Books by Milinda Hoo
Oriens et Occidens 41 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag), 2022
From Mesopotamia to Central Asia, regions in central Eurasia in the Hellenistic period are often ... 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/
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Book chapters by Milinda Hoo
Nawotka, K. and Wojciechowska A. (eds) Legacy of the East and Legacy of Alexander (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag), 2023
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in Von Reden, S. (ed) Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies. Volume 3: Frontier-Zone Processes and Transimperial Exchange (Berlin: De Gruyter), 2023
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in M. Gehler and R. Rollinger (eds), Empires to be remembered (Wiesbaden: Springer), 2022
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in Von Reden, S. (ed) Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies. Volume 2: Local, Regional, and Imperial Economies (Berlin: De Gruyter), 2021
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in Mairs, R. (ed) The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Worlds (London: Routledge), 2020
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Articles by Milinda Hoo
Studia Hercynia, 2023
Proceedings of the Second Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network Colloquium, hosted by Gunvor ... more Proceedings of the Second Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network Colloquium, hosted by Gunvor Lindström in Berlin, 2-4 November 2017.
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Ancient East & West, 2018
This paper reassesses the material culture of Ai Khanum, the most important site of Hellenistic-p... 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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TMA54, 2015
This article aims to reassess the material culture of Ai Khanum (‘Lady Moon’ in Uzbek) in north-e... 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.
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Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie, 2015
[ Lady Moon on the Oxus. Bactrian Ai Khanum as a case for ancient globalization ]
This article ... 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)
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Book Reviews by Milinda Hoo
Bibliotheca Orientalis 78 (5-6), 2021
Hoo 2021 - [Review of] PAYNE, R.E. and R. KING (eds.) — The Limits of Empire in Ancient Afghanist... 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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Conferences by Milinda Hoo
Programme of the fourth Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network conference, with the theme "Ent... 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/
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The fourth conference of the Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network (HCARN) will take place at... 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 **
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Books by Milinda Hoo
BMCR Review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.05.11/
Book chapters by Milinda Hoo
Articles by Milinda Hoo
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)
Book Reviews by Milinda Hoo
Conferences by Milinda Hoo
See further: https://hellenisticfareast.wordpress.com/conference-2020/
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 **
BMCR Review: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.05.11/
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)
See further: https://hellenisticfareast.wordpress.com/conference-2020/
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 **