Identity & Perception
The Golden Age of Central Asia
Sun, 08/01/2010 - 20:47 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Some of the most beautiful accomplishments in the arts, literature, and architecture in Central Asia were produced during the Timurid Empire, whose kings ruled from the great cities of Samarkand and Herat.</p>
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1400
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Behzad, Kamaleddin. "Construction of the Fort of Kharnaq." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kamal-ud-din_Bihzad_001.jpg.</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>Brass Timurid Tankard</i>. 1498. © Trustees of the British Museum, London.<br />
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<div class="hang">Dupree, Nancy. <i>A69-540</i>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang">Lensfodder. "Timur on Horseback." Digital image. Lensfodder's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/runnerone/2637824277/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en<br />
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<div class="hang">Mahwash, Ustad. <i>Delem Aamada Ba Josh</i>. Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive, 1967.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Bibi Khanum Mosque Complex, Samarkand, Uzbekistan</i>. 2004.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Chor Minor</i>. March 22, 2004. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Detail, Chor Minor</i>. March 22, 2004. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Kalon Mosque Courtyard</i>. March 20, 2004. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Tile Work Detail</i>. March 18, 2004. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Tile Work Detail</i>. March 19, 2004. Bukhara, Uzbekistan.<br />
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<div class="hang">Menten, Alexis. <i>Tilla Kari Madrasah, Part of the Registan Complex</i>. 2004.<br />
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<div class="hang">Olmstead, Sarah. "165 Reconstructing." Digital image. Queen Esoterica's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/esoterica/2969673070/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en<br />
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<div class="hang">Pthread. "Friday Mosque Towers over Herat." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/<br />
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<div class="hang">Pthread. "New Tiles for the Friday Mosque, Herat." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/.<br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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<div class="hang">Pthread. "Restoration Work at Friday Mosque, Herat." Digital image. Pthread's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pthread/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/<br />
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<div class="hang">"Rak Mukam, Tarze Marghore." In <i>Instrumental Music Of The Uighurs</i>. King Record, 1991, CD.<br />
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<div class="hang">Shidetang Printhouse. "Xuanzang." Digital image. National Palace Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh98/religiouspainting/en_p2.html.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Tile, Timurid Dynasty</i>. 15th C. © Trustees of the British Museum, London.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Timur Granting an Audience at Balkh on the Occasion of His Accession to Power In1370</i>. 1436. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang">UNESCO, and Andrine. <i>The Big Friday Mosque of Herat</i>.<br />
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<div class="hang">UNESCO, and Edouard Bailby. <i>Samarkand</i>.<br />
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<div class="hang">Upyernoz. "The Registan, Samarkand." Digital image. September 19, 2004. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/upyernoz/489279/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en<br />
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<div class="hang">Waezi, Fardin, and UNAMA. "Photo of the Day: 12 January 2010." Digital image. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's Flickr Photostream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/4268268752/in/photostream/.</div>
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<p>Producer: Alexis Menten </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>“The precious merchandise of many foreign countries is stored up here. The soil is rich and productive, and yields abundant harvests. The forest trees afford a thick vegetation, and flowers and fruits are plentiful. The inhabitants are skillful in the arts and trades beyond those of other countries. The climate is agreeable and temperate. The people are brave and energetic. They are copied by all surrounding people in point of politeness and propriety. The king is full of courage, and the neighbouring countries obey his commands.” – Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang’s description of Samarkand</p>
<p>This is how the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described Samarkand.</p>
<p>Some of the most beautiful accomplishments in the arts, literature, and architecture in Central Asia were produced during the Timurid Empire, whose kings ruled from the great cities of Samarkand and Herat.</p>
<p>The great ruler Tamerlane or Timur started uniting the various regions of Central Asia that had fallen apart and fragmented after the Mongol decline. And so in the latter part of the 14th century, he actually conquered a territory that was much larger than the territory and lands conquered by Genghis Khan himself.</p>
<p>As the empire grew to include many cultures, it became more stable and prosperous. And the wealth of the royal court, in turn, spurred great achievement in the arts.</p>
<p>Artists, like everyone else, have to make money. They have to support themselves. So artists tend to move where there are sources of patronage. At times when the court is rich and the court is munificent, it gives out money, then artists flock to it.</p>
<p>So much of the art is created when the court is strong, willing to pay for adventuresome techniques, adventuresome designs, new and different craftsmen, and reward them for what is considered good work.</p>
<p>Under the hands of the most skilled artists and craftsmen from across the empire, great cities once again rose from the dust of the Mongol destruction.</p>
<p>Samarkand in Central Asia in the modern country of Uzbekistan was one of the most important regions along the Silk Roads. As early as the 3rd Century B.C., it was a critical region, and served as a marketplace and a center of Silk Road contacts back and forth across Eurasia.</p>
<p>Samarkand was chosen by Tamerlane as his capital city, and it was during that time that the great monuments and buildings of Samarkand were built. The so-called Registan, the central square in Samarkand is one of the great monuments of Islamic architecture with mosques, Madressas, [...] bathhouses, tombs, all around a central square, which has survived into the present day.</p>
<p>After his death, Tamerlane’s son, Shahrukh, moved the capital city from Samarkand to Herat. Herat became a center of the region, attracting artists and traders from as far away as China and the Middle East, and the Silk Road trade revived during this time.</p>
<p>The great monuments built in Samarkand and Herat during the Timurid period feature intricate and distinctive blue mosaic tilework. Few still stand, but the artistic achievement they represent continues to capture the imagination today.</p>
