EGGERMONT, Pierre Herman Leonard. Menado, Celebes 4.2.1914 — Linden, Belgium 11.4.1995. Dutch Indologist and Classical Scholar. Son of a government agent in Indonesia, Pierre August Leonard E., and Cornelia Johanna Margaretha van Houten. After school in Surabaya came to the Netherlands in 1931 and began studies of Classics, Sanskrit and Old Iranian at Leiden. From 1940 teacher of Latin and Greek and ancient history in the Hague. During the war opposed to Nazis and was three years prisoner in Buchenwald. From 1946 again schoolteacher of Latin and Greek, in Leiden, Hengelo, Rotterdam and Rijswijk. At the same time pursued his studies under Bosch. Ph.D. 1956 Leiden. In 1958 one year in Paris studying under Renou, Filliozat, Minard, Bareau, Stern and Lazard. In 1966-79 Scientific Research Associate at Municipal University of Amsterdam. From 1969 eo. Professor at Department of Oriental Studies, Leuven. He retired from teaching in 1984 and lived his last years in Linden in Belgium. Married with M. E. Eggermont–van den Bent.
Eggermont was a noted specialist of early history, from Alexander to Kushan, of North-West India, although his later works were generally deemed too speculative. Even before Bechert he strongly criticized the “accepted” chronology of the Buddha as too early. But his “laws of the strings and movements of place-names” he gradually developed ad absurdum.
Publications: “The Date of Aśoka’s Rock Edict XIII”, AO 18, 1940, 103-123; “Indië en de hellenistische Rijken”, Ex Or. Lux 8, 1942, 735-746; “The name of the people of the Besadae”, AO 19, 1943, 281-290.
– Diss. The Chronology of the Reign of Asoka Moriya. A comparison of the data of the Asoka inscriptions and the data of the tradition. 11+222 p. Leiden 1956.
– With J. Hoftijzer: The Moral Edicts of King Aśoka, included the Graeco-Aramaic Inscription of Kandahar and further Inscriptions of the Maurian [sic] Period. 48 p. Textus Minores 29. Ld. 1962.
– “The Muruṇḍas and the ancient trade-route from Taxila to Ujjain”, JESHO 9, 1966, 257-296; “The Purāṇa Source of Merutuṅga’s List of Kings and the Arrival of the Śakas in India”, Basham (ed.), Papers on the Date of Kaniska. Ld. 1968, 67-86; “The Śaka Era and the Kaniṣka Era”, Ibid. 87-93; “The Date of the Periplus Maris Erythraei”, Ibid. 94-96; “The Historia Philippica of Pompeius Trogus and the Foundations of the Scythian Empire”, Ibid. 97-102; “Alexander’s Campaign in Gandhāra and Ptolemy’s list of Indo-Scythian towns”, OLP 1, 1970, 63-122.
– “New Notes on Aśoka and his Successors I”, Persica 2, 1965-66, 27-70; II. Persica 4, 1969, 77-120; III. Persica 5, 1970-71, 69-102; IV. Persica 8, 1979, 55-93.
– Alexander’s Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of Harmatelia. 233 p. Or. Lov. Analecta 3. Leuven 1975.
– “The Kushan Dynasty and Alexandreia Bucephalus”, Studia Paulo Naster oblata II. Orientalia antiqua. Or. Lov. Anal. 13. Leuven 1982, 53-68; “Ptolemy, the geographer, and the people of Dards”, OLP 15, 1984 191-233 & JCA 7, 1984, 73-123; “Indien und die hellenistischen Königreiche. Zusammenschau einer west-östlichen Gesellschaft zwischen 550 und 150 v. Chr.”, Ozols & Thewalt (edd.), Aus dem Osten des Alexanderreiches: Festschrift Klaus Fischer. Köln 1984, 74-83; “Heracles-Dorsanes and Priyadarśin-Aśoka”, OLP 17, 1986, 159-168; “Sanchi-Kākanāda and the Hellenistic and Buddhist sources”, G. Bhattacharya (ed.), Deyadharma: Studies in memory of Dr. D. C. Sircar. Delhi 1986, 11-27; “Hippalus and the discovery of the Monsoons”, A. Théodoridès, P. Naster & J. Ries (edd.), Humour, travail et science en orient. Leuven 1988, 343-364.
– With G. Pollet & G. Van Damme: Archaeological Sites. 127 p. Corpus Topographicum Indiae Antiquae 2. O.L.A. 37. Leuven 1990.
– “Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great and the identification of the Avestan Iskata Mountain”, Pakistan Archaeology 26:2 (A. H. Dani Vol.), 1991, 1-47.
– Alexander’s Campaign in Southern Punjab. 15+160 p. O.L.P. 54. Leuven 1993.
– Brief articles on classical philology, on Iranian and Indian history, etc., numerous reviews, in Mnemosyne, Bibl. Or., Persica, etc.
Sources: Life, photo and bibliography in G. Pollet (ed.), India and the Ancient World. O.L.P. 25. Leuven 1987; J.-M. Verpoorten, BEI 11-12, 1993-94 (1995), 7; Dutch Indology homepage; personal knowledge 1987/92; another photo in J. Gonda, Indology in the Netherlands. 1964.
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