1.
Pompeii
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Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash. Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, by the time of its destruction,160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port. The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash, the site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and these artefacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies and this allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years, today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year. Pompeii in Latin is a second declension plural, the ruins of Pompeii are located near the modern suburban town of Pompei. It stands on a formed by a lava flow to the north of the mouth of the Sarno River. Today it is some distance inland, but in ancient times was nearer to the coast, Pompeii is about 8 km away from Mount Vesuvius. It covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares and was home to approximately 11,000 to 11,500 people on the basis of household counts and it was a major city in the region of Campania. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of bone, pottery shards. Carbon dating has placed the oldest of these layers from the 8th–6th centuries BC, the other two strata are separated either by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement, and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. It is theorized that the layers of the sediment were created by large landslides. The town was founded around the 7th-6th century BC by the Osci or Oscans and it had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, in the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered it, the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town
2.
Secret Museum, Naples
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Cabinet refers to a cabinet of curiosities, a well-presented collection of objects to admire and study. Throughout ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum, erotic frescoes, depictions of the god Priapus, sexually explicit symbols and inscriptions, the Ancient Roman understanding of sexuality viewed explicit material very differently from most present-day cultures. Ideas about obscenity developed from the 18th century to the present day into a concept of pornography. The doorway was bricked up in 1849, at Pompeii, locked metal cabinets were constructed over erotic frescos, which could be shown, for an additional fee, to gentlemen but not to ladies. This peep show was still in operation at Pompeii in the 1960s, the cabinet was only accessible to people of mature age and respected morals, which in practice meant only educated men. The catalogue of the museum was also a form of censorship, as engravings. In the 1930s the Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini saw the excavations as validating the continuity of a Nova Roma, the presence of sexually explicit material, however, was problematic. Since 2005 the collection has been kept in a room in the Naples National Archaeological Museum. Michael Grant and Antonia Mulas, Eros in Pompeii, the Erotic Art Collection of the Museum of Naples, new York, Stewart, Tabori and Chang,1997. Brief introduction by J. B. Hare,2003, erotica collections photographs BBC Radio, Pompeii
3.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
4.
Ivory carving
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Ivory statue is the carving of ivory, that is to say animal tooth or tusk, by using sharp cutting tools, either mechanically or manually. Ivory carving has an importance to the medieval art of Europe and Byzantium because of this. Teeth have three elements, the dental enamel, then the main body of dentine, and the inner root of osteo-dentine. For the purposes of carving the last two are in most animals both usable, but the harder enamel may be too hard to carve, and require removal by grinding first and this is the case with hippopotamus for example, whose tooth enamel is about as hard as jade. Elephant ivory, as well as coming in the largest pieces, is soft and even. The species of animal from which ivory comes can usually be determined by examination under ultra-violet light, eurasian elephant ivory was usually obtained from the tusks of elephants in India, and in Roman times, from North Africa, from the 18th century sub-Saharan Africa became the main source. Ivory harvesting led to the extinction, or near-extinction of elephants in much of their former range, in early medieval Northern Europe, walrus ivory was traded south from as far away as Norse Greenland to Scandinavia, southern England and northern France and Germany. In Siberia and Arctic North America, mammoth tusks could be recovered from permafrost and used, the 25, 000-year-old Venus of Brassempouy, arguably the earliest real likeness of a human face, was carved from mammoth ivory no doubt freshly killed. These included the huge Athena Parthenos, the statue of the Greek goddess Athena made by Phidias, no doubt versions of figurines and other types of object that survive in ancient Roman pottery and other media were also made in ivory, but survivals are very rare. Both include mythological scenes, respectively Germanic and classical, that are found in few works from these periods. The most important Late Antique work of art made of ivory is the Throne of Maximianus, the cathedra of Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna, was covered entirely with ivory panels. It was probably carved in Constantinople and shipped to Ravenna and it consists of decorative floral panels framing various figured panels, including one with the complex monogram of the bishop. The form was adopted for Christian use, with images of Christ. They were used by an individual for prayer and this assembly suggested a compositional arrangement with Christ or Mary in the centre and angels, apostles and saints in the flanking panels. Carved ivory covers were used for treasure bindings on the most precious illuminated manuscripts, very few of the jewelled metalwork surrounds for treasure bindings have survived intact, but reasonably high numbers of ivory plaques once used in bindings survive. Typical Byzantine ivory works after the Iconoclastic period were triptychs, among the most remarkable examples is the Harbaville Triptych from the 10th century with many figurative panels. Such Byzantine triptychs could only have used for private devotion because of their relatively small size. Another famous 10th century ivory triptych is the Borradaile Triptych in the British Museum, the Romanos Ivory is similar to the religious triptychs but its central panel shows Christ crowning Emperor Romanos and Empress Eudokia
5.
