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Iran-Pakistan. The past, now and future.

Google Taxila, coins and if your looking for Greek era coins use that term or try "Gandhara" or try "Sirkap". Try images and you should get 100s of hits. Some real interesting stuff is kept at the Taxila Museum.

Taxila Museum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taxila Museum coins - Google Search

The right-hand side photos of coins of each set are interesting for me, because they are written by hebrew aramaic alphabet. What era they belong to?
Apparently, each coin has two languages. Greek on one side, hebrew-aramaic on the other side.


Introduction[edit]
Taxila Museum is situated in Taxila a tehsil of Rawalpindi. This is a site museum and its collection mainly focuses on Gandharan art. These sites at Taxila date back to 600 or 700 BC.

>>> It does not make sense for me. I guess They should not belong to 600-700BC, rather they should belong to Hellenistic Period.
 
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The right-hand side photos of coins of each set are interesting for me, because they are written by hebrew aramaic alphabet. What era they belong to?
Apparently, each coin has two languages. Greek on one side, hebrew-aramaic on the other side.


Introduction[edit]
Taxila Museum is situated in Taxila a tehsil of Rawalpindi. This is a site museum and its collection mainly focuses on Gandharan art. These sites at Taxila date back to 600 or 700 BC.

>>> It does not make sense for me. I guess They should not belong to 600-700BC, rather they should belong to Hellenistic Period.

Wikipedia should never be treated as absolute source and this applies in particular to do anything with Pakistan. To get precise info you need to look with Numismatics catalogue. From what I know most coins from Gandhara region were in Greek and Kharosthi script. Hope this helps.

Kharosthi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat ... - Rafi U. Samad - Google Books
 
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Wikipedia should never be treated as absolute source and this applies in particular to do anything with Pakistan. To get precise info you need to look with Numismatics catalogue. From what I know most coins from Gandhara region were in Greek and Kharosthi script. Hope this helps.

Kharosthi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat ... - Rafi U. Samad - Google Books

Bro, the coins are fully readable by hebrew-aramic alphabet. As I read your links, the Kharosthi belongs to Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic era, as I expected. It seems that it is basically Aramic language, used for writing Indic languages. Wikipedia claims that it has extensive modification compared to Aramic, but this claim is non-sense. Anyway, thanks for sharing links.
 
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Bro, the coins are fully readable by hebrew-aramic alphabet. As I read your links, the Kharosthi belongs to Hellenistic and post-Hellenistic era, as I expected. It seems that it is basically Aramic language, used for writing Indic languages. Wikipedia claims that it has extensive modification compared to Aramic, but this claim is non-sense.

Well I warned you. When it comes to anything on Pakistan use Wiki only as indicator. Even that sometimes is wrong. Indian and Pak nationalism collide and millions of Indian internet warriors have taken over Wiki and turned it into Wikindia. The Taxila, Sirkap, Takht Bai region of Pakistan ( Gandhara ) is full of ancient history dating from well before Alexander's invasion.

Sirkap Google Maps
Taxila Google Maps

Google Maps

250px-IndoGreekNeptune.JPG


Gandhara Poseidon - Taxila

PoseidonGandhara.JPG


map_taxila-sirkap-city.jpg


457498d1344340391-taxila-museum-sirkap-remains-khanpur-dam-img_3485.jpg
 
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Yes i am Iranian, but i grew up outside of Iran and never took my Persian seriously when i was young and growing up in a foreign country so now it isnt good at all, although i can still read and write and understand a few basic things but not well. Most other Iranian members here i think are in Iran so can help you with Persian if that is what you are asking. I can help you just a little.
Hi,
Can you give me the names of the books please, regarding Iranian history ?
And do you know how difficult it is to tag your name ? :D
 
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If the sanctions (esp. those which directly target Iran financial institutions and banks) are eased then through increased trade -- as Islamic neighbours the ties must be enhanced

there are many ambassadors on both sides who help bring them together.....many Iranians grew up in Pakistan in the past decades esp. after Shah era; and many Pakistanis have ancestral links to Iran
 
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Well I warned you. When it comes to anything on Pakistan use Wiki only as indicator. Even that sometimes is wrong. Indian and Pak nationalism collide and millions of Indian internet warriors have taken over Wiki and turned it into Wikindia. The Taxila, Sirkap, Takht Bai region of Pakistan ( Gandhara ) is full of ancient history dating from well before Alexander's invasion.

Sirkap Google Maps
Taxila Google Maps

Google Maps

250px-IndoGreekNeptune.JPG


Gandhara Poseidon - Taxila

PoseidonGandhara.JPG

I understand it. Wikipedia is no reliable source about history of any controversial country.
The second photo is again a Hellenistic era sculpture. I am not sure about the first photo, but it seems to belong to the era that Buddhism got wide-spread in that area. I understand that, those regions have ancient civilizations, but I am always bothered by the sloppy approach of some historians and their books, :lol:
 
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I understand it. Wikipedia is no reliable source about history of any controversial country.
The second photo is again a Hellenistic era sculpture. I am not sure about the first photo, but it seems to belong to the era that Buddhism got wide-spread in that area. I understand that, those regions have ancient civilizations, but I am always bothered by the sloppy approach of some historians and their books, :lol:

Don't mind me asking but are you from Azerbaijhan? And can you read Aramaic? You appear to be well versed in these matters.
 
