Alexander the Great vs the "Wild Men" of India

I wasn't sure to post this here or in the Crypto forum. However, they sounded human enough to me to be a lost civilization rather than Yeti.

The tale of a group Alexander clashed with on his trip into India..

As stated, I do think the title of the article is a bit misleading - but I'll post it as it appears.

Did Alexander the Great fight the Yeti

There was a lagoon at the mouths of the river, and the depressions near the bank were inhabited by natives in stifling cabins. These seeing the convoy sailing up were astounded, and lining along the shore stood ready to repel any who should attempt a landing. They carried thick spears, about six cubits long; these had no iron tip, but the same result was obtained by hardening the point with fire. They were in number about six hundred.

......

They, astounded at the flash of the armour, and the swiftness of the charge, and attacked by showers of arrows and missiles, half naked as they were, never stopped to resist but gave way. Some were killed in flight; others were captured; but some escaped into the hills. Those captured were hairy, not only their heads but the rest of their bodies; their nails were rather like beasts' claws; they used their nails (according to report) as if they were iron tools; with these they tore asunder their fishes, and even the less solid kinds of wood; everything else they cleft with sharp stones; for iron they did not possess. For clothing they wore skins of animals, some even the thick skins of the larger fishes.

This sounds almost like a "stone age " tribe that Alexander encountered.

It makes you wonder what other lost tribes and civilizations are told of in other, old histories.

reply to post by Frogs


I've often wondered about this...

I highly doubt they came across a "Bigfoot, Sasquatch or Yeti" group. The most plausible explanation would be a lost tribe of Neanderthals.
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Although officially their range didn't extend to that region. This is of course if we are to believe that we know all there is to know about the Neanderthals.

Neanderthal vs. Homosapien

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As good a guess as any Slayer - and better than most I would suspect.

I wish the account had went into a bit more description, but my guess would also be a tribe of Neanderthals or some other similar group. It wasn't that long ago they found the "hobbits".

I would really question the authenticity of the article. Because that part of India where Alexander crossed the Indus river cannot be populated by Neanderthals. That's one of the oldest civilization on earth. Its called Indus valley civilization.

Indus valley civilization

I believe the Greeks may not have seen monkeys before they visited India. There is a large variety of primate population in Indian sub-continent. My only explanation is that it could be some kind of ape. Remember primates live in groups too.

reply to post by Frogs


Hmm, yes, I did encounter such savages during my conquests...



Seriously, It wouldn't surprise me that he did encounter primitive man (by standards of the times).

It's 2010, and there are still cannibals in the world.

S+F, great post. I love anything in my realm of study! ^_^ My vote is also on Neanderthal. We do have to consider the civilization in the indus sarasvati valley, which definitely makes for a boggle. Although, if these people/primates/men were peaceable like it seemed then they may have been friends with that civilization. If they ran away while others used primitive missile weapons, then I would have to make a guess as peaceable, and only wishing to fight if forced.
Remember, Those that win wars write the history. Since this was obviously written from Alexanders point of view they might have looked at him funny and provoked him to war. The man did have a huge ego. Anyhow, just my take. ^_^

I'm curious now! I love old adventures in history and it's unknowns. First, possibly UFOs and Alexander, now, neanderthals. I wish I could go through his mind and see what he saw.

reply to post by the_spark


Yea but do monkeys live in cabins?

There was a lagoon at the mouths of the river, and the depressions near the bank were inhabited by natives in stifling cabins.

Unless I am missreading the text these hairy men lived in cabins and used spears. I realize that in recent years apes have been recorded using sticks as tools and weapons, but burning the tips to harden them is beyond a apes capabilities.

Originally posted by hangedman13
reply to post by the_spark

 

Yea but do monkeys live in cabins?

There was a lagoon at the mouths of the river, and the depressions near the bank were inhabited by natives in stifling cabins.

Unless I am missreading the text these hairy men lived in cabins and used spears. I realize that in recent years apes have been recorded using sticks as tools and weapons, but burning the tips to harden them is beyond a apes capabilities.

No. monkeys dont live cabins but they do live in nests and I have never read anywhere that neanderthals lived in cabins either.