Lakshmi
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Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity. She is the wife and shakti of Vishnu, a god in Hinduism. Lakshmi is also an important deity in Jainism and found in Jain temples, Lakshmi was also a goddess of abundance and fortune for Buddhists, and was represented on the oldest surviving stupas and cave temples of Buddhism. In Buddhist sects of Tibet, Nepal and southeast Asia, goddess Vasudhara mirrors the characteristics, Lakshmi is also called Sri or Thirumagal because she is endowed with six auspicious and divine qualities, or gunas, and is the divine strength of Vishnu. In Hindu religion, she was born from the churning of the primordial ocean, when Vishnu descended on the Earth as the avatars Rama and Krishna, Lakshmi descended as his respective consort Sita and Rukmini. In the ancient scriptures of India, all women are declared to be embodiments of Lakshmi, the marriage and relationship between Lakshmi and Vishnu as wife and husband is the paradigm for rituals and ceremonies for the bride and groom in Hindu weddings. Lakshmi is considered another aspect of the supreme goddess principle in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. She typically stands or sits like a yogin on a pedestal and holds lotus in her hand. Her iconography shows her with four hands, which represent the four goals of life considered important to the Hindu way of life, dharma, kāma, artha. Archaeological discoveries and ancient coins suggest the recognition and reverence for Lakshmi by the 1st millennium BCE, Lakshmis iconography and statues have also been found in Hindu temples throughout southeast Asia, estimated to be from the second half of the 1st millennium CE. The festivals of Diwali and Sharad Purnima are celebrated in her honor, Lakshmi is one of many Hindu deities whose meaning and significance evolved in ancient Sanskrit texts. Lakshmi is mentioned once in Rigveda, but the context suggests that the word does not mean goddess of wealth and fortune, the good are welcomed, while the bad urged to leave. In some chapters of Atharva Veda, Lakshmi connotes the good, later, Lakshmi is referred to as the goddess of fortune, identified with Sri and regarded as wife of Viṣṇu. For example, in Shatapatha Brahmana, variously estimated to be composed between 800 BCE and 300 BCE, Sri is part of one of many theories, in ancient India, about the creation of universe. In Book 9 of Shatapatha Brahmana, Sri emerges from Prajapati, after his meditation on creation of life. Sri is described as beautiful, resplendent and trembling woman at her birth with immense energy, the gods were bewitched, desire her and immediately become covetous of her. The gods approach Prajapati and request permission to kill her and then take her powers, Prajapati refuses, tells the gods that males should not kill females and that they can seek her gifts without violence. The hymns of Shatapatha Brahmana thus describe Sri as a goddess born with and personifying a diverse range of talents, in the Epics of Hinduism, such as in Mahabharata, Lakshmi personifies wealth, riches, beauty, happiness, loveliness, grace, charm and splendour
6.
Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
7.
Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. With 6-7 million followers, the majority of Jains reside in India, outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, and the United States. Contemporary Jainism is divided into two sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
8.
Yakshi
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Yakshini are mythical beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain mythology. Yakshini is the counterpart of the male Yaksha, and they are attendees of Kubera. They are the guardians of the hidden in the earth. Yakshinis are often depicted as beautiful and voluptuous, with hips, narrow waists, broad shoulders. In Uddamareshvara Tantra, thirty-six Yakshinis are described, including their mantras, a similar list of Yakshas and Yakshinis are given in the Tantraraja Tantra, where it says that these beings are givers of whatever is desired. Although Yakshinis are usually benevolent, there are also yakshinis with malevolent characteristics in Indian folklore, the ashoka tree is closely associated with the Yakshini mythological beings. As an artistic element, often the tree and the Yakshi are subject to heavy stylization, some authors hold that the young girl at the foot of the tree is based on an ancient fertility symbol of the Indian Subcontinent. Yakshis were important in early Buddhist monuments as an element and are found in many ancient Buddhist archaeological sites. They became Salabhanjikas with the passing of the centuries, a decorative element of both Indian sculpture and Indian temple architecture. The sal tree is often confused with the tree in the ancient literature of the Indian Subcontinent. The position of the Salabhanjika is also related to the position of Queen Māyā of Sakya when she gave birth to Gautama Buddha under a tree in a garden in Lumbini. In Jainism, there are twenty-four yakshis, including Chakreshvari, Ambika, and Padmavati and they are portrayed as alluring men and finally killing them. The following are the prominent fiction characters, one of the most famous legendary stories of Yakshis in Kerala is that of Kalliyankattu Neeli, a powerful demoness who was finally stopped by the legendary Christian priest Kadamattathu Kathanar. The Yakshi theme is the subject of popular Kerala tales, like the legend of the Yakshi of Trivandrum, another lesser known Yakshi is Mangalathu Chiruthevi also known as Kanjirottu Yakshi. She was born into a Padamangalam Nair tharavad by name Mangalathu at Kanjiracode in South Travancore and she was a ravishingly beautiful courtesan who had an intimate relationship with Raman Thampi, son of King Rama Varma and rival of Anizhom Thirunal Marthanda Varma. Mangalathu Chiruthevi was infatuated with one of her servants, Kunjuraman, Kunjuraman, a Pondan Nair, was a fair, tall, well-built and handsome young man. She and her brother Govindan used to ride on Kunjuramans back to nearby places, a predatory sadist, Chiruthevi enjoyed torturing Kunjuraman physically and mentally. She did everything possible to him from his wife
9.
Naples National Archaeological Museum
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The Naples National Archaeological Museum is a museum in Naples, southern Italy, at the northwest corner of the original Greek wall of the city of Neapolis. The museum contains a collection of Roman artifacts from Pompeii, Stabiae. The collection includes works of the highest quality produced in Greek, Roman and it is the most important Italian archaeological museum and is considered one of the most important in the world. Charles of Bourbon founded the museum in the 1750s, the building he used for it had been erected as a cavalry barracks and during its time as the seat of the University of Naples was extended, in the late 18th century. The museum hosts extensive collections of Greek and Roman antiquities and their core is from the Farnese Collection, which includes a collection of engraved gems and the Farnese Marbles. Among the notable works found in the museum are the Herculaneum papyri, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, many of these works, especially the larger ones, have been moved to the Museo di Capodimonte for display in recent years. The Farnese Hercules, which fixed the image of Hercules in the European imagination, a major collection of ancient Roman bronzes from the Villa of the Papyri is housed at the museum. These include the Seated Hermes, a sprawling Drunken Satyr, a bust of Thespis, another variously identified as Seneca or Hesiod, the museums Mosaic Collection includes a number of important mosaics recovered from the ruins of Pompeii and the other Vesuvian cities. This includes the Alexander Mosaic, dating from circa 100 BC and it depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. Another mosaic found is that of the gladiatorial fighter depicted in a found from the Villa of the Figured Capitals in Pompeii. With 2,500 objects, the museum has one of the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Italy after the Turin, Florence and Bologna ones. It is made up primarily of works from two collections, assembled by Cardinal Stefano Borgia in the second half of the 18th century. In its new layout the collection provides both an important record of Egyptian civilization from the Old Kingdom up to the Ptolemaic-Roman era, access was limited to only persons of mature age and known morals. The rooms were also called Cabinets of matters reserved or obscene or pornographic, the highlight of the censorship occurred in 1851 when even nude Venus statues were locked up, and the entrance walled up in the hope that the collection would vanish from memory. In September 1860, when the forces of Garibaldi occupied Naples, since the Royal Butler was no longer available, they broke into the collection. Limiting viewership and censorship have always been part of the history of the collection, censorship was restored during the era of the Kingdom of Italy, and peaked during the Fascist period, when visitors to the rooms needed the permission of the Minister of National Education in Rome. Censorship persisted in the period up to 1967, abating only after 1971 when the Ministry was given the new rules to regulate requests for visits. Completely rebuilt a few years ago with all of the new criteria, visitors under the age of 14 can tour the exhibit only with an adult
10.
