From the historian's notes

Pataliputra, 300 BCE

India · South Asia · winter 300 BCE · winter

What it was high

the Mauryan capital, by the Greek ambassador's account about 80 stadia long and 15 wide, one of the largest cities on earthas a fort at the meeting of the Ganges and the Son in the 5th century BCE

That year

• Megasthenes, the Seleucid envoy, is gathering the observations of India he will publish as the Indica: the timber palisade with 570 towers and 64 gates, the moat, the administration by boards of officials around 300 BCE highthe outside world's first long look at the city
• The empire stretches from the Bay of Bengal to beyond the Indus after the settlement with Seleucus since about 303 BCE highthe largest state India has known
• By Jain tradition the old emperor will soon give up the throne and go south as a monk around 297 BCE mediumthe end of a reign

Who held it high

the Maurya empireChandragupta Maurya, near the end of his reigna treaty with the Macedonian king Seleucus a few years ago: territory in the north-west for 500 war elephants, and a Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, now living at court

Its name medium

PataliputraWritten in the Brahmi script is attested in Ashoka's inscriptions a generation later; how much writing the court used in 300 BCE is debated

The date, there low

unknownregnal yearsThe sun and the watches of the day and night.

Money medium

punch-marked silver coinscopper for small sumsunknown

Weather medium

winter: dry, mild days and cool, misty mornings on the river

Things

Objectspunch-marked silver coins; polished black pottery; terracotta figurines; elephant harnessFoodrice; lentils; milk and ghee; sugarcaneClothfine cotton; muslin; wool for winterGetting aboutboats on the Ganges; ox carts; elephants for the army and the courtIn the airriver mud; wood smoke; ghee lamps

What she'd hear

Prakrit speech in the streets, Sanskrit among the learned, and some Greek at court through the embassy.

Where she could stand

• the timber palisade — the long wooden wall with its towers and gates, the moat outside
• the river front — boats on the Ganges at its meeting with the Son
• the palace precinct — pillared halls in polished stone and timber
• a market street — goods from the whole Ganges valley, sold under the eyes of market officials

Researched for this card · confidence medium