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Butkara Stupa
The Butkara Stupa (Pashto: بت کړه سټوپا) is an important Buddhist stupa near Mingora, in the area of Swat, Pakistan. It may have been built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE. The stupa was enlarged on five occasions during the following centuries, every time by building over, and encapsulating, the previous structure. Excavation The stupa was excavated by an Italian mission (IsIOAO: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), led by archaeologist Domenico Faccenna from 1956, to clarify the various steps of the construction and enlargements. The mission established that the stupa was "monumentalized" by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during the 2nd century BCE, suggesting a direct involvement of the Indo-Greeks, rulers of northwestern India during that period, in the development of Greco-Buddhist architecture. An Indo-Corinthian capital representing a Buddhist devotee within foli ...
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Swat, Pakistan
Swat District (), also known as the Swat Valley, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,687,384 per the 2023 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Swat District is centred on the Valley of Swat, usually referred to simply as Swat, which is a natural geographic region surrounding the Swat River. The valley was a major centre of early Buddhism of the ancient civilisation of Gandhara, mainly Gandharan Buddhism, with pockets of Buddhism persisting in the valley until the 16th century conquest of Swat by the Yousafzais, after which the area became largely Muslim, along with the Pashtunization of Swat and its neighbouring regions. In the early 19th century, Swat emerged as an independent state under Saidu Baba. State of Swat became a Princely state under British suzerainty as part of the British Raj i ...
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Barikot
Barikot () (Pashto: بریکوټ) is a town located in the middle course of the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located about away from Mingora and the Butkara Stupa. It is the entrance town to the central Swat Valley with a population of approximately 25,000 people. Barikot is the location of an ancient citadel captured by Alexander the Great, Archaeological site notice with Chalcolithic remains dating back to ,Olivieri, Luca M., 2012. "When and why the ancient town of Barikot was abandoned?: A preliminary note based on the last archaeological data", in Pakistan Heritage 4, Table 1, and p. 111. and an early-historic period town dating back to .Olivieri, Luca Maria, & Anna Filigenzi, 201"On Gandharan sculptural production from Swat: Recent archaeological and chronological data" in W. Rienjang and P. Stewart (eds.), Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhara Connections Project, p. 71. The Italian Arc ...
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Mathura Art
The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent, in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Buddhism, Jainism together with Hinduism flourished in India. Mathura "was the first artistic center to produce devotional icons for all the three faiths",Srinivasan, 4 and the pre-eminent center of religious artistic expression in India at least until the Gupta art, Gupta period, and was influential throughout the sub-continent. Chronologically, Mathuran sculpture becomes prominent after Mauryan art, the art of the Mauryan Empire (322 and 185 BCE). It is said to represent a "sharp break" with the previous Mauryan style, either in scale, material or style. Mathura became India's most important artistic production center from the second century BCE, with its highly recognizable red s ...
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Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in order to compassionately help other individuals reach Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (or bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will come to pass. In Theravāda Buddhism, the bodhisattva is mainly seen as an exceptional and rare individual. Only a few select individuals are ultimately able to become bodhisattvas, such as Maitreya. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated '' bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritua ...
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Butkara I Stupa In-situ Seated Buddha
The Butkara Stupa (Pashto: بت کړه سټوپا) is an important Buddhist stupa near Mingora, in the area of Swat, Pakistan. It may have been built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE. The stupa was enlarged on five occasions during the following centuries, every time by building over, and encapsulating, the previous structure. Excavation The stupa was excavated by an Italian mission (IsIOAO: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente), led by archaeologist Domenico Faccenna from 1956, to clarify the various steps of the construction and enlargements. The mission established that the stupa was "monumentalized" by the addition of Hellenistic architectural decorations during the 2nd century BCE, suggesting a direct involvement of the Indo-Greeks, rulers of northwestern India during that period, in the development of Greco-Buddhist architecture. An Indo-Corinthian capital representing a Buddhist devotee within foliag ...
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Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises (Kushan language: Κοζουλου Καδφιζου, also Κοζολα Καδαφες; Kharosthi: 𐨐𐨂𐨗𐨂𐨫 𐨐𐨯, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ', '; ; r. 30–80 CE, or 40–90 CE according to Bopearachchi.Osmund Bopearachchi, 2007Some observations on the chronology of the early Kushans/ref> 25–85 CE as per Craig Benjamin, Benjamin.) was a Kushan Empire, Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation in Bactria during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the great grandfather of Kanishka, Kanishka I. He is considered the founder of the Kushan Empire. Names and titles The origins of Kujula Kadphises are quite obscure, and he is usually believed to be a descendant of the Kushan ruler Heraios, or possibly identical with him. However, Kujula shares his name (Kushan: Κοζουλου on some of his "Hermaeus" coins, or Κοζολα on his "Augustus" coins) ...
