If you live in Sydney - this Exhibition is worth seeing (at the AGNSW)

by fulltimestudent 11 Replies latest social current

• 

  Tiktaalik

  Zebagain: or maybe some photos and stories of the innocent Afghanis killed by Australian soldiers in a war that is no concern of theirs.
• 

  fulltimestudent

  ILoveTTATT

  Hi, excuse my ignorance but what is te significance of these findings? Can someone explain them to me? thanks!!

  No need to apologise for not knowing anything about it.

  I post of the things I study for two reasons, the first is that these things are of great interest in themselves. Surely, that's why such exhibitions of the past are generally well attended. A world opens to us that is quite different to the world view that most churches offer.

  The second is this: This area was a cultural crossroads. From the time of Cyrus to the time of Alexander the Great, it was a part of the Iranian empire It then became part of the Macedonian/Seluceid Empire, and it may be possible to discern the transit of Indo-Iranian thought between south Asia (India) and central Asia (Iran). These were (in some order):

  Proto-Indo-Iranian religion means the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples prior to the earliest Vedic (Indo-Aryan) and Zoroastrian (Iranian) scriptures. These share a common inheritance of concepts including the universal force *rta (Vedic rta, Avestan asha), the sacred plant and drink *sauma (Vedic Soma, Avestan Haoma) and gods of social order such as *mitra (VedicMitra, Avestan and Old Persian Mithra, Miϑra), *bhaga (Vedic Bhaga, Avestan and Old Persian Baga). Proto-Indo-Iranian religion is an archaic offshoot of Indo-European religion.

  Zoroastrianism /ˌzɒroʊˈæstriənɪzəm/, also called Zarathustraism, Mazdaism andMagianism, is an ancient Iranian religion and a religious philosophy. It was once the state religion of the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires. Estimates of the current number of Zoroastrians worldwide vary between 145,000 and 2.6 million. [1]

  Zoroastrianism arose in the eastern region of the ancient Persian Empire, when the religious philosopher Zoroaster simplified the pantheon of early Iranian gods [2] into two opposing forces: Spenta Mainyu (Progressive mentality) and Angra Mainyu (Destructive Mentality) under Ahura Mazda (Illuminating Wisdom) in the 7th century BCE.

  Zoroaster's ideas led to a formal religion bearing his name by about the 6th century BCE and have influenced other later religions including Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Islam. [3]

  Mandaeism or Mandaeanism (Modern Mandaic: Mandaʻiūtā‎ (מנדעיותא); Arabic: مندائية‎Mandāʼīyah/Mandāʾiyyah) is a gnostic religion [1] :4 [2] :4 (Aramaic manda means "knowledge," as does Greekgnosis) with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh,Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist, but reject Abraham, Moses and Jesus of Nazareth. [3] [4]

  According to most scholars, Mandaeans migrated from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE, and are of pre-Arab and pre-Islamic origin. They are Semites and speak a dialect of EasternAramaic known as Mandaic. They may well be related to the "Nabateans of Iraq" who were pagan, Aramaic-speaking indigenous pre-Arab and pre-Islamic inhabitants of southern Iraq. [5]

  Mazdak (Persian: مزدک‎) (died c. 524 or 528) was a Zoroastrian prophet, Iranian reformer and religious activist who gained influence under the reign of the Sassanian Shahanshah Kavadh I. He claimed to be a prophet of Ahura Mazda, and instituted communal possessions and social welfare programs. He has been seen as a proto-socialist. [1]

  Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism, which he viewed as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism, [2] [3] although his teaching has been argued to display influences from Manichaeism as well. [2] Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of Sassanid Persia, and Mazdak himself was a Zoroastrian priest, or mobed, but most of the Zoroastrian clergy regarded his teaching as heresy. Information about it is scarce and details are sketchy, but some further details may be inferred from the later doctrine of Khurramism, which has been seen as a continuation of Mazdakism. [2] [4]

  I've passed over two significant other religious thought systems, that of Mithraism and Manicheanism - both significant, although arguably not as significant as the ones I've listed. BTW, all the quotations are from Wikipedia (just for convenience).

  The Iranian (Persian) empire was conquered in the biggest bandit raid of all history - under Alexander the Great, and Greek thinking became the prevailing influence from the borders of India across to Palestine. By the time of Jesus, even though Rome was the hegemon, Greek thinking still prevailed as we see in much NT writing.

  In India, prior to that, Buddhism developed out of the Indian religious ferment and passed north, leaving still visible traces in Afghanistan as it penetrated to East Asia.

  I have not seen the exhibits yet, but I'm told that some of the Buddhist art on display shows the influence of Greek/Hellenic thought.

  This map illustrates Buddhism's spread:

  

  and here are some images that demonstrate Gk/hellenic influence:

  The first is a bi-lingual Buddhist proclamation by King Ashoka concerning his love of Buddhism.

  

  Bilingual (Greek and Aramaic) inscriptions by king Ashoka at Kandahar (Shar-i-kuna). (3rd century BC). Preserved at Kabul Museum.

  --------------------------------------

  

  The Buddha, in Greco-Buddhist style, 1st-2nd century CE, Gandhara(Modern eastern Afghanistan).

  The pleated folds on Buddhas are generally recognised as originating in ancient Greek kingdoms in what is now Afghanistan.

  Buddha's in that style are found as far east as China.

  

  Banquet scene in Hellenistic style, Hellenistic culture in the Indian subcontinent: Greek clothes, amphoras, wine and music

  (Detail from Chakhil-i-Ghoundi stupa, Hadda, Gandhara, 1st century CE).

  

  A depiction of Vajrapani (right), portrayed as the Greek Hercules, as the protector of the Buddha, 2nd century CE. Gandhara, now in the British Museum.

  Note the greek style dress of the Buddha image.

  ----------------------

  Our understanding of Hellenic thinking in Judea is found in the books of the Maccabees, and we note that essentially they detail a political struggle for control of Jerusalem and Judea.

  But at the same time Hellenic thought was overlaying the previous impact on Judean religious thought exercised by Zoroastrianism that occurred at the end of the Babylonian captivity. A flood of new ideas are discerned in secnd temple Judaism.