The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in the East. Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. Yavana appears, for instance, in the Mahabharata, while Yona appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle Mahavamsa. The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves. Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include: The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC). The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda Panha. The description of Greek astrology and Greek terminology in the Yavanajātaka "Nativity of the Yavanas" (150 CE). The mention of Alexandria on the Caucasus, "the city of the Yonas" in the Mahavamsa, Chapter 29 (4th century CE). In general, the words "Yoṇa" or "Yoṇaka" were the current Greek Hellenistic forms, while the term "Yavana" was the Indian word to designate the Greeks or the Indo-Greeks. Comparable terms in the Ancient Mediterranean world This usage was shared by many of the countries east of Greece, from the Mediterranean to Sindh: Egyptians used the word ywnj-ꜥꜣ. Assyrians used the word Iawanu. Persians used the word Yauna. Babylonians used the word Yaman and Yamanaya. In Biblical Hebrew, the word was יוון Yāwān (Modern Hebrew Yavan) In modern Turkish, Persian, and Arabic it is Yūnān, derived from the same Old Persian word for designating the Greeks, namely "Yauna" (literally 'Ionians', as they were the first Greeks with whom the Persians had extensive contact.) History The usage of "Yona" and "Yavana, or variants such as "Yauna", "Yonaka" and "Javana", appears repeatedly, and particularly in relation to the Greek kingdoms which neighboured or sometimes occupied the Punjab over a period of several centuries from the 4th century BCE to the first century CE, such as the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Yavanar are mentioned in detail in Sangam literature epics such as Paṭṭiṉappālai, describing their brisk trade