Abstract/Summary

Religious life in Hellenistic Bactria was rich and diverse. Regrettably, the sources for the region, both textual and archaeological, are problematic due to their provenance and distance from the people who lived there. However, certain parts of Hellenistic Bactrian religious activity do shine through. Aspects of Mediterranean, Iranian, South Asian, and seemingly local religious activities appear through the inscriptions, coins, and archaeological materials, and these activities were present within the same spaces. Unfortunately, previous approaches for this evidence would highlight one tradition or another but would not account for the complete picture of the evidence. This thesis presents three theoretical models for approaching the lived religious life of people in Hellenistic Bactria: transplanting sacred landscapes, multi-religious spaces, and the early migration of Buddhism into Central Asia. The transplanting sacred landscapes model considers how displaced ancient people would have interacted with new geographies to fulfill their spiritual needs. The multi-religious spaces model accounts for the complexity of polytheistic traditions, allowing for a deeper understanding of religious spaces as living, breathing places where visitors and local people engage in ritual, religious practice, and connection. Finally, the model for the early migration of Buddhism into Central Asia considers the evidence for Buddhist travel during the Hellenistic Period and the reasons for a lack of material evidence for Early Buddhist practice to determine when and how Buddhists arrived and lived in Hellenistic Bactria. Through these models, this thesis intends to broaden our current understanding of the lived religious experience of ancient people in Hellenistic Bactria, accounting for the rich diversity of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices appearing in the evidence.