<p>One of the high points of architecture in this part of the world is the use of tile to clad the outsides of buildings. Buildings are traditionally made of brick. There’s no good stone for building in this part of the world. Brick is the color of dirt. In fact, the word ‘khaki’ comes from the Persian word for ‘dust’ – khaki means dust colored.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So in order to separate the building from the environment, they learned to use colored tile, beginning in the 12th century. This reached its high point in Afghanistan and surrounding regions, in the 15th century, when they made tiles in different colors and cut them up into little pieces, and assembled them in mosaic. So it catches the light and it glows.</p>
<p>You have to imagine coming across the Steppe on a donkey or a camel, miles, plodding along and you come to a city like Herat, and what you see are these enormous minarets, very tall – some of them are 70 feet, a hundred feet tall. And they shimmer as you come across the landscape.</p>
<p>Today, modern artisans labor to restore the great monuments of this golden age of Central Asia.</p>
<p> </p>
War and Peace
Sun, 08/01/2010 - 20:21 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Ghenghis Khan created the largest Empire the world had ever known. Pax Mongolica was a period of great peace and prosperity that ushered in the advent of passports and interest loans—and also the Black Plague.</p>
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1220
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p>Al-Din, Rashid. "Coronation Of Ogodei." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CoronationOfOgodei1229.jpg.</p>
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<div class="hang">Al-Din, Rashid. <i>Mongol Cavalrymen Engage the Enemy</i>. 14th C. Bibliotheque National De Paris, Paris, France.<br />
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<div class="hang">Al-Din, Rashid. "Mongol Soldiers by Rashid Al-Din 1305." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010.<br />
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_soldiers_by_Rashid_al-Din_1305.JPG.<br />
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<div class="hang">Al-Din, Rashid. <i>Mongols Attacking Baghdad</i>. Jami Al Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles).<br />
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<div class="hang">Aubert, David. "Ascelin Of Cremone Receiving a Letter from Innocent IV, and Remitting It to the Mongol General Baiju." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AscelinOfCremone.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Cloth of Gold: Winged Lions and Griffins</i>. Mid-13th C. © Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.<br />
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<div class="hang">De Witt., Per F. <i>Magni Mogolis Imperium De Novo Correctum Et Divisum</i>. 1707. Harvard Map Collection, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.<br />
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<div class="hang">Ensemble Khan Bogd. <i>Ikh Ezen Bogd Chingiss Khaan</i>. Urs-Albert "Face Music", 2005, CD.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Ghenghis Khan." Digital image. Mandragore, Base Des Manuscrits Enluminés De La B.n.F. Accessed August 21, 2010.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Hulagu and Doquz-Qatun in Syriac Bible." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hulagu_and_Doquz-Qatun_in_Syriac_Bible.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Hulagu and Doquz-Qatun in Syriac Bible." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hulagu_and_Doquz-Qatun_in_Syriac_Bible.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba 2." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M%C5%8Dko_Sh%C5%ABrai_Ekotoba_2.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Mongol Coin, Minted in Asia</i>. 1206-27. Coins & Medals, © Trustees of the British Museum, London.<br />
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<div class="hang">Palmer, James Le. "Omne Bonum." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010.<br />
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plague_victims_blessed_by_priest.jpg.
<div>© The British Library<br />
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<div class="hang">Paris, Matthew. <i>Illustration from Chronica Majora</i>. Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, UK.<br />
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<p>PHGCOM. "Letter from Oljeitu to Philippe Le Bel, 1305." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OljeituToPhilippeLeBel1305.jpg.<br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</p>
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<div class="hang">PHGCOM. "Mongol Great Khans Coin Minted at Balk Afghanistan AH 618 AD 1221." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Great_Khans_coin_minted_at_Balk_Afghanistan_AH_618_AD_1221.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">Qalam, Muhammad Siyah. <i>Camp Scene</i>. 1469-1525. Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Sacking of Suzdal by Batu Khan." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sacking_of_Suzdal_by_Batu_Khan.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">"Sacking of Suzdal by Batu Khan." Digital image. Wikipedia. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sacking_of_Suzdal_by_Batu_Khan.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">Sakata Field Recordings Reel 2-4. <i>Untitled</i>. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, 1971.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>13th Century Paiza, a Messenger Pass Protecting Officials, Traders, and Emissaries</i>. 13th C. Courtesy of Vahid and Cathy Kooros, with the Cooperation of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Timur Granting an Audience at Balkh on the Occasion of His Accession to Power In1370</i>. 1436. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang">Unknown. "Armenian Archibishop Jean, 1287." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ArmenianArchibishopJean1287.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">Unknown. "Caravane Marco Polo, 1375." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caravane_Marco_Polo.jpg.<br />
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<div class="hang">Unknown. "Map of the Minji Watchpost, in Tüsheet Han Aimag, 1902." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MinjiHaruul.jpg.<br />
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Producer: Grace Norman</div>
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<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Genghis Khan felt betrayed by the people of Herat.</p>
<p>And his brutal punishment of the city was as swift as it was complete.</p>
<p>The Great Khan commanded his army to kill every man, woman, and child.</p>
<p>He ordered troops to burn the city and to crush the life-giving irrigation systems; not even animals and plants were spared.</p>
<p>Herat, once a great city, was reduced to a massive grave when the Mongols were done. This is just one part of the story of the largest Empire the world has ever known.</p>
<p>Many cities have their own tales of Mongol treachery. And although devastating, Herat’s story was not unique.</p>
<p>The Central Asian Shah, whom Genghis attacked, was finally defeated, but his son wound up in Afghanistan and Northern India in the 1220s, and so the Mongols had to move into Afghanistan, and particularly in the area of Herat, the major city in Afghanistan. At first, they defeated the people of Herat, and the people submitted, but subsequently, the people in that region revolted against Mongol rule, which was the worst thing they could’ve done, as the Mongols did not believe in allowing people to rebel against their rule after having voluntarily submitted. And so they came in and did considerable damage to Herat and the surrounding region.</p>
<p>It was with this military might that the Mongols created the largest land-based empire in world history.</p>
