- Ancient History, Globalization and Cultural Change, Bactria (Archaeology), Archaeology of Central Asia, Ancient Afghanistan, Cross-Cultural Interaction (History), and 68 moreBactria, Hellenism, Indo-Greeks, Hellenistic Bactria, Identity Construction, Indo-Greeks, Cultural hybridity, Ai Khanum (Ai Khanoum) (Archaeology), Orientalism, Post-Colonialism, East West relations, Hellenistic History, Alexander the Great, Archaeology of the Hellenistic East, History of Iran, Cultural Biography of Artefacts, Cultural Globalization, Cultural Assimilation, Acculturation, Cultural Identity, Ethnicity, Invention of Tradition, Transculturalism, Cultural Change and Political Dominance (Hellenization, Romanization), Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Ancient History of Afghanistan, Silk Road, Ancient Iran, Silk Road Archaeology, Silk Road Studies, Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan, Central Asia (History), Cultural Theory, Material Culture Studies, Central Asian Studies, Archaeology of Central Asia in Parthian, Kushan and Sasanian times, Parthian Archaeology, Archaeology of ethnicity, Kushan history, Gandhara, Art & Archaeology of Iran and Central Asia, Archaeological Theory, Central Asia, Iranian Archaeology, Archaeology of Identity, Parthian Empire, Hellenistic architecture, History of Khurasan (Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia), Sogdian Archaeology, Central Asian Archaeology, Hellenistic Babylonia, Seleucia on the Tigris, Archaeology of the Eurasian steppe belt, Parthian History, Seleucid Empire, History of the Hellenistic World (Focus: Seleucid Empire), Pre-Islamic Central Asia, Central Eurasian History, Inner Asian Studies, Transnationalism, Hellenistic and Parthian Mesopotamia, Hellenistic Mesopotamia, Early Steppe Nomadic peoples migrations and social life, Central Asian Steppe, Eurasian Nomads, Scythian and other Eurasian Nomadic Horse Warrior Cultures, Scythian archaeology, Scythian History, Nomadism, and Hellenismedit
From Mesopotamia to Central Asia, regions in central Eurasia in the Hellenistic period are often viewed, presented, and imbued with meaning as ‘places in between’ – cultural melting pots, resulting from a fusion of Eastern and Western... more
From Mesopotamia to Central Asia, regions in central Eurasia in the Hellenistic period are often viewed, presented, and imbued with meaning as ‘places in between’ – cultural melting pots, resulting from a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures after Alexander the Great. This book critically explores scholarly understandings of cultural inbetweenness in the regions of Baktria, Parthia, and Babylonia in the third to first centuries BCE, focusing on the diverse ways in which the model of Hellenism has been used to make historical meaning out of eclectic material culture. The sites of Ai Khanum, Takht-i Sangin, Old Nisa, Seleukeia on the Tigris, and Babylon serve as core case studies to investigate perceptions of Hellenism in places that are considered culturally ‘inbetween’. These form the foundation for a new translocal approach, based on globalization concepts, to better and more critically understand what we consider as Hellenism and localism in the East.
BMCR Review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.05.11/
BMCR Review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.05.11/
Research Interests: Central Asia (History), Hellenistic Bactria, Hellenism, Ai Khanum (Ai Khanoum) (Archaeology), Globalization & Cultural Theory, and 11 moreParthia, Hellenistic Babylonia, Hellenistic period, Seleucia on the Tigris, Hellenization, Hellenistic and Parthian Central Asia, Takht-i Sangin, Hybridity and Cultural Identity, Ancient Globalization, Inbetweenness, and Old Nisa
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Contact me via e-mail for the full PDF.
Research Interests: Globalization, Ancient History of Afghanistan, Greek Archaeology, Bactria (Archaeology), Hellenistic Bactria, and 8 moreHellenism, Cross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Ai Khanum (Ai Khanoum) (Archaeology), Ancient Visual Culture (Archaeology), Cultural Globalization, Bactria, Hellenism, Indo-Greeks, Hellenistic and Parthian Central Asia, and Globalisation
Proceedings of the Second Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network Colloquium, hosted by Gunvor Lindström in Berlin, 2-4 November 2017.
Research Interests: Globalization, Ancient History of Afghanistan, Religious Syncretism, Hellenistic Bactria, Hellenism, and 6 moreCross-cultural interaction (Archaeology), Archaeology of Central Asia, Ai Khanum (Ai Khanoum) (Archaeology), Cultural Globalization, Cultural Syncretism, and Hybridity and Cultural Identity
This paper reassesses the material culture of Ai Khanum, the most important site of Hellenistic-period Bactria, from a translocal globalisation approach. While ‘Hellenism’ is a commonly cited explanation for cultural change in what is... more
This paper reassesses the material culture of Ai Khanum, the most important site of Hellenistic-period Bactria, from a translocal globalisation approach. While ‘Hellenism’ is a commonly cited explanation for cultural change in what is often referred to as ‘The Far East’, it begs the question how particular cultural elements were used and perceived socially on the ground. In rethinking Ai Khanum’s ‘mixed’ cultural features in the face of ancient globalisation processes that made Eurasia a smaller world, this paper opts for a more dynamic approach to cultural interaction in Hellenistic-period Central Asia by arguing that recontextualised cultural elements may have served to act out multiple (trans)local identities according to the social sphere.