Mount Vesuvius
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Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc, Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, more than 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown. The only surviving account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Vesuvius has a historic and literary tradition. An inscription from Capua to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter and it was inhabited by bandits, the sons of the Earth, who were giants. With the assistance of the gods he pacified the region and went on, the facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether Herculaneum was named after it. An epigram by the poet Martial in 88 AD suggests that both Venus, patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the devastated by the eruption of 79. Mount Vesuvius was regarded by the Romans as being devoted to the hero, Vesuvius was a name of the volcano in frequent use by the authors of the late Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Its collateral forms were Vesaevus, Vesevus, Vesbius and Vesvius, writers in ancient Greek used Οὐεσούιον or Οὐεσούιος. Many scholars since then have offered an etymology, as peoples of varying ethnicity and language occupied Campania in the Roman Iron Age, the etymology depends to a large degree on the presumption of what language was spoken there at the time. Naples was settled by Greeks, as the name Nea-polis, New City, the Oscans, a native Italic people, lived in the countryside. The Latins also competed for the occupation of Campania, etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors. Some theories about its origin are, From Greek οὔ = not prefixed to a root from or related to the Greek word σβέννυμι = I quench, from Greek ἕω = I hurl and βίη violence, hurling violence, *vesbia, taking advantage of the collateral form. From an Indo-European root, *eus- < *ewes- < *wes-, shine sense the one who lightens, the Gran Cono was produced during the A. D.79 eruption. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesuvius or Somma-Vesuvio, the caldera started forming during an eruption around 17,000 years ago and was enlarged by later paroxysmal eruptions, ending in the one of AD79
11.
Indo-Roman trade relations
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As recorded by Strabo, Emperor Augustus of Rome received at Antioch an ambassador from a South Indian king called Pandyan of Dramira. The country of the Pandyas, Pandi Mandala, was described as Pandyan Mediterranea in the Periplus and they also outlasted Byzantiums loss of the ports of Egypt and the Red Sea under the pressure of the Muslim conquests. It survived, despite pressure from Islamic forces, until the 11th century, the Seleucid dynasty controlled a developed network of trade with the Indian Subcontinent which had previously existed under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire. The Periplus Maris Erythraei mentions a time when sea trade between Egypt and the subcontinent did not involve direct sailings, the Ptolemaic dynasty had developed trade with Indian kingdoms using the Red Sea ports. With the establishment of Roman Egypt, the Romans took over and further developed the existing trade using these ports. It is perhaps no surprise then that Marinus and Ptolemy relied on the testimony of a Greek sailor named Alexander for how to reach Cattigara in the Magnus Sinus located east of the Golden Chersonese. Prior to Roman expansion, the peoples of the subcontinent had established strong maritime trade with other countries. In fact, the first two centuries of the Common Era indicate this increase in trade between present-day western India and Rome and this expansion of trade was due to the comparative peace established by the Roman Empire during the time of Augustus, which allowed for new explorations. Thus, archeologists, with evidence from artifacts and ancient literature, the west coast of present-day India has been mentioned frequently in foreign literature, such as the Periplus Maris Erythraei. The area was noted for its severe tidal currents, turbulent waves, although many ships have attempted to sail outside it in order to prevent shipwrecks, many ships were still drawn inside the gulf. As a result of the difficulties, the entrance and departure of ships were dangerous for those who possessed little sea experience, the anchors of the ship would be caught by the waves and quickly cut off, which could overturn the ship or ultimately cause a wreck. Stone anchors have been observed near Bet Dwarka, an island situated in the Gulf of Kachchh, more importantly, the number of discovered anchors and numerous artifacts suggest that Indo-Roman trade and commerce was significant during the early centuries of the Common Era. The remains of the seven amphoras were of a thick, coarse fabric with a rough surface, archeologists have concluded that most of these were wine amphoras, since olive oil was in less demand in the subcontinent. Since the discoveries at Bet Dwarka are significant for the history of the region. Despite the unfavorable conditions the island is situated in, the items have made Bet Dwarka as well as the rest of western India an important place for trade. From Latin literature, Rome imported Indian tigers, rhinoceros, elephants and it has been noted in the Periplus that Roman women also wore Indian Ocean pearls and used a supply of herbs, spices, pepper, lyceum, costus, sesame oil and sugar for food. Indigo was used as a color while cotton cloth was used as articles of clothing, furthermore, the subcontinent exported ebony for fashioned furniture in Rome. The Roman Empire also imported Indian lime, peach, and various other fruits for medicine, western India, as a result, was the recipient of large amounts of Roman gold during this time
12.
