Ai-Khanoum

Corinthian capital, found at Ai-Khanoum in the citadel by the troops of Commander Massoud, 2nd century BC.

The mission unearthed various structures, some of them perfectly Hellenistic, some other integrating elements of Persian architecture:

• Two-miles long ramparts, circling the city
• A citadel with powerful towers (20 × 11 metres at the base, 10 meters in height) and ramparts, established on top of the 60 meters-high hill in the middle of the city
• A Classical theater, 84 meters in diameter with 35 rows of seats, that could sit 4,000-6,000 people, equipped with three loges for the rulers of the city. Its size was considerable by Classical standards, larger than the theater at Babylon, but slightly smaller than the theater at Epidaurus.
• A huge palace in Greco-Bactrian architecture, somehow reminiscent of formal Persian palatial architecture
• A gymnasium (100 × 100m), one of the largest of Antiquity. A dedication in Greek to Hermes and Herakles was found engraved on one of the pillars. The dedication was made by two men with Greek names (Triballos and Strato, son of Strato).
• Various temples, in and outside the city. The largest temple in the city apparently contained a monumental statue of a seated Zeus, but was built on the Zoroastrian model (massive, closed walls instead of the open column-circled structure of Greek temples).
• A mosaic representing the Macedonian sun, acanthus leaves and various animals (crabs, dolphins etc...)
• Numerous remains of Classical Corinthian columns

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  Architectural antefixae with Hellenistic "Flame palmette" design, Ai-Khanoum.
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  Sun dial within two sculpted lion feet.
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  Winged antefix, a type only known from Ai-Khanoum.
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  Ai-Khanoum mosaic.

High-relief of a naked man in contrapposto, wearing a chlamys. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.[8]

Various sculptural fragments were also found, in a rather conventional, classical style, rather impervious to the Hellenizing innovations occurring at the same time in the Mediterranean world.

Of special notice, a huge foot fragment in excellent Hellenistic style was recovered, which is estimated to have belonged to a 5-6 meter tall statue (which had to be seated to fit within the height of the columns supporting the Temple). Since the sandal of the foot fragment bears the symbolic depiction of Zeus' thunderbolt, the statue is thought to have been a smaller version of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.

Also found among the sculptural remains were:

• A statue of a standing female in a rather archaic chiton
• The face of a man, sculpted in stucco
• An unfinished statue of a young naked man with wreath
• A gargoyle head representing the Greek cook-slave
• A frieze of a naked man, possibly the god Hermes, wearing a chlamys
• A hermaic sculpture of an old man thought to be a master of the gymnasium, where it was found. He used to hold a long stick in his left hand, symbol of his function.

Due to the lack of proper stones for sculptural work in the area of Ai-Khanoum, unbaked clay and stucco modeled on a wooden frame were often used, a technique which would become widespread in Central Asia and the East, especially in Buddhist art. In some cases, only the hands and feet would be made in marble.

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  Stucco face found in the administrative palace. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC
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  Sculpture of an old man. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
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  Close-up of the same statue.
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  Hellenistic gargoyle. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.

Various inscriptions in Classical, non-barbarized, Greek have been found in Ai-Khanoum.

• On a Herõon (funerary monument), identified in Greek as the tomb of Kineas (also described as the oikistes (founder) of the Greek settlement) and dated to 300-250 BC, an inscription has been found describing Delphic maxims:

Stone block with the inscriptions of Kineas. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.

παῖς ὢν κόσμιος γίνου,

ἡβῶν ἐγκρατής,

μέσος δίκαιος,

πρεσβύτης εὔβουλος,

τελευτῶν ἄλυπος.[9]

"Païs ôn kosmios ginou (As children, learn good manners)

hèbôn enkratès, (as young men, learn to control the passions)

mesos dikaios (in middle age, be just)

presbutès euboulos (in old age, give good advice)

teleutôn alupos. (then die, without regret.)"

The precepts were placed by a Greek named Clearchos, who may or may not have been Clearchus of Soli the disciple of Aristotle,[10] who, according to the same inscription, had copied them from Delphi:

ἀνδρῶν τοι σοφὰ ταῦτα παλαιοτέρων ἀνάκει[τα]ι

ῥήματα ἀριγνώτων Πυθοὶ ἐν ἠγαθέαι·

ἔνθεν ταῦτ[α] Κλέαρχος ἐπιφραδέως ἀναγράψας

εἵσατο τηλαυγῆ Κινέου ἐν τεμένει.[9]

"These wise commandments of men of old

- Words of well-known thinkers - stand dedicated

In the most holy Pythian shrine

From there Klearchos, having copied them carefully, set them up, shining from afar, in the sanctuary of Kineas"

Inscription on one of the vases from the Ai-Khanoum treasury.

