Transcript Aim: to what extent did the Mauryan Empire exemplify the impact of

Aim: to what extent
did the Mauryan
Empire exemplify the
impact of cultural
diffusion on Asia?
The Mauryan Empire
Where?
When?
326 –
184 BCE
(325 – 185 BCE)
When?
Politics
• Monarchy / royal dictatorship
established by Chandragupta Maurya in
326 BCE.
Social Structure
How
unusual!
• Ashoka becomes the third Mauryan
Emperor in 269 BCE and rules until 232
BCE.
• Empire weakens after the death of Ashoka
and collapses in 184 BCE after nomadic
tribes from the northwest, including the
Kushans, invade.
Belief Systems
• Hinduism predominates until …
• Ashoka converts to Buddhism however
…
• Although Ashoka builds 84,000 stupas
honoring Buddha, and sends Buddhist
missionaries to the “West” and Sri
Lanka, but protects religious diversity
(i.e.: Hinduism).
Economy
• Based on agriculture (The state
owned huge farms cultivated by
slaves and other laborers) and …
• International trade with the
successors to Alexander the
Greats Empire in the Middle East
Cultural Diffusion
What European was in India
sometime around 326 BCE
and is believed to have
indirectly caused the
Mauryan Empire to form?
Do not write
this down.
Bactria = Afghanistan
Analysis of Cultural
Diffusion
We start with
Alexander the
Great.
Why does Alexander wear a
symbolic lion skin on his
head? Does it remind you of
anything?
Greek tetradrachm with Alexander the Great on the coin.
Mauryan Coin from the time period of
Chandragupta Maurya.
Why?
What animal is frequently
portrayed on Indian coins?
Back to Alex. Still
Macedonian.
Why does Alexander wear a
symbolic lion skin on his
head? Does it remind you of
anything?
Greek tetradrachm with Alexander the Great on the coin.
Why does
Alexander
wear a
symbolic
______ skin
on his head?
Does it
remind you of
anything?
Still
Macedonian
?
Remember?
Mauryan Coin
Seleukos I (Seleucid coin).
Where is
this coin
from?
What animal
is being
portrayed?
What is Seleucid
trying to say? How?
Why?
Demetrius I
of Bactria
Alexander the Great
Why is Demetrius wearing a symbolic elephant
skin on his head?
Notice
anything
odd about
this
Mauryan
coin?
Mauryan Coin
Meandros (Menander), King of Bactria
BTW, this guy is famous in his own right. He’ll be in tomorrows lesson.
Ashoka may have been part Greek!
• Was he trying to emulate Alexander the
Great?
Cultural Diffusion
• "Here in the king's
domain among the
Greeks, the Kambojas,
the Nabhakas, the
Nabhapamkits, the
Bhojas, the Pitinikas,
the Andhras and the
Palidas, everywhere
people are following
Beloved-of-the-Gods'
instructions in
Dharma." Rock Edict
Nb13 (S. Dhammika).
Do not
write
Legal inscriptions by Asoka in Greek and Aramaic.
• But [India] has been treated of by several other
Greek writers who resided at the courts of
Indian kings, such, for instance, as
Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent
thither by Philadelphus, expressly for the
purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the
power and vast resources of these nations."
Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. 21
[5]
Do not
write
Greek culture had a major influence on India
Law
• Laws of the land were
carved into stone
pillars located
throughout the
Empire (influenced by
Alexander? Hmmmm)
Legacy
Fin
Seleucid ruled part of what
was left of the empire after
the death of Alexander the
Great.
Don’t write down.
Just read.
Now we go back in time a few
decades to Alexander the
Great’s Hellenic Empire?
Aim: to what extent
did the ancient Indo –
Greeks have an
impact on the growth
of Buddhism?
What is this place?
Meandros (Menander), King of Bactria
BTW, this guys is famous in his own right. He’ll be in tomorrows lesson.
The Indo-Greek King, ruler of Bactria (Afghanistan),
known as Meandros (Menander) to the Greeks and
Milinda to Indians practiced… Buddhism and helped
spread Buddhism to many parts of the world such
as China. There is even a Buddhist religious book,
The Melindapanha, named after him.
Traditional
Chinese
Laughing
Buddha
statue.
Budai was a
Buddhist
monk.
Fin
Seleucid coin.