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Greco-Buddhist Art

Page history last edited by matthew.jason@... 15 years, 4 months ago

Hellenistic (Greek) Culture and Buddhism

 

 

The Standing Buddha, one of the earliest images of Buddha, 1st - 2nd centuries BCE, Gandhara.

 

Map of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, farthest area east of Greek culture, after Alexander the Great's conquests: 

The area shown above, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, was an area ruled by Greek rulers after the time of Alexander the Great.  It flourished from 250 BCE to 10 CE.  During this time, Greek culture mixed with local cultures, as well as with Buddhism, which was spreading at the time.  Because it bordered China, the kingdom was a crossroads of culture, a place where the cultures of the East (China and Japan), mixed with the cultures of the West (Rome, Greece) and Middle East (Egypt, Arabia, and Persia). 

 

 

Greek Inspirations for Early Images of the Buddha 

 

Above, an image on a coin of Demetrius I, king of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.  He may have been the model for the first images of the Buddha (left).

 

King Demetrius I (205 - 171 BCE) of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was regarded as king and saviour of India by his successors, King Apollodotus I and Menander I, who were also regarded as "saviour kings" on coins printed with their images.  Demetrius was named Dharmamita, meaning "friend of the Dharma," or friend of Buddhist teachings.  Buddhism grew under his reign and under the kings that followed him, at the same time that it was being attacked by the Indian Sunga dynasty to the east.

 

The earliest statues of the Buddha in the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom show him as ling a king, without many of the traditional Buddhist symbols.  The Buddha appears almost as a Greek philosopher, with simple robes and a noble look on his face.  At the time, Demetrius may have been viewed as "god-like," and the earliest statues of the Buddha reflect this idea of a princely, friendly, protective king.  Soon, the figure of the Buddha was used in designs on buildings, such as pillars and decorations.  Scenes of the life of the Buddha in these cases are depicted in a Greek setting, with the characters wearing Greek clothes.

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