Vedic influence in Greece

Many of the Greek Gods resemble the Vedic Devas. We can equate Zeus with Indra they are both represented as the chief of all Gods and are shown to wield the thunderbolt, Poseidon with Varuna or Samudra Raja as the lord of the ocean, Athena with the Vedic goddess of learning Saraswati. The Greek God Pan who is portrayed as playing the flute and sporting among shepherds sounds very similar to Lord Krishna who frolicked with cowherds and played the flute as well. It is very evident that many of the Greek mythologies and religious concepts have been borrowed from the Vedic religion. The concepts of the ancient Greek religion and mythologies are not as well formed as the concepts of the Vedic religion.
The Greek ambassador Heliodorus erected a stone pillar in Central India and dedicated it to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra in 110 BCE.  The pillar was surmounted by a sculpture of Garuda and was dedicated to Lord Vasudeva an avatar of lord Vishnu. The pillar had the following inscription.
“Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam
karito i[a] Heliodorena bhaga-
vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena
Yonadatena agatena maharajasa
Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano
Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa
vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa"
Which means,

"This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, the God of Gods

“This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva, God of Gods

was erected here by the devotee Heliodoros,

the son of Dion, a man of Taxila,

sent by the Great Greek (Yona) King

Antialkidas, as ambassador to

King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior

son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign."

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliodorus_pillar

The Bactrian King Agathocles was also known to have issued coins depicting the avatars of Lord Vishnu.  We have seen that the Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations were very familiar with the Vedic teachings and concepts. The Vedic mythologies had been modified to fit the regional beliefs of the Greeks & Egyptians. The early proponents of the “Aryan invasion theory” claimed that the Vedic religion was first propounded by Greeks; it is very evident that the Greeks were the ones who had borrowed concepts from the Vedic people and not the other way around as, while the Greek religion is now dead the Vedic religion is still standing. The root has survived whereas the various branches like the Egyptian and the Greek religions have died. I shall show how religious concepts get modified on a daily basis in my concluding post for this series. I shall also continue examining evidence of Vedic roots in other ancient civilizations.

References:

Religion of the ancient Greeks - m Le Clerc De Septchenes

The origin of pagan idolatry - George Stanley Faber

An analysis of the Egyptian Mythology: to which is subjoined a critical examination of the remains of Egyptian chronology - J.C. Prichard, M.D