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Ai Khanoum, concept of 'memory', Cineas: the city's founder,…
Ai Khanoum
Cybele Chariot Medallion
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The goddess is accompanied by a winged Nike (the Greek personification of Victory), who acts as the charioteer
In front of the chariot, a priest is shown standing before a fire altar, an element strongly associated with Iranian or Persian religious practice
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In the upper register (the "sky" of the medallion), there are representations of a sun god (Helios), a crescent moon, and a star
this medallion illustrates how the Greek inhabitants of Ai Khanoum blended Greek artistic styles and deities with Eastern religious traditions
Ai Khanum
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maxims
in the middle of the third century, the inhabitants erected a pillar in the gymnasium
the pillar was inscribed with 140 moral maxims copied from a similar pillar which stood near the shrine of Apollo at Delphi, over 3000 miles away
adjoining verse inscription: "these wise words of famous men of old are consecrated in holy Pytho. Thence Clearchus took them, copying them with care, to set them shining from afar in the sacred enclosure of Cineas"
Clearchus travelled a long way, yet found in the far East distant Greek communities that appreciated these maxims
other examples of Delphic maxims in gymnasia: Thera, and Miletopolis in Mysia
despite the remoteness of the city, the lettering of the inscription is of the highest quality
Another inscription
"Triballus and Strato, sons of Strato, to Hermes and Heracles"
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Archaeology:
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dated to 150, a large administrative centre of palatial proportions, in which there were found storing vessels labelled in Greek
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imprinted on fine earth, the traces of a still partially legible text from what was a page in a philosophical work - appears to be written by a member of the Aristotelian school
Elsewhere in Bactria...
Kandahar
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these contained fragments of the moralising edicts of the Mauryan King Asoka, from the Indian subcontinent
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this evidences an intimate knowledge of the vocabulary of Greek philosophy and considerable skill in adapting it to render the thoughts of a Buddhist convert (ie. Asoka)
also possibly Kandahar
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written in a high-quality Greek, and it is an acrostic: the first letters of each line spell "By Sophytos, son of Naratos"
details how his family lost their fortune, such that he left home and "went on merchant ships into many a city"
he was able to accrue wealth, and return to Kandahar (likely ancient Alexandria in Arachosia)
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Takht-i Sangin, Oxus temple
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the ruins of an Iranian-style temple of Hellenistic date, where men with Bactrian names made Greek-style offerings to the local river-god Oxus
for example, a man named Atrosokes set up a bronze figurine depicting the mythological Greek satyr Marsyas, accompanied by an inscription in Greek
another inscription: "Iromois, son of Nemiskos, molrpalres, dedicated to Oxus..."
Iromois in an Iranian name, Nemiskos is of either Greek or Kushan origin, and 'molrpalres' is a Bactrian word meaning 'keeper of the seal'
History
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in c. 145 BC, Ai Khanoum was sacked, we dont know by whom, and never subsequently reoccupied
yet, already under the Achaemenids, Ai Khanoum seems to have served as an administrative centre for Upper Bactria
the Hellenistic city was planned on a much larger scale than its Achaemenid predecessor, with monumental Greek-style buildings - a theatre, gymnasium, and arsenal
Was it Greek?
how it was Greek
the residential district made up of very large private houses with private bathrooms in the Greek style
The Delphic maxims brought by Clearchus of Soli, on the mausoleum of Kineas
with the one exception of a singular scrap of Aramaic on a potsherd, every written document from Ai Khanoum is in the Greek language
papyrus and parchment fragments from the palace treasury preserve scraps of a lost philosophical work by Aristotle, and what seems to be a classical Greek tragedy
public buildings adorned with Corinthian columns, pebble mosaic floors, and Greek terracotta antefixes
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conclusion
at least some of the original settlers, like Kineas the Thessalian, were immigrants from the Aegean
even locals must have had strong incentives to take on Greek names, learn the Greek language, and adopt at least some Greek cultural practices
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second century documents from the palace treasury show people with Greek, Iranian, and Bactrian personal names working alongside each other
the people of Ai Khanoum could act greek (theatre, gymnasium etc.) but were also happy to 'act Bactrian' (religion, perhaps the political sphere)
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Sculpture
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colossal cult statue
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The straps of the sandal are decorated with palmettes and roses, and also two winged thunderbolts
could therefore be associated with Zeus, but hard to tell from a small portion
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Fountain
a fountain was discovered near the gymnasium, the only known example in the Middle East
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Cineas: the city's founder, whose shrine stood within the gymnasium, and whose name suggests he was probably a Thessalian
Clearchus: Clearchus of Soli, the Aristotleian philosopher
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