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This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-east Afghanistan. At present, this city is the only monumental archaeological site of Hellenistic-period Bactria. Its material culture... more
This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-east Afghanistan. At present, this city is the only monumental archaeological site of Hellenistic-period Bactria. Its material culture displays typical Greek features, alongside and seemingly blended with Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Central Asian elements. Many scholars have emphasized the Greek features and subsequently the (colonial) Greek character of the city, which were prioritized over other cultural elements and treated as clear testimony to the presence of ethnic Greek settlers. Conversely, this paper reconsiders Ai Khanum’s persisting status as a ‘Greek city in Central Asia’ by questioning previous theoretical approaches dealing with hybrid material culture. Globalization theory is used as a heuristic framework to further problematize the material and to explore how Ai Khanum’s cultural features might be seen from a wider angle.
Research Interests:
[ Lady Moon on the Oxus. Bactrian Ai Khanum as a case for ancient globalization ] This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-east Afghanistan. At present, this city is the only... more
[ Lady Moon on the Oxus. Bactrian Ai Khanum as a case for ancient globalization ]
This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-east Afghanistan. At present, this city is the only monumental archaeological site of Hellenistic-period Bactria. Its material culture displays typical Greek features, alongside and seemingly blended with Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Central Asian elements. Many scholars have emphasized the Greek features and subsequently the (colonial) Greek character of the city, which were prioritized over other cultural elements and treated as clear testimony to the presence of ethnic Greek settlers. Conversely, this paper reconsiders Ai Khanum’s persisting status as a ‘Greek city in Central Asia’ by questioning previous theoretical approaches dealing with hybrid material culture. Globalization theory is used as a heuristic framework to further problematize the material and to explore how Ai Khanum’s cultural features might be seen from a wider angle.
(Expanded and translated version in English are forthcoming in AW&E 17)
This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-east Afghanistan. At present, this city is the only monumental archaeological site of Hellenistic-period Bactria. Its material culture displays typical Greek features, alongside and seemingly blended with Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Central Asian elements. Many scholars have emphasized the Greek features and subsequently the (colonial) Greek character of the city, which were prioritized over other cultural elements and treated as clear testimony to the presence of ethnic Greek settlers. Conversely, this paper reconsiders Ai Khanum’s persisting status as a ‘Greek city in Central Asia’ by questioning previous theoretical approaches dealing with hybrid material culture. Globalization theory is used as a heuristic framework to further problematize the material and to explore how Ai Khanum’s cultural features might be seen from a wider angle.
(Expanded and translated version in English are forthcoming in AW&E 17)
Research Interests:
Hoo 2021 - [Review of] PAYNE, R.E. and R. KING (eds.) — The Limits of Empire in Ancient Afghanistan. Rule and Resistance in the Hindu Kush, circa 600 BCE-600 CE. (Classica et Orientalia 24). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2020.... more
Hoo 2021 - [Review of] PAYNE, R.E. and R. KING (eds.) — The Limits of Empire in Ancient Afghanistan. Rule and Resistance in the Hindu Kush, circa 600 BCE-600 CE. (Classica et Orientalia 24). Verlag Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2020. (24,5 cm, XXI, 271). ISBN 978-3-447-11453-0. ISSN2190-3638. € 68,–. Bibliotheca Orientalis 78 (5-6) 711-716
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Programme of the fourth Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network conference, with the theme "Entangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and Knowledge Production in the Study of Hellenistic Central Asia" (24-26 March 2022,... more
Programme of the fourth Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network conference, with the theme "Entangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and Knowledge Production in the Study of Hellenistic Central Asia" (24-26 March 2022, University of Freiburg, Germany).
See further: https://hellenisticfareast.wordpress.com/conference-2020/
See further: https://hellenisticfareast.wordpress.com/conference-2020/
The fourth conference of the Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network (HCARN) will take place at the University of Freiburg, Germany, from 28th–30th May 2020, on the theme of “Entangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and... more
The fourth conference of the Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network (HCARN) will take place at the University of Freiburg, Germany, from 28th–30th May 2020, on the theme of “Entangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and Knowledge Production in the Study of Hellenistic Central Asia.”
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers from both established scholars and early career researchers. Abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with the author’s name, title and institutional affiliation, should be submitted to Milinda Hoo and Lauren Morris at hcarn4@gmail.com by no later than 15 November 2019. We anticipate being able to offer some travel funding to participants, on a case by case basis.
** Update: the HCARN conference is now planned to take place from 24-26 March 2022 **
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers from both established scholars and early career researchers. Abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with the author’s name, title and institutional affiliation, should be submitted to Milinda Hoo and Lauren Morris at hcarn4@gmail.com by no later than 15 November 2019. We anticipate being able to offer some travel funding to participants, on a case by case basis.
** Update: the HCARN conference is now planned to take place from 24-26 March 2022 **