Buddhist Iconography of Northern Bactria, by Kazim Abdullaev

The Ancient region of Bactria lay across northern Afghanistan, South-East Tadjikistan, divided in two by the broad waters of the Amudarya. This Volume concerns that part of bactria that lay north of the river.

These lands of the foot of the river. These Lands at the Foot of the Hissar mountains, fed by major tributaries of the Amudarya, are sheltered and earliest times. They Formed part of the Achaemenid Empire and so fell to Alexander the great in the fourth century BC, an event that had a critical impact on the cultural development of the region.

The subsequent establishment of the Kushan Empire created a unique and heady blend of Indian, western and regional inufluences without parallel in the the ancient word, and through this then spread the followers of the Buddhist faith, establishing monasteries and places of worship, further enriching the architectural, sculptural and artistic traditions of the region. Despite its remarkable archaeological heritage, Physical and political realities have acted to limit the dissemination of research on northern Bactria and its Buddhist legacy, Original reports, of which there are many, are mainly in Russain or Uzbek.

This Volume brings all these many strands together in an English language work, making this important subject accessible to a wide readership. Kazim Abdullaev’s deep Knowledge of this region and its rich history brings out new analyses and insights into the extensive legacy of Buddhist traditions in northern Bactria.

Kazim Abdullaev received his Doctorate from the Moscow Institute of Archaeology in 1986. He is Specialist in the archaeology and art of central Asia of the Hellenistic and post- Hellenistic periods, a senior Fellow and Lecturer at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, Turkey, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at new York University. He has published widely in the field of Central Asian Studies and Has Participated in important field project in Uzbekistan, Turkey and Syria.