Appolonious of Tyana was a physician living in Turkey in the first century C.E. In those days, doctors worked out of temples dedicated to Greek gods of healing like the Asclepias, which served as the medical centers of the time. Appollonious had heard lots of Stories about the sages of India and eagerly wanted to go there.
Appolonious was a follower of Phythagoras, a remaarkable Greek Sage who had lived six centuries earlier. Appolonious knew that many phyrtogrean teachings, such as the belief in reincarnation, vegetarianism, and keeping silent for years at a time as a form of spiritual discipline, were part and parcel of the Hindu tradition as well.
We know what happened next from a biography of Appolonious written by one Philostratus, a leading literary light of his era, who carefully researched his subject. The book was commissioned by Julia Domna, the empress of Rome, who was fascinated by Appolonius.
With a small group of deevotees, Appolonious set out for India, pausing in Babylon to study with the Magi, Zoroastrian priests whose sriptures were closely related to the Veda. Then they headed on through Afghanistan, crossing the Khyber Pass into India.
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