Ancient Greek State in Afghanistan
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2018
- The conquests of Alexander the Great and the Wars of his Successors which we covered in our previous animated historical documentaries (bit.ly/2BoFtRD) opened Asia to the Greek influence and culture and the process of Hellenization encompassed all regions from Egypt to China. However, the easternmost state the Ancient Greeks created was the kingdom of Bactria, which gained independence from the Seleucid Empire. This state became the shining beacon of the civilization in the region and influenced it for centuries to come, most famously by creating a synthesis with one of the Buddhist sects - the Mahayana.
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Sources:
Holt, F. L. (1999). Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hughes, T. (2018, January 9). The Greeks in the East: The Battle of the Arius. Retrieved from Turning Points of the Ancient World: turningpointsoftheancientworld...
Kosmin, P. J. (2014). The Land of the Elephant Kings. Harvard University Press.
Livius. (1999). Seleucids. Retrieved from Livius.org: www.livius.org/articles/dynast...
Rappe, K. (n.d.). The Greco-Bactrian Mirage: Reconstructing an Image of Hellenistic Bactria. Washington: University of Washington Press.
Sherwin-White, S. M., & Kurht, A. (1993). From Samarkhand to Sardis: A New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Simonin, A. (2011, April 28). Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Retrieved from Ancient History Encyclopedia: www.ancient.eu/Greco-Bactria/
Sutherland, A. (2016, April 23). Lost Ancient Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Of 1,000 Cities. Retrieved from Ancient Pages: www.ancientpages.com/2016/04/2...
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
#Documentary #Alexander #Greeks
Some Greek swag for our viewers: bit.ly/2BqY8KR
I Thank you for caring and making video about the greek history
@@moreDLCdaddy Pontus rulers, the Mithridatic dynasty, were hellenized Persians
Ottaman Wars ?
@@moreDLCdaddy Yes
you say Hellenic not greek.ooook???
Heracles - protector of Budda. History never stops to fascinate me.
@Chao Li watch the video.
>top ten most ambitious crossover
I lost it at Greek Buddhist monks,I really didn't expected that
Don't just stop there..Greaco-Buddhist..think of the potential! Muthaphukkin' Shaolin Greeks, man! Remember how hard the Ikko-Ikki, the Shaolin warrior monks of Japan, had been as a pain in the arse for Nobunaga before he subdued them (watch Extra History Sengoku Jidai part #3,you'd get it)? Imagine Shaolin kung fu infused with ancient Greek wrestling (pálē), boxing (pygmachia), and no-holds-barred mma (pankration)? Imagine Shaolin monks doing the hoplite and phalanx formations, with their hybrid pole-arms designs and tactics..brah...
@@SeymoreSparda Actually, the Chinese had developed their own system of martial arts and hoplite/phalanx style tactics during the Xia and Shang Dynasty period, that's way before the arrival of Buddhism. However, there is a possiblity that Shaolin Kungfu was a hybrid Chinese and Greek martial arts, I also think that Damo（達摩）was likely a Greek buddhist priest.
I had no idea Greeks were in that part of the world before Alexander as part of some Persian gulag system. Great video!
I wouldn't call it that, but yeah :D
Lol i love the internet
Joseph Stalin, "Stalin! Baby! Your mustache is looking PARTICULARLY nice this week! Plz don't send me to the gulag :("
Quite often I hear people say "Afghanistan can never be conquered by the west" or some variation. I always reply "The Greeks held it for a hundred years...." Typically they are confused and ignore me from that point on as Bactria is obscure and doesn't fit the popular narrative.
@@enoughrope1638 you hit them with intelligence and in return they hit you with ignorance.
Man, imagine being part of Alexander's army, traveling literally to the end of what was the known world to them, and still find people speaking your languange in such a far away place.
But they probably had a very different dialect due to isolation. In the past dialects could been so different because of isolation that some couldn't understand others despite having the same language
@Salt & Pepper No at least the Macedonian people and the Greeks had no idea about China. I remember reading that Alexander wanted to see what was beyond as his tutor when he was younger (Aristotle) had no knowledge about the land beyond India. Also the silk road was not as prominent at Alexander's time
@@tomlxyz this is correct, but also the Greek cities and kingdoms around the known world had their own Greek dialect, so unless the dialect has changed a lot, they would understand that they were also Greeks.
@Salt & Pepper noo -_- ... The term silk road was spread in 700AD
@Salt & Pepper Silkroads doesn't exist yet at the time until Han dynasty came to be and conquered Tarim Basin
I visited Balkh in 1977. That was before Afghanistan descended into decades of conflict. I still remember sitting high on the wall looking across at a horse rider with a flowing turban riding through rich, green fields in the distance. It was magical.
How old are you jezz
@@myth1234xd I was born in 1952.
I am from Afghanistan, born in 1997. I have never seen a peaceful Afghanistan from the day I was born your words made me emotional
Despite the war, people still get high in Balkh, sit on the wall (which is pretty ancient) and enjoy the view.
@@panosp.k9063 There are a lot of white people in northern Afghanistan with red/blonde hair as well as different eye colours so id say theyre related to the bactrian greeks.
"many greek cities were founded in his wake"
Such as Alexandria, Alexandria, and Alexandria
Oh and Alexandria
I think you forgot Alexandria.
