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1

Swat after the Indo-Greeks – the City, the Sanctuaries and the Economy. An Archaeological Overview on the Saka-Parthian period

100%

Coloru O., Iori E., Olivieri L. M.

Studia Hercynia

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2021

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vol. 25

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issue 2

110-135

EN

The article presents an overview of the archaeological data (updated to 2021) from the recent excavations at Barikot, Swat (Pakistan), and preliminary results from ongoing studies of the other archaeological evidence related to the post -Indo -Greek phases in Swat and Gandhara (ca. 50 BC–50 AD). The article introduces some of the most distinctive markers of material culture in this context, as well as the evidence of new fortifications and building activity both in urban centres and Buddhist sanctuaries. The data collected thus far underpin a new interpretation of this little -known historical phase of ancient northwestern India. The phase is characterized by a building program and political vibrancy, which do not correspond with the model of an economic recession advanced by scholars thus far. Indeed, in this framework, the so -called ‘Great Debasement’ attributed to Azes II, might have had alternative implications.

2

Milindapañha and the Role of Buddhism as a Catalyst for Public Communication and Discussion

86%

Kubica O.

Academic Journal of Modern Philology

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2021

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issue 14

237–245

EN

As Amartya Sen has rightly noticed (Sen 2005: 182), one of Buddhist main principles was attaching special importance to discussions and dialogue. This argumentative tradition, which is traceable in Buddhism from the very beginning, for example in the texts of the Sutta Piṭaka or the so-called “Buddhist councils,” especially the third of them in the time of Aśoka, who in his edicts advocated respect for dissenting views, finds its exemplification in the Milindapañha — a Pāli Buddhist text, missing original version of which was probably written in Gāndhārī. The analysis of this text, taking into account a variety of possible influences in a multicultural environment of the region of its origin – Gandhāra and during its transmission, as well as the applied artistic means, will give us the opportunity to reconsider the crucial questions regarding the religious and ethnic identity of the Indo-Greek ruler and the attractiveness of Buddhism to the Greeks living in the region of Gandhāra in the second and first century BC. These questions, in a broader perspective, relate to the matters of the dialogue on its many levels: socio-political, intercultural, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Analysis of these levels enables us to notice the essence of the dialogue and its importance.

3

The Hellenistic Far East in Historical Fiction. Ancient History, Modern Ideologies

86%

Mairs R.

Studia Hercynia

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2021

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vol. 25

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issue 1

119-131

EN

It has become a truism that it is impossible to reconstruct a narrative history of Central Asia in the period after Alexander. Scant literary or epigraphic sources, and the pitfalls of reconstructing dynastic histories from coins, make scholars wary of writing ‘history’ in the traditional academic sense. It may therefore come as a surprise that Hellenistic-period Central Asia has emerged as the setting for a number of historical novels. This paper aims to deconstruct the research process that lies behind the crafting of narrative in several such pieces. It will identify the primary sources and works of scholarship used by authors, and explore how these have been used to construct visions of Hellenistic Central Asia which reflect not just on the ancient record, but on the modern authors’ political and social context. The works discussed will include Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King (on Alexander and his routes in Afghanistan), Teodor Parnicki’s (1955) Koniec Zgody Narodów/The End of the Concord of Nations (which explores the resonances of cultural encounter in Hellenistic Central Asia for the post-War world), and Gillian Bradshaw’s (1990) Horses of Heaven (which uses a hypothetical Graeco-Bactrian alliance with Ferghana as the backdrop for historical romance).

4

Development of Greek Religious Iconography in Early Kushan Coinage: Adaptation, Integration and Transformation

72%

Taasob R.

Studia Hercynia

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2023

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vol. 27

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issue 1

178-188

EN

This paper addresses the process that led to the emergence of royal and religious imagery in Early Kushan coinage during the early 1st and 2nd century CE. The examination of the development of royal and religious motives, which is related to the Greco -Bactrian and Indo -Greeks, shows that they were integrated into the context of the oriental traditions of Bactria, while also engaging with Parthian, Indo -Parthian, and Indo- -Scythian coin designs. This phenomenon resulted in different numismatic practices that, though attempting to retain former traditions, crystallised in a range of novel features used to express its own identity. As far too little attention has been paid to this process of formation and transformation, this paper also aims to assess the scope of religious imagery, which was fundamentally connected with the Central Asian Iranian- -Hellenistic religious context. The main approach is to examine how political and social developments as well as the interaction between Early Kushan society and other Indo -Iranian dynasties affected coin images. My focus will be on the process ending in the formation of an independent iconography and the stabilisation of political and royal appellations on coinage.

Refine search results

3 Studia Hercynia

1 Academic Journal of Modern Philology

1 Coloru O.

1 Iori E.

1 Kubica O.

1 Mairs R.

1 Olivieri L. M.

1 Taasob R.

1 2023

3 2021

Swat after the Indo-Greeks – the City, the Sanctuaries and the Economy. An Archaeological Overview on the Saka-Parthian period

Milindapañha and the Role of Buddhism as a Catalyst for Public Communication and Discussion

The Hellenistic Far East in Historical Fiction. Ancient History, Modern Ideologies

Development of Greek Religious Iconography in Early Kushan Coinage: Adaptation, Integration and Transformation