Hic sunt leones. Greci e Persiani ai confini (orientali) del mondo

The mediation of the Achaemenid Empire plays a fundamental role in the Greek conception of the eastern border of the world. Before Alexander the Great’s expedition, only rare reports of Greek mariners in the service of the Great King (such as Scylax of Caryanda) provided the Greeks with basic information about the far eastern regions of the oecumene – the latter coinciding with the Indian districts of the Empire. Thus, the Indus River frontier was both the Empire’s and the world’s boundary, according to the universalistic vision of the Achaemenid royal power. In addition to the Greek reports, other news about the Indian regions must have arrived continuously in the Aegean environment through Achaemenid Iran. It is the type of information itself that suggests that it passed through the various Achaemenid courts, i.e. not only the court of the Great King but also the various satrapic courts scattered across the western fringes of the Empire.