Power Through Religion and Religion Through Power: Royal Agency and Local Cults in Hellenistic Central Asia and Northwest India

During the Hellenistic period, Central Asia and northwestern India witnessed the emergence of religious interaction between local cultures and the Greek world. Although historiographic sources on this period are fragmentary and few in number, archaeological, epigraphic, and numismatic sources are gradually shedding light on the easternmost area of the Hellenistic worlds known to date. If the public image of the Greek rulers who reigned in the region tends to strongly emphasize their belonging to the Graeco-Macedonian cultural sphere, nevertheless in this still little-known historical context, remarkable case studies emerge that on the contrary show how local cults were the object of strong interest and participation on the part of the dominant group. Taking into consideration the available evidence on the Iranian cult of the god Oxus, on the Hindu religion, and Buddhism (also in the light of the excavations in Barikot, Swat), this contribution aims to understand how Greek royal authority and its representatives relate to local cults in the geographical areas under examination.