The Hellenistic Far East: Archaeology, Language, and Identity in Greek Central Asia

by Rachel Mairs

Overview

In the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s conquests in the late fourth century B.C., Greek garrisons and settlements were established across Central Asia, through Bactria (modern-day Afghanistan) and into India. Over the next three hundred years, these settlements evolved into multiethnic, multilingual communities as much Greek as they were indigenous. To explore the lives and identities of the inhabitants of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, Rachel Mairs marshals a variety of evidence, from archaeology, to coins, to documentary and historical texts. Looking particularly at the great city of Ai Khanoum, the only extensively excavated Hellenistic period urban site in Central Asia, Mairs explores how these ancient people lived, communicated, and understood themselves. Significant and original, The Hellenistic Far East will highlight Bactrian studies as an important part of our understanding of the ancient world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520281271
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	10/17/2014
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rachel Mairs is Lecturer in Classics at Reading University and the author of The Archaeology of the Hellenistic Far East: A Survey.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A Note on Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Administering Bactria: From Achaemenid Satrapy to Graeco-Bactrian State 
2. Ai Khanoum 
3. Self-Representation in the Inscriptions of Sophytos (Arachosia) and Heliodoros (India)  
4. Waiting for the Barbarians: The Fall of Greek Bactria 
Conclusion 
Appendix: Greek Documents  
Bibliography  
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Scholars should be well satisfied with what is offered, and for any classicist the phenomenon of Indians or Central Asians writing good Greek verse with acrostic trimmings should be an incentive to read further around the subject."

Common Knowledge