Tejas Aralere (University of New Hampshire), “Ancient Societies Workshop: Ionians, Yavanas, and Kushans: Re-thinking ‘Hellenistic’ Science” (ARCHAIA)

Abstract: This talk presents evidence that re-examines the legacy of Hellenism in India by reassessing the identity of the “Yavana” ethnonym often applied to Greeks living in Northwestern ancient India, generally named Bactria. The term is a Sanskrit transliteration of “Ionia” by way of the Achaemenids. But this traditional narrative omits their interaction with the Yuezhi, the Central Asian warrior tribes who migrated south and established the Kuṣāṇa (Kushan) Empire (2nd cent. BCE–4th cent. CE). This talk challenges the prevailing view of the Yavanas as “Indo-Greeks” by situating them as an innovative culture within the broader geopolitical context of Eurasian and Sino-Indian framework of exchange. Building on my first monograph-in-progress, “Cosmic Embodiment: Astrological Melothesia in the Ancient Mediterranean and South Asia,” I argue that the fusion of Greco-Babylonian zodiacal theory with Indian jyotiṣa in the Yavana Jātaka, a 2nd-century CE Sanskrit astral science treatise, arose from intellectual contact zones such as the ancient university town Takṣaśilã (Taxila), where Hellenistic, Indian, and Yuezhi populations converged and became vital trading partners with the Roman Empire. By integrating textual, numismatic, and epigraphic evidence, my talk emphasizes how the Yuezhi-Yavana networks transformed Hellenistic identity and facilitated transregional development of astral science. This talk relocates the development of scientific knowledge from Alexandrian and Mediterranean centers to Eastern loci, reframing Hellenistic-era knowledge production, preservation, and propagation as occurring within a rich network of ancient academic centers.