Kharosthi
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The Kharosthi script, also spelled Kharoshthi or Kharoṣṭhī, is an ancient script used in ancient Gandhara to write the Gandhari Prakrit and Sanskrit. It was popular in Central Asia as well, an abugida, it was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. Kharosthi is encoded in the Unicode range U+10A00–U+10A5F, from version 4.1.0, Kharosthi is mostly written right to left, but some inscriptions already show the left to right direction that was to become universal for the later South Asian scripts. Each syllable includes the short /a/ sound by default, with other vowels being indicated by diacritic marks, Kharosthi includes only one standalone vowel sign which is used for initial vowels in words. Other initial vowels use the a character modified by diacritics, using epigraphic evidence, Salomon has established that the vowel order is /a e i o u/, rather than the usual vowel order for Indic scripts /a i u e o/. That is the same as the Semitic vowel order, also, there is no differentiation between long and short vowels in Kharosthi. Both are marked using the same vowel markers, the alphabet was used in Gandharan Buddhism as a mnemonic for remembering a series of verses on the nature of phenomena. In Tantric Buddhism, the list was incorporated into ritual practices, Kharosthi included a set of numerals that are reminiscent of Roman numerals. The symbols were I for the unit, X for four, ੭ for ten, the system is based on an additive and a multiplicative principle, but does not have the subtractive feature used in the Roman number system. Note that the table beside reads right-to-left, just like the Kharosthi abugida itself, the Kharosthi script was deciphered by James Prinsep using the bilingual coins of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. This in turn led to the reading of the Edicts of Ashoka, some of which, scholars are not in agreement as to whether the Kharosthi script evolved gradually, or was the deliberate work of a single inventor. An analysis of the script forms shows a clear dependency on the Aramaic alphabet, however, no intermediate forms have yet been found to confirm this evolutionary model, and rock and coin inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE onward show a unified and standard form. An inscription in Aramaic dating back to the 4th century BC was found in Sirkap, according to Sir John Marshall, this seems to confirm that Kharoshthi was later developed from Aramaic. The manuscripts were donated to the British Library in 1994, the entire set of manuscripts are dated to the 1st century CE, making them the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered. Kharosthi was added to the Unicode Standard in March,2005 with the release of version 4.1, the Unicode block for Kharosthi is U+10A00–U+10A5F, Brahmi History of Afghanistan History of Pakistan Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan Kaschgar und die Kharoṣṭhī Dani, Ahmad Hassan. Kharoshthi Primer, Lahore Museum Publication Series -16, Lahore,1979 Falk, Schrift im alten Indien, Ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen, Gunter Narr Verlag,1993 Fussmans, Gérard. Les premiers systèmes décriture en Inde, in Annuaire du Collège de France 1988-1989 Hinüber, der Beginn der Schrift und frühe Schriftlichkeit in Indien, Franz Steiner Verlag,1990 Nasim Khan, M. Ashokan Inscriptions, A Palaeographical Study. Two Dated Kharoshthi Inscriptions from Gandhara, Journal of Asian Civilizations, Vol. XXII, No.1, July 1999, 99-103
13.
Mathura
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Mathura is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately 50 kilometres north of Agra, and 145 kilometres south-east of Delhi, about 11 kilometres from the town of Vrindavan and it is the administrative centre of Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient period, Mathura was a hub, located at the junction of important caravan routes. The 2011 census of India estimated the population of Mathura to be 441,894, Mathura is believed to be the birthplace of Krishna which is located at the centre of Braj or Brij-bhoomi, called Shri Krishna Janma-Bhoomi, literally, Lord Krishnas birthplace. It is one of the seven cities considered holy by Hindus, the Keshav Dev Temple was built in ancient times on the site of Krishnas birthplace. Mathura was the capital of the Surasena Kingdom, ruled by Kansa the maternal uncle of Krishna, Mathura has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of Government of India. Mathura has an ancient history and also homeland and birthplace of Krishna who was born in Yadu dynasty, according to the Archaeological Survey of India plaque at the Mathura Museum, the city is mentioned in the oldest Indian epic, the Ramayana. In the epic, the Ikshwaku prince Shatrughna slays a demon called Lavanasura, afterwards, the place came to be known as Madhuvan as it was thickly wooded, then Madhupura and later Mathura. In the 6th century BCE Mathura became the capital of the Surasena mahajanapada, the city was later ruled by the Maurya empire. Megasthenes, writing in the early 3rd century BCE, mentions Mathura as a city under the name Μέθορα. It seems it never was under the control of the following Shunga dynasty as not a single archaeological remain of a Shunga presence were ever found in Mathura. However, this corresponds to the presence of the native Mitra dynasty, in Mathura. After a period of rule, Mathura was conquered by the Indo-Scythians during the 1st century BCE. The Indo-Scythian satraps of Mathura are sometimes called the Northern Satraps, as opposed to the Western Satraps ruling in Gujarat, mathuran art and culture reached its zenith under the Kushan dynasty which had Mathura as one of their capitals, the other being Purushapura. The city was sacked and many of its temples destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 CE and again by Sikandar Lodhi, sikander Lodhi earned the epithet of Butt Shikan, the Destroyer of Hindu deities. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, built the Shahi-Eidgah Mosque during his rule, in 2016,24 people including 2 police officers were killed in the Jawahar Bagh clash, when the police tried to evict a large number of squatters from the public park. Mathura is located at 27. 28°N77. 41°E /27.28,77.41 and it has an average elevation of 174 metres. The 2011 census of India estimates the population of Mathura to be 441,894, males account for 54% and females for 46% of this population
14.
Satavahana
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The Satavahanas were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, at different times, their rule extended to parts of modern Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. The dynasty had different capital cities at different times, including Pratishthana, the origin of the dynasty is uncertain, but according to the Puranas, their first king overthrew the Kanva dynasty. In the post-Maurya era, the Satavahanas established peace in the Deccan region, in particular their struggles with the Saka Western Satraps went on for a long time. The dynasty reached its zenith under the rule of Gautamiputra Satakarni, the kingdom fragmented into smaller states by the early 3rd century CE. The Satavahanas were early issuers of Indian state coinage struck with images of their rulers and they formed a cultural bridge and played a vital role in trade and the transfer of ideas and culture to and from the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the southern tip of India. They supported Brahmanism as well as Buddhism, and patronised Prakrit language instead of Sanskrit, the date and place of origin of the Satavahanas, as well as the meaning of the dynastys name, are a matter of debate among the historians. According to one theory, the word Satavahana is a Prakrit form of the Sanskrit Sapta-Vahana and this would indicate that the Satavahanas originally claimed association with the legendary solar dynasty, as was common in ancient India. According to Inguva Kartikeya Sarma, the name is derived from the words sata and vahana. Another theory connects their name to the earlier Satiyaputa dynasty, yet another theory derives their name from the Munda words Sadam and Harpan, implying son of the performer of a horse sacrifice. Several rulers of the dynasty bear the name or title Satakarni, Satavahana, Satakarni, Satakani and Shalivahana appear to be variations of the same word. Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi theorized that the word Satakarni is derived from the Munda words sada, the Puranas use the name Andhra or Andhra-Bhritya for the Satavahanas. The term Andhra may refer to ethnicity or territory of the dynasty and it does not appear in the dynastys own records. The use of the name Andhra in the Puranas has led scholars to believe that the dynasty originated in the eastern Deccan region. At Kotilingala in Telangana, coins bearing the legend Rano Siri Chimuka Satavahanasa were found, coins attributed to Simukas successors Kanha and Satakarni I were also discovered at Kotilingla. Based on these discoveries, historians such as D. R. Reddy, S. Reddy, however, the coin samples from Kotlingala are small, and it is not certain if these coins were minted there or reached there from somewhere else. Sastry also later changed his view, and stated that the two kings were different, as for the Puranas, these texts were compiled much later, during the Gupta period, and it is not certain if the Satavahanas were referred to as Andhras during their time. Another section of scholars believe that the Satavahanas originated in western Deccan, all of the four extant inscriptions from the early Satavahana period have been found in and around this region
15.
