Greco-Buddhism in Hellenistic Far East

BOOK: Greco-Buddhist Relations in the Hellenistic Far East

Dr. Olga Kubica, University of Wroclaw

Author Dr. Olga Kubica has 4.4 out of 5 stars with four ratings. This book provides the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary view of the relationship between the Greeks and Buddhist communities in ancient Bactria and Northwest India [Scythian Gandhara, now Afghanistan and Pakistan], from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Indo-Greek kingdom circa 10 AD.

Greco-Buddhist Relations...

The main thesis is the assumption that, despite the presence of mutual relationships and interactions between the Greeks and Buddhist inhabitants of the Hellenistic Far East, the phenomenon known conventionally as "Greco-Buddhism" never truly occurred.

The individual chapters of this book provide an analysis of the main sources for Greco-Buddhist relations, mainly textual, but also archeological [excavated sites] and numismatic [coinage].

• Greco-Buddhist art
• Buddhism in Central Asia
• Greco-Buddhist monasticism
• Indo-Greek Kingdom
• Buddhism in Afghanistan
• Buddhism in Pakistan
• The historical Buddha had golden skin and blue eyes? (Yes)
• The Questions of the King Milinda (Greek King Menander I)
• Oldest "Buddhism" in world: Gandhāran Buddhist texts

(Sam Taylor) Is this really Afghanistan? Bluest lake in world: Band-e Amir

Who are the Hazara people?

The methods of philological and historical research are used in combination with postcolonial approaches to the study of the Greeks in India, drawing from sociological research on ethnicity and intercultural relations.

It is a rich source of information for anyone interested in Greco-Buddhist relations and is a great starting point for further research in this area.

This volume (1st edition) is a valuable resource for students and scholars working on the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, both classicists and those working on early Indian history, as well as those working on cultural exchange in the Hellenistic world. More

• VIDEO: Dave Mani travels through old Afghanistan
• VIDEO: Dark Reality of visiting Kabul, Afghanistan
• Escape with Emily and Danny; Samantha Taylor, female traveler through Afghanistan; Dr. Olga Kubica; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly