The Heliodorus pillar inscription at Besnagar is a primary epigraphic source, the actual stone inscription rather than a later account of it, so it carries no publication year: the atlas records years of publication and this is an inscription of roughly 113 BCE, in the fourteenth regnal year of King Bhagabhadra, though one scholarly source gives the wider range of 125 to 100 BCE. Its strength is that it is the ambassador Heliodorus' own words about his own devotion. Its limit is the ordinary one for any single ancient inscription: it speaks for one person's act, not for wider practice.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
The Heliodorus pillar inscription at Besnagar, the top tier reflecting that it is a primary epigraphic source, the actual surviving stone inscription rather than a later account of it, carrying the ambassador Heliodorus' own words about his own devotion. Its limit is the ordinary one for any single ancient inscription: it speaks for one person's act, not for wider practice. NotesPublicationYear left NULL because the atlas records years of publication and this is an inscription of about 113 BC, in the fourteenth regnal year of King Bhagabhadra. One source gives the wider range 125-100 BC.
Citation
AuthorHeliodorus, son of Dion, ambassador of Antialcidas
Source Typeprimary-text
Claims Backed By This Source (8 claims)
This source backs 8 claims across the atlas. As facts: 5 well-attested. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 5 claims: 5 well-attested.
- Deities, 1 claims: 1 general references.
- Denominations, 1 claims: 1 general references.
- Figures, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.