• Remains of some papyrus manuscripts, the imprint of which were left in the thin earth of brick walls, containing unknown philosophical dialogues on the theory of ideas, thought to be the only surviving remain of an Aristotelian dialogue, possibly the Sophist, where Xenocrates, another philosopher, present his theory of ideas.[11]
• Various Greek inscriptions were also found in the Treasury of the palace, indicating the contents (money, imported olive oil...) of various vases, and names of the administrators in charge of them. The hierarchy of these administrators appears to be nearly identical to that in the Mediterranean Greek areas. From the names mentioned in these inscriptions, it appears that the directors of the Treasury were Greek, but that lower administrators had Bactrian names.[11] Three signatories had Greek names (Kosmos, Isidora, Nikeratos), one a Macedonian or Thracian name (Lysanias), and two Bactrian names (Oxuboakes, Oxubazes).

One of these economic inscriptions relates in Greek the deposit of olive oil jars in the treasury:

"In the year 24, on ....;

an olive oil (content);

the partially empty (vase) A (contains) oil transferred from

two jars by Hippias

the hemiolios; and did seal:

Molossos (?) for jar A, and Strato (?) for jar B (?)"[11]

The last of the dates on these jars has been computed to 147 BC, suggesting that Ai-Khanoum was destroyed soon after that date.

Plate depicting Cybele pulled by lions, a votive sacrifice and the Sun God. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.

Numerous Greco-Bactrian coins were found, down to Eucratides, but none of them later. Ai-Khanoum also yielded unique Greco-Bactrian coins of Agathocles, consisting of six Indian-standard silver drachms depicting Hindu deities. These are the first known representations of Vedic deities on coins, and they display early Avatars of Vishnu: Balarama-Samkarshana and Vasudeva-Krishna, and are thought to correspond to the first Greco-Bactrian attempts at creating an Indian-standard coinage as they invaded northern India.

Among other finds:

• A round medallion plate describing the goddess Cybele on a chariot, in front of a fire altar, and under a depiction of Helios
• A fully preserved bronze statue of Herakles
• Various golden serpentine arm jewellery and earrings
• Some Indian artefacts, found in the treasure room of the city, probably brought back by Eucratides from his campaigns
• A toilet tray representing a seated Aphrodite
• A mold representing a bearded and diademed middle-aged man

Various artefacts of daily life are also clearly Hellenistic: sundials, ink wells, tableware. An almost life-sized dark green glass phallus with a small owl on the back side and other treasures are said to have been discovered at Ai-Khanoum, possibly along with a stone with an inscription, which was not recovered. The artefacts have now been returned to the Kabul Museum after several years in Switzerland by Paul Bucherer-Dietschi, Director of the Swiss Afghanistan Institute.[12]

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  Bronze Herakles statuette. Ai-Khanoum. 2nd century BC.
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  Bracelet with horned female busts. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
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  Stone recipients from Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.
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  Imprint from a mold found in Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.
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  Ai-Khanoum ivory statuette. Temple of Indented Niches.[13]

One of the Hellenistic-inspired "flame palmettes" and lotus designs, which may have been transmitted through Ai-Khanoum. Rampurva bull capital, India, circa 250 BCE.

According to John Boardman, Ai-Khanoum may have been one of the conduits for some art influence into ancient India, though these influences and their sources are "not always properly identified or yet identifiable".[20] There are three competing scholarly views: one originated by early scholars such as Percy Brown where Indian architecture was due to immigration of western craftsmen, second by later scholars such as John Irwin who favor mostly indigenous inspiration and third such as S.P. Gupta who favor a combination.[20] Persia, states Boardman, did not have a stone tradition of its own that can be traced, but there is evidence that "Persian bases of a plain half round torus" combined with Corinthian capitals existed there, and there is evidence that India had an intricate wooden architecture tradition about the same time. It is possible that Ai-Khanoum, a Greek city of Bactria in 3rd-century BCE, could have provided the conduit to connect the Hellenistic and Indian artists. However, Persepolis fell about 80 years before the first Buddhist stone architecture appeared, which leaves the question whether knowledge was preserved over the generations between Persepolis to the west of Ai-Khanoum and the Mauryans to its east.[20]