On the Road to India with Apollonios of Tyana and Thomas the Apostle

From Herodotus on, India exercised its &s;exotic&s; fascination on the Greeks. Tales of travels, like the lengthy visit of Megasthenes to the court of Chandragupta, found avid readers. This chapter explores the ways in which the several texts exploit readers&s; experience of networks as facilitators of travel to secure that verisimilitude for the adventures of their protagonists in far-away India. The ethnic connection runs through a complex interconnection of Greek ethnicity and mytho-history. Discussion about Apollonios of Tyana in India long focused on positivist questions of the reality of the journey and of his companion Damis, whose deltoi Philostratos used to compile his own, more elegant, biography. H. Thomas&s; journey to India happens because Abbanes, an Indian emporos, arrives in Jerusalem looking for an architect to buy and bring back to his king, Gundophoros. Word of Thomas&s; preaching reached a certain captain named Siphor, whose wife and daughter had been afflicted by demons.

Apostle · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Byzantine Studies and History · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Philosophy