Guerre entre Séleucos Ier et Chandragupta Maurya
Sauf précision contraire, les dates de cet article sont sous-entendues « avant l'ère commune » (AEC), c'est-à-dire « avant Jésus-Christ ».
| Date | 305 - 303 av. J.-C. |
|---|---|
| Issue |
Victoire de l'empire Maurya[1],[note 1]
|
| Armée séleucide | Armée de l'empire Maurya |
| Séleucos Ier | Chandragupta Maurya |
La guerre entre Séleucos Ier et Chandragupta Maurya se déroule entre 305 et 303 pour la possession des provinces indiennes de l'empire d'Alexandre le Grand. Un traité de paix cède aux Mauryas de vastes territoires aux confins des deux empires.
Contexte
[modifier | modifier le code]En 309 av. J.-C., Séleucos, satrape de Babylonie, parvient à définitivement repousser Antigone le Borgne à l'issue de la guerre babylonienne[12]. Il profite de cette victoire pour étendre sa domination sur les satrapies de Haute Asie (Drangiane, Sogdiane, Bactriane, Arie). Il atteint la frontière du monde indien en 308.
Chandragupta Maurya, souverain du Magadha depuis 321, fait la conquête des régions bordant le Gange aux dépens de la dynastie Nanda après onze années de guerre, aboutissant à la création de l'empire Maurya. Il se tourne alors vers les régions de l'Indus et évince, dans les années 310-305, Taxilès en poste depuis les accords de Babylone. Taxila devient la capitale de la province septentrionale de l'empire Maurya.
Déroulement
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Le conflit entre Séleucides et Maurya éclate lorsque Séleucos cherche à reprendre possession des satrapies indiennes de la vallée de l'Indus (Pendjab et Gandhara). Le déroulement des campagnes reste inconnu. Il n’existe en effet aucune trace des batailles durant lesquelles les Maurya ont pris le dessus sur l'armée séleucide. Mais Appien prétend[13], peut-être à tort, que Séleucos aurait pu franchir l'Indus[14]. Le Ghandhara tombe d'abord entre les mains des Maurya ; c'est le tour ensuite de l'Hindou Kouch et du Pendjab en 303 av. J.-C.. Séleucos est contraint de traiter avec Chandragupta alors même que l'ambition impériale d'Antigone le Borgne menace l'équilibre des forces en Méditerranée orientale, obligeant Séleucos à réorienter ses forces.
Traité de paix
[modifier | modifier le code]Séleucos et Chandragupta finissent par sceller un traité de paix connu par Appien[13] : Séleucos doit abandonner les satrapies indiennes de l'ancien empire d'Alexandre le Grand : Gandhâra, Paropamisades, Gédrosie ainsi que les parties orientales de l'Arachosie, la partie occidentale restant sous la tutelle de Sibyrtios qui s'est rallié à Séleucos. Séleucos parvient à conserver la Sogdiane et la Bactriane. Cet accord s'accompagne d'un mariage entre une fille de Séleucos et le roi des Maurya, ce qui fait dire que l'empereur Ashoka aurait pu avoir une grand-mère irano-macédonienne, l'épouse de Séleucos, Apama, étant perse. Surtout Séleucos reçoit un contingent de 500 éléphants de guerre. De manière plus anecdotique, Séleucos reçoit aussi des produits aphrodisiaques[15].
Conséquences
[modifier | modifier le code]Ce traité marque un tournant dans l'histoire des diadoques, avec l'abandon du dessein indien initié par Alexandre. Séleucos montre un certain réalisme en abandonnant des territoires lointains et difficiles d'accès[16]. Il peut dès lors se tourner vers la lutte contre Antigone le Borgne qui est vaincu en 301 av. J.-C. à la bataille d'Ipsos, grâce notamment aux 500 éléphants donnés par Chandragupta[17]. Séleucos n'aurait cependant reçu que des éléphants mâles car Chandragupta Maurya escompte en conserver le monopole. Ce traité pourrait également avoir des motivations commerciales. Il s'agirait en effet pour Séleucos d'assurer la sécurité de ses échanges avec le monde indien[18]. Pour sceller la paix, Séleucos envoie Mégasthène, qui réside alors en Arachosie auprès du satrape Sibyrtios, en ambassade à la cour de Pataliputra sur le Gange[19].
Séleucos a frappé monnaie à son effigie durant son séjour en Inde, comme l'atteste la découverte de plusieurs pièces qui le décrivent comme basileus (« roi »), impliquant une datation après 305. Certaines de ces pièces montrent que son fils Antiochos est associé à la royauté, ce qui impliquerait une datation postérieure à 294. Aucune monnaie séleucide n'a été frappée par la suite en Inde, confirmant l'annexion du territoire à l'ouest de l'Indus par les Maurya.
