(no subject)
Left: A Greco-Roman gladiator on a glass vessel, Begram - Alexandria of the Caucasus - 2nd century.
My recent posts at History Hunters International:
Greco-Indian contact with Rome
Hadrian’s parody
Josephus as a primary source for the New Testament
Flavian Midrash Sources of the New Testament
Archaeology of the earliest canonical gospels
The similarities - parallels even - between various divine men of Antiquity, such as Buddha and Jesus Christ, have been noted by very many, especially since archaeologists from Europe and the United States during the 19th century began studying ancient Greco-India.
Christian and Buddhist apologists have not accepted such links for two main reasons: theological differences (their own faith is unique and therefore cannot have meaningful parallels with another) and archaeology claimed to place these divine men in different periods and places.
In my first post of this series on the earliest archaeology for Buddhism, I reported that my attempts to examine the excavation reports had been unsuccessful. We have, however, the archaeology for the very earliest texts and artefacts.
1. The Zen of Buddhist archaeology: earliest texts
2. The language of Buddhist archaeology
3. Archaeology and identity of the first Buddhists
“Buddhist texts are unable, therefore, to support the early history claimed for this faith.”
The archaeology tells us that Buddhism is Greco-Indian and thus a part of the Hellenised world of these Alexandrian cities and ports, taking us to Alexandria in Egypt, built by the successors of Alexander the Great.
When we looked at Christianity in the same - archaeological - manner, we again find ourselves in Alexandria and of the same period.