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Greek art heavily influenced Buddhist art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhist_art https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism

And there were Buddhists in the Roman empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarmanochegas

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This is actually one of my favorite historical facts. Buddha images are everywhere in modern Thailand and it’s fascinating to me that this likely would not be the case if it weren’t for Greeks in Central Asia

Thailand (and most of SE Asia) is Theravada and received Buddhism directly from India while the Greek Buddhists were Mahayana and spread that thru the Silk Road into East Asia.

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