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

Mairs, Rachel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520292464 ISBN 13: 9780520292468

Publisher: University of California Press, 2016

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review:

"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

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0520292464
• ISBN 13: 9780520292468
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250