Porus
For the mythological figures, see Porus (Greek mythology) and Porus (Roman mythology).Porus, the
Greek version of the
Indian names
Puru,
Pururava or
Purushotthama, was the ruler of a Kingdom that was located between what is now known as the
Jhelum and the
Chenab rivers (in Greek sources called
Hydaspes and
Acesines) in the
Punjab. Its capital may have been around what is currently the city of
Lahore [
1].
Unlike his neighbour,
Ambhi (in Greek: Omphius), the King of
Taxila, Porus resisted
Alexander the Great.
Porus fought the
battle of the Hydaspes River with Alexander in
326 BC. After he was defeated by Alexander, Alexander reportedly asked him how he wished to be treated. ‘Like a king,' Porus replied, ‘Everything is contained in the words "like a king".‘ (Πάντα εν τω βασιλικώς ένεστι.) This answer so appealed to Alexander that he restored the captive to his realms, and Porus became a vassal.
Porus was said to be "5 cubits tall", either the implausible 7½ ft (2.3 m) assuming an 18-inch
cubit, or the more likely 6 ft (1.8 m) if a 14-inch
Macedonian cubit was meant.
Porus is supposed to have held the position of a Macedonian subordinate ruler until he was assassinated, sometime between 321 and 315 BC, by the Thracian Eudamus' agents after the death of Alexander (
Diodorus Siculus).
After his assassination, his son
Malayketu ascended the throne with the help of Eudamus. However, Malayketu was killed in the
Battle of Gabiene in 317 BC.
*
Arrian,
The Campaigns of Alexander, book 5.
* Lendring, Jona.
Alexander de Grote - De ondergang van het Perzische rijk (Alexander the Great. The demise of the Persian empire),Amsterdam:Athenaeum - Polak & Van Gennep, 2004.
* Holt, Frank L.
Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions, California: University of California Press, 2003, 217pgs. ISBN 0520244834
*
Porus at
Livius, by Jona Lendering
