The Treasure of Begram or Begram Hoard is a group of artifacts from the 1st-2nd century CE discovered in the area of Begram,

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 ...

. The ''

French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan The French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan ( (DAFA)) was created in France in 1922 at the request of the Afghan government and King Amanullah Khan to commence archaeological studies in Afghanistan. After a break in research during the S ...

'' (DAFA) conducted

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

at the site between 1936 and 1940, uncovering two walled-up strongrooms, Room 10 and Room 13. Inside, a large number of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

(remains of 180 pieces),

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

, and

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

objects, along with remains of furniture and Chinese

lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be c ...

bowls, were unearthed. Some of the furniture was arranged along walls, other pieces stacked or facing each other. In particular, a high percentage of the few survivals of Greco-Roman

enamelled glass Enamelled glass or painted glass is glass which has been decorated with vitreous enamel (powdered glass, usually mixed with a binder) and then fired to glass fusing, fuse the glasses. It can produce brilliant and long-lasting colours, and be tr ...

come from this discovery. The

Begram ivories The Begram ivories are a group of over a thousand decorative plaques, small figures and inlays, carved from ivory and bone, and formerly attached to wooden furniture, that were excavated in the 1930s in Bagram (Begram), Afghanistan. They are rare ...

are a sub-group of over a thousand decorative plaques, small figures and inlays, carved from ivory and bone, and formerly attached to wooden furniture. They are rare and important exemplars of

Kushan ''Kushan'' or Kushana may refer to: * Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan ...

art of the 1st or 2nd centuries CE, attesting to the cosmopolitan tastes and

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of local dynasts, the sophistication of contemporary craftsmanship, and to the ancient trade in luxury goods.

History

The ancient city of Kapisa (near modern

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near t ...

), in

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

was the

summer capital A summer capital is a city used as an administrative capital during extended periods of particularly hot summer weather. The term is mostly of relevance in historical contexts of political systems with ruling classes that would migrate to a summ ...

of the

Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...

, which stretched from northern Afghanistan to northwest

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 ...

between the 1st and the 4th centuries. Some eighty miles from

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, the strategically located city dominated two passes through 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 ...

, connecting Bactria with

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 ...

(modern north-east

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# ...

. The finds were divided, in accordance with the system of

partage Partage, from the French word "partager" meaning "to share," was a system put in place to divide up ownership of excavated artifacts during the early part of the 20th century. This system was mostly notably employed in Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus, Syria, T ...

, between the

Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in ; ''MNAAG''; ) is a Parisian art museum with one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia that includes items from Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Tibet, India, and Nepal, among other countries. Foun ...

and the

National Museum of Afghanistan The National Museum of Afghanistan (, ''Mūzīyam-e Millī-ye Afghānistān''; , ''Də Afghānistān Millī Mūzīyəm'') is located across the street from the Darul Aman Palace in the Darulaman area of Kabul, Afghanistan. It was once considered ...

. After the Kabul Museum closed in 1978 the whereabouts of the ivories was uncertain, and many items were

looted Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

in the 1990s. A number of the missing items were located in 2004, and a further group of twenty pieces, illicitly traded by antiquities dealers, was later recovered and is to be

repatriated Repatriation is the return of a thing or person to its or their country of origin, respectively. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as the return of mi ...

. After conservation treatment in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

they were exhibited there in 2011.

Major artifacts

Glass

File:Gladiateur Begram Guimet 18117.jpg, Glass with painting of a Roman

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

. File:Afghanistan, bottiglia ansata, dal tesoro di begram, vetro soffiato, I sec, 01.JPG, Blue bottle with amphora shape. File:BegramBowls.jpg, Glass bowls File:Afghanistan, flacone ittiomorfo, dal tesoro di begram, vetro soffiato, I sec, 02.JPG, Vial in the shape of a fish.

Ivory

File:BegramPlaque.jpg, Ivory plaques. File:Afghanistan, avori a tema ellenistico, dal tesoro di begram, I sec, 01.JPG, Ivory plaques File:Afghanistan, cofanetto V, dal tesoro di begram, avorio, I sec, 0.JPG, Ivory box with ornaments. File:Furniture part Begram Hoard Guimet MA230.jpg, Ivory furniture part, Begram Hoard, Guimet Museum (MA230).

Plaster

File:BegramMedallion6.jpg, Emblema with

Endymion Endymion primarily refers to: * Endymion (mythology), an Ancient Greek shepherd * ''Endymion'' (poem), by John Keats Endymion may also refer to: Fictional characters * Prince Endymion, a character in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime franchise * Ra ...

and

Selene In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Selene (; , meaning "Moon")''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene (), she is traditionally the daughter ...

Médaillon de plâtre servant probablement de modèle, réinterprété dans les cultures locales en fonction de divers programmes : palettes à fards ou plats pour des rites domestiques, monnaies Kushan, décors aujourd'hui disparus. File:BegramMedallion.jpg, Medallion

Other materials

File:Mercury Begram Hoard Guimet MG21230.jpg, Mercury, Begram Hoard, Guimet MG21230. File:BegramWoman3.jpg,

Yakshini Yakshinis or Yakshis (, , Prakrit languages, Prakrit: ) are a class of female nature spirits in Hinduism, Hindu, Buddhism, Buddhist, and Jainism, Jain religious mythologies that are different from Hindu deities, Devas and Asuras and Gandharva ...

on top of a

makara Makara () is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, and of the god of the ocean, Varun ...

References

External links

Begram Ivory and Bone Carvings
(

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) is a digital humanities initiative involving numerous academic professors and institutions around the world with the stated goal of creating a networked digital atlas by creating tools and setting sta ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Begram Ivories Culture of Afghanistan Ivory works of art Ancient Indian sculpture Archaeological discoveries in Afghanistan History of Parwan Province Kushan art