@@MrRenegadeshinobi But what about Alexandria. Or Alexandria, or even Alexandria.
@@redlighter8767 And then there's Alexandria.
And last but not least Alexandria eschate
@@kevray Alexandria eschate means exactly Alexandria the furthest
That CK2 "Ambitious" modifier though.
Ha, noticed that too.
What's the timestamp?
I hate that trait with a passion...when it isn’t me who has it.
@@connorgolden4 you can always make that character general of a tiny army, and send him to its certain death xD
Well, just hoping Imperator Rome to play a Hellenic in India/Afghanistan
Hercules and the Buddha... History's first Avengers team...
I believe they are known as the Super Best Friends
Hercules ( hulk) & buddha(dr strange) 🤣
I wonder when the Vikings along with Thor will join it
😂😂😂😂😂
Herakles*
*Alexander arriving in bactria and meeting Greeks*
"Yo, what the fuck"
Are you dumb? Its after Alexander passed that they stayed
@@pierren___ Have you seen the video?
@@mibikchellaimibikchellous2238 yes
@@mibikchellaimibikchellous2238 oups sorry
So is this video-maker now going to claim that Greeks built the Bamiyan Buddha statue too? Its seems the claims about Greek contributions warrant some questioning.
Greek guy talking: dude, I just went to Alexandria last week. It was pretty cool.
Other guy: which Alexandria??
actually it's Alexandria the furthest no the farthest.
@Jigov wtf did you get that bs? Greece is a country with Greeks the people who live in it, Alexander was Greek, im not Greek and even i know that, people like to say he was Macedonian, but if thats true than were Athenians and Cretans not Greek as well?
@Jigov Dude, Greeks have lived in Greece a very long time, since back to the Minoan Empire, there is solid evidence of a great deal of contact and trade between Greeks and ancient Egyptians. The Bulgarians are actually the new comers, the Bulgar tribes and the first Bulgarian Empire came during the Byzantine Period, after the fall of the western roman empire. Don't know where you have gotten all this ridiculous bs, honestly you sound insane spouting out all this crazy stuff that is completely made up. Bulgarians first arrived in the Balkans and near Greece in 681 AD, Proto-Greeks arrived in the Balkans at the end of the third millennium BC, thousands of years before the Bulgars. I assume that you are Bulgarian and are a but hurt nationalist all for a "Greater Bulgaria" and see the Balkans and especially Greece as rightful Bulgarian clay, unfortunately you are wrong and blinded by the lies that have been told to you for a very long time. History, Science and the majority of Europe and the world are against you, your opinion is just that, yours and maybe a few others, everyone else knows the truth and that your wrong, whether you like it or not.
@Jigov We must be on different pages because your making no sense to me, yes the modern Greece was formed in 1830, and i am quit sure i would have heard about a massive invasion of Greece by a tribal people and almost total assimilation of the native peoples, your essentially saying that an invading people wiped out or mostly wiped out actual Greeks and has been pretending that they are the real Greeks. Dude your delusional, that's like saying that British aren't actually the real British and are actually not British people that have been disguised as Brits for the last hundred and fifty years, wtf is this man?
@Jigov I'm done with this, your fucking insane man. Actually look some shit up, not everything on the internet is false. Your saying that Bulgarians taught all of Europe the idea of sharp metal weapons and how to refine precious metals, make wine, ride horses and make objects with their hands? Your smoking something man, i will say it again, Bulgarians first arrived in Europe during the time of the Byzantine Empire, and i am pretty sure people knew how to make weapons out of metal, make refined gold, make wine, ride horses and make shit with their bare hands during the time of the Eastern Roman Empire, or are you insinuating that the Roman empire didn't have horses, wine, gold and swords? Perhaps Alexander the Great didn't have any cavalry and Caesar was killed with wooden daggers because they didn't know what the fuck metal was. Stop pestering me with this crazy shit, i think you need a brain scan and some therapy clearly you going through some issues.
I love how you guys cover the lesser known parts of history, the stuff you don’t see on the history channel or in classrooms. Never change Kings and Generals!
Thank you, we won't :-)
@@KingsandGenerals Have you done the kingdom of Aragon? I have only seen small YT vids on it.
@@theexplorer7139 only Las Navas de Tolosa
That's exactly why i love this channel
A S What are you even saying? Learn how to write a proper sentence before commenting.
As a Greek, I thank you for this video. These are not taught in Greek
schools
Why not I would have thought Alexander the great’s Legacy would be one of the most important
Sorry because it is a lie from this video that's why guy is making money from this lies
Alexander went for revenge against persia, he lost to porus ran and left his soldiers, west is glorifying him with lies
@@user-ph4hx6ej6h Alexander retreated from the River Beas of Punjab. He was disturbed by Mallian compaign, he never entered deep into now Indian Punjab and further into India. I live in Punjab. He never came here, he retreated from borders of Punjab. That truth.
@Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, I wouldn’t really call a Greek conquering of India. The conquering was mainly west and some of central India. Sure the rule was very bad, but it wasn’t as bad as the British. Remember that the south was untouched by the Greeks and the north absorbed very little Greek culture (maybe a few borrowed words at most). I respect Greek people but remember that Indian people are very diverse and don’t call an invasion.
As a Greek and as a historian, I congratulate you on the great account you give on the video. You shed light on a part of history that hasn't been dealt with to the extent it should have. Thank you!
