a coup managed through allied troops and intrigue rather than a pitched battle.[8](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/?generate_pdf=1) • [9](https://journals.ur.edu.pl/anabasis/article/view/10429) On chronology, Encyclopaedia Iranica's span of about 120–85 BCE conflicts with the 85–57 BCE span of the PalArch study and the roughly 90–75 BCE span of the IJSSB study; no single conquest year is fixed across the scholarship.[4](https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/) • [1](https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895) • [2](https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433)
## References
1. Exploring the Early Political History of the Indo-Scythian in Gandhara with Special Reference to Maues, PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt / Egyptology. https://www.archives.palarch.nl/index.php/jae/article/view/11895
2. The Indo-Scythian Dominance in Gandhara from 1 Century BCE to the Beginning of 1 Century CE, International Journal of Social Science Bulletin. https://ijssbulletin.com/index.php/IJSSB/article/download/644/834/1433
3. Maues Coins: Exploring the Significance of Animals Symbolism and Analysis, GSSR journal. https://www.gssrjournal.com/jadmin/Auther/31rvIolA2LALJouq9hkR/rztEth4vWM.pdf
4. Indo-Scythian Dynasty, Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/
5. When Ancient Greeks and Scythian Sakas Fought for Domination in India, GreekReporter. https://greekreporter.com/2026/01/04/ancient-greeks-nomadic-sakas-india/
6. Oriental Numismatic Society journal issue on Indo-Scythian coinage. https://www.orientalnumismaticsociety.org/archive/IS_007.pdf
7. Advent of the Sakas and the Saka-Pahlavas and Their Rule in the Indian Subcontinent (book chapter). https://www.wisdomlib.org/uploads/ocr/essays/scythian-elements/07-chapter-3-2.pdf
8. Indo-Scythian Dynasty (PDF version), Encyclopaedia Iranica. https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/indo-scythian-dynasty-1/?generate_pdf=1
9. Maues, China, and the Replacement of the Indo-Greeks, Anabasis. Studia Classica et Orientalia. https://journals.ur.edu.pl/anabasis/article/view/10429
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › India and South Asia › Post-Mauryan kingdoms (200 BC to AD 320) › Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian kingdoms*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license