Western Kshatrapas
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The Western Satraps, Western Kshatrapas, or Kshaharatas were Indo-Scythian rulers of the western and central part of India. They are so named in contrast to the Northern Satraps who ruled around East Punjab, the Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and were possibly their overlords, and the Satavahana who ruled in Central India. Although they called themselves Satraps on their coins, leading to their designation of Western Satraps. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Saka rulers were defeated by the south Indian Emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty, later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE. Altogether, there were 27 independent Western Satrap rulers during a period of about 350 years, the word Kshatrapa stands for satrap, itself descended from Old Persian and which means viceroy or governor of a province. The Western Satraps are thought to have started with the rather short-lived Kshaharata dynasty, the term Kshaharata is also known from the 6 CE Taxila copper plate inscription, in which it qualifies the Indo-Scythian ruler Liaka Kusulaka. The Nasik inscription of the 19th year of Sri Pulamavi also mentions the Khakharatavasa, the earliest Kshaharata for whom there is evidence is Abhiraka, whose rare coins are known. He was succeeded by Bhumaka, father of Nahapana, who used on his coins the title of Satrap. Bhumaka was the father of the great ruler Nahapana, according to one of the latters coins and his coins bear Buddhist symbols, such as the eight-spoked wheel, or the lion seated on a capital, a representation of a pillar of Ashoka. Nahapana succeeded to him, and became a powerful ruler. He occupied portions of the Satavahana empire in western and central India, Nahapana held sway over Malwa, Southern Gujarat, and Northern Konkan, from Bharuch to Sopara and the Nasik and Poona districts. His son-in-law, the Saka Ushavadata, is known from inscriptions in Nasik and Karle to have been viceroy of Nahapana, Nahapana is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea under the name Nambanus, as ruler of the area around Barigaza,41. Beyond the gulf of Baraca is that of Barygaza and the coast of the country of Ariaca and that part of it lying inland and adjoining Scythia is called Abiria, but the coast is called Syrastrene. It is a country, yielding wheat and rice and sesame oil and clarified butter, cotton. Very many cattle are pastured there, and the men are of great stature, the metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which much cotton cloth is brought down to Barygaza. Under the Western Satraps, Barigaza was one of the centers of Roman trade with India. The Periplus describes the many goods exchanged,49 and those bound for this market-town from Egypt make the voyage favorably about the month of July, that is Epiphi. Goods were also brought down in quantity from Ujjain, the capital of the Western Satraps,48, some make the voyage especially to these market-towns, and others exchange their cargoes while sailing along the coast
16.
Nahapana
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Nahapana was an important ruler of the Western Kshatrapas, descendant of the Indo-Scythians, in northwestern India. According to one of his coins, he was the son of Bhumaka, the exact period of Nahapana is not certain. A group of his inscriptions are dated to the years 41-46 of an unspecified era, assuming that this era is the Shaka era, some scholars have assigned his reign to 119-124 CE. Others believe that the years 41-46 are his years. For example, Krishna Chandra Sagar assigns his reign to 24-70 CE, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions one Nambanus as the ruler of the area around Barigaza. This person has been identified as Nahapana by modern scholars, the text describes Nambanus as follows, He also established the Kshatrapa coinage, in a style derived from Indo-Greek coinage. The obverse of the consists of the profile of the ruler. The reverse represents a thunderbolt and an arrow, within Brahmi, Nahapana is mentioned as a donator in inscriptions of numerous Buddhist caves in northern India. The Nasik and Karle inscriptions refer to Nahapanas dynastic name but not to his ethnicity, Nahapana had a son-in-law named Ushavadata, whose inscriptions were incised in the Pandu-lena caves near Nasik. Ushavadata was son of Dinika and had married Dakshamitra, daughter of Nahapana, according to the inscriptions, Ushavadata accomplished various charities and conquests on behalf of his father-in-law. He constructed rest-houses, gardens and tanks at Bharukachchha, Dashapura, Govardhana and he also campaigned in the north under the orders of Nahapana to rescue the Uttamabhadras who had been attacked by the Malayas. He excavated a cave in the Trirashmi hill near Nasik and offered it to the Buddhist monks, overstrikes of Nahapanas coins by the powerful Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni have been found in a Southern Gujarat hoard at Jogalthambi. This suggests that Gautamiputra defeated Nahapana, according to Burgess, there might have been an interval of as much as a century between the reigns of these two kings. However, most historians now agree that Gautamiputra and Nahapana were contemporaries, M. K. Dhavalikar dates this event to c.124 CE, which according to him, was the 18th regnal year of Gautamiputra. Fynes dates event to sometime after 71 CE, Nahapana was founder of one of the two major Saka Satrap dynasties in north-western India, the Kshaharatas, the other dynasty included the one founded by Chashtana. By Durga Prasad, with references to Nahapana. Coins of Nahapana More coins of Nahapana Coins with biography
17.