As a historian u should know that Alexander the great and his macedonians were not greeks.
@@greatpower8147 hahahaha nobody except fyromians claim that.
@@niksato5210
Lol Read Demosthenes and Thucidides, they Both say clearly that they are BARBARIANS,
With"Barbarians" they mean Non-Greek🤫
Barbarians means non Speaking Greek. Learn history Slavodonian 1991 MD
@@greatpower8147 really and how did he spread the greek culture in Asia ?as you saw in the video if you understand history about Bactrian Kinghorn was greek explain that if you can noob
The last surviving independent greek realm was 10.000 miles away from Greece. Dope
yia sou maga, o papous mou einai baltoumas
@@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014 He said that his grandfather had the same surname with the guy above
@@gilbertkasnija7085 nah, we was just "20 good men",
@@gilbertkasnija7085 k
@@gilbertkasnija7085"Everyone knows that". Except for people that have actually done research on the topic, unlike you ;)
Get educated..
The Indo-Greeks are perhaps the least studied elements of Indian history, but personally they're my favourite of all time.
That's because they are barely Indian and more Pakistani.
@@rottingdog6798 that's like saying that Austrian history has nothing to do with German history
@@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 No, it's more like Germans claiming Roman history.
@@rottingdog6798 yoy can't say Indians steal pakistani history if the pakistani identity hasn't existed for longer than 100 years and the things that have happened in the Indian subcontinent have mostly happened before the partitioning of India by Great Britain. India will obviously then talk about the history of the Indian subcontinent which includes the Indian Republic and Pakistan.
Similarly, for much of Austrian history, the Austrian dukes/archdukes were emporers of the holy roman empire which was made up of other German sovereigns, so of course Austrians would talk about the history of other German lands, that doesn't mean that they're trying to steal the history or claim Germany or anything like that.
@@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 I can tell you're an Indian. First of all, the things that took place in the region of Pakistan is the history of Pakistan, simple as. I don't see how it is Indian.
Secondly, the idea of a separate Muslim state has always existed, just read the poetry of early Urdu poets in the 13th century.
Thirdly, the British Raj only lasted for 90 years, not enough for a unified identity to form. The Ghaznavid empire lasted longer than that.
Fourthly, the name 'India' is also stolen, Indian means the 'land of the indus'- the Indus being a river that is only present in what is now modern-day Pakistan.
The Greek influences in the Mahayana never fail to fascinate me. Thanks for setting them out so clearly.
Respect Greece from the Levant .
1 LOVE
Love from Greece
@jorgan Kharn No, Greece was created by the Greek revolution agenst the Ottomans. King Otto was appointed King by the Greeks because the monarchies of Europe didn't want an independent Republic to exist in Europe. Also because the country Greece was created in 1823 that doesn't mean that Greeks didn't exist before that. And you are from North Macedonia right??? And your people cleam Ancient Macedonian ancestry. So by your logic, how a Albano-Slavic country created in 1992 is related to an ancient Hellenic country???
@Kadir Garip 100% agree, respect from Greece
Bactria is part of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well the northern borderlands of Afghanistan. The Afghans had conquered a portion of what was formerly southern Bactria and annexed it to the Afghan state. If there were any Greeks left in southern Bactria, they came under Afghan control.
'Oh, Afghanistan. How you have fallen so! What has happened to cities of Balkh and Kunduz? The gardens of Ghazni and Qandahar? The great palaces of Kabul? You are like a mistress who has lost her lover and weeps for her children.' - Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir, part 3, pg 98
It's a shame what happened to some regions of the world. Actions from the past are still vividly felt in the present.
Yes Friend but dont forgent many of people say its because of islam
No it is not islam sence 1000 years in afghanistan in 1970s 1960s look the pictures of old afghanistan its like another country
Its not because of islam that afghanistan was destroyed its because of people who used islam for their own profit
its really shame for us
a Afghan poet says
If I made you like hell, ,i also will make you like paradise.
._. what the fuck are you talking about? @@Adi-mw9bz
@@slugakristov8343 You are dumb as fuck bro
@ShinRaPresident I'm sure that in life you have never really met Islam.
you just learned everything from media and stuff.
I give you an example
A thief who stolen his hand must be cut as punishment. That's right, but that has special cases.
1The thief must be grown (no child).
2 Someone who did not know that theft has such a penalty.
3 What is not under protection and if someone takes this (steals).
4 What is stolen must have a certain value.
5 Someone had to steal because he had no money for food.
if someone has these special cases his hand does not have to be cut.
That's the problem, there's still a special case or many cases for almost everything you've told me.
Please read the book "Tafsir English" if you want to read the Koran. Koran can not be explained alone without prophet.
That's why you have to have a "tesfir book" next to koran and read the Quran.
@ShinRaPresident First of all, islam has nothing to do with ethnic things.
Even a white American may understand Islam better than your wife. Even if she understood Islam, she would not marry you, but that's another topic.
Islam is a religion for one person and a condition for several people. No matter what we are with this condition and we can not change the rules as the Christian have made it in time. I'll give you another example. When America waged war with Japan, its military issued a US order ARMY throw atom bombs in Japan. And the soldiers did it. They had to because it was a command. An command of people. Koran is the command of God of Allah and we will follow that to the end.
