078: The Indo Greeks - Heracles, Menander, and the Buddha

Рет қаралды 5,276

Жыл бұрын

In antiquity, Gandhara was one of the most deeply-rooted hubs of Buddhism, and scholars have attempted to search for any possible encounters between Buddhists and the Greeks who settled in Central Asia and India. Fascinating pieces of evidence hint at these connections: the Pali text known as the Milindapañha ("The Questions of King Milinda") portrays the Indo-Greek king Menander I Soter as a Buddhist convert and saint swayed by the wisdom of the Sage Nagasena, while Emperor Ashoka dispatched missionaries to the Hellenistic kingdoms and ordered his beliefs to be inscribed in Greek on the rocks outside of Kandahar. Centuries later, the sculptors of Gandhara would adapt Greco-Roman mythology and designs to create beautiful works of art, resulting in the first known depictions of the Buddha in human form, and transforming the demigod Heracles into Heracles-Vajrapani, protector of the Buddha.
Episode Notes:
(hellenisticagepodcast.wordpre...)
Episode 078 Transcript:
(hellenisticagepodcast.files.w...)
Social Media:
Twitter ( / hellenisticpod )
Facebook ( hellenisticagepodcast/)
Instagram ( / hellenistic_age_podcast )
Twitch ( / hellenisticagepodcast )
Show Merchandise:
Etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/Hellenistic...)
Redbubble (www.redbubble.com/people/Hell...)
Donations:
Ko-Fi (ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast)
Amazon Book Wish List (tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

Пікірлер: 19

@cfroi08 Жыл бұрын

The Japanese referred to ancient Greek style Buddha statues as very masculine. From this, Japanese art would stick to their traditional slim like human figure style but give heed to the Greek influence every now and then among well versed Japanese artists. Eventually in the 1950's with the emergence of Japanese drawn art, modern day anime was started. In the 1980's these ancient Greek Buddha arts were used as an inspiration for animation, drawn from their appearance in the esoteric early 20th century Japanese art. The main characters were muscular, faced and witnessed extremely brutal mutilation and violence, and had to carry on their quests despite very terrible tragedies. This particular manga was called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure; making this work of Japanese art a Greek Reference.

@user-ky7pz8-yt 4 күн бұрын

So in the long term, the Ancient Greeks had a bigger, longer lasting influence on Japan, New York City, Washington DC than present-day Turkey.

@roxasfrevr Жыл бұрын

Under-rated channel. How does this not have more subs

@corsaircaruso471 Жыл бұрын

Oh, this is one of my favorite historical topics! I’m looking forward to this :D

@uprightwalkingape3483 Жыл бұрын

Really enjoying your lectures bud. So much information bundled up so nicely in small segment. Keep it up sir

@anotheryoutubechannel4809 Ай бұрын

Love it.

@kaloarepo288 2 ай бұрын

What is the connection between the city of Gandhara and the Chinese Buddhist tales of "Monkey." I remember the song accompanying the original TV adaptation of this series with the phrase "Gandhara! Gandhara! I think it was in India." I'm going back a long time in TV history of course.

@dannils6609 7 ай бұрын

Brilliant

@varshneydevansh 7 ай бұрын

Do you have info regarding Mathura?

@steveclark5357 4 ай бұрын

religion is such a powerful entity , the original opiate of the masses , a quote of nietzsche

@kaloarepo288 2 ай бұрын

No it was Karl Marx who said that - you are probably thinking of the phrase "God is dead" which is by Nietzsche

@uprightwalkingape3483 Жыл бұрын

Heliodorus inscription is controversial. Only translations say Vasudeva actually it is something like Vasau which is very close to Bactrian name of Varuna. Which also cames up as Indira Varuna duo in Avesta. Indira can’t be taken as Hindu deva by default. He had presence all over Aryan world. Almost ancient archaeological proof of Indira are found in Central Asia not in India Modern India never posed any challenge to Parthians, Kushans, Hun, Saka, Indo Greeks all the way up to Moguls. Saying someone had to butter up or bend to Indians seems unrealistic. It proved piece of cake for all. Anyone from Central Asia wanted India end up having India. Guptas were giving daughters to Sassanians

@uprightwalkingape3483 Жыл бұрын

As far as name or title Vasudeva goes it more complicated. Mahabharata has Krishna and his father is Vasudeva. Vishnu is also called Vasudeva. Timing of Mahabharata compiling also lines up with Kushans rule in Mathura who has couple kings named Vasudeva. Mathura museum adds on to complication. Despite being on birth place of Krishna It’s full of Buddhist and Jain artifacts. There are no ancient artifacts related to Krishna. It makes anyone wonder why ? No intellectuals have answer to that

@knowledgedesk1653 8 ай бұрын

First mention of Vasudeva comes from vedas and agamas bud.

@user-ky7pz8-yt 4 күн бұрын

@@uprightwalkingape3483 The Greco-Bactrian/Indo-Greeks converted to Buddhism, and "imposed" their culture of making artwork of gods, deities, leaders, philosophers, scholars.

@uprightwalkingape3483 4 күн бұрын

@@user-ky7pz8-yt I doubt if they converted. First Buddhist king Asoka has no proof of existence outside books written more than 500 later. Devanpiya is hypothesized as Asoka. At best Diodotus is real Asoka. Whose coins are found but in inscriptions it’s Devan Devanpiya. Phyrro is original Buddhist.

@manh9105 3 күн бұрын

Ok, prick! You will find good companionship in afro-world channels who claim that first white man appeared in 1661 and everyone before that time was black