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Berenike Buddha
The ''Berenike Buddha'' is a statue of the Buddha parts of which were discovered in January 2018 and January 2022 in an archaeological excavation in the ancient harbour of Berenike, Egypt, by an American-Polish archaeological mission. The statue was discovered in the forecourt of an early Roman period temple dedicated to the Goddess Isis. The statue has been alleged to be the first statue of the Buddha to ever be found west of Afghanistan, but the Helgö Buddha was found earlier. This one attests to the extent of Indo-Roman relations in the early centuries of the Common Era. Origin The Buddha statue was excavated in Berenike, and Egyptian port city on the western shore of the Red Sea. Based on stylistic details and the context of the excavation, researchers thought that the statue was made in Alexandria around the second century CE. According to Steven Sidebotham, a history professor at the University of Delaware who is co-director of the Berenike Project, the statue dates to ...
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Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ...
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Buddhism In Africa
Buddhism is practised in Africa. Though there have been some conversions amongst Africans, the majority of Buddhists in Africa are of Asian descent, primarily of Chinese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan or Japanese descent. South Africa holds the largest Buddhist population in the continent. According to estimates in the 2010s, Buddhist adherents (together with Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion) had been increasing there to between 0.2% or 0.3% of the South African population, or between 100 and 150 thousand people, however, the number of practising Buddhists may be lower. The African countries and territories in the Indian Ocean also have significant Buddhist minorities. Mauritius has the highest Buddhist percentage (between 1.5 to 2% of the total population) among African countries due to a high number of Chinese people (nearly 40 thousand or 3% of the Mauritian population). However, practicing Buddhists approximately comprise only about 0.4% of the population. Madagascar is also ...
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Red Sea Governorate
The Red Sea Governorate ( ) is one of the 27 governorates of Egypt. Located between the Nile and the Red Sea in the southeast of the country, its southern border forms part of Egypt's border with Sudan. Its capital and largest city is Hurghada. Municipal divisions The governorate is divided into municipal divisions with a total estimated population as of January 2024 o410,229.In the case of Red Sea governorate, some are fully urban, some are fully rural, and some are a combination of both. Geography Administratively, the Red Sea Governorate is bordered in the north by the Suez Governorate, to the east by the Red Sea, and to the west by the governorates of Aswan, Qena, Sohag, Asyut, al-Minya and Beni Suef. In the south it is bordered by Sudan's Red Sea State. It contains the disputed territory of the Halaib Triangle, including the Siyal Islands, and contains the Red Sea Hills, a mountain chain making up the Itbay region of Eastern Egypt and Sudan. Population The R ...
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Buddha Statues
Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as () in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure in an image may be someone else who has obtained Buddhahood, or a boddhisattva, especially in the various traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. Other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art have become increasingly common over the centuries, perhaps now outnumbering images of the historical Buddha. In its first centuries Buddhism was largely or entirely aniconic, not showing the person of Buddha except by symbols and relics. This changed, and figures of the Buddha became very common in the art of Gandhara and Gupta art. As forms of esoteric Buddhism developed, other figures from the expanding array of Buddhist sacred persons became more prominent. In Theravada Buddhism this was much less the case, and figures of the historical Buddha remain the most common main images in temples and shrines to ...
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Greco-Buddhism
Greco-Buddhism or Graeco-Buddhism was a cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism developed between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD in Gandhara, which was in present-day Pakistan and parts of north-east Afghanistan. While the Greco-Buddhist art shows clear Hellenistic influences, the majority of scholars do not assume a noticeable Greek influence on Gandharan Buddhism beyond the artistic realm. Cultural interactions between ancient Greece and Buddhism date back to Greek forays into the Indian subcontinent from the time of Alexander the Great. A few years after Alexander's death, the Easternmost fringes of the empire of his general Seleucus were lost in a war with the Mauryan Empire, under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would convert to Buddhism and spread the religious philosophy throughout his domain, as recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. This spread to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, which itself seceded from the Sele ...
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Buddhism And The Roman World
Several instances of interaction between Buddhism and the Roman world are documented by Classical and early Christian writers. Textual sources in the Tamil language, moreover, suggest the presence of Buddhism among some Roman citizens in the 2nd century AD. Pandion embassy Roman historical accounts describe an embassy sent by the "Indian king Porus" (perhaps Pandion, Pandya, or Pandita) to Caesar Augustus sometime between 22 BC and 13 AD. The embassy was travelling with a diplomatic letter on a skin in Greek, and one of its members was a sramana who burned himself alive in Athens to demonstrate his faith. The event made a sensation and was described by Nicolaus of Damascus, who met the embassy at Antioch (near present day Antakya in Turkey) and related by Strabo (XV, 1,73) and Dio Cassius (liv, 9). A tomb was made to the sramana, still visible in the time of Plutarch, which bore the mention: Strabo also states that Nicolaus of Damascus in giving the details of his to ...
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Buddhist Art
Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes Buddha in art, depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, narrative scenes from their lives, mandalas, and physical objects associated with Buddhist practice, such as vajras, bells, stupas and Buddhist architecture, Buddhist temple architecture. Buddhist art originated in the north of the Indian subcontinent, in modern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the earliest survivals dating from a few centuries after the historical life of Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama from the 6th to 5th century BCE. As Buddhism spread and evolved in each new host country, Buddhist art followed in its footsteps. It developed to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as Southeast Asia to form the Southern branch of Buddhist art. In ...
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Gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk chalk. Gypsum also Crystallization, crystallizes as translucent crystals of selenite (mineral), selenite. It forms as an evaporite mineral and as a Mineral hydration, hydration product of anhydrite. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness defines gypsum as hardness value 2 based on Scratch hardness, scratch hardness comparison. Fine-grained white or lightly tinted forms of gypsum known as alabaster have been used for sculpture by many cultures including Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ancient Rome, the Byzantine Empire, and the Nottingham alabasters of Medieval England. Etymology and history The word ''wikt:gypsum, gypsum'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek word (), "plaster". Because the quarry, quarries of the Montmartre district of P ...
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Satavahana
The Satavahanas (; ''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras (also ''Andhra-bhṛtyas'' or ''Andhra-jatiyas'') in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the late 2nd century BCE and lasted until the early 3rd century CE, although some assign the beginning of their rule to as early as the 3rd century BCE based on the Puranas, but uncorroborated by archaeological evidence. The Satavahana kingdom mainly comprised the present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. 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 (Paithan) and Amaravati ( Dharanikota). 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 Dec ...
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Philip The Arab
Philip I (; – September 249), commonly known as Philip the Arab, was Roman emperor from 244 to 249. After the death of Gordian III in February 244, Philip, who had been Praetorian prefect, rose to power. He quickly negotiated peace with the Sasanian Empire and returned to Rome to be confirmed by the Roman Senate, Senate. According to many historians, he was possibly the first Christian Roman Emperor. Although his reign lasted only five years, it marks an unusually stable period in a century that is otherwise known for having been turbulent. Near the end of his rule, Philip commemorated Ab urbe condita#Use, Rome's first millennium. In September 249 he was killed during or shortly after the Battle of Verona (249), Battle of Verona against the usurper Decius, Trajan Decius, who was subsequently recognized by the Senate as his successor. Born in modern-day Shahba#Roman history, Shahba, Syria, in what was then Arabia Petraea, Philip's ethnicity was most likely Arabs, Arab. While h ...
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