Heading East

Educated people in the Ancient West had at least some basic knowledge of the Hindu tradition. After all, following Alexander the Great's foray into the part of the Greater India we call Pakistan today, Greek soldiers who set down roots in India were continually sending news about Hindu Culture back Home in Greece.

But reports about India went back further than Alexander. If you look at a world map, you'll see the Middle East is just a hop, skip, and a jump from India. Take a boat down the Persian Gulf, then sail a few hundred miles along the coast of Persia, and you're in the Indus Valley. If you could get to Babylon, India was actually quite accessible.

We read in ancient Greek biographies that a number of important Greek intellectuals, such as Pythagoras studied in Persia. Even if Pythagoras never visited India himself (as some students of history have speculated), he would have learned some of the doctrines of India's yogis and brahmins in Babylon, where he lived for twelve years.