À la suite de cette guerre, la renommée de Chandragupta se répand dans le monde hellénistique, son empire étant reconnu comme une grande puissance. Les Lagides envoient des ambassadeurs à sa cour. Selon une tradition, Chandragupta se serait converti au jaïnisme, ce qui l'aurait incité à abdiquer autour de 298.
Notes et références
[modifier | modifier le code]Notes
[modifier | modifier le code]- K.M. Munishi, Pg 15-16 : Chandragupta drove out the Greeks from the Punjab in a brilliant war of liberation. The successful war against the Greeks awoke Chandragupta (c.324-300 B.C.) to a consciousness of his strength. ... Consolidating his position in the Punjab, and inspired by his teacher Chanakya, Chandragupta marched on Pataliputra; killed Dhana Nanda, assumed the sovereignty of Magadha; vanquished Seleucus, the Greek, who was moving towards India to recapture Alexander’s lost possessions; and started on a career of becoming the architect of an all-India empire.[1]
Références
[modifier | modifier le code]- " Pg.106 - Seleucid Kingdom Another Hellenistic monarchy was founded by the general Seleucus (suh-LOO-kuss), who established the Seleucid dynasty of Syria. This was the largest of the Hellenistic kingdoms and controlled much of the old Persian Empire from Turkey in the west to India in the east, although the Seleucids found it increasingly difficult to maintain control of the eastern territories. In fact, an Indian ruler named Chandragupta Maurya (chundruh-GOOP-tuh MOWR-yuh) (324-301 B.c.E.) created a new Indian state, the Mauryan Empire, and drove out the Seleucid forces. ... The Seleucid rulers maintained relations with the Mauryan Empire. Trade was fostered, especially in such luxuries as spices and jewels. Seleucus also sent Greek and Macedonian ambassadors to the Mauryan court. Best known of these was Megasthenes (muh-GAS-thuh-neez), whose report on the people of India remained one of the Western best sources of information on India until the Middle Ages. " Jackson J. Spielvogel (Internet Archive), Western civilization, Boston, MA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning, (ISBN 978-0-495-91329-0, lire en ligne), p. 106
- Kosmin 2014, p. 33–34.
- Pg.740 : "Chandragupta and Seleucus Nikator, who had inherited the eastern provinces of Alexander empire. This may have occurred in about 301 BCE and was resolved by an agreement. Chandragupta obtained the territories of Arachosia (the Kandahar area of south-east Afghanistan), Gedrosia (south Baluchistan), and Paropomisadai (the area between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent) and handed over 500 elephants in return. "Upinder Singh, History Of Ancient And Early Medeival India From The Stone Age To The 12th Century, (lire en ligne), p. 740,748
- "Pg.273 : The ceded country comprised a large portion of Ariana itself, a fact ignored by Tarn. In exchange the Maurya a monarch gave the "comparatively small recompense of 500 elephants. It is believed that the territory ceded by the Syrian king included the four satrapies: Aria, Arachosia, Gedrosia and the Paropanisadai, i.e., Herat, Kandahar, Makran and Kabul. Doubts have been entertained about this by several scholars including Tarn. The inclusion of the Kabul valley within the Maurya Empire is, however, proved by the inscriptions of Asoka, the grandson of Chandragupta, which speak of the Yonas and Gandharas as vassals of the Empire. And the evidence of Strabo probably points to the cession by Seleukos of a large part of the Iranian Tableland besides the riparian provinces on the Indus." Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri, Political history of ancient India, (lire en ligne), p. 273,297,327
- Vincent Arthur Smith, The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911, Clarendon Press, , 104–106 p. (lire en ligne)
- "Pg.105 : Net result of the expedition, however, clearly indicate that Seleucus met with a miserable failure. For he had not only to finally abandon the idea of reconquering the Panjab, but had to buy peace by ceding Paropanisadai, Arachosia, and Aria, three rich provinces with the cities now known as Kabul, Kandähär and Herät respectively as their capitals, and also Gedrosia (Baluchistan), or at least a part of it. The victorious Maurya king probably married the daughter of his Greek rival, and made a present of five hundred elephants to his royl father-in-law." R. C. Majumdar, Ancient India (lire en ligne)
- "Pg. 170 : By 311 B.C. or somewhat later the Indus had become the frontier of the Magadhan Empire. Further westward expansion was largely the outcome of the successful military encounter with Seleucus Nicator (Seleukos Nikator), founder of the Seleucid dynasty and inheritor of Alexander's eastern empire from northern Syria to India Between 305 and 302 B.C. Seleucus ceded the satrapies of Gedrosia. Arachosia, Paropamisadai, and probably Aria , gave his adversary a Greek princess in marriage, and obtained in return 500 war elephants and permanent peace and friendship on his eastern frontier. About this time, perhaps earlier, western Gandhara and areas north to the Hindu Kush, Abhisara, and probably Kasmira were also annexed to the Mauryan dominions." « -- Schwartzberg Atlas -- Digital South Asia Library », sur dsal.uchicago.edu (consulté le )