<p>The Mongols conquered China and Japan in the East, and Russia and Europe to the West.</p>
<p>But out of calamity and ruin rose peace and prosperity.</p>
<p>The so-called Pax Mongolica, the peace that the Mongols initiated by taking over nearly all of Asia, at least Northern Asia and parts of Europe, led to a tremendous amount of interaction between peoples.</p>
<p>This was a time in which there was considerable travel across Asia, considerable travel by merchants, by religious pilgrims, by entertainers, by individuals who just had a penchant for adventurous travel, and all of that was facilitated by the Mongol peace Eurasia.</p>
<p>The Mongol era in Afghanistan witnessed a kind of development of the capabilities of some areas of Afghanistan to set up their own governments and to provide the necessary tasks that people had been subjugated had to provide for the Mongols, postal stations, taxation and so on.</p>
<p>As the Mongols conquered greater swaths of land, they also controlled more trade routes.</p>
<p>This meant that their tax revenue grew. There was even an early banking system.</p>
<p>The ability for businessmen to borrow money led to greater prosperity for the merchant class.</p>
<p>And so the Mongols introduced a kind of greater centralization in parts of Afghanistan that had been the case earlier. Of course, the people of Afghanistan also benefited from the cultural interactions and diffusion that occurred throughout the Mongol domain, so there was a kind of balance.</p>
<p>The Mongol Empire’s powerful infrastructure ushered in trade and prosperity as well as cultural exchange throughout Eurasia.</p>
<p>But the same channels that facilitated smooth exchange of peoples, goods, and ideas, also helped spread the Black Plague.</p>
<p>After Genghis Khan’s death, the massive empire proved too large to hold together and it weakened in the 14th century.</p>
<p>The true legacy of Genghis Khan’s rule may have been the example he set for his successors. In only a few short decades after the fall of the Mongol Empire, another powerful leader would emerge from Central Asia to build an empire of his own.</p>
Mahmud of Ghazni
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 17:00 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>The Ghaznavid court ushered in a fusion of Turkic and Persian cultures. Once again, a unique hybrid developed at this crossroads of cultures.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Year:
1020
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
More Information:
<p><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi; Battle between Zanga and Awkhast</i>. 1493-4. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.</p>
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d. 1020); Giv Brings Gurgin before Kay Khusraw</i>. 1493-4. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d. 1020); Recto: Rustam before Kay Khusraw under the Jeweled Tree; Verso: Text</i>. 1493-4. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d. 1020); Rustam and Isfandiyar in Combat</i>. 1440. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); Recto: Text; Verso: Kay Khusraw Installs Luhrasp as King</i>. 1493-4. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); Recto: Zahhak and Farshidward before Afrasiyab; Verso: Text</i>. 1341. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); Rustam Encamped</i>. 1425-1450. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang">Loeff, Patrik M. "Indien: Sanchi." Digital image. January 27, 2008. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bupia/2276914716/.
<div>Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en<br />
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<div class="hang">"Mahmud of Ghazni." Digital image. Khyber.org. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.khyber.org/articles/2005/TheKhalajWestoftheOxus.shtml.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>The Makhzan Al-asrar (Treasury of Secrets) by Mawlana Haydar</i>. 1577. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang">Omar, Mohammad, performer. "Rubab Solo." In <i>Music of Afghanistan</i>. Smithsonian Folkways, 1961.<br />
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<div class="hang">Qeran, Baba. <i>Naghne Danbora</i>. Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive. <br />
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<div class="hang"><i>Rashid Al-Din’s 14th-century Jami‘ Al-Tawarikh (Universal History)</i>. Edinburgh University Library, Edinburgh.</div>
<div class="hang"><i>Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi</i>. Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC.<br />
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<div class="hang"><br />
Producer: Alexis Menten</div>
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</div>
<p> </p>
Video Transcript:
<p>At many times throughout history, the people of today’s Afghanistan found themselves at the mercy of a foreign power. But at other times, as during the reign of the Ghaznavids, the lands of the Hindu Kush became the center of the world.</p>
<p>The invasions of the Turkic and Mongol peoples, starting with the Ghaznavids in the 10th century and stretching to the Mongols in the 13th century, were based upon their cavalry.</p>
<p>The horses gave the Turkic and Mongol peoples a tremendous advantage over the settled civilizations in Afghanistan and undoubtedly facilitated their success. </p>
<p>The calvary and military skills of the Ghaznavids enabled them to overthrow the Samanid Dynasty. Surprisingly, they first learned these skills in an unlikely place: when they were pressed into serving in the slave guard of the ruling Samanids themselves.</p>
<p>Slavers would go out into Central Asia and other places and steal children, and then raise them to be soldiers. But they didn’t just put guns in their arms, they taught them poetry. They taught them to be knights and they taught them how to run an army. And so these warriors were very cultured, very strong, very organized were able, of course, to take over. And so, we see the way that the first successful waves of these are able to topple the Samanid Dynasty, and the first one that’s set up is the Ghaznavids in Ghazni.</p>
<p>Mahmud, the first king of Ghaznavids, established the center of their empire in Ghazni, in southeastern Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Mahmoud of Ghazni, the leader of the Ghaznavids and the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavids, was an ardent Muslim. He helped to convert the population of Afghanistan to Islam. It is from this point on that we can talk about an Islamic Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In the late tenth and eleventh century under the Ghaznavids, Afghanistan was a center of culture, and a world power. This is when Islam expands into India; Mahmud is known as the Great Conqueror, Mahmud the Conqueror, because he brings Islam to India.</p>
<p>And you have to imagine, opening up into India brings you great riches. India was a tremendously rich land; it’s the land of the elephants; it’s the land of marble. And hence he brings some of that loot back and he uses it to build magnificent palaces. We know the minarets that he and his successors built. And these are testament to the kinds of patronage that were going on at that time, when Afghanistan was the center of the region.</p>
<p>Mahmud wants to be not just a warrior conquering king, but he wants to be known as a great king. And what do you need to be great? You need poems and art and you need beautiful buildings and you need intellectuals at your court. So he uses all his powers of paying people and cajoling people and twisting their arm to come into his court and to make it a really flowering glorious center of culture. And so, people wanted to go there also because they knew they could get paid.</p>