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
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The text has been ascribed to different dates between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, but a mid-1st-century date is now the most commonly accepted. The Erythraean Sea, or in modern spelling, Eritrean Sea is presently a Greek name for the Red Sea, to the ancient Greeks it included the Indian Ocean, the work consists of 66 chapters, most of them about the length of a long paragraph in English. For instance, the short Chapter 9 reads in its entirety, the imports to this are as aforesaid, and from it likewise are exported the same goods, and fragrant gum called mokrotou. The inhabitants who trade here are more peaceful, in many cases, the description of places is sufficiently accurate to identify their present locations, for others, there is considerable debate. The description of the Indian coast mentions the Ganges River clearly, yet after that is somewhat garbled, the Periplus says that a direct sailing route from the Red Sea to the Indian peninsula across the open ocean was discovered by Hippalus. Many trade goods are mentioned in the Periplus, but some of the words naming trade goods are seen nowhere else in ancient literature, for example, one trade good mentioned is lakkos chromatinos. The name lakkos appears nowhere else in ancient Greek or Roman literature, some other named trade goods remain obscure. In the 10th-century manuscript, the text is attributed to Arrian, the Periplus was edited by Sigmund Gelen and first published in a modern edition by Hieronymus Froben in 1533. One historical analysis, published by Schoff in 1912, narrowed the date of the text to 60 CE. Schoff additionally provides an analysis as to the texts original authorship, and arrives at the conclusion that the author must have been a Greek in Egypt. By Schoffs calculations, this would have been during the time of Tiberius Claudius Balbilus, john Hill maintains that the Periplus can now be confidently dated to between 40 and 70 AD and, probably, between AD40 and 50. Because of the absence of any account of the journey up the Nile and across the desert from Coptos, ships from Himyar regularly traveled the East African coast. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the empire of Himyar and Saba, regrouped under a single ruler Charibael. The Frankincense kingdom is described further east along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, the ruler of this kingdom is named Eleazus, or Eleazar, thought to correspond to King Iliazz Yalit I,27. Inland from this lies the metropolis Sabbatha, in which the King lives. All the frankincense produced in the country is brought by camels to that place to be stored, and to Cana on rafts held up by inflated skins after the manner of the country, and in boats. And this place has a trade also with the ports, with Barygaza and Scythia and Ommana. Ras Hafun in northern Somalia is believed to be the location of the ancient trade center of Opone, Ancient Egyptian, Roman and Persian Gulf pottery has been recovered from the site by an archaeological team from the University of Michigan
18.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
19.
Shiva
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ShiVa3D is a 3D game engine with a graphical editor designed to create applications and video games for desktop PCs, the web, game consoles and mobile devices. Games made with ShiVa can be exported to over 20 target platforms, numerous applications have been created using ShiVa, including the Prince of Persia 2 remake for Mobiles and Babel Rising published by Ubisoft. With ShiVa 2.0, the version of the Editor is currently under heavy development. ShiVa Editor 1. x runs exclusively on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, ShiVa 1. x games are being built by the ShiVa Authoring Tool, a free companion product to the Editor, which transforms game packages into native applications. Since not all platforms have SDKs for Windows, the Authoring Tool is available for Mac OS X as well as Windows, ShiVa Editor 2. x runs natively on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 x86/x8664, Mac OS X x8664 and Linux x8664. ShiVa is proprietary software and licensed under the ShiVa EULA. Several license packages are available, ShiVa Web Edition is free to download, exports are watermarked except for the ShiVa Web Player browser plugin, Adobe Flash and HTML5/WebGL. ShiVa Basic Edition was built for indie developers and small development studios, beta versions may be downloaded and tested. C++ Plugins can be designed and tested, but not exported
20.
Gandhara
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Gandhara is also an ancient name for Kandahar, Afghanistan. Gandhāra was an ancient Indic kingdom situated in the region of Pakistan. It encompassed the Peshawar valley and later extended to both Jalalabad district of modern-day Afghanistan as well as Taxila, in Pakistan. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its city was Charsadda. It is mentioned in the Zend Avesta as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth and it was known as the crown jewel of Bactria and also held sway over Takṣaśilā. Gandhara existed since the time of the Rigveda and formed part of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, after it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 AD, the name Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period, the area was administered from Lahore or from Kabul, during Mughal times, it was an independent district which included the Kabul province. The name Gāndhāra occurs later in the classical Sanskrit of the epics and it is recorded in Avestan as Vaēkərəta. The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, the Atharvaveda, one proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word gandha, meaning perfume and referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they traded and with which they anointed themselves. Some authors have connected the modern name Kandahar to Gandhara, Herodotus records that those Iranic tribes, which were adjacent to the city of Caspatyrus and the district of Pactyïce, had customs similar to the Bactrians, and are the most warlike amongst them. These are also the people who obtain gold from the ant-hills of the adjoining desert, on the identity of Caspatyrus, there have been two opinions, one equating it with Kabul, the other with the name of Kashmir. The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history, sometimes the Peshawar Valley and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara, sometimes the Swat Valley was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always the Peshawar Valley, the kingdom was ruled from capitals at Kapisa, Pushkalavati, Taxila, Puruṣapura and in its final days from Udabhandapura on the River Indus. Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools, the artifacts are approximately 15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present, the region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture, and the nucleus of Vedic civilisation. This culture flourished from 1500 to 500 BC and its evidence has been discovered in the hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila. The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda and in ancient inscriptions dating back to Achaemenid Persia, the Behistun inscription listing the 23 territories of King Darius I includes Gandāra along with Bactria and Sattagydia. In the book Histories by Herodotus, Gandhara is named as a source of tax collections for King Darius, the Gandhāris, along with the Balhika, Mūjavants, Angas, and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in the Atharvaveda, as distant people
21.
