Hellenistic Bactria

The work examines two words that appear in the legend on the tetradrachmas of the so-called “Heraios” coinage, “Σαναβ” and its variants, and “Αντειχ.” Their interpretation and historical significance remain highly controversial. This article attempts to clarify this predicament by focusing on the latter as the key for resolving this debate.

This paper studies the motif of the palmette on Greek bronze ovoid situlae, mainly of the 4th century BC. It traces its origin through Late Archaic and Early Classical examples to Ionia and Athens and discusses the two principal groups named after the find-spots of two typical paradigms: the Vratsa and Waldalgesheim groups. A detailed typology of several subgroups is developed in the text and organised in a catalogue as an appendix. The spread of the motif on various toreutics and jewellery is documented from Hellenistic Bactria to the Celtic North and West, as well as in Thrace and Scythia. The paper argues that this wide diffusion of the palmette-and-scrolls motif owes much to the circulation in these areas of Greek metal vases, and especially of bronze situlae.

Bactria, Ariana, Arachosia and Afghanistan: the Nonexistent Past of a Fake State Fabricated by the Machinations of the English
ΑΝΑΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ ΑΝΕΝΕΡΓΟ ΜΠΛΟΓΚ “ΟΙ ΡΩΜΙΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗΣ”
Το κείμενο του κ. Νίκου Μπαϋρακτάρη είχε αρχικά δημοσιευθεί την 16η Σεπτεμβρίου 2019.
First republished on 2nd September 2021 here:
https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/2021/09/02/βακτριανή-αριανή-αραχωσία-και-αφγανι/

Copper imitation of the most standard type of Euthydemus' copper (head of Hercules/prancing horse) with an Aramaic inscription replacing one the two lines of the blundered Greek on the reverse is likely to represent an attempt to launch a copper denomination in the Bukharan coinage of the 1st century CE.

In order to understand better processes that were started by the campaign of Alexander the Great in southern Central Asia, the Czech-Uzbek team initiated a new field project in the Bactria – Sogdiana borderlands aiming to gain as much new spatial and chronological data on the period as possible. As a first step, extensive archaeological surface survey in the Baysun Mountains (south Uzbekistan) has been conducted in 2017 and 2018 in order to detect archaeological sites of the Hellenistic period, as well as to verify dating and interpretation of already known settlements in the given district. The second step begun in autumn 2018 consisted of targeted trial excavations of selected sites allowing for more precise dating, interpretation and broader characterisation of the settlements of the “Hellenistic” period. The third step – in-depth analysis of the complex data and historical interpretation – is currently underway. This paper presents the preliminary results of the ongoing project. (this was original abstract before the conference was postponed, final contribution was focused on the results of 2019 season).

In the last decades, research has addressed many artefacts from
the burial goods of the Asian Sarmatia nomads (dated to the 2nd-1st century BC), which had no prototypes in the material culture of the preceding period and which are regarded as Eastern innovations. These were considered as associated with the movement of a number of nomadic groups from the north-western borders of China to the west, first to Central Asia, where the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom fell under their blows, then further west up to the Lower Volga region. The analysis of the archaeological materials does not support the idea of the distribution of items of South Siberian (Transbaikalian) origin in the nomad burials of Asian Sarmatia. At the same time, it is obvious that in some burials of the Lower Volga region, dated between late 2nd and 1st century BC, there are certain artefacts, as a rule, indicative of status, which can be considered as items brought by nomads from Central Asia. In general, there is every reason to suggest the migration of some group (groups) of nomads from Central Asia to the steppes of the Lower Volga and their possible involvement in the events connected with the fall of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Judging by the number of items examined in this article, the number of migrants was not significant, which is consistent
with the observations of other researchers, based on an analysis of
burial rites.

This article aims to discuss two hypothesis recently made by H.-P. Francfort : that the temples of Ai Khanoum and of Takht-i Sangin were both consecrated to the Oxus river god and that the best equivalent
to this deity was the Greek Cybele. We will argue here that the personality of the Oxus deity was too complex for allowing the Greek inhabitants of Bactria to conceptualise it clearly. We will also show that neither sanctuaries were consecrated to Cybele, and that different rituals were celebrated in them.

Marek Jan Olbrycht, Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.). At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History. Leiden/Boston: Brill 2021 (Series: Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 440).

In his new monograph Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.): At the Crossroads of Iranian, Hellenistic, and Central Asian History, Marek Jan Olbrycht explores the early history of the Arsakid Parthian state. Making use of literary and epigraphic evidence as well numismatic and archaeological sources, Olbrycht convincingly depicts how the Arsakid dynasty created a kingdom (248 B.C.-A.D. 226), small at first, which, within a century after its founding, came to dominate the Iranian Plateau and portions of Central Asia as well as Mesopotamia. The “Parthian genius” lay in the Arsakids’ ability to have blended their steppe legacy with that of sedentary Iranians, and to have absorbed post-Achaemenid Iranian and Seleukid socio-economic, political, and cultural traditions.

A brief introduction to Seleukid Bactria is due. When Seleukos I ceded many of Alexander’s easternmost provinces to the Indian king Chandragupta around 305 BC, he kept Bactria, and made this fertile region the centre of a satrapy. The extent of control north of the Oxus is difficult to ascertain, but Hellenistic settlements have been excavated in Sogdiana, and Seleukid coins circulated there. However, recent research indicates that these so-called ‘Antiochos coins’ were later than those in the name of Diodotos, and should instead be attributed to a Bactrian king named Antiochos. This would require us to reinterpret Bactria’s route to independence. Also, new evidence of another contemporary Antiochos, a Seleukid child-king, may complicate our understanding of this period. If Bactria’s independence was quick process, it would seem plausible to regard Diodotos’ secession as a reaction to the crisis in 246/5 BC, as rebellion during the relatively stable reign of Antiochos II would more likely have provoked a Seleukid response.