<p>The Ghaznavid court represented a fusion of Turkic and Persian cultures for the first time in Afghanistan. The Turkic administrative and military strengths created a strong and properous rule, under which the Persian artistic traditions of poetry and painting could flower. Once again, a unique hybrid developed at the crossroads of cultures.</p>
The Greco-Bactrian Empire
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 16:00 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Afghanistan was a meeting place of Greek philosophy, Buddhist beliefs, and Hindu traditions. The results were magnificent.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
180
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
More Information:
<p>"Arhat (Buddhist Elder) - 16 Elders: Nagasena." Digital image. Himalayan Art. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/71987.html.</p>
<p>Bibi Saint-Pol. "Head Platon Glyptothek Munich 548." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Head_Platon_Glyptothek_Munich_548.jpg.</p>
<p>Boyd, Florian. "Bust of King Menander." Digital image. Florian's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fboyd/2625588318/. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Classical Numismatic Group. "Coin of the Bactrian King Antimachus II." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animachusii%282%29.jpg.</p>
<p>Classical Numismatic Group. "Coin of the Greco-Bactrian King Plato." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plato1.jpg.</p>
<p>Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. "Coin of the Baktrian King Diodotos II: Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. </p>
<p>"Coin of Menander." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MenandrosCoin.jpg.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>65-M-78</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Qamargul. <em>Pa Ru Wru Rokda Qadamona</em>. Sakata Music Collection.</p>
<p><em>Tetradrachm: Bust Wearing Crested Helmet, with Bull's Horn and Ear, Afghanistan, Bactrian Period</em>. 170-145 BCE. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.</p>
<p><em>Tetradrachm: Bust Wearing Elephant-Scalp Headdress, Afghanistan, Bactrian Period</em>. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.</p>
<p><em>Tetradrachm: Head of Philetauros with Laureate Diadem. 262-241 BCE</em>. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.</p>
<p><em>Tetradrachm: Head of Philetauros with Laureate Diadem. 262-241 BCE</em>. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH.</p>
<p>World Imaging. "Gold 20-stater of Eucratides." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EucratidesStatere.jpg.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Kate Harding</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Bactria was the ancient name of a region in Central Asia that stretched between the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya river.</p>
<div>
<p>In 250 BCE, this region was ruled by the Seleucid empire. But Diodotus, the Greek governor of this area, rebelled against his superiors. His new kingdom would become one of the richest and most urban empires of Asia.</p>
<p>The new Greco-Bactrian empire prospered by encouraging trade across the region.</p>
<p>… the Bactrian Greeks … brought to Afghanistan products from Greece such as wine, olives and so on. They took from Afghanistan lapis lazuli and various other minerals and gems.</p>
<p>Trade enriched all the settlements known today as Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kabul. And as the empire grew wealthier it began to expand. They successfully pushed east into parts of India.</p>
<p>As trade flourished, it also became more and more systematized. The Greco-Bactrians produced an outstanding system of coinage. And these coins became the face of the society.</p>
<p>Some of the most famous coins from Afghanistan are the so-called Greco-Roman coins, because they have portraits on them, and those tell us about history. These are very well struck. They were clearly important for the society. They weren’t just crude things made in the back room. They give you the official view of society.</p>
<p>There are spectacular decorative motifs on these coins made of gold…They have survived into the modern world. Spectacular and simple in many ways but glorious representations in others.</p>
<p>Sometimes these coins also displayed motifs of the local environment.</p>
<p>There are figures and animals depicted on it, which tell us a great deal about the culture and the economy of the Bactrian peoples.</p>
<p>As the Greek leaders interacted with local traditions, they were forced to re-evaluate their own culture. They had come to Asia steeped in the philosophical traditions of Plato and Aristotle. But in the new empire, Greek philosophy mixed with local Buddhist and Hindu traditions. A famous exchange between the Bactrian King Milinda and the Buddhist monk Nagasena demonstrates how two highly sophisticated cultures were meeting each other and negotiating their differences:</p>
<p>One of the most famous of these dialogues is with King Milinda…the story is that he debated with a famous Buddhist monk Nagasena on the question of existence.</p>
<p>And he comes up with a chariot and they get into a debate and Nagasena the monk says well how did you come to see me? He says well I rode on my chariot as you can see…</p>
<p>[Nagasena] says, "I see no chariot." Nagasena’s looking around like, "No, no chariot here."</p>
<p>And Milinda says, "I just rode up on it. You can see it."</p>
<p>[Nagasena] says "I don’t see it." And Milinda says, "well here it is."</p>
<p>Nagasena points to wheel and says "is that the chariot?" Milinda says, "no that’s the wheel of the chariot."</p>
<p>[Nagasena] points to the goad that the driver is holding. "Is that the chariot?"</p>
<p>"No that’s not the chariot either."</p>
<p>To the reins. To the harness. [Nagasena] points to everything. "Is that the chariot?" And Milinda says, no it’s this part of the chariot, that part of the chariot. By the time they pointed to all the parts Nagasena says, "well, you must agree with me there is no chariot."</p>
<p>And that’s when Milinda explodes and says, "but it’s NOT the wheels, the cart, the reins, the goad. It’s all of them together is what we call a chariot."</p>
<p>Nagasena’s argument is essentially that to one extent the chariot is something you name. It doesn’t really exist. On the other hand Milinda rode up and he rode down in this chariot. But he had a sudden realization, and again this is a philosophical concept, of what is naming. What is real? How much do we assume?</p>
<p>This is not the type of conversation that we see in the Platonic dialogues. This is different. And it’s because we’ve got two cultures coming together that are looking at the world in slightly different ways but both are highly sophisticated. This is not you know ignorant barbarians learning at the feet of wise men. We’ve got two very sophisticated cultures that have approached the world in a different way. And the area of Afghanistan is at this period the place where they’re coming together.</p>
<p>This exciting cultural exchange would soon lead to an explosion of Greco-Buddhist art that would continue well into the reign of the Kushan Empire.</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
Ashoka's Piety
Fri, 07/30/2010 - 12:40 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Here is the story of a benevolent king who spread ideas of piety, respect, and nonviolence. Read his message to the citizens of Kandahar.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
273
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
More Information:
<p>AleReportage. "Sanchi_16." Digital image. AleReportage's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alereportage/2554581752/. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>AleReportage. "Sanchi_2." Digital image. AleReportage's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alereportage/2554584758/in/set-72157605456146615/. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>AleReportage. "Sanchi_30." Digital image. AleReportage's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alereportage/2554601936/in/set-72157605456146615/. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Asoka Kandahar." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AsokaKandahar.jpg.</p>
