This paper examines how the Greek alphabet was borrowed, adapted, and transformed between Mesopotamia and northwestern India from the Hellenistic period to the first centuries CE. Through inscriptions, papyri, and especially coin legends, it explores varying levels of Greek linguistic competence and the creative adaptation of Greek script to render Semitic, Iranian and Indian languages. The study highlights Greek’s enduring administrative and symbolic prestige alongside processes of linguistic experimentation driven by multicultural political contexts, culminating in the standardization of Bactrian as an imperial script under the Kushans.
Writing Systems in the Hellenistic Far East: Traditions and Innovations
Omar Coloru
2026-01-01
Abstract
This paper examines how the Greek alphabet was borrowed, adapted, and transformed between Mesopotamia and northwestern India from the Hellenistic period to the first centuries CE. Through inscriptions, papyri, and especially coin legends, it explores varying levels of Greek linguistic competence and the creative adaptation of Greek script to render Semitic, Iranian and Indian languages. The study highlights Greek’s enduring administrative and symbolic prestige alongside processes of linguistic experimentation driven by multicultural political contexts, culminating in the standardization of Bactrian as an imperial script under the Kushans.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