This was a wonderful episode guys
Thanks for supporting us. :-)
@@FirstLast_Nba yes indeed your right my friend :)
@@KingsandGenerals you guys are welcome and thank you for making these kind of episodes :-)
Greece has a great history.
Respects from Turkey.
respect to you too. from greece
Good just peace
Thats very nice
Yeh I'm a Turk, respect to our Greek homies 👊
There were neither greeks nor greece. All of these two names were created for the politics in 19th century. In macedonia the biggest god was Hephaistos. This god depicted as forging while iron. And there were found coins containing "IYI" stamps. There were Kurgans contains "ISKIT" figured helmets. So we should rethink History thesis again over these new foundings.
As an addition there were different kind of civilisations in Agean and Mediterranian who shares in same region. But that does not make them Greeks.
Oh my God! The Greeks were so great and amazing.
@Sacred Squadron SAS
Yes
@Sacred Squadron SAS ehh, by the time ottomans arrived, byzantine was already on its deathbed due to corruption within the state, rebellions and rivalry with Sassanian empire. Ottomans just delivered the final blow
Still are
Let me guess, the cities were named Alexandria?
It is a region of long and rich history
This is Barris! - French History
Hmm, why would you think that?
Kandahar, the Afghan city which was a stronghold of the Taliban, and capital of the province of the same name where American and British have been fighting for the last 16 years derives its name from "Iskandar" -Alexander. It is one of the Alexandrias...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandahar#Alexandria
It's a good name for a city.
In India suffix to a city name is 'pur' and 'bad' and there are many places named Sikanderpur and Secunderabad and even Sikandra.
As afghan i am extremely happy that our history is taught internationally.
It's not our history in this video. This video is full of false claims. Seriously, it isn't based on facts. In reality greek influence almost completely vanished from bactria about 20 years after alexander left. And only greek / Phoenician alphabet and the production of greek-style royal coins, as a cultural impact, remained in Afghanistan. The bactrians were local iranic people (Afghans) . the claim that the greeks had a century long state in Afghanistan is completely bogus. I don't know from which historian this guy got his "information" on. He basically attributes the bactrian kingdom to the greeks, only because they used phoenician alphabet. It's a shame who many people believe random claims on a UA-cam video. Seriously though.
Navid Ahmed don’t forget your history
@@AfghanHearts he has literally written his sources in the description
@@tediousone3270 his sources don't even claim that the bactrian kingdom was "greek". the maximum they say is that they "might be" connected to the seleucids.
@@AfghanHearts at least the video claims have sources, yours are only: tRusT mE i Am fRoM tHis pLaCe
I have to say that I am impressed that you actually have made a video about Greco-Bactrians/Indo-Greeks. It's not so known chapter of the Greek history. Thumbs up ;-)
Greece was largely based on plagiarism and borrowing from the older, more established civilizations of the East, be it mathematics, engineering, etc. It's also doubtful these civilizations needed Greek help to build statues of the Buddha; they had already been doing that long before the Greeks showed up.
@@AK-dd9od Plagiarism!!! borrowing???????? the Greek culture always will be in your blood stream!! it is inevitable in your everyday life..... Envy is a bad thing for your soul and hygeia !!!(health)
@@marklang4940 Greek culture might be in your blood stream, but it plagiarized heavily from the civilizations of the east, including the much older and far superior Aryan Hittite civilization. And the R1a gene haplotype indicates you have more of the eastern civilizations in your bloodstream.
@@AK-dd9od Aryan Hittite civilizations Great! but the democracy and human dignity you're enjoying guess who invented it! and if i have R1a gene of Hittite and Mesopotamian or Aryan is very OK with me they were great like Greeks too!!!! no complex here!!!!
Right I'm here because I'm a Genetic match to the Greco-Bactrian just blow my mind
And I believed Ptolemaic Egypt was the last region in the world that the Greeks were ruling...
Seems Greek India has a longer story to tell.
no! you are wrong mate. The Greek kingdom of alexandria of egipt destroed at 30 b.c. The last greek kingdom have been destroed at 10 a.c. It was the greek kingdom of Alexandria Bukefalia and it was at the south eat borders of India.
What about Pontus?
@@THEGAME-ko3mg Pontus was maybe in fact the last independent greek state , they were Annexed by the Roman Empire in 62 AD. But there is a problem , they were very mixed Greeks ( with Persians , Lazi,...)
@@THEGAME-ko3mg Very Good Point ..[Pontus was the most ANcient HELLENIC Place the Hellenazation of the Place was BEFOR E TRojan War [Argnonaytes time ]and After Alexander Time Remaine with Hellenic kings until Rome Conqer the Place ..Later remaine Byzantine until 1463 ]was THE LAST Byzantine area Falls to the Ottoman ]And since 66.B,c [Roman Conqer ]unti 1463 A.d NEVER face an invation from Barbarians or ANY other
Niccolo Richter I thought they where predominately Persian
Now I get it why Mahayana Buddhist statues,even modern ones do have a lot of distinctly Greek influence. Incredible
Thank you for the video. Very interesting and informative
Thanks for watching :-)
Mahayana = Mazdayazna (Zoroastrianism)
The Greeks stumbled into their teacher’s land. They knew it at the time. They had influence in civilizing the region, but the philosophical tradition from there had been brought to the Greeks via Persian empire hundreds of years earlier.