<p>Cunningham, Alexander. "Inscriptions of Ashoka, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol. 1." Digital image. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.archive.org/stream/inscriptionsaso00hultgoog#page/n8/mode/1up.</p>
<p><em>Gandhara Buddha</em>. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan.</p>
<p>Geiger, Johann Nepomuk. <em>Die Hunnen Im Kampf Mit Den Alanen</em>. 1873.</p>
<p>Mahwash. "Gar Konad Saheb-E-Man (If My Eyes Meet The Ones Of The Lord)." By Saheb & Ustad M Sarahang. In <em>Radio Kaboul</em>. Accords Croisés, 2003, CD.</p>
<p>"Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba 2." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M%C5%8Dko_Sh%C5%ABrai_Ekotoba_2.jpg.</p>
<p>Repin, Ilja Jefimowitsch. <em>Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16th, 1581</em>. 1885. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.</p>
<p>Royer, Lionel-Noël. <em>Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar</em>. 1899. Crozatier Museum, Puy-en-Velay.</p>
<p>Unknown.<em> The Battle of Panipat and the Death of Sultan Ibrāhīm, the Last of the Lōdī Sultans of Delhi</em>, from Illuminated Manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur). Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.</p>
<p>World Imaging. "Chakravatin." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chakravatin.JPG. GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Grace Norman</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Make no mistake. Imperial history was bloody. Brutal assassinations, unthinkable acts of torture, and brash displays of treachery were commonplace.</p>
<p>But ironically, it was bloodshed that, for a time, put an end to bloodshed. When 100,000 people were killed by King Ashoka’s Mauryan army, something changed.</p>
<p>Ashoka was so devastated by the carnage that he had caused that he surrendered himself to a Buddhist life of nonviolence and righteous duty.<br />
<br />
Ashoka was the ruler of the Mauryan Empire that was based in northern India and in Afghanistan as well. He was the kind of great ruler that the Buddhists idolized. A shakravartan, a great leader who exemplified the Buddhist values and supported and patronized Buddhism. In terms of political support and patronage, he was probably the most important figure in the development of early Buddhism both in India and in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Ashoka traveled throughout his Empire, spreading Buddhist ideals.</p>
<p>He left 33 edicts carved in stone. The edicts told the story of a benevolent King who spread ideas of piety, respect, and nonviolence.</p>
<p>The one in Kandahar was was written in Greek and Aramaic. It pleaded:</p>
<p class="rteindent1">“[I] abstain from killing living beings, and other men who work for me have desisted from hunting. And if people have a bad temper, they will cease from intemperance. … They will be obedient to their fathers and mothers and to the elders. By so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily.”</p>
<p>Ashoka’s reign helped strengthen Buddhism in Afghanistan. It provided a foundation for the religion to flourish for hundreds of years.</p>
<p>Ashokha's stone edict in Kandahar was ironically lost to war in the 20th century.</p>
Kushan Fusion
Mon, 05/17/2010 - 16:45 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Nomads adapted elements of Greek and Indian culture to create a hybrid society of their own.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
120
BCE/CE:
CE
Date Period:
CE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Greek and Indian styles fused to create a hybrid style.
More Information:
<p>"The Buddha, Made in Gandhara." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/2bjzeeo. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>"The Buddha, Made in Gandhara." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/36x78rj. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p><em>Buddhist Relics</em>, Kabul. National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>65-M-62</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>65-M-78</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>70-76a</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A73-45.</em> Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A73-53</em>. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Faravahar at Persepolis. Persepolis, Iran.</p>
<p>"Figure, Made in Gandhara." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=223661&partId=1. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>"Gandhara Buddha." Digital image. Wik.</p>
<p>"Kanishka Coin." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=3143230&partId=1. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>"Kushan Empire (ca. 2nd Century B.C. 3rd Century A.D.)." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kush/hd_kush.htm.</p>
<p>"Kushans." Afghanan.Net. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.afghanan.net/afghanistan/kushans.htm.</p>
<p>"Miscellaneous Buddhist Sculpture Fragments from Nullah, Sanghao, Peshawar District, 1883." Digital image. British Library. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/m/019pho000001003u01125000.html.</p>
<p><em>Photograph by Henry Hardy Cole</em>, courtesy of the British Library Board</p>
<p>Nguyen, Marie-Lan. "Athena of the Parthenos Athena Type." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Athena_Parthenos_Altemps_Inv8622.jpg.</p>
<p>Nguyen, Marie-Lan. "Head of Apollo." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_Palatino_Inv12456.jpg.</p>
<p>PHG. "Buddha-Footprint." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buddha-Footprint.jpeg.</p>
<p>PHG. "SeatedBuddha." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SeatedBuddha.jpg.</p>
<p>Tokyo National Museum. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</p>
<p>PHG. "TangBodhisattva." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TangBodhisattva.JPG.</p>
<p>"Seated Buddha." Digital image. Virtual Collection of Masterpieces. http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/masterpieces.aspx.</p>
<p>Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/</p>
<p>UNESCO/Manoocher/Webistan. "Kabul Museum - Statue Restoration." Digital image. UNESCO. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://photobank.unesco.org.</p>
<p>Ustad Awalmir. <em>Esta De Qasam Wi</em>. Radio-Television Afghanistan Archive. </p>
<p>"Virtual Art Exhibit - Kushans." University of Washington's Silk Road Exhibit." Accessed August 21, 2010. http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/kushans/kushans.html.</p>
<p>World Imaging. "Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</p>
<p>World Imaging. "Gandhara Buddha." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gandhara_Buddha_%28tnm%29.jpeg.</p>
<p>World Imaging. "Kushan "Buddo" Coin." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 21, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KanishkaI.jpg. <br />
GNU license: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License CC license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Kate Harding</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>The area known today as Afghanistan had flourished with trade and riches during the Greco-Bactrian empire. But its rich, urban settlements were continually under threat from nomads.</p>
<p>By the first century, these nomads consolidated their power and established the Kushan Empire.</p>
<p>That empire would make a profound decision, and that decision would revolutionize all of Asia.</p>
