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Amazing. This is fantastic. I like reflecting on the fact that an ancient Greek kingdom used to border ancient India — and that a Greek king became Buddhist bef

Amazing. This is fantastic. I like reflecting on the fact that an ancient Greek kingdom used to border ancient India — and that a Greek king became Buddhist before Ashoka—and that Ashokan pillars had Greek written on them.

lioeters 4y ago
It's one of my favorite topics too, I just love the imaginative mixture of ancient Greek and Indian cultures. Some tasty bits: Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece%E2%80%93Ancient_India_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece%E2%80%93Ancient... _Shape of Ancient Thought: Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies_ by Thomas McEvilley - https://archive.org/details/shapeofancientthoughtstudiesingreekandindianphilosophiesthomasmcevilleymlbd_202003_142_W/page/n13/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/shapeofancientthoughtstudiesingr...
opportune 4y ago
As long as there have been distinct human cultures, there has been cultural syncretism. What a lot of people imagine as separable cultures along borders were really cultural gradients or mixtures (this village here is mostly X, the villages north and south of here are Y, but the village even further south is also X, and we all speak each others’ language). A lot of our discourse and views on culture are still poisoned by jingoistic nationalism from the 19th and 20th centuries (a cover for othering political foes and motivating the masses to fight and die for political goals), as well as concepts like imperialism and the couple centuries of European political hegemony, plus the elimination of non-prestige dialects/local languages and cultures via mass media. It’s hard for us to imagine, but in a time before modern concepts of race/organized religion/nationalism the world was quite a dynamic cultural melting pot that wasn’t organized along these more recent distinctions. Greeks traded from Britain to India, pagan religions often saw other cultures’ pantheons as the same religion with different names and traditions, people noticed physical differences between groups of people but weren’t applying racist concepts to them. In a way, people of antiquity were often more tolerant and accepting than many contemporary people. But they could also just decide to kill and invade their neighbors with no pretext beyond wanting their stuff.
- jltsiren 4y ago
  Ancient Greeks called all non-Greeks barbarians, which was always a pejorative term. Racism is just one of those things people tend to discover independently as they become more organized and civilized, just like slavery and tyranny.
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  I think it’s the Abrahamic religions that ended all of this. The proselytization that is central to Christianity and Islam doesn’t exist in any religion. Those are the only historic cultures that insist that they are right and everyone else is very wrong. Most historic cultures believed in stuff but didn’t fight and kill for it, primarily because they knew they could learn shit from other cultures.
  - HopenHeyHi 4y ago
    The OG Abrahamic religion does not proselytize, quite the contrary. They say it isn't ok to tell another tribe what to think unless they are cannibals in which case saving lives supersedes nonintervention. :) The sequels however cleverly mixed in a dose of politics and empire building, it isn't part of the religions per-se. In hoc signo vinces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces Zoroastrians also tried to convert, imagine the wololo move in Age of Empires.
  - geeostation 4y ago
    Interesting you said Abrahamic religions, While impact of chrisianity on Europe, Middle East, Americas has been well documented. There hasn't been much of discussion or writing about the extinction of cultures, syncretism, open border civs at the hands of Islam. Greek / Roman / Indian influence in Eurasia to Indonesia is probably another tragedy that the world forgot. Only pockets like Bali remain from that era now.
  - webmobdev 4y ago
    Buddhism was the original missionary religion that inspired Islam and Christianity towards proselytization.
denton-scratch 4y ago
Have a look at some of the Gandhara (sp?) Buddhist statues. I think that sculpture tradition is from the Swat Valley, which is now Moslem and in Pakistan. They look like Greek sculpture to me.

lioeters 4y ago

It's one of my favorite topics too, I just love the imaginative mixture of ancient Greek and Indian cultures. Some tasty bits: Ancient Greece–Ancient India relations - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece%E2%80%93Ancient_India_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece%E2%80%93Ancient... _Shape of Ancient Thought: Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies_ by Thomas McEvilley - https://archive.org/details/shapeofancientthoughtstudiesingreekandindianphilosophiesthomasmcevilleymlbd_202003_142_W/page/n13/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/shapeofancientthoughtstudiesingr...

opportune 4y ago

As long as there have been distinct human cultures, there has been cultural syncretism. What a lot of people imagine as separable cultures along borders were really cultural gradients or mixtures (this village here is mostly X, the villages north and south of here are Y, but the village even further south is also X, and we all speak each others’ language). A lot of our discourse and views on culture are still poisoned by jingoistic nationalism from the 19th and 20th centuries (a cover for othering political foes and motivating the masses to fight and die for political goals), as well as concepts like imperialism and the couple centuries of European political hegemony, plus the elimination of non-prestige dialects/local languages and cultures via mass media. It’s hard for us to imagine, but in a time before modern concepts of race/organized religion/nationalism the world was quite a dynamic cultural melting pot that wasn’t organized along these more recent distinctions. Greeks traded from Britain to India, pagan religions often saw other cultures’ pantheons as the same religion with different names and traditions, people noticed physical differences between groups of people but weren’t applying racist concepts to them. In a way, people of antiquity were often more tolerant and accepting than many contemporary people. But they could also just decide to kill and invade their neighbors with no pretext beyond wanting their stuff.

jltsiren 4y ago
Ancient Greeks called all non-Greeks barbarians, which was always a pejorative term. Racism is just one of those things people tend to discover independently as they become more organized and civilized, just like slavery and tyranny.
rhaway84773 4y ago
I think it’s the Abrahamic religions that ended all of this. The proselytization that is central to Christianity and Islam doesn’t exist in any religion. Those are the only historic cultures that insist that they are right and everyone else is very wrong. Most historic cultures believed in stuff but didn’t fight and kill for it, primarily because they knew they could learn shit from other cultures.
- HopenHeyHi 4y ago
  The OG Abrahamic religion does not proselytize, quite the contrary. They say it isn't ok to tell another tribe what to think unless they are cannibals in which case saving lives supersedes nonintervention. :) The sequels however cleverly mixed in a dose of politics and empire building, it isn't part of the religions per-se. In hoc signo vinces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_hoc_signo_vinces Zoroastrians also tried to convert, imagine the wololo move in Age of Empires.
- geeostation 4y ago
  Interesting you said Abrahamic religions, While impact of chrisianity on Europe, Middle East, Americas has been well documented. There hasn't been much of discussion or writing about the extinction of cultures, syncretism, open border civs at the hands of Islam. Greek / Roman / Indian influence in Eurasia to Indonesia is probably another tragedy that the world forgot. Only pockets like Bali remain from that era now.
- webmobdev 4y ago
  Buddhism was the original missionary religion that inspired Islam and Christianity towards proselytization.

denton-scratch 4y ago

Have a look at some of the Gandhara (sp?) Buddhist statues. I think that sculpture tradition is from the Swat Valley, which is now Moslem and in Pakistan. They look like Greek sculpture to me.