@@AG-ic7hl mahayana comes from Sanskrit, Maha=great, yana=wheel. "The Great Wheel"
@@AG-ic7hl You don't know that.
" the gandhara school of arts was developed by Greeks. It represents "the Greek statue with Indian soul."
It means they were influenced by Indian philosophy . There was a famous book on the conversation between Menander and Buddhist monk , known as " the questions of Menander" .
Its called melindapanho.. meaning the questions of menander
It is called the milinda panha
In ancient times people would convert to the other philosophy/religion if they lost the debate.
avinash ankamreddi, GANDHARA MEANINGS, ALBANIA DIALECT GJAND HARA, GJAD HARA, GREECE LOGO KATA MIKOS, INGLES TERRITORY ALONG, ITALI TERRITORIO LUNGISIMO, GANDHARA FIRST NAME ALBANIAN.
ALEZANDROY TITLE MEANINGS, ALBANIA ALE ZAN TROY, GREECE MEGALO KATARTITI, INGLES GREAT CONQUEROR, ALEZANDROY HERO OF ALBANIA.
That explains some greek like buildings in our plain areas hmm...beautiful architectural designs of greece always..
Greek, Iranian, Indian and Chinese civilizations through their variour stages from the beginning of recorded history (and even farther back in time) are the greatest and most influential the world has ever witnessed!
You forget Ethiopean and Malian not to mention Mayan, Aztec and a little one on the side - Egyptian.
I say more Greek and Persians than Indian and Chinese shaped the world religion , language and arts.
khosro mehrban
Nah
Indian religions are the second largest base on earth
Indian philosophy is unmatched and even influenced greeks
Phyrro states his philosophy was taken from buddhism
No Iraninan, it's actaully Persian. because about 45 percent of Afghanistan are also Persians.
Nah mate, we the romans are ont of the most influential
Gives a new meaning to the term 'Magna Graecia'!
Yes! That is right.
It's interesting how Afganistan was a central crossroads for a very long time, sort of in between everything. I just read from a history of Afganistan that the rulers of the Kushan Empire that replaced the Greco-Bactrians were themselves Central Asian Nomads, but had converted to Buddhism, wrote about it with the Greek Alphabet and used the titles of Shahanshah, (Persian) maharajadhiraja, (Indian) Son of Heaven (Chinese) and Caesar, all at once. Talk about a cultural melting pot.
Why do you think AMERICA coveted Afghanistan so much
Surprise when ancient times were more of a cultural "melting pot" than nowadays.
@@DustOnCloud9 Not really, similar strong Muslim states emerged in their place. The Ghaznavids and Ghurids come to mind. I would argue that the decline of wealth in Afganistan has more to do with the decline of the silk road and the emergence of global naval trade, of which the landlocked area cannot take part. Islam is an umbrella, under which many cultures could still flourish. Persian, Arabic, Indian and Chinese Muslims were all still culturally different and members of all these groups continued to live in Afganistan.
It's also worth noting that the remote parts of the Hindu Kush mountains were only converted to Islam in the 1880s by military conquest, so actually Islam has existed alongside other faiths for most of its history there.
@@ShadowSumac Well I would say the melting pots are just elsewhere now. Also with globalization and internet, the world has pretty much come a melting pot of sorts. We're most likely not from the same country and yet we're discussing the history of a place neither of us has (probably, sorry if I'm wrong) visited.
You could make similar points about India or Persia as well being a cultural mixing pot. Your skewed perception is due to the way historians study Afghanistan and the wider Central Asian region. They’re not seen as a civilisation or a centre of empires in their own right but nomadic barbarians who are the far regions of Greek, Roman, Chinese, Persian or Indian civilisation.
Just to clarify: the Kushans didn’t convert to Buddhism. Ruling over a land with different religious adherents, they minted their coins with deities of all religions and used their titles, to appeal to their subjects and cement their rule - like the Parthians ruling around the same time did.
Greek ancient coins from the post Alexander the Great were still in use in Afganistan up until the 1970s.
The king Menander supposedly converted to Buddhism after a question answer session with the Buddhist monk Nagasena, this whole session has been written down in Pali and is known as the Milinda Panha ( Milinda is the Indian pronunciation of Minander, it literally means Milinda questions)
Kings and Generals your work will never cease to amaze me! I love how you have been bringing the Greek history to light. You're like if Dan Carlin could talk for less than 4 hours, but just as informative!
That is a high praise, thank you! :-)
Basically, it is greek Australia.
XKripton 12 but there is still no boxing cangaroos and giant spider.
But hey at least they have mountain snake
@@zerosuitsamus2340 no problem, greek Australia dont need to have these things!
@@zerosuitsamus2340 Afghanistan and Pakistan northern areas have one of the most impressive animal in the world, Snow leopard. But you will be lucky to see one in your life. The damn thing is champion in hide and seek, complete ghost with minimal interaction with humans
Did you just call the nomadic tribes emus?
@Authentic Person #987123 XD
Thanks for a comprehensive video on Greco-Bactria in its place in Hellenic history. Well done. It has some pertinent information on its legacy, that I was not aware of.