<p>The Kushan people who moved into Afghanistan in the 1st century AD … were originally a nomadic group found in Central Asia around the Ferghana Valley in central Asia then moved into Afghanistan. They brought with them a renewed love and adoration of Buddhism…</p>
<p>In the earliest days of Buddhism, the Buddha was only depicted through symbols such as wheels or footprints. But as Buddhism spread, more people believed that the Buddha’s miraculous life should be narrated using a human form.</p>
<p>In the year 130, the Kushan King, Kanishka, held a grand council to decide whether or not this new art should be permitted. He decided to officially sanction it, giving rise to a tradition of Buddhist art that has lasted almost 2,000 years.</p>
<p>The Kushans turned to the sculptors throughout their kingdom. These sculptors had been trained in the Greek tradition because of the previous Greco empires that had ruled the area.</p>
<p>They had learned the art of stonecutting, figuremaking, and drapery. And they set to work using this Greek style to produce Buddhist statues.</p>
<p>The statues are essentially made by Greek trained artisans. So when we look at these statues of the Buddha they look an awful lot like Apollo the Orator. They look like Greek gods. Why? Because they were made by the specialist in religious sculpture and given Buddhist robes, given Buddhist insignias.</p>
<p>The art flourished, and was especially concentrated in a region known at the time as Gandhara – an area that straddled what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan.</p>
<p>One would think that Buddhist art would reflect Buddhist figures and Buddhist decorative motifs but in fact, Gandharan art is really very similar to Greek art. The depictions of costumes, drapery, even the figures themselves are derived from Greek civilization.</p>
<p>The art of the Kushans stirred a revolution across Asia and figurines erupted all across the continent, spreading to China, Japan, and Korea.</p>
<p>Everywhere the style went, it merged with local traditions. Buddhist figurines were soon characterized by a fusion of Asian and Greek influences.</p>
<p>But the greatest Kushan achievement would be the Buddhas of Bamiyan – the colossal statues that announced the Kushan’s might to all who traveled along the Silk Road.</p>
<p>But the Kushans were not only Buddhists. They were also patrons of Zoroastrianism and they saw no reason why both religions could not coexist within their empire.</p>
<p>There was no discrimination against either religion. The result was a fusion society during this time as well, not just in the arts but in general.</p>
<p>The Kushans had learned to fuse differences together instead of driving them apart. </p>
A Greek City in Asia
Mon, 05/17/2010 - 16:34 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>While on a hunting trip in the 1960s, the king of Afghanistan came across an extraordinary find: an ancient Greek city in Afghanistan.</p>
Era:
Age of Empire
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
200
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
The ancient city of Ai-Khanoum, a Greek city in Afghanistan.
More Information:
<p><em>1209-32</em>. AMRC Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p><em>Alexander Mosaic</em>. Naples National Archaeological Museum.</p>
<p>Barrison, Harvey. <u>Temple of Zeus at Olympia</u>. July 6, 2009. Athens. Accessed October 9, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbarrison/3857766654/. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>"Costume-fitting." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=434391&partId=1. <br />
© Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Citadel Residence, Ai Khanoum</em>. 1975. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Kushan Sculpture Found at Lulu Tepe</em>. 1959. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Members of the Conference at the Administrative Quarters</em>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Pseudo-Corinthian Capital from the Administrative Quarters</em>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Temple outside East Wall</em>. 1975. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>Temple within the Walls of Ai-Khanoum</em>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>Dupree, Nancy.<em> The Bases in the Hall of the Administrative Quarters, Ai-Khanoum</em>. 1970. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.</p>
<p>PHGCOM. "HeraklesStatuette." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HeraklesStatuette.jpg.</p>
<p>"Sculpture of an Old Man, Ai Khanoum." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Philosopher2.JPG.</p>
<p>"Seleuco I Nicatore." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seleuco_I_Nicatore.JPG. <br />
Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/it/deed.en</p>
<p>World Imaging. "AiKhanoumPlateSharp." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AiKhanoumPlateSharp.jpg.</p>
<p>World Imaging. "GorgoyleSharp." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 20, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GorgoyleSharp.jpg.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Kate Harding</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>In 1961, the King of Afghanistan went on hunting expedition in the northeast province of Kunduz. During the trip he was shown a Corinthian capital. He recognized the ornate style as being similar to the capitals that topped columns in ancient Greece. This would lead to the discovery of an entire forgotten city</p>
<p>After the King’s discovery, a French team of archaeologists began to excavate the area. What they unearthed was the best-preserved Greek city in all of Asia. Known as Ai-Khanoum, the city’s plan was practically a carbon copy of settlements in the Mediterranean.</p>
<p>It is basically a site that has an acropolis similar to the acropolis in Athens. It has markets that are similar to the markets found in traditional Greek civilization. It shows the dramatic influence of the Greek culture on Afghanistan during this time.</p>
<p>The site also included a gymnasium, a theatre, a fountain – all modeled in the Greek style, as well as a library full of Greek texts.</p>
<p>When Alexander the Great conquered the area now known as Afghanistan in 330 BCE, he initiated a melding of cultures and ideas. When he died, one of his Macedonian officers, Seleucus, conquered the eastern edge of the empire and founded the city of Ai-Khanoum. Seleucus created a Greek metropolis in the heart of Central Asia.</p>
<p>The Greek influence fused with Central Asian traditions and inspired new levels of cultural and artistic fusion.<br />
ROSSABI 037: Ai-Khanoum was a real hybrid. It wasn’t just a Greek settlement although there were Greek features….It was truly integrated with local culture, the local monuments, and the local style of life.</p>
<p>In 145 BCE, Ai Khanoum was invaded by nomadic people of the northern steppes. Evidence suggests that it was completely abandoned.</p>
<p>When it was rediscovered in the 1960s, the archaeology community was aflutter with excitement. For centuries, experts had speculated about Greek influence in Central Asia, but no eastern settlements had been discovered in tact. The discovery put to rest rumors that the Greek influence in Asia was merely a mirage.</p>
<p>But the victory was short-lived. At the onset of the Russian invasion in 1979, Ai Khanoum was looted and used as a battleground.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, several important pieces survived, providing an outstanding glimpse into the cultural fusion that has continually arisen in Central Asia. </p>
Nomads Bearing Gold
Sat, 04/10/2010 - 11:34 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>Tales of nomadic warriors bearing gold entered into the annals of history—in Greek.</p>
Era:
Age of Settlement
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Tradition & Modernization
Year:
700
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Out of the dust of the bronze age collapse emerged Gold!
