Why is there ancient Greek text on Afghan banknotes? | Hacker News Reader

Why is there ancient Greek text on Afghan banknotes?

llewelynmorgan.com

100 pointsblinskey19 comments

Afghan here.

When I was a kid, my dad would tell me about our clan's origin story.

Basically, as Pashtuns (and some other ethnicities mixed in there), we trace our origins to Ancient Greece, and not just that, but as descendants of great greek conquerors who came and eventually settled on that land. Our origin story is all oral, (since my dad told me, and his dad told him, etc etc down the generations), so I am not sure how to corroborate them, but various things of the Afghan culture are linked to practices from Greece, etc.

I remember listening to his stories as a kid and not really caring, but now that I am older, they are really quite interesting!

Was your clan of the Hazara group ?

Pashtun primarily (I think > 80%?), although we have a mix of Haraza, some Nuristani, Turkmen, etc in our bloodlines. The Hazara mix comes primarily from the maternal sides though.

Err, because Afghanistan was conquered and became part of the hellenistic kingdoms created by Alexander the Great?

The last half of the article gets into that. Sure, of course that was the case, but it was also later taken over by the Persian muslim invasion, so why the greek motif?

He covers two questions: 2- how it got there at all and 2 - why it appears on the note.

But the author didn't get it right though. His conclusion- "By highlighting its Greek heritage, Afghanistan could claim a share of the classical origins of Europe and the West", aspiring to "the 'civilizational norms' of the developed world"- is a tired formula of western Orientalism. The Seleucid Greek culture has had an enduring impact on the people and culture of Afghanistan, as anyone can see by the Buddhas there which matched the muscled aesthetic of Apollo statutes, as opposed to usual image of the sitting Buddhas in China. Greek culture wasn't some attempt to manufacture legitimacy for national boundaries in the '30s. Interestingly, it seems that the desire to inherit the legacy of Alexander the Great's feats is not limited to the people in his kingdom. After all, Sean Connery in the film "The Man who would be King" is one of the more famous depictions of Kipling's novella on wayward westerners trying to capture an Alexander glory from the locals, including Civilization V, Star Trek episodes, Jimmy Buffet songs, etc.

Also: Once the Taliban took over, I think everyone can agree that they represented the polar opposite of modernity and ties to Europe. Despite destroying the Buddhas, they did not destroy the Greek antiquities or scrub the Greek from their money.

>Greek culture wasn't some attempt to manufacture legitimacy for national boundaries in the '30s. Interestingly, it seems that the desire to inherit the legacy of Alexander the Great's feats is not limited to the people in his kingdom.

Exactly. He kind of produced a real multi-cultural empire (even if the Greek element dominated some aspects) instead of mere subject nations, and those belonging to it respected it and cherished this past more than e.g. countries conquered by the Roman empire did or countries colonized by the British etc.

I love the debate in ancient historical studies, that argues if those people that were "conquered" by Alexander and were subjects to later rulers (even though the often tried to deviate from this status by violent or nonviolent means), simply adapted to the new influence not because it was necessary, but because it was fashionable.

Just like a lot of people are fascinate by American culture today and therefore try to learn English or watch Hollywood movies.

tired formula of western Orientalism

Well stated.

> Despite destroying the Buddhas, they did not destroy the Greek antiquities

My guess would be simply because Buddha is a symbol of a modern religion, whereas the Greek antiquities are not.

That doesn't make much sense; both predate Islam by over a millenium.

Buddhism remains practiced in the modern world on a significant level, ancient Greek polytheism is not. In that way, Buddha statues are a symbol of something that the Taliban is actively opposed to, whereas Greek antiquities, even to the extent that they contain specific religious content, generally are not.

I suppose I don't understand where the Taliban is coming from on this (presuming it's an accurate reflection of their thought process). Both the atheism of orthodox Buddhism and the polytheism of Greek antiquities are haraam.

except of course that some greeks were buddhist but whatever.

Ancient Greek Buddhists?

I believe they're likely referring to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

It was not that 'some greeks were buddhist" (an insignificant number might have been), but in that some buddhists in those areas were influenced by the ancient greeks / greek culture which arrived there with Alexander the Great.

So it's the other way around mostly. E.g. you can find statues of Buddha after that interaction that are clearly influenced by hellenic sculptures (in their look and aesthetics), but not the inverse (greek e.g. Apollo statues influenced by Buddhist statues).

True but some Greeks really were Buddhist. Remember Bactria is pretty far from Greece

TL;DR It had something to do with a random dude named Alex

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