Thank you for this very entertaining and informative video. For whatever reason my college Ancient History courses always skipped over Bactria, Parthia, Urartu, Hatti, Scythia, etc... it's refreshing to hear the missing pieces of the puzzle. Please do a video on Ancient Lydia - another civilization I'm fascinated by but can find almost no resources for them on UA-cam.
This is such a cool video about a very cool subject that sadly isn’t talked about that much. Watching this video for the first time made me feel like as if a whole new chapter of Greek history that was forgotten had been like revived from the dead
Thanks for watching, more on the way!
Nice cuneiform username
Dude how did you get Cuneiform for your username? First time I've seen this
Mr.Paddle thanks :)
Michael Casey I don't actually remember it was like a website were you could write something in English and it would translate it into ancient Babylonian and I just copy pasted my name
As an indian, i didnt knew about the 200 year greek rule. Very good content .
Some says Punjabi/surrounding people have some Greek genes also
Because
They were highly indianised
They became buddhist...
They were ousted by Guptas
The Great King of Kalinga Kharvel beat one Demetrius in Central India.
Because in india textbooks say about myths not history.
Yes, the Greek rule over northern part of the Indian subcontinent happened between the Mauryan and the Gupta empires, which many people don't know about (A direct consequence of the fact that it is not taught in school).
This is literally the best existing UA-cam channel . Im a trained historian and I’ve never seen something so engaging!!! Keep going!!
Thank you!
I love this channel so much. Thank you for teaching me something new today!
On behalf of all Greeks, thank you for this video. Ancient Greek legacy endured through time and made us all pneumatical descendants of Plato, Thucydides, Pythagoras, Alexander... Proud to be a direct heir of those men!! Ευχαριστούμε!!!
But didn't able to continue your culture Olympians .
@chachi mogo well science has proven them wrong.. there are plenty of studies to read to ... and i mean real science.. not youtube science..
@Alkis Steas Actually ... dumb persons are the ones who ignore science... like you.
Wasn’t Alexander a murdering maniac? I’m not proud that some of my ancestors might have scalped people.
"γεια σας Έλληνες" translated to hello greeks
Damn it i love this channel if it is a hello to greek viewers i love you more!!
Hey! :-)
ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING! Thank you for the video.
Thanks for watching!
Great and historically accurate job! Really loved it!
never have I learned so much in a short documentary.... this answers so many questions I had
Thanks for watching!
A fantastic account and thank you for referencing my work in this! Keep up the great work my friends. T
MAGA: Make Afghanistan Greek Again!
YES!
We are greek in some degree. But you should make anatolia greek again ,afghanistan never was greek in origin anyways, but we can remain close friends with greek :)
Things that make a nation are language religions ways and blood... Well bloodlines may be long lost for almost all nations but we can still find the rest, we can still find universal ideas in greek thinking and philosophy and learn more about one another.
My regards, from Athens.
@@user-gn8bz6tt1b good point, its no longer those days to seperate your nation from others, we all know when we separate and dont care for other nations arround our own, there always be some morons to try to destroy your nation with using all kind of natural and military disaster. We all know human can be vengeful and dumb, so we better come together faster than before. One day Earth will have one flag.
Alexander was no Greek but Illyrian!!
All the world is Illyrian!!
That was very informative and well produced. Thank you.
Never thought about the Greek influence on Buddhism. Very interesting. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
@@KingsandGenerals shame on you
Eric the truth is greeks were more influenced by persian mythology but yet old garbage lies come out
They didn’t really influence it. What was popular Greek philosophy was influenced by the Iranic peoples, which had already began in the Bactrian area 1300+ years earlier with the Zoroastrian and Vedic religions. It’s kind of them having learned from the Persians over hundreds of years in their empire, and then coming to their primary location of philosophy and telling them about it.
Mahayana = Mazdayasna (Zoroastrian)
It went from ascetic and world-denying to world-accepting. When all is said and done, the Iranic peoples created basically every religion in Asia. Even the Mongols had Qormusta Tengri from Ahura Mazda, Zoroastrian god and claimed one of their three mothers was a Scythian (also Zoroastrian mostly).
@@AG-ic7hl you know this bactrian greeks have came to india not the greeks from Europe this greco bactrians are greeks!
We have a city/province in Northern Afghanistan called Balkh (Bactria)
And bakhto..
And bactrians were Afghans and had nothing to do with greeks. (they only used phoenician alphabet and copied greek style royal coins.)
@@AfghanHearts the Hellenic soldiers that lived there assimilated , married local people etc
@@metaxist nah, greeks were expelled or killed during the revolt in 323 bc. even Alexander left and gave up on Afghanistan. and you think his successors could stay there? plus, many of the greeks had Afghan ancestry. because during the persian achaemenid rule, many bactrians (Afghans) served in the persian army and had been stationed in greek states like thrace, athen and macedonia. during the greek rebellion, many of these Afghans joined the greeks and helped them against the persians. after the successful rebellion, the Afghan soldiers stayed in greece and married local greek women. their decendants got fully assimilated to greek culture. (maybe that's one reason why many greeks look like Afghans)
AfghanHearts bactrians have nothing to Do with afghans, afghans aka Pashtuns r nomadic group while we know bactrians were not nomadic but settled, today’s tajiks are persianised bactrians
New viewer and I'm thoroughly impressed.
Firstly its a great choice of topic to do a video on as others have mentioned. Good to see you shedding a light on areas of history that arent commonly focused on.
