Editing Alexander the Great (section)

==== Hellenization in South and Central Asia ====
{{Main|Indo-Greek Kingdom|Indo-Greek art|Greco-Buddhism}}
[[File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|upright|[[The Buddha]], in [[Greco-Buddhist art|Greco-Buddhist style]], 1st to 2nd century AD, [[Gandhara]], northern Pakistan. [[Tokyo National Museum]].]]
Some of the most pronounced effects of Hellenization can be seen in Afghanistan and India, in the region of the relatively late-rising [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] (250–125 BC) (in modern [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Tajikistan]]) and the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] (180 BC – 10 AD) in modern Afghanistan and India.{{sfn|Keay|2001|pp=101–109}} On the [[Silk Road]] trade routes, Hellenistic culture hybridized with Iranian and [[Buddhist]] cultures. The cosmopolitan art and mythology of [[Gandhara]] (a region spanning the upper confluence of the Indus, Swat and Kabul rivers in modern Pakistan) of the ~3rd century BC to the ~5th century AD are most evident of the direct contact between Hellenistic civilization and South Asia, as are the [[Edicts of Ashoka]], which directly mention the Greeks within Ashoka's dominion as converting to Buddhism and the reception of Buddhist emissaries by Ashoka's contemporaries in the Hellenistic world.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara |last=Proser |first=Adriana |publisher=Asia Society |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-87848-112-5 }}</ref> The resulting [[syncretism]] known as [[Greco-Buddhism]] influenced the development of Buddhism<ref>{{cite web |url=https://neosalexandria.org/syncretism/greco-buddhism-a-brief-history/ |title=Greco-Buddhism: A Brief History |website=Neosalexandria |date=11 November 2010 |access-date=19 March 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226133605/https://neosalexandria.org/syncretism/greco-buddhism-a-brief-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and created a culture of [[Greco-Buddhist art]]. These Greco-Buddhist kingdoms sent some of the first Buddhist missionaries to [[China]], [[Sri Lanka]] and Hellenistic Asia and Europe ([[Greco-Buddhist monasticism]]).

Some of the first and most influential figurative portrayals of [[The Buddha]] appeared at this time, perhaps modelled on Greek statues of [[Apollo]] in the Greco-Buddhist style.{{sfn|Keay|2001|pp=101–09}} Several Buddhist traditions may have been influenced by the [[ancient Greek religion]]: the concept of [[Boddhisatvas]] is reminiscent of Greek divine heroes,<ref>{{harvnb|Luniya|1978|p=312}}</ref> and some [[Mahayana]] [[Offering (Buddhism)|ceremonial practices]] (burning [[incense]], gifts of flowers, and food placed on altars) are similar to those practised by the ancient Greeks; however, similar practices were also observed amongst the native Indic culture. One Greek king, [[Menander I]], probably became Buddhist, and was immortalized in [[Buddhist literature]] as 'Milinda'.{{sfn|Keay|2001|pp=101–09}} The process of Hellenization also spurred trade between the east and west.<ref name="Pingree (1978), 533, 554f.">{{harvnb|Pingree|1978|pp=533, 554ff}}</ref> For example, Greek astronomical instruments dating to the 3rd century BC were found in the [[Greco-Bactrian]] city of [[Ai Khanoum]] in modern-day [[Afghanistan]],<ref>{{cite book |first1=Pierre |last1=Cambon |first2=Jean-François |last2=Jarrige |year=2006 |language=fr |title=Afghanistan, les trésors retrouvés: Collections du Musée national de Kaboul |trans-title=Afghanistan, the treasures found: collections of the Kabul national museum |publisher=Réunion des musées nationaux |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJFtQgAACAAJ |page=269 |isbn=978-2-7118-5218-5 |access-date=5 September 2020}}</ref> while the Greek concept of a [[spherical Earth]] surrounded by the spheres of planets eventually supplanted the long-standing Indian cosmological belief of a disc consisting of four continents grouped around a central mountain (Mount Meru) like the petals of a flower.<ref name="Pingree (1978), 533, 554f." /><ref>{{harvnb|Glick|Livesey|Wallis|2005|p=463}}</ref><ref name="Hayashi08Aryabhata">Hayashi (2008), ''Aryabhata I''</ref> The [[Yavanajataka]] ({{Lit|Greek astronomical treatise}}) and [[Paulisa Siddhanta]] texts depict the influence of Greek astronomical ideas on Indian astronomy.

Following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the east, [[Hellenistic influence on Indian art]] was far-reaching. In [[architecture]], a few examples of the [[Ionic order]] can be found as far as [[Pakistan]] with the [[Jandial temple]] near [[Taxila]]. Several examples of [[capital (architecture)|capitals]] displaying Ionic influences can be seen as far as [[Patna]], especially with the [[Pataliputra capital]], dated to the 3rd century BC.<ref>{{cite book |page=438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DX-CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA438 |title=A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture |isbn=978-1-119-01953-4 |last1=Brown |first1=Rebecca M. |last2=Hutton |first2=Deborah S. |year=2015 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons |access-date=3 February 2017}}</ref> The [[Corinthian order]] is also heavily represented in the [[art of Gandhara]], especially through [[Indo-Corinthian capital]]s.