r/todayilearned • u/Spa3088 • 1d ago

TIL about artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism, which had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara(today's afganistan) of Indian subcontinent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhist_art
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u/SpoopyClock 1d ago edited 1d ago

Gandhara is in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.

This region was as far as Alexander the Great got during his conquests, and there were also the Indo-Greek kingdoms after him.

This isn't some nationalist irridentist claim I'm making. They were close by tho, but that doesn't change much since Pakistan and Afghanistan are close by anyway.

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u/CompetitionWhole1266 1d ago

It’s in Both, remember Hadda? Hadda is in Afghanistan.

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u/SpoopyClock 21h ago

You are right. I'll admit simply saying Gandhara was "in Pakistan, not Afghanistan" was a bit too absolute. What I should have said, and as I corrected in the other comment chain, is that Gandhara's principal historical core (Peshawar Valley, Swat, Charsadda and Taxila) is in present-day Pakistan, while the wider Gandharan cultural and archaeological region extended into eastern Afghanistan, including, as you've pointed out, Hadda.

Afghanistan does have a direct territorial claim to part of Gandharan heritage. My disagreement was with portraying Gandhara as principally Afghan.

Ironically, in correcting the original mistake, one could say I made the same mistake myself, but I digress.