Secondly great narration, content and animation!
Youve just got yourself a new subscriber!
Welcome aboard!
simply wow- this channel makes history so cool- binge'ing
What I love about this channel that it make learn more about topics that I love in a simple way. And sometimes, like now,topics I never wonder about .
GOOD JOB! !
Thank you :-)
Wonderful video. I never knew Greeks and Buddhists lived together and influenced eachother. Amazing work. Yet another great video.
There were Greek Buddhists kings also
This presentation was technically excellent and highly informative. Thanks!
I learned so much from this video. Your videos are soooooooo friggin good. So much is put into them. The voice is perfect. The pacing is great. I mean I seriously get lost in your content. Love it. Wish I could support more
We appreciate it!
This one of the most informative and surprising historical videos I've seen in my life. Great job.
Thank you!
This is the kind of subject you treat that i love. Thank you.
Thanks you and to everyone actually supporting you through Patreon.
Even I, as a Flemish person who lives in Belgium, am 3% Greek
@V C haha danku! En ik vind u profielfoto mooi (:
@@dylan2478 I have a grecoturkish friendship discord server name is Πόντος karadeniz union
search it on google you will find many results
I really didnt knew anything about this, great video, you have won a subscriber !
Welcome aboard!
god damn... you all do a fantastic job. VERY well done. Thank you so much for all your hard work
Thank you for watching!
Great video. You never stop to amaze me . Even I (as a Greek) that i LOVE ancient history , I didn't know that . Well done Kings and Generals .
Thank you! Please, consider sharing!
Incredible video, fascinating cultural exchange, almost on the level of al Andalus, thank you so much
This is absolutely fascinating. I never really knew anything about this area's history.
Great work as always. I like how youtube has now also become a place where people can learn new things about history. And it's thanks to channels like yours, crashcourse, BAZ BATTLES, Historia civilis, etc.
On a more relevant note, I really enjoy seeing the cultural dynamism, fusion, and efflorescence of the Conquests of Alexander, how cultures mixed to create interesting variants and hybrids. Now that you've the Hellenic East, will you cover the Greek colonies of the West (i.e. Emporian, Massalia, Syracuse, Magna Greaca) as well as Greek exploration of the north.
@ThebanWarrior I completely forgot about the black sea colonies. You're right. These areas aren't covered enough. I think it well destroy the idea of a monolithic West vs. The Rest trope- which in all fairness needs to be destroyed. Humans are social animals, and affect each other in profound ways via trade, spread of ideas, art, literature, colonization, etc. (for better or for worse).
Marvel: Avengers Infinity War is the most ambitious cross-over ever made .
Me: Watch this video and say sorry
Next episode in this mini-series will blow your mind. :-)
wait until you learn about that one century where Algeria/Tunisia was ruled by Germans
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandal_Kingdom
Thank you very much for this video. I can't imagine the hard work behind it.
Most of the information was new to me. Back in school in history class this subject was dealt with one-liners : "By the way there were some Greco-Indian kingdoms that lasted a couple of centuries and led to some interesting cultural exchanges between Greek and Indian civilization. Anyway, moving on ...."
I am not up to date with school books today, but back then they had us jumping from one subject to another, with a few one-liners in between.
Fascinating! That's a part of our history that we've never learnt at school here in Greece. It's almost hard to believe that ancient Greek culture had reached so far in the east, even influencing to some extent the art and culture of the people of those lands!
Ah! Once again you got to this subject before me! Great video! :)
@@funhistory7640 Thanks Fun History! :)
Please still make the video
@@bootstrap52 will do! :)
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for watching!
What a terribly fascinating n informative video this was. My compliments to those who made this video a reality.
This makes me so happy, I'm Pakistani and whenever I tell people that the greeks conquered south and central asia no one believes it. And when I went back there you can still see the imprints that the greeks had left are still present.
I swore to myself I knew this voice. Took me a good while to realise I'd been watching your Total War playthoughs on OfficiallyDevin. Finding this channel made my day!
Welcome aboard!
So Buddhism was influenced by Greek culture? Did I interpret that correctly? I learn so much from this channel!
Yep! Thank you!
Stocism is similar to Buddhism when you think about it
Not really.
Outside of a tradition of statues, which never had any Greek-style influence. The only ones that did were by that Greek culture. That's about it. Humanoid statues in Buddhism would depict many different figures in many cultures, so the artstyle, techniques, and sensibilities are all dependent on those contexts. None were influenced by Greek-style, however. There are many gods and other deities in various forms of Buddhism. Most likely those Greek Buddhists also remained polytheistic.
More like the Greeks in the area were influenced by Buddhism. Menander himself was a famous convert. What's concerning is that this is one step away from claiming Buddhism owes its global influence to ancient Greeks.
@@TathD
Almost. The only shame is that it didn't last too long at least in the western parts. Though who knows, perhaps the Buddhas name simply changed to something more local, his story retold in a different way, and it becoming one of the most influential religions in the world.
Today i discovered this channel when im surfin on youtube and i liked it so much i subscribed
thank you so mach for this video
Well done! Kudos!
Γεια σου ευεργέτη
@@MakisHMMY Χαίρε!
Thanks!
You have the best history channel you deserve much more my friend
Thank you very much :-)
Thank you for this very informative video.