More Information:
<p>Barefact. "SamaraKurganR2." Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons</em>. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SamaraKurganR2.jpg. </p>
<p>"Bead." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=367604&partId=1. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>"Belt." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=367637&partId=1. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>Carole a. "Steppe of Western Kazakhstan in the Early Spring." Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons</em>. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steppe_of_western_Kazakhstan_in_the_early_spring.jpg. GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License</p>
<p>"Costume-fitting." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=434391&partId=1. <br />
© The Trustees of the British Museum</p>
<p>"Plaque with Scythian Warriors." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. <br />
© The State Hermitage Museum</p>
<p>Qeran, Baba, performer. <em>Naghne Danbora</em>. Lorraine Sakata, 1967. <br />
© Radio-Television Afghanistan Archives.</p>
<p>"Scythian Belt Plaque." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. www.hermitagemuseum.org. <br />
© The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg</p>
<p>"Scythian Plaque." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. <br />
© The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg</p>
<p>"Scythian Throne Arm." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. <br />
© The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg</p>
<p>"Vessel with Handle in Shape of Elk." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. <br />
© The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg</p>
<p>Wyoming_Jackrabbit. "Herodotus, Historiae." Digital image. Wyoming_Jackrabbit's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wy_jackrabbit/4339298688/. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Alexis Menten</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>Out of the dark age caused by the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations, including the Oxus Civilization, groups of nomadic warriors from the north conquered Persia and the lands of Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The Scythians were a pastoral nomadic group that originated in Eastern Central Asia, and were the first of a wave of migrations, that spread all the way from Eastern Central Asia to Europe. The Huns, for example, were part of that migration. The Scythian were pastoral nomads who moved depending on grass and water for their animals.</p>
<p>The greatest Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the Scythians, and in some ways, were quite impressed by their culture. He is one of the few sources available on the Scythians, and was much captivated by the spectacular gold objects that they produced or served as patrons for.</p>
<p>The art of the Scythians provides a window into their culture—the things they saw every day, and the things they valued. The Scythians produced spectacular gold objects, which were often in the animal-style art of the pastoral nomadic people. They buried these objects often with important leaders in in so-called quorgons, or underground tombs. Many of these have now been discovered in Russian, and the Ukraine, so we have an idea of the high level of craftsmanship that developed among these people, and know something about their culture because of the depiction they made. </p>
<p>Another important nomadic group during this time were the Medes, also noted by Herodotus. Due to their skill in battle, by 600 BCE the Medes had conquered the lands stretching from the Black Sea to Afghanistan. The Medes are an offshoot of the Scythian peoples who migrated across Asia during the period of about 700-350 BCE. The Medes were like the Scythian: nomadic pastorialists, who came in and overwhelmed the settlements that already existed in Afghanistan, some of which derived from the Indo-Iranian invasions of the second millennium BCE.</p>
<p>Like the Scythian, they wandered around. They migrated from place to place, but also very appreciative of beauty in specific objects, and contributed to artisanship in Afghanistan.</p>
Zoroastrianism
Sat, 04/10/2010 - 11:30 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>An early monotheistic religion focused on the struggle between good and evil. It paved the path for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.</p>
Era:
Age of Settlement
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Year:
1000
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Zoroastrianism was a potent force.