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Don't mind me asking but are you from Azerbaijhan? And can you read Aramaic? You appear to be well versed in these matters.

I am Azeri-Iranian living in USA. Ancient Near Eastern, (West)Iranian Plateau, and Caspian region history are my favorite topics. I have taken two courses in reading of some of ancient language. Yes, I can read Hebrew-Aramic texts(I need to improve my aramic though), as well as Avestan, and a few more writing systems.
 
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Are u sure ?

After the Revolution - a reasonably large # of Iranians settled in Pakistan especially Karachi. Some remained and are still there, some moved and would later settle in EU
 
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I am Azeri-Iranian living in USA. Ancient Near Eastern, (West)Iranian Plateau, and Caspian region history are my favorite topics. I have taken two courses in reading of some of ancient language. Yes, I can read Hebrew-Aramic texts(I need to improve my aramic though), as well as Avestan, and a few more writing systems.

Great, so I can rely on you for reading text ...... Watch this thread. I have seen pictures of Esfahan and I think the architecture is amazing. Well I found about a place in Pakistan which is destroyed and in ruins but it sort of reminds me of Esfahan. I will upload them later ...
 
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Great, so I can rely on you for reading text ...... Watch this thread. I have seen pictures of Esfahan and I think the architecture is amazing. Well I found about a place in Pakistan which is destroyed and in ruins but it sort of reminds me of Esfahan. I will upload them later ...

looking forward to read your updates in this thread. :tup:
 
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I need to do more reading. Your appear to be giving me history through the eyes of Europeans. For a start you keep on using the word "Indian", If your quoting original Iranian sources can you please give me the term used in Persian and if possible the accurate transliteration as of 2015.

And how west into Greece did the Achaemenids go? Into Macedonia?

What is known about the Achaemenids IS presented largely through the eyes of Europeans because the majority of written sources from that period (5th to 3rd century BC) are Greek. The surviving Old Persian records are much fewer in number and the ones that are available mainly deal with daily life in terms of trade, economics etc not political history, cultural studies etc It is from Greeks like Herodotus, Aeschylus, Xenophon, Aristotle etc that most of the written source material comes from. Although of course the Greeks were biased but not necessarily hostile. Deciphering the Achaemenids from the Persian perspective largely depends on archaeology, numismatics etc because of the lack of written material in Old Persian that is available from that time. Writing is not something that was common among the people in ancient Iran like it was in ancient Greece where many people learnt how to write and had a strong tradition of philosophy. Iranian tradition particularly Zoroastrian was more oral in that era.

It doesnt matter to me anyway whether a scholar is Western or Iranian or what their nationality is. What matters is that their works have been peer reviewed and then published by reputable publishers and journals. Western and Iranian academics, especially historians, work closely together with each other anyway and have done for decades now so there is no difference for us. Many of the works i read are written by Iranian historians such as Homa Katouzian, Parvaneh Pourshariati, Kaveh Farrokh, Touraj Darayee, Abbas Milani, Ali Ansari etc depending on the era of Iranian history in question.

In Iranian history modern Pakistan is no different from modern India both countries are seen as just "India" (Hend). Like i told you thats why the word Hendu was coined in Persian for South Asia. Its like the word for Pashtus in Persian is Afghan (probably Avghan originally) not Pashtu. Pashtons didnt actually call themselves Afghans initially. Thats what Persians and then Arabs and Turks started calling them. The peoples east of Afghanistan are Hendus (Indians) racially, not necessarily religiously. Hendi is still the word for an Indian in Persian. There are no equivalent words in Persian for different types of Indian peoples like you probably have in your own languages they are all just 'Indians' in Persian.

Macedonia and Thrace were the western limits of the Achaemenid empire, along with parts of Libya in North Africa.

Hi,
Can you give me the names of the books please, regarding Iranian history ?
And do you know how difficult it is to tag your name ? :D

Touraj Daryaee is a good start for Sassanid history, and so is Kaveh Farrokh. But dont read Kaveh Farrokh's book on 'Iran at War' because he is a specialist on ancient history rather than other eras and that book was quite rushed before going to the publishers. I didnt like it. Michael Axworthy also is a good historian on Iran and has about 3 books worth reading.

Mary Boyce and Jenny Rose are worth reading for a general history on Zoroastrianism to start with. Homa Katouzian also has a book on general Iranian history although his speciality is more later history, not so much ancient history. Abbas Milani and Ali Ansari are good for modern Iran.

There is also a book on just the Achaemenids published by Cambridge University Press last year which will give you a general overview of their history, i forgot the authors name. Then there are a few more specialist books on ancient Iran, one by Josef Wiesehofer and one tome edited by John Curtis (its a collection of articles by different academics) followed by the specialist series on Iranian history edited by Sarah Stewart (these are also a collection of books with articles from many different academics).

Some good books have also been published on the Safavids in the past few years after a very long time of nothing being published about that era if you are interested in them too.
 
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