This dissertation is about the concept of hybridisation in the Hellenistic period. Its research argument evaluates its practice as an ideology from Hellenistic kings in the Near East through deliberate policies of cultural diffusion and ethnic unification to increase their imperial power. The structure of this dissertation comprises four chapters in which I argue about the application of the concept of hybridity in the field of archaeology and the employment of other similar concepts, its practice during the Achaemenid Empire, then by Alexander and his Successors, and finally during the Roman Empire in the Near East. Furthermore, I examine two archaeological case studies of two Seleukid cities in the Near East: Ai-khanoum in the Bactria region in modern-day Afghanistan, and Dura Europos in Syria. Throughout the dissertation, I use modern scholarship and ancient literary sources as well as archaeological evidence to support my argument.
The Introduction considers the overall definition of hybridisation and its interpretation in contemporary scholarship, its context in the Hellenistic period and the dissertation structure.
Chapter One is about the interpretation of hybridity in classical archaeology through the concepts of etic and emic borrowed from anthropology and sociology, supported by an overview of a case study regarding terracotta female figurines in the cities of Babylon, Seleukia-on-the-Tigris and Uruk. Still in this chapter, I discuss the nuances of other words that have similar meanings to hybridisation, namely entanglement, syncretism and creolisation. For each concept, I provide one example, so for entanglement is the fine ware pottery brought by the Mycenaeans that was found in Philistine territory in the Levant, for syncretism Zeus-Ammon, and for creolization the case study of Epona written by Jane Webster.
Chapter Two examines the exercise of hybridity in the Achaemenid Empire as the antecedent of Hellenistic rule, then during the reign of Alexander across his empire and in his court, and finally in the Seleukid kingdom.
Chapter Three contains the case studies of Ai-khanoum and Dura Europos, in which I describe their foundations, buildings and their main functions, architecture and material culture that was excavated in different archaeological campaigns.
Chapter Four is about the legacy of hybridity with a brief description of it during the Roman Empire in the Near East.
The Conclusion of the dissertation is an overview of all chapters along with concluding remarks.

Keywords: Hybridisation, hybridity, entanglement, syncretism, creolisation, Near East, Achaemenid empire, Alexander, Seleukids, Ai-Khanoum, Dura Europos, Roman empire.

This chapter focuses on the monetary politics adopted by the first independent Hellenistic rulers of Central Asia during the third century BCE, at a time when they seceded from Seleucid authority. Based upon recent research and die-studies, we discuss the main features of the coinages struck by Diodotus I, Diodotus II and Euthydemus I, the first three kings of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. This chapter also addresses essential problems, such as the interpretation of monograms, and questions related to quantification.

In ancient Chinese literature there are several mentions of hairy humanlike beings, and eyewitness reports of the yeren ("wildman") in China have persisted into the modern era. Dozens of alleged sightings of the Chinese wildman in the forests of Shennongjia (northwestern Hubei) eventually prompted a large-scale expedition of scientists to investigate the region in 1977. This article discusses three possible explanations for the Chinese Wildman. It concludes that the yeren is not an unidentified or elusive animal species, as some have proposed, but rather that stories about the wildman probably originated in early encounters of the Chinese with bearded European peoples. In fact traditions regarding the wildman in China can be traced back to the Qin dynasty when Chinese first encountered Greeks in the Far East and, unfamiliar with their hairier physical appearance, originated stories about a semi-human being.

This paper aims to examine the epigraphical evidences found in Hellenistic Bactria, crossroad of people and cultures, which has been a meeting place between cultures and population of different origin from pre-Achaemenid time, with respect to the cult of the local deity of the waters, the Oxus God, who is named after the river which crosses Bactria, the modern Amu-darya. The Oxus God is one of the most important deities of Bactria and can be compared to the deity of water, rain and fertility of the Iranian pantheon Arəduuī Sūrā Anhiātā. The evidences object to analysis are three Greek inscriptions, which consist of dedications to the Oxus God, found at Takht‑i Sangin, in Tajikistan,
during the excavations at the Temple of the Oxus.

The research thus, would give a review on the state-of-the-art research of Bactria in the Hellenistic history and archaeology. How could the state formation processes relate to the economic changes in terms of economic policies and application of numismatic method? Although it is the historical interest which Greek Kingdoms and Kushan Empire have trajectory relationship, this short research essay
would not consider due to the high complexities and limited space. Since the economical changes would be inseparable from theme of cultural diversity, cultural changes would also be briefly discussed. I would examine Hellenistic Bactria’s state formation in relation to its economic change
from a range of scholars’ perspectives with references also to the views generated by the ancient literary texts. I would also refer to the architecture, administrative system, military, urban scheme and material culture of archaeological evidences in the region (mainly Aï Khanoum, Takht-i Sangin, Oxus sites), also in search for its structure and hierarchy in the settlement pattern. In my research paper, I would rely to a relative extent of the framework of the most recent work of Lauren Morris (2020). It
has given a very comprehensive overview of relevant evidences although brief, of the administration, military and urbanism processes. Her research also consists critical reflections of different methodologies and categories of evidence on Hellenistic Bactria and the Kushan Empire.