Abstract and Keywords
Diverse forms of religious practice coexisted in the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. As well as Greek gods and cults imported by Greek settlers in the aftermath of the campaigns of Alexander the Great, local religious practices persisted. Within individual temples and sanctuaries, we often find multiple cult objects and forms of worship, and it seems likely that Greek and non-Greek gods were syncretized. This chapter uses epigraphic and numismatic evidence to explore the encounter of Greek religious practices with local Bactrian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Hindu cults. It considers the multiplicity of cult practices at religious sites, the various names and meanings which might be attached to the same images and practices by different constituencies, and the political purposes for which religious imagery might be employed.
Keywords: Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Bactrian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Hindu, numismatic, epigraphic, religious imagery, Alexander the Great
Access to the complete content on Oxford Handbooks Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can''t find the answer there, please contact us.