[edit on 17-2-2010 by the_spark]

[edit on 17-2-2010 by the_spark]

Hahaha... You people are comical beyond belief.. haha...lol
They were not monkeys nor are they the missing link (YETI), they are "Human." We call them Adivasi's; they are the original inhabitants of India. Also know as Aboriginal people in the West.

But seriously though, them being some sort of Ape or Big-Foot: Funny stuff. Haha!!!

reply to post by Frogs
Wow! This is a great account and has the particular air of truth about it. I half expected some Greek mythological beastie encounter. In this case, I can believe it happened, roughly, as told. Thanks for posting it.

Like Slayer, I considered the possibility of Heidelbergensis or Neanderthal clinging on in some weird time capsule of the forests. If the story's true, it's way, way more likely they were a stone age tribe. We've still got a few lingering on in the 21st Century. Peanutbutter's idea of Adavasi could be right...I don't know enough about them. They do fit the bill in being indigenous, but I don't know about their culture or tools in the past.

One thing's for sure, the poor buggers had a very unexpected end to their day!

Well, i found this link while reading the replies to the blog.

its from cryptomundo

Alex-No-Yetis

The Tomerus River is in Baluchistan and not in India.
Sot the tag " Wild Men of India" is not that applicable.

Better known is the tale of Alexander and King Porus.

After Alexander's Army had defeated King Porus and Porus was brought before him, Alexander asked porus how would he like to be treated. Porus replied " Treat me as your would treat another King"

Like a King

[edit on 7/6/10 by coredrill]

[edit on 7/6/10 by coredrill]

reply to post by Kandinsky


The word is Adivasi.
even that word is wrong. As per sanskrit , the correct term should be Upajati
Upa=sub, jati=tribe.

"Adivasi" or "Aadi-vasi" was a word made by Mahatma Gandhi to appreciate the original tribes of india as a whole.

Aadi - first
Vaasi - inhabitants.

This has long been one of the most curious and debated passages in the histories of Alexander. While the histories of his battles and the campaign in general might at times have stretched the truth in order to aggrandize Alexander, so far as I know nothing else comes off as so fanciful or bizarre as this part. A lot of people have suggested much the same, that Alexander's army happened upon some last vestige of either Neanderthals or some other non-sapian line of the Homo line.

In Oliver Stone's film "Alexander" there is even a shot, while they are in India, of some sort of pre-human with a very small head. Also, one of his men refers to them fighting "these monkey people," no doubt referring to this incident. I remember having to explain to a friend after we saw this movie that those references came from things actually mentioned in the Alexander histories.

I do not think the passage refers to the Adivasi. The description is simply too bestial and Adivasi look no more or no less human than anyone else. They are just people. Perhaps the population has changed somewhat physically in the intervening years, but from the pictures I've seen they don't even seem especially hairy as humans go - probably far, FAR less hairy than your typical man of Greek descent!

reply to post by coredrill
Hiya Coredrill. The basic description involves stone tools and 'hairiness.' We've little idea if neanderthal or other hominids were any hairier than humans. Recent research used the evolution of human lice to offer a date of some 70kya when we lost our hair. The study could be wrong though. Either way, homo sapiens seem to be the only hominids around at the time of Alexander.

Going off the evidence of human evolution it's reasonable to rule out a population of extinct hominids. If not 'rule out,' at least consider them improbable? That leaves us with humans using stone tools. Humans from 2300 years ago...or there about. If they really were as described, it's reasonable to think they would be indigenous to the area. The hairy description isn't detailed enough for any conclusions. Did they mean orang-utan hairy or just hairier than the average human? Who can say?

I wonder if the location can be sourced? 600 dead would leave something, somewhere to study. Bones, teeth or skulls. Imagine a simple stone age culture that had somehow survived for thousands of years...annihilated in one fell swoop! Today, we'd kill them by modern disease and urbanisation...but film them first.

India's Andaman and Nicobar islands have very old tribes, to which the Indian government is allowing only controlled access, to preserve their cultural identity and to save them from going extinct.

Andaman & Nicobar Tribes

[edit on 7/6/10 by coredrill]

reply to post by coredrill
There's a handful in a similar position in S America. One in particular has had no contact at all with us. They're living the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. I think the last time people tried to contact them, two visitors were killed and dumped on a beach. Cause of death? Bow and arrow.

They shoot helicopters too. Cool guys, but I wouldn't want to meet them