- "Pg. 15 : Towards the north-west, his empire marched with that of the Syrian monarch, Antiochos [R.E. II], and hence extended up to Persia and Syria which were held by Antiochos, while it is also known how Asoka's grandfather, Chandragupta, had wrested from Selukos the provinces of Aria, Arachosia, Paropanisadai and Gedrosia, which descended to Asoka as his inheritance. Lastly, the extent of his empire is also indicated by his own mention in the Edicts (Rock Edict II, V, and XIII] of the peoples on its borders In the south, these are mentioned as the Cholas, Pandyas, the Satiyaputra and Keralaputra, who were all within his sphere of influence Towards the north-west, his empire marched with that of the Syrian monarch, Antiochos [Rock Edict II], and hence extended up to Persia and Syria which were held by Antiochos, while it is also known how Asoka's grandfather, Chandragupta, had wrested from Selukos the provinces of Aria, Arachosia, Paropanisadai and Gedrosia, which descended to Asoka as his inheritance ." Radhakumud Mookerji, Asoka (lire en ligne)
- “Pg.270 :In 324 B.C.E. Chandragupta Maurya unified northern India by defeating his rivals. He went on to war against the successor of ALEXANDER THE GREAT in Asia, Seleucus Nicator, expelling his forces from the borderlands of India. In 305 B.C.E. the two men concluded a treaty in which the Greeks withdrew from the Punjab in northwestern India and which fixed the western boundary of the MAURYAN EMPIRE to the crest of the Hindu Kush. There was also exchange of ambassadors, gifts, and a vague mention of a marriage alliance. Megasthenes was Seleucus’s representative at Chandragupta’s court. “ & “Check Mauryan Empire Map , Pg:590. “ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD HISTORY 7 Volumes (lire en ligne), p. 270
- "Pg.101 : Towards the close of the reign of Chandrgupta, the Maurya empire received a further extension in the north-west Seleucus the general of Alexander, who had made himself master of Babylon, gradually extended his empire from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus and even tried to regain the provinces to the east of that river. He failed and had to conclude a treaty with Chandragupta by which he surrendered a large territory including, in the opinion of certain writers, the satrapies of Paropanisadai {Kabul), Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Qandahar), and Gedrosia (Baluchistan), in return for 500 elephant. "R. C. Majumdar, Advanced history of India, Macmillan & Company, (lire en ligne), p. 101,104
- "Pg.60 : Seleucus had to purchase peace by ceding to Chandragupta territories then known as Aria, Arachosia, and Paropanisadae (the capitals of which were respectively the cities now known as Herat, Kandahar and Kabul), and probably also a part of Gedrosia (Baluchistan). In return Chandragupta presented him with 500 war elephants. The terms of the peace leave no doubt that the Greek ruler fared badly at the hands of Chandragupta. His defeat and discomfiture at the hands of an Indian ruler would naturally be passed over by Greek writers, and their silence goes decidedly against Seleucus. The peace was ratified by a matrimonial alliance between the rival parties. This has been generally taken to mean that Chandragupta married a daughter of Seleucus, but this is not warranted by known facts. Henceforth Scleucus maintained friendly relations with the Mauryan Court and sent Megasthanes as his ambassador who lived in Pataliputra for a long time and wrote a book on India." K.M. Munishi, The Age Of Imperial Unity Volume II, (lire en ligne), p. 60
- Will 2003, tome 1, p. 66.
- Appien, Syriaque, 55.
- Will 2003, tome 1, p. 265.
- Athénée de Naucratis, Les Deipnosophistes, I, 32 ; d'après les Histoires de Phylarque.
- Will 2003, tome 1, p. 264.
- Will 2003, tome 1, p. 79.
- Michel Rostovtzeff, Histoire économique et sociale du monde hellénistique, Robert Laffont, coll. « Bouquins », (1re éd. 1941), p. 321.
- Arrien, V, 6, 2.
Annexes
[modifier | modifier le code]Sources antiques
[modifier | modifier le code]- Appien, Histoire Romaine, XI, Livre Syriaque, 55
- Justin, Abrégé des Histoires philippiques de Trogue Pompée [détail des éditions] [lire en ligne], XV, 12-21
- Strabon, Géographie [détail des éditions] [lire en ligne], XV, 2, 9
Bibliographie
[modifier | modifier le code]- Édouard Will, Histoire politique du monde hellénistique 323-, Paris, Seuil, coll. « Points Histoire », (ISBN 2-02-060387-X).