Begram ivories
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The Begram ivories are a series of over a thousand decorative inlays, carved from ivory and bone and formerly attached to wooden furniture, excavated in the 1930s in Begram, Afghanistan. The ancient city of Kapisa, the modern Begram, was the capital of the Kushan Empire. Some eighty miles from Kabul, the strategically located city dominated two passes through the Hindu Kush, connecting Bactria with northern Pakistan, the Délégation Archéologique Française en Afghanistan conducted excavations at the site between 1936 and 1940, uncovering two walled-up strongrooms, Room 10 and Room 13. Inside, a number of bronze, alabaster, glass, coins. Some of the furniture was arranged along walls, other pieces stacked or facing each other, the finds were divided, in accordance with the system of partage, between the Musée Guimet and the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. After the Kabul Museum closed in 1978 the whereabouts of the ivories was uncertain, a number of the missing items were located in 2004, and a further group of twenty pieces, illicitly traded by antiquities dealers, was later recovered and is to be repatriated. After conservation treatment in the British Museum they were exhibited there in 2011, both ivory and bone were carved in relief panels, often with two or three strips forming a single inlay. Only ivory was used for openwork, after carving the surfaces were smoothed and lightly polished. Traces of colour survive, showing the use of alternating red and blue pigments, the mineral pigment vermilion and the organic colorant indigo have been identified. The inlays were attached to what have been identified as chairs and footstools by copper alloy rivets, the woodwork itself has disintegrated, preventing identification of the species and source of the timber, but metal nails and clamps survive. Organic materials such as ivory and bone are fragile and prone to environmental deterioration, in order to stabilise the ivory fragments and lift them from the ground they were coated in gelatine and faced in tissue. Trapping dirt and deteriorating and shrinking over time, these and subsequent coatings have resulted in damage to the ivory, cracks and breaks have been filled with a variety of adhesives, without consolidation of the edge, and differing reconstructions led to the accumulation of residues from previous treatments. Technical analysis by the British Museum provided information on materials and techniques of production, present condition, deterioration phenomena, subsequent treatment included the reduction of previous coatings, consolidation, and fills using reversible and compatible materials, with subsequent toning. The range of motifs include lions, elephants, birds, flowers, female nudes, musicians, dancers, personal ornaments, some inlays are inscribed with fitters marks in Kharosthi, Brahmi, and a third unidentified script. The rarity of parallels has resulted in disputes as to the origin and date of the ivories, a caryatid found in the Via dellAbbondanza in Pompeii with a Kharosthi fitters mark provides further evidence of long-distance trade in Indian furniture decorated with ivory. Ivory carving Greco-Buddhist Art Culture of Afghanistan Begram Ivory and Bone Carvings
22.
Indian art
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Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including plastic arts, visual arts, and textile arts. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, a strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms. The origin of Indian art can be traced to pre-historic Hominid settlements in the 3rd millennium BC, on its way to modern times, Indian art has had cultural influences, as well as religious influences such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam. In spite of this mixture of religious traditions, generally the prevailing artistic style at any time. In historic art, sculpture in stone and metal, mainly religious, has survived the Indian climate better than other media, many of the most important ancient finds that are not in carved stone come from surrounding, drier regions rather than India itself. Indian funeral and philosophic traditions exclude grave goods, which are a source of ancient art in other cultures. Rock art of India includes rock relief carvings, engravings and paintings and it is estimated there are about 1300 rock art sites with over a quarter of a million figures and figurines. The earliest rock carvings in India were discovered by Archibald Carlleyle, twelve years before the Cave of Altamira in Spain, dr. V. S. Wakankar discovered several painted rock shelters in Central India, situated around the Vindhya mountain range. Of these, the Bhimbetka rock shelters have been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the paintings in these sites commonly depicted scenes of human life alongside animals, and hunts with stone implements. Their style varied with region and age, but the most common characteristic was a red wash made using a mineral called geru. For further details on the art of India, please see South Asian Stone Age. Despite its wide spread and sophistication, the Indus Valley civilization seems to have no interest in public large-scale art. A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the presence of forms of dance. Additionally, the terracotta figurines included cows, bears, monkeys, the animal depicted on a majority of seals at sites of the mature period has not been clearly identified. Part bull, part zebra, with a horn, it has been a source of speculation. The most famous piece is the bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, seals have been found at Mohenjo-Daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and another sitting cross-legged in what some call a yoga-like pose. This figure, sometimes known as a Pashupati, has been variously identified, sir John Marshall identified a resemblance to the Hindu god, Shiva. After the end of the Indus Valley Civilization there is an absence of art of any great degree of sophistication until the Buddhist era
23.
Cherub
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A cherub is one of the unearthly beings who directly attend to God according to Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, angelic status is not attributed to cherubim in the Old Testament, only in later sources like De Coelesti Hierarchia are they identified as a hierarchical rank of angels. Different sources give conflicting information as to the appearance of cherubim. An early, traditional Jewish notion supposes that cherubim had youthful, in the Book of Ezekiel and Christian icons, the cherub is depicted as having a number of wing pairs, and four faces, that of a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle. In Christian tradition, cherubim have become associated with the putto, one of these is the Babylonian lamassu, a protective spirit with a sphinx-like form, possessing the wings of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the head of a king. This was adopted largely in Phoenicia and he thus concludes that cherubim had an intercessory role. This conclusion, based on sources, is still drawn upon in relatively recent commentaries and articles. Friedrich Delitzch connected the Hebrew word cherubim with the Assyrian terms kirubu and karabu, karppe states that the name Cherubim is Babylonian, and that it does not mean powerful, but, however, propitious. However, while the shedu were popular in Mesopotamia, archaeological remains from the Levant suggest that they were rare in the immediate vicinity of the Israelites. In particular, in a reminiscent of Ezekiels dream, the Megiddo Ivories depict an unknown king being carried on his throne by hybrid winged-creatures. The cherubim are the most frequently occurring heavenly creature in the Hebrew Bible, despite these many references, the role of the cherubim is never explicitly elucidated. Other than in the book of Ezekiel, the Bible describes cherubim with one face, one pair of wings, in Exodus 25, 18-22, Yahweh tells Moses to make multiple images of cherubim at specific points around the Ark of the Covenant. In Isaiah 37,16, Hezekiah prays, addressing Yahweh as enthroned above the cherubim, Cherubim feature at some length in the Book of Ezekiel. While they first appear in one, in which they are transporting the throne of Yahweh by the river Chebar. In Ezekiel 1, 5-11 they are described as having the likeness of a man, and having four faces, that of a man, a lion, and ox, and an eagle. The four faces represent the four domains of Gods rule, the man represents humanity, the lion, wild animals, the ox, domestic animals, and the eagle, birds. These faces peer out from the center of an array of four wings, under their wings are human hands, their legs are described as straight, and their feet like those of a calf, and shone like polished brass. Between the creatures glowing coals that moved between them could be seen, their fire went up and down, and lightning burst forth from it, the cherubs also moved like flashes of lightning
24.