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Menander I
Menander I Soter (, ; ), sometimes called Menander the Great, was an Indo-Greek king (reigned /155Bopearachchi (1998) and (1991), respectively. The first date is estimated by Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, the other Boperachchi –130 BC) who administered a large territory in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. Menander is noted for having become a patron of Greco-Buddhism and is regarded as the greatest and most well-known of the Indo-Greek kings. Menander might have initially been a prince or king of Bactria. After conquering the Punjab, as far as Taxila and Sagala, he established an empire which stretched from the Kabul River in the west to the Ravi River in the east, and from the Swat River valley in the north to Arachosia (the Helmand Province). The Greek geographer Strabo wrote that he "conquered more tribes than Alexander the Great." Ancient Indian writers indicate that he possibly launched unsuccessful expeditions ...
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Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: [Help:IPA/Sanskrit, t̪͡ɕɐn̪d̪ɾɐgupt̪ɐ mɐʊɾjɐ]) (reigned 320 BCE – c. 298 BCE) was the founder and the first emperor of the Maurya Empire, based in Magadha (present-day Bihar) in the Indian subcontinent. His rise to power began in the period of unrest and local warfare that arose after Alexander the Great's Indian campaign of Alexander the Great, Indian campaign and early death in 323 BCE, although the exact chronology and sequence of events remains subject to debate among historians. He started a war against the unpopular Nanda dynasty in Magadha on the Ganges, Ganges Valley, defeated them and established his own dynasty. In addition, he raised an army to resist the Greeks, defeated them, and took control of the eastern Indus Valley. His conquest of Magadha is generally dated to ca. 322–319 BCE, and his expansion to Punjab subsequently at ca. 317–312 BCE, but some scholars have speculated that he might have initially con ...
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Turin City Museum Of Ancient Art
The Museo Civico d'Arte Antica is an art museum located in the Palazzo Madama in Turin, Italy. It has a renowned collection of paintings from the medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It reopened in 2006 after several years of restorations. History The museum was founded in 1934, as the heir of the Pinacoteca Regia and the Galleria Reale, which had been established in Palazzo Madama by King Charles Albert of Savoy in 1832. A Civic Museum had been founded in 1860 in the wake of the unification of Italy although, three years later, the collections were moved to another location in Turin, in Via Gaudenzio Ferrari. These were increased gradually with acquisitions from private collectors, from closed residences of the House of Savoy, or from donations by the same family. In 1898 the collections of "ancient art" were separated from those of "modern art". The former were moved to the current location in 1934 by the director Vittorio Viale. The collection of Asian art, includin ...
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Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2,746,984 residents in , Rome is the list of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, third most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. The Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, with a population of 4,223,885 residents, is the most populous metropolitan cities of Italy, metropolitan city in Italy. Rome metropolitan area, Its metropolitan area is the third-most populous within Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber Valley. Vatican City (the smallest country in the world and headquarters of the worldwide Catholic Church under the governance of the Holy See) is an independent country inside the city boun ...
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Fibulae
The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is small, placed toward the back of the head of the tibia, below the knee joint and excluded from the formation of this joint. Its lower extremity inclines a little forward, so as to be on a plane anterior to that of the upper end; it projects below the tibia and forms the lateral part of the ankle joint. Structure The bone has the following components: * Lateral malleolus * Interosseous membrane connecting the fibula to the tibia, forming a syndesmosis joint * The superior tibiofibular articulation is an arthrodial joint between the lateral condyle of the tibia and the head of the fibula. * The inferior tibiofibular articulation (tibiofibular syndesmosis) is formed by the rough, convex surface of the medial side of ...
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Chlamys
The chlamys (; genitive: ) was a type of ancient Greek cloak. It was worn by men for military and hunting purposes during the Classical, Hellenistic and later periods. By the time of the Byzantine Empire it was part of the state costume of the emperor and high officials. It survived as such until at least the 12th century. The ephaptis () was a similar garment, typically worn by infantrymen. Ancient Greece The chlamys was made from a seamless rectangle of woolen material about the size of a blanket, usually bordered. It was normally pinned with a fibula at the right shoulder. Originally it was wrapped around the waist like a loincloth, but by the end of the 5th century BC it was worn over the elbows. It could be worn over another item of clothing but was often the sole item of clothing for young soldiers and messengers, at least in Greek art. As such, the chlamys is the characteristic garment of Hermes (Roman Mercury), the messenger god usually depicted as a young man. Th ...
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