The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World

<p>This volume provides a thorough conspectus of the field of Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies, mixing theoretical and historical surveys with critical and thought-provoking case studies in archaeology, history, literature and art.</p><p>The chapters from this international group of experts showcase innovative methodologies, such as archaeological GIS, as well as providing accessible explanations of specialist techniques such as die studies of coins, and important theoretical perspectives, including postcolonial approaches to the Greeks in India. Chapters cover the region’s archaeology, written and numismatic sources, and a history of scholarship of the subject, as well as culture, identity and interactions with neighbouring empires, including India and China.</p><p><i>The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World</i> is the go-to reference work on the field, and fulfils a serious need for an accessible, but also thorough and critically-informed, volume on the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. It provides an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the Hellenistic East.</p><p>The Introduction and Chapter 17 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license</p> <p>1. Introduction. Rachel Mairs <strong> Part I: Interactions </strong>2. The Seleukid Empire 3. South Asia 4. Parthia 5. Central Asia and the Steppe 6. China and Bactria during the reign of Emperor Wu in written tradition and in archaeology <strong>Part II: History of scholarship </strong>7. The quest for Bactra: Scholarship on the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom from its origins to the end of colonialism 8. The original ‘failure’? A century of French archaeology in Afghan Bactria 9. Hellenism with or without Alexander the Great: Russian, Soviet and Central Asian approaches <strong>Part III: Regional Archaeological survey </strong>10. Afghan Bactria 11. Southern Uzbekistan 12. Southern Tajikistan 13. Sogdiana 14. Merv and Margiana 15. Arachosia, Drangiana and Areia 16. Gandhāra and North-Western India <strong> Part IV: Written sources </strong>17. Greek inscriptions and documentary texts and the Graeco-Roman historical tradition 18. Reading the <i>Milindapañha</i>: Indian historical sources and the Greeks in Bactria 19. Chinese historical sources and the Greeks in the Western Regions <strong> Part V: Numismatic sources </strong>20. History from coins: The role of numismatics in the study of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek worlds 21. Two sides of the coin: from Sophytes to Skanda-Kārttikeya 22. Dating Bactria's independence to 246/5 BC? 23. Monetary politics during the early Graeco-Bactrian kingdom (250-190 BCE) 24. The last phase of the Indo-Greeks: Methods, interpretations and new insights in reconstructing the past <strong>Part VI: Culture and identity </strong>25. Ai Khanoum, between east and west: A composite architecture 26. Globalization and Interpreting Visual Culture 27. Representation of Greek Gods/Goddesses in Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek visual culture 28. Roman objects in the Begram hoard and the memory of Greek rule in Kushan Central Asia <strong>Part VI: Beyond the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek worlds </strong>29. Central Asia in the Achaemenid period 30. Achaemenid north-west South Asia 31. Greekness after the end of the Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms</p>