Indo-Greek
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The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the subcontinent early in the 2nd century BC. The Greeks in South Asia were eventually divided from the Graeco-Bactrians centered in Bactria, but the Greeks failed to establish united rule in present-day north-western South Asia. The most famous Indo-Greek ruler was Menander and he had his capital at Sakala in the Punjab. The expression Indo-Greek Kingdom loosely describes a number of various polities, traditionally associated with a number of regional capitals like Taxila, Pushkalavati. Euthydemus I was, according to Polybius a Magnesian Greek and his son, Demetrius, founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, was therefore of Greek descent from his father at minimum. A marriage treaty was arranged for Demetrius with a daughter of Antiochus III the Great, the ethnicity of later Indo-Greek rulers is less clear. The diffusion of Indo-Greek culture had consequences which are still felt today, after 321 BC Eudemus toppled Taxiles, until he left India in 316 BC. To the south, another general also ruled over the Greek colonies of the Indus, Peithon, son of Agenor, in 305 BC, Seleucus I led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta. The confrontation ended with a treaty, and an intermarriage agreement. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, also several Greeks, such as the historian Megasthenes, followed by Deimachus and Dionysius, were sent to reside at the Mauryan court. Presents continued to be exchanged between the two rulers, on these occasions, Greek populations apparently remained in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under Mauryan rule. It is also thought that Greeks contributed to the work of the Pillars of Ashoka. 1 That is the Caucasus Indicus or Paropamisus, mod, Alexander had also established several colonies in neighbouring Bactria, such as Alexandria on the Oxus and Alexandria of the Caucasus. After Alexanders death in 323 BC, Bactria came under the control of Seleucus I Nicator, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was founded when Diodotus I, the satrap of Bactria seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC. The preserved ancient sources are contradictory and the exact date of Bactrian independence has not been settled. Somewhat simplified, there is a chronology and a low chronology for Diodotos’ secession. The high chronology has the advantage of explaining why the Seleucid king Antiochus II issued very few coins in Bactria, as Diodotos would have become independent there early in Antiochus reign. On the other hand, the low chronology, from the mid-240s BC, has the advantage of connecting the secession of Diodotus I with the Third Syrian War, a catastrophic conflict for the Seleucid Empire
25.
Kharoshthi
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The Kharosthi script, also spelled Kharoshthi or Kharoṣṭhī, is an ancient script used in ancient Gandhara to write the Gandhari Prakrit and Sanskrit. It was popular in Central Asia as well, an abugida, it was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. Kharosthi is encoded in the Unicode range U+10A00–U+10A5F, from version 4.1.0, Kharosthi is mostly written right to left, but some inscriptions already show the left to right direction that was to become universal for the later South Asian scripts. Each syllable includes the short /a/ sound by default, with other vowels being indicated by diacritic marks, Kharosthi includes only one standalone vowel sign which is used for initial vowels in words. Other initial vowels use the a character modified by diacritics, using epigraphic evidence, Salomon has established that the vowel order is /a e i o u/, rather than the usual vowel order for Indic scripts /a i u e o/. That is the same as the Semitic vowel order, also, there is no differentiation between long and short vowels in Kharosthi. Both are marked using the same vowel markers, the alphabet was used in Gandharan Buddhism as a mnemonic for remembering a series of verses on the nature of phenomena. In Tantric Buddhism, the list was incorporated into ritual practices, Kharosthi included a set of numerals that are reminiscent of Roman numerals. The symbols were I for the unit, X for four, ੭ for ten, the system is based on an additive and a multiplicative principle, but does not have the subtractive feature used in the Roman number system. Note that the table beside reads right-to-left, just like the Kharosthi abugida itself, the Kharosthi script was deciphered by James Prinsep using the bilingual coins of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. This in turn led to the reading of the Edicts of Ashoka, some of which, scholars are not in agreement as to whether the Kharosthi script evolved gradually, or was the deliberate work of a single inventor. An analysis of the script forms shows a clear dependency on the Aramaic alphabet, however, no intermediate forms have yet been found to confirm this evolutionary model, and rock and coin inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE onward show a unified and standard form. An inscription in Aramaic dating back to the 4th century BC was found in Sirkap, according to Sir John Marshall, this seems to confirm that Kharoshthi was later developed from Aramaic. The manuscripts were donated to the British Library in 1994, the entire set of manuscripts are dated to the 1st century CE, making them the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered. Kharosthi was added to the Unicode Standard in March,2005 with the release of version 4.1, the Unicode block for Kharosthi is U+10A00–U+10A5F, Brahmi History of Afghanistan History of Pakistan Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan Kaschgar und die Kharoṣṭhī Dani, Ahmad Hassan. Kharoshthi Primer, Lahore Museum Publication Series -16, Lahore,1979 Falk, Schrift im alten Indien, Ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen, Gunter Narr Verlag,1993 Fussmans, Gérard. Les premiers systèmes décriture en Inde, in Annuaire du Collège de France 1988-1989 Hinüber, der Beginn der Schrift und frühe Schriftlichkeit in Indien, Franz Steiner Verlag,1990 Nasim Khan, M. Ashokan Inscriptions, A Palaeographical Study. Two Dated Kharoshthi Inscriptions from Gandhara, Journal of Asian Civilizations, Vol. XXII, No.1, July 1999, 99-103
