The Greeks in Ancient Central Asia: The Written Sources
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Sino-Platonic Papers is pleased to announce the publication of its three-hundred-and-eighty-first issue:
“Relations Between Greece and Central Asia in Antiquity: An Examination of the Written Sources” (pdf) by Yu Taishan.
PREFACE
The eastward expedition of Alexander the Great of Macedonia is an important event in ancient world history. After the death of Darius III, Alexander marched into Central Asia in order to completely conquer the Achaemenid Empire and establish himself as the Lord of Asia. This move, especially as it resulted in the Greco-Bactria Kingdom founded after Alexander's death, had a profound influence on the history of Central Asia, leaving a deep national and cultural imprint on Central Asia and even the northwest subcontinent. Moreover, the Greco-Bactria Kingdom also played an important role in contact and communication between the cultures of East and West.
Owing to the lack of data, especially of literature, many of the issues in the above process have hitherto remained obscure. Based as far as possible on considerations of existing scholarly achievements, this paper intends to discuss some major links between the regions in this time, with the intention of filling the gaps in my own understanding of this period of history.
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Selected readings
Yu Taishan, Relations between Persia and Central Asia in Antiquity: An Examination of the Written Sources, SPP, 366 (Sept. 2025), 1-228.
_____, The Name “Sakā”, SPP, 251 (Aug. 2014), 1-10.
_____, The Sui Dynasty and the Western Regions, SPP, 247, (April 2014), 1-24.
_____, China and the Ancient Mediterranean World: A Survey of Ancient Chinese Sources, SPP, 242 (Nov 2013), 1-268.
_____, The Origin of the Kushans, SPP, 212 (July 2111), 1-22.
_____, The Earliest Tocharians in China, SPP, 204 (June 2010), 1-78.
_____, The Communication Lines between East and West as Seen in the Mu Tianzi Zhuan, SPP, 197 (Jan 2010), 1-57.
_____, A Study of the History of the Relationship Between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions, SPP, 173 (Oct 2003), 1-166.
_____, A Hypothesis on the Origin of the Yu State, SPP, 139 (June 2004), 1-20.
_____, A History of the Relationship between the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Western Regions, SPP, 131 (March 2004), i-iii, 1-378.
_____, A Hypothesis about the Sources of the Sai Tribes, SPP, 106 (Sept 2000), i, 1-3, 1-200.
_____, A Study of Saka History, SPP, 80 (July 1998), i-ii, 1-225.
[Translations by VHM]
- "From Bactrian Demetrios to Japanese Gobujo: myth, art, and language" (9/10/25)
- "A Greco-Bactrian Great Wall in Central Asia" (1/24/25)
- "Kushan inscriptions from Western and Southern Central Asia (WCA, SCA)" (7/21/23)
- "So spoke Zoroaster: camels and ancient Sinitic reconstructions" (1/13/21)
- "Greco-Sinitic ψάμμος / ʃˠa mɑk̚ ('desert')" (6/8/23)
- "Hellenism in East Asia" (12/3/22)
- "Palestra: wrestling of the mind" (11/19/22)
- "Indo-Greeks: the importance of archeology for historical linguistics, part 4" (10/16/22)