More Information:
<p>Bielec, Maciek. "Good vs. Evil." Digital image. Maciek Bielec's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/aspoleczny/4534043730/. <br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Greene, Daniel. "Venus & Waxing Crescent Moon." Digital image. Daniel Greene's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielgreene/505405957/. <br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Johnson, Chad. "Storm Clouds." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Storm_clouds.jpg. Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Mohammed, Yar, and Baz Mohammed, performers. Field Recordings: Hiromi Lorraine Sakata. Sakata Music Collection, 1966.</p>
<p>Roodiparse. "Farvahar001." Digital image. <em>Wikipedia Commons</em>. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Farvahar001.JPG.</p>
<p>Sadeghi, Hamid. "Iranian Zoroastrians Celebrate Ancient Feast of Sadeh (creation of Fire)." Digital image. Payvand. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://payvand.com/news/08/feb/1002.html.</p>
<p>Westervelt, Matt. "Eclipse." Digital image. Matt Westervelt's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattw/1256451683/. <br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Zoroaster Clavis Artis. Http://www.alchemywebsite.com/virtual_museum/forms_of_usage.html. Public Domain</p>
<p>Zoroastrian Prayer, the Ashem Vohu. British Library Board, London.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Alexis Menten</p>
Video Transcript:
<blockquote>“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves in vision as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action. And between these two the wise ones chose aright, the foolish not so.” –From the Avesta, the holy text of Zoroastrianism</blockquote>
<p>Zoroastrianism was one of the earliest monotheistic religions to be found in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Zoroaster was a priest of the Zoroastrian religion, which involved a duality–a struggle–between good and evil.</p>
<p>People had the choice to either side with the good or to side with evil.</p>
<p>The concept of free will, or choice, was new to religion at that time. Most ancient religions placed humans at the mercy of the gods – without any hope of changing the world. Zoroaster introduced the idea that humans had an ethical choice between bad and good.<br />
Hunsberger 004 on camera 02:07-02:10: Those are all the virtues of Zoroastrianism, and are built into the poetry and other literature that you see.</p>
<p>The Avesta is the most important text in Zoroastrianism. It is a collection of hymns that were written, retold, and re-interpreted over hundreds of years. The Avesta describes how humans can choose good over evil through good thoughts, words, and deeds. </p>
<p>Like any religion, Zoroastrianism changed over the centuries, during which water and fire became important symbols. Even today, Zoroastrians in Central Asia worship in fire temples and hold ceremonies in the presence of fire.</p>
<p>Zoroastrianism remained a potent force in Afghanistan for centuries and there are residual elements of it today. The kind of duality that they brought in between good and evil, the monotheism that they practiced, did have an impact when Afghans started moving towards other monotheistic religions.</p>
<p>In many ways, Zoroastrianism paved the way for the acceptance of other religions that centered around the worship of a single god--including Islam.</p>
<p>“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves in vision as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action. And between these two the wise ones chose aright, the foolish not so.” –From the Avesta, the holy text of Zoroastrianism</p>
<p>Zoroastrianism was one of the earliest monotheistic religions to be found in Afghanistan. Zoroaster was a priest of the Zoroastrian religion, which involved a duality–a struggle–between good and evil. People had the choice to either side with the good or to side with evil.</p>
<p>The concept of free will, or choice, was new to religion at that time. Most ancient religions placed humans at the mercy of the gods--without any hope of changing the world. Zoroaster introduced the idea that humans had an ethical choice between bad and good.</p>
<p>Those are all the virtues of Zoroastrianism, and are built into the poetry and other literature that you see.</p>
<p>The Avesta is the most important text in Zoroastrianism. It is a collection of hymns that were written, retold, and interpreted over hundreds of years. The Avesta describes how humans can choose good over evil through good thoughts, words, and deeds.</p>
<p>Like any religion, Zoroastrianism changed over the centuries, during which water and fire became important symbols. Even today, Zoroastrians in Central Asia worship in fire temples and hold ceremonies in the presence of fire. </p>
<p>Zoroastrianism remained a potent force in Afghanistan for centuries and there are residual elements of it today. The kind of duality that they brought in between good and evil, the monotheism that they practiced, did have an impact when Afghans started moving towards other monotheistic religions.</p>
<p>In many ways, Zoroastrianism paved the way for the acceptance of other monotheistic religions that would later come to this region, including Islam.</p>
Invaders on Horseback
Sat, 04/10/2010 - 11:16 — grace.norman@gm...description:
<p>The Indo-Iranians swept down from the North and sacked South Asia. This set the pattern for a cycle of invasions that will come to define Afghan history.</p>
Era:
Age of Settlement
Theme:
Identity & Perception
Traces & Narratives
Year:
1800
BCE/CE:
BCE
Date Period:
BCE
Asset Type:
Trend
Caption:
Scythians, Aryans, Indo-Iranians--who were they?
More Information:
<p>Belton. "Ze Ma Janana." Recorded 1967. Lorraine Sakata. <br />
Mahali style. © Radio-Television Afghanistan Archives.</p>
<!--StartFragment--><!--EndFragment-->
<p>Dupree, Nancy. <em>A Site between Bazarak and Rokha: A75-73</em>. 1975. Dupree Collection, Williams Afghan Media Project, Williams College, Williamstown, MA. </p>
<p>Mottl, Dmitry A. "Уймонская степь (Uymon Steppe, Altay)." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://tinyurl.com/3853zxl.<br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</p>
<p>Rex. "Steppe of Western Kazakhstan in the Early Spring." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steppe_of_western_Kazakhstan_in_the_early_spring.jpg. <br />
Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en</p>
<p>UNAMA/Taqi Mihran. "Peace Day Calligraphy: 16 September 2009." Digital image. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/unama/3924593163/. <br />
Photo courtesy of UNAMA.</p>
<hr />
<p>Producer: Alexis Menten</p>
Video Transcript:
<p>History has brought many different cultures and peoples to the lands of today’s Afghanistan, many of which had a lasting impact. The first of these were the Indo-Iranians.<br />
<br />
Afghanistan has been invaded from the North for much of its history. Around 2000 BC was the first important such invasion from a group known as the Indo-Iranians.</p>
<p>These are people that seem to have come off the steppe and they’re moving into Afghanistan and through Afghanistan down into India and also moving down towards the Iranian plateau. </p>
<p>They’re cattle-keeping people. They have carts. They have chariots. They have horses. And you know culturally it marks the introduction of new sets of languages.</p>
<p>These people would have a dramatic effect on the religion of Afghanistan, and on the culture, on the language.</p>
<p>Afghanistan’s main language today, Dari, is part of the Indo-Iranian language group.</p>
<p>The local people very often retained their traditional culture, and it took centuries, really, for the Indo-Iranian influence to be felt: culturally, religiously, in terms of lifestyle. Sometimes, we think of history as happening almost immediately, but in fact, it’s a gradual development</p>