I love how you incorporated Rome II gameplay into this video!
Great Video!!!!I LOVED IT IMMEDIATELY!!!
I just puti in Greek subtitles.
Appreciate the subtitles- they help a lot!
@@KingsandGenerals i will continue to help you
@@user-ij7sp6op6q Ευχαριστούμε πολύ! Δεν πρόλαβα να το δω όλο ακόμα, αλλά αν θες διόρθωσε το "unprecedented" σε "πρωτοφανή", ή "άνευ προηγουμένου" κάπου μετά το 1:05... Αν τύχει να βρω κάτι άλλο, θα το γράψω εδώ. Δυστυχώς το YT έχει καταργήσει τα p.m. πλέον... :-/
Ευχαριστώ για τα καλά σου λόγια και ότι το διόρθωσα.
@@Freawulf
Να σε καλά ρε φίλε. Τώρα μπορώ να το δείξω στην οικογένεια μου που δεν ξέρει καλά αγγλικά.
That's a perfect day for me^^
A game I waited for 2 years came out today a d now a video about the Bactro-Greek Kingdom awaits me
D IDK yeah^^
Thanks for watching :-)
Too nice history video thanks with clearly explaining 👍👍👍👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I especially appreciate your correct pronunciations and historical accuracy. That is rare on UA-cam.
Great video!! I've just learnt so much.... I had no idea the Greeks had such a huge impact in that part of Asia, for over two centuries!! Thank you as always!! 👍🏻
Thank you for watching :)
Oh wow, I'm so glad you guys are covering Bactria and the Indo-Greek Kingdom and getting them some popular history coverage. I remember having no idea Greek influence spread as far into India as it did until I played Rome 2, which inspired me to research these states.
Thank you for this. I knew very little about the history of the area before watching this video!
Thanks for watching!
Congratulations for your so objective & well informed video!!
Hello from Hellas Kings and Generals
Hey!
Hello from Bulgaria and Macedonia.Ops meant only Bulgaria!
Look it's my boy Eren.
Kudos for the first posted multimedia source which narrates the history of Greco-Bactria in an enjoyable manner.
Thanks for watching!
Amazing! This channel truly differentiates itself from the rest of the history youtube channels in terms of quality. I knew about the Seleucids and the legacy of Alexander the Great, but I never imagined that Greek kingdoms persisted for so long, even deep inside India! And the first busts of Buddha were made by Greeks, you say? And Greeks converted to Buddhism?! And there I thought I knew much about history...
Awesome documentary! Thanks! So cool!
The legacy of a young man who changed the world...Congrats! ❤
@Mr Seboss you need to read more history!
@Mr Seboss it all starts with a man named Alexander
@Mr Seboss simple dude. Drive by his ambition, he led an army to the edge of the world founding cities on his way leaving Greek culture everywhere he was. Of course, the successors where the ones who hellenized the most, but without Alexander that would never happened.
@Mr Seboss Take a history book. Open it. Read it. More simple than continue to ask stupid questions.
@Mr Seboss with this comment you prove that all people up who didnt respond you make the right decision.
The only remaining cultural influence of these Hellenistic kingdoms is the Chitral hat or Pakol which is a modern version of the ancient Macedonian Kausia. It is now very popular in Afghanistan and Pakistan and among Jihadists the world over.
Saguntum-Iberian-Greek Konstantinopoli, The hat is all that remains. Even genetically there is no trace of the Greeks among the local population, it is as if they vanished into thin air leaving only their hats behind.
Eli Odum The fair skin and light eyes come from the original Indo-European settlers and countless later Steppe peoples like the Scythians and Hephthalites who invaded Northwest India over hundreds of years.
@@jeck988 most Greek people today and in Antiquity according to scholars do not have blue or green eyes. That's not to say that they were uncommon, but the majority still would have had brown eyes. Also I don't know about blue eyes, but I'm pretty sure that green eyes occur naturally among many Western Asian and Central Asian peoples
Eli Odum have you visited Greece? Most Greeks are typical Mediterranean people, olive skinned and brown eyed
Daradajee fair skin did not originate in nomadic Indo-Europeans lol (in fact linguistics and population genetics are 2 different things). Fair skin appeared first in settled agrarian population in Fertile Crescent in the Middle East because of change of diet (cereals). These ancient people spread their technology and genes as they travelled to different corners of the world. We have no idea what language they spoke and it really doesn’t even matter.
Thank you sir very much for this video!
Love this video. I've always been fascinated by the statues in Nara, like the guardians outside Todaiji, which are clearly Greek influenced despite being Buddhist. Now I know why.
Oh man was this great.........I have been totally intrigued and fascinated to the point of near obsession for a couple years now by the Bactrian kingdom......but never seem to find much except rudimentary and sketchy info on it.This video was so up my alley and so informative I'm ecstatic.If you'd care to share any sources on this subject I'd be greatly indebted.....but more than willing to pay for the info.This was AWESOME!!!!Thanks...SM
There will be more!
@@KingsandGenerals Just for kicks and giggles........another subject matter along the same lines .......the Greek cities around the Black Sea.......such as Chersonesos etc might be interesting......well....would be to me anyways......perhaps others too.
I click like then watch your videos, because i know it's going to be high quality ;)
Thanks for your trust. :-)
Great stuff. Do more like these. ✌🏼