Download Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan, by Frank L. Holt
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Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan, by Frank L. Holt
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Drawing on ancient historical writings, the vast array of information gleaned in recent years from the study of Hellenistic coins, and startling archaeological evidence newly unearthed in Afghanistan, Frank L. Holt sets out to rediscover the ancient civilization of Bactria. In a gripping narrative informed by the author’s deep knowledge of his subject, this book covers two centuries of Bactria’s history, from its colonization by remnants of Alexander the Great’s army to the kingdom’s collapse at the time of a devastating series of nomadic invasions. Beginning with the few tantalizing traces left behind when the ‘empire of a thousand cities’ vanished, Holt takes up that trail and follows the remarkable and sometimes perilous journey of rediscovery.
Lost World of the Ancient King describes how a single bit of evidence—a Greek coin—launched a search that drew explorers to the region occupied by the tumultuous warring tribes of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Afghanistan. Coin by coin, king by king, the history of Bactria was reconstructed using the emerging methodologies of numismatics. In the twentieth century, extraordinary ancient texts added to the evidence. Finally, one of the ‘thousand cities’ was discovered and excavated, revealing an opulent palace, treasury, temple, and other buildings. Though these great discoveries soon fell victim to the Afghan political crisis that continues today, this book provides a thrilling chronicle of the search for one of the world’s most enigmatic empires.
- Sales Rank: #288650 in Books
- Published on: 2012-10-18
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.25" h x 1.13" w x 5.50" l, 1.25 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 368 pages
Review
"Holt has done a service in summarizing the scholarship about this outpost of Hellenism. Well written [and] of interest. . . . Recommended."--K. W. Harl, Tulane University"Choice" (04/19/2013)
Holt has done a service in summarizing the scholarship about this outpost of Hellenism. Well written [and] of interest. . . . Recommended. --K. W. Harl, Tulane University"Choice" (04/19/2013)"
From the Inside Flap
"Delightful and learned, and written in a crisp and vigorous style, this book will be read with great interest and profit by both scholars and general readers."
—Stanley Burstein, author of The Reign of Cleopatra
About the Author
Frank L. Holt, Professor of History at the University of Houston, is the author of Into the Land of Bones, Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions, and Thundering Zeus, all published by UC Press.
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan
By Dr L W H Taylor
I've just finished my first reading of Professor Frank Lee Holt's latest book 'Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan' recently published by University California Press. I say first reading because this is one of those books that I will find frequent occasion to refer to again, if not re-read for the pure joy of it (such as I have found to be the case with all Holt's books).
It is a superbly written, entertaining and brilliantly informative account of the the discoveries and personalities that have shaped our understanding of the Graeco-Bactrian realm and its abrupt demise, including the central role of numismatics in this endeavor. It tracks the development of numismatics from the simple 'Checklist Numismatics' approach (practiced by most collectors e.g the Twelve Caesars approach to collecting), through 'Framework Numismatics' to the latest development 'Cognitive Numismatics'. The latter is a term coined by Holt to describe how the interpretation of coins through the 'chaîne opératoire' can provide massive insights into the people and times of their production and circulation, removing the focus from the king or issuing authority to the common man/woman, the broader sweep of history and forces that shaped it.... cognitive numismatics make the coins speak!
I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in modern numismatics and the integration of the latter with history and archaeology. Although specific to Bactria in the context of the book, the learning arising from cognitive numismatics, which is still an evolving discipline, is equally applicable to to interpretation and understanding of the broader sweep of the last two and one half millennia of history. Fascinating stuff indeed and a great companion to Holt's seminal works 'Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria' and 'Into the Land of Bones: Alexander the Great and Afghanistan'. It is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the making of the history of Bactria.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
An entertaining presentation of how little we know about Hellenistic Bactria
By JPS
This is a well written and accessible book on how little we really know about Hellenistic Bactria following the expedition of Antiochus III, the Seleucid King, and his two-year siege of Bactra (208-206 BC).
There are several reasons for this. One is that most of the Greco-Roman written sources that could have informed us have not survived or have survived in only fragments or compressed summaries by later authors. Another is the sheer difficulty in accessing what is modern Afghanistan ever since the mid-nineteenth century when interest in Hellenistic history, archaeology and numismatics started to develop.
A third reason, to which the author devotes long sections of this book (and of some of his previous books as well) is because thousands of coins have and are being found constantly in the region but are smuggled out of the country and sold to private collectors or sometimes even to museums, therefore preventing any comprehensive identification and any analysis of their origin. The same occurs, more generally, for all archaeological artefacts in the region, with the national museum of Kabul having been pillaged more than once. Needless to say, this explains the somewhat long rant of the author on the subject. Historical evidence that could allow us to know a little bit more about this "lost world" is being destroyed on a daily basis because of the region's lawlessness.
There are also other issues at hand which the author discusses at length in the first part of his book, when presenting the historiography of Bactria. One particular point is that previous historians, W.W. Tarn in particular, have tended to come up with a narrative history of Hellenistic Bactria that owes more to their vivid imagination than to historical evidence. In other terms, they told fascinating stories, rather than history. Many aspects of these stories were in fact unsubstantiated statements that archaeological campaigns and numismatic findings have debunked, as the author explains in some detail. One limitation, perhaps, is that the author, by concentrating on numismatics, provides even less of a narrative than in his previous titles (Thunder of Zeus, in particular). Accordingly, reading this book at times imply that the reader has some prior knowledge about the Kings, pretenders and usurpers of Bactria and North-West India.
Nevertheless, the contents of the book remain mostly fascinating, including the section on Ain Khanoun whose exact Greek name is unknown but which was a major Greek city and very probably the capital of the Bactrian Kingdom during the Second Century BC. It was provided with all the trappings of a Greek polis including a theatre, a gymnasium, a propylea, temples, an arsenal, a palace complete with treasury and mint which may have been installed under the reign of Antiochus I, either between 281 and 261 BC, or perhaps even during the 290s when he was the viceroy in the East. Interesting points also include a discussion of the once prosperous economy surrounding the capital, with the two rivers providing ample water for irrigated agriculture and mines nearby providing a large range of minerals including precious metals.
The last sections, and in fact most of the book, are a dissertation on numismatics and, although scholarly, the author manages to avoid being boring and keep the reader interested (or, to be more accurate, he managed to keep me interested and focused!). It is in these sections that the specific types of coins are discussed, including those that are alluded to in the title (the "Golden King") and which include some of the largest silver and gold coins ever found. The composition and quality of the coins, and how these evolved and decayed over time are also discussed and used to show that the volume of coins expanded as the Kingdom became increasingly pressed and threatened, no doubt because it was needed to pay the soldiers and mercenaries.
A final finding is that the capital was not destroyed but abandoned but its inhabitants (presumably mostly of Greek descent or Hellenised) with the local populations living in the countryside moving to occupy its remains, and not doubt pillage them. We simply do not know whether the inhabitants intended to come back (some coin hoards could support such a view) or even what happened to them. Maybe they joined other Greek communities in more defensible locations further South or maybe they emigrated to nearby India. They have simply left no further record...
Four solid stars
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Great book on a subject rarely researched
By Karthikeyan
This book is a good book in trying to trace the history of a region and ruler not well researched. It also tries to encapsulate the various ways in which historians have been re-writing history of this region.
A part of the book though gets into hypothetical possibilities extrapolated multiple times just based on a single or very few instance/s of evidence. Interestingly, this book actually counters another book for the same reason.
Overall, a great book to read and understand even how history is written.
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