Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher (1865–1952), was a French scholar, who argued that the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

image has

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origins. He has been called the "father of

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

studies", and is a much-cited scholar on ancient Buddhism in northwest

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

and the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

region.

Travels

He made his first trip to northeastern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in 1895. In 1910 he examined the

Great Zimbabwe Great Zimbabwe was a city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe, near Masvingo. It was settled from 1000 AD, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe from the 13th century. It is the largest stone struc ...

and the Khami ruins, proclaiming both were made by

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

. His views on ruins in southern Africa are not considered accurate by modern scholars. In 1922 he was asked by the governments of France and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

to organize an

archeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeology ...

co-operative which became the '' French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA)''. Foucher's most famous work was ''L'Art Gréco-Bouddhique du Gandhara'' in which he described how

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

prior to Pan-Hellenism was principally aniconic, representing the Buddha by depicting elements of the Buddha's life instead of depicting the Buddha himself. Foucher argued that the first sculpted images of the Buddha were heavily influenced by Greek artists. He coined the term "

Greco-Buddhist art The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara, located in the northwestern fringe of t ...

". Foucher especially considered Hellenistic free-standing Buddhas as "the most beautiful, and probably the most ancient of the Buddhas", assigning them to the 1st century BCE, and making them the starting point of the anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha ("The Buddhist art of Gandhara", Marshall, p101). Following the mid-20th century discovery of Roman trading posts in Southern India, Foucher's argument was revised in favour of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

influence, as opposed to Greek. New archeological discoveries in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

however (such as the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

city of

Ai-Khanoum Ai-Khanoum (, meaning 'Lady Moon'; ) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a mili ...

and the excavation of

Sirkap Sirkap (Urdu and ) is the name of an archaeological site on the bank opposite to the city of Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan. The city of Sirkap was built by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius after he invaded modern-day Pakistan around 180 BC. Demetr ...

in modern

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

), have been pointing to rich Greco-Bactrian and

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" ...

civilizations in these areas, reviving the Hellenistic thesis. Nonetheless, his central

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

that the Buddha was of Classical origin has become established. For a compelling counter-argument to Foucher's essay, see Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The Origin of the Buddha Image".

Works

* « Ksemendra. Le Buddhâvatâra », JA 20/8e série, p. 167-175; 1892 * Étude sur l'iconographie bouddhique de l'Inde d'après les documents nouveaux, Paris, 1900, * Étude sur l'iconographie bouddhique de l'Inde d'après des textes inédits, Paris, E. Leroux, 1905.
L'art gréco-bouddhique du Gandhâra. Étude sur les origines de l'influence classique dans l'art bouddhique de l'Inde et de l'Extrême-Orient
2 t. . 1 : 1905 ; t. 2 en trois fasc. : 1918, 1922, 1951 Paris, Imprimerie nationale (PEFEO, 5 et 6). * « Notes d'archéologie bouddhique : I, Le stupa de Boro-Budur ; II, Les bas-reliefs de Boro-Budur ; III, Iconographie bouddhique à Java », BEFEO 9, p. 1-50; 1909 * « Notes sur l'itinéraire de Hiuan-tsang en Afghanistan », dans Études asiatiques publiées à l'occasion du 25e anniversaire de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris, G. van Oest (PEFEO, 19), p. 257-284; 1926 * The monuments of Sâñchî, (avec John Marshall), 3 vol., elhi, Government Press 1939 * La vieille route de l'Inde de Bactres à Taxila, (avec E. Bazin-Foucher),2 vol., Paris, Éd. d'Art et d'Histoire; 1942–4
La Vieille Route de l'Inde de Bactres à Taxila : vol.1La Vieille Route de l'Inde de Bactres à Taxila : vol.2
* Éléments de systématique et de logique indiennes : Le Compendium des topiques (Tarka-samgraha) d'Annam-Bhatta, Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve; 1949 * La vie du Bouddha, d'après les textes et les monuments de l'Inde, Paris, Payot; 1949 * Les vies antérieures du Bouddha, d'après les textes et les monuments de l'Inde, Paris, PUF; 1955

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foucher, Alfred A. 1865 births 1952 deaths 20th-century French archaeologists French scholars of Buddhism French scholars of Pakistan studies Columbia University faculty Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Great Zimbabwe

Travels

Works

References

Further reading

External links