Who was Nagasena? and What were the questions of king Milinda?

Question:I'm in an intro to Philosophy class and I was abscent yesterday when they covered Nagasena. Can someone please explain who that is and what were the questions of king Milinda? Also, what does all of this have to do with "Identity/the nature of self"?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm in an intro to Philosophy class and I was abscent yesterday when they covered Nagasena. Can someone please explain who that is and what were the questions of king Milinda? Also, what does all of this have to do with "Identity/the nature of self"?

Nāgasena was a Buddhist sage who lived about 150 BCE.

He is one of the 18 Lohans or Arhats,
similar to the Apostles in Christianity.

His answers to questions
about Buddhism posed by Menander I ,
the Indo-Greek king of northwestern India,
are recorded in a huge text
called Milinda Pa?ha,
following the "Question and Answer" pattern

The nature of self is one of the king's questions
which is also one of the problematics of the buddhism
since it focuses on that unparalleled doctrine
of anaatman ("nonself")
in which
the constructed self-image,
is a rare and secondary
aspect of consciousness
upon a
merely a collection of experiences
.........................................

The following is
a summary of the conversation

when the king asks if Nagasena
is all of the parts of his body and mind
taken together,
Nagasena answers "No."
This is because Nagasena rejects
any notion of a person that exists
in the ultimate sense: a person is not
ultimately something other than his parts
(the strict theory), nor is a person ultimately the sum
of his parts (the reductionist theory).
This does not mean, however, that the word
"Nagasena" is a mere sound;
for it is more than that:
it is a generally understood term
whose proper use is
determined by mutual agreement
concerning how, when, and where
it is to be used. Or, as Nagasena says, it
is because of his various components
that he is known as "Nagasena,"
even though "Nagasena"
does not refer to anything.

.........................................

Nagasina is the theory of human identity. King Milina, a greek minor king posed a question to a local philosopher. The philosopher was socretese. The king was impressed by socrates answer. The king raised socrates by giving him the order of ''nagasia'' This entitled socratese to eat once a week at the kings palace.jk.