RELIGION IN ANCIENT BACTRIA

The coins and religious monuments found in the city of Ai-Khanoum have provided useful information about the religion of the Greeks in Central Asia. Taking into account the coin imagery, it is easily understood that the official pantheon was almost entirely Greek. The Gods and Goddesses most often seen on the coins are Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Heracles, the Dioscuri, Artemis and Athena; She is usually depicted in her Macedonian form,as Athena Alkidemos, symbolising the strong bond that the Greco-Bactrians still had with their faraway homeland.Also,Nike and Tyche, the Greek Goddesses of victory and good fortune respectively, are often honoured on the coins. Indications of influence of local gods are rare.

The significance of  bulls and elephants on the coins remains ambiguous. Both animals are common in Greek and Indian symbolism. They are seen on Seleucid coins and they are also Sacred to Shiva and Indra. The coins ofAgathocles,one of the first Indo-Greek Kings who penetrated into Punjab,are quite special,since those which were stuck in his Indian territories depict local gods,such as Krishna, his brother Balarama and an Indian goddess who holds a flower. 

 The sanctuary of Ai-Khanoum is one of the most important Bactrian sanctuaries. Its temple was massive, raised  on a high, three-stepped base with its outer walls decorated with indented niches. Inside the temple, a large vestibule led into a smaller chapel flanked by two sacristies. Opposite the entrance stood the cult image. Outside the city walls, there was another temple with a similar architecture.

 There was also another sanctuary at the south-west corner of the 
acropolis, built around a monumental stepped platform, which was  used as an open-air altar. This sanctuary was probably used for worship local gods; ancient sources describe how the Iranians worshiped the forces of nature aniconically and in high open spaces. These two monuments outside the city could have indeed used for local gods- the main temple, however was dedicated to the Religion of the Greek settlers.

The only surviving fragment of the statue is a foot wearing a Greek sandal, sculpted in utmost detail. The thunderbolts carved on the sandal, make us identify the God worshiped in that temple as Zeus; and obviously his statue was made in a completely Greek fashion . Yet, The discovery of buried votive vases at the foot of the edifice suggests a type of ritual not encountered in the standard Hellenistic Religion.

In a temple of Dilberjin, the shrine hosts painted images of the Dioskouroi- a finding which confirms that Greek Gods were worshiped in temples which had oriental architecture.The monumental temple of Jandial at Taxila is undoubtedly Greek in architecture, even though it has some features uncommon for a standard Greek building. This temple serves as further indication that temples created in a Greek style really existed in the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. The same can be said about Afghanistan, since the city of Ai-Khanoum is a testament to the existence of Greek architecture in Bactria, both secular and religious.

The information available on the local cults north of Hindu Kush is quite limited, for the time being. What is certain is the importance of  The Oxus river, as the God who blessed the land with his water. The discovery of a statuette at Takht-i Sangin, which represents the Oxus in the form of the satyr Marsyas playing the double flute, brings to mind the way Greeks depicted Meander, the great River of  Asia Minor. The resemblace between the imagery of the two river-gods has led to the theory that Greeks from the valley of Meander migrated to Bactria in the time of the Seleucids.

 The sources about the Greek lands south of Hindu Kush provide evidence about how the Greek colonists viewed the local religions of Buddhism and Hinduism.For example, Heliodorus of Taxila, an ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas, who served at the court of the king of the Vidis´a region, was a devotee of Vishnu, as can be seen from his inscription on a votive column at Besnagar. Also, Buddhism was seen positively by the Greeks, as its noble ideas matched with the principles of Greek Religion and philosophy. 

The conversion of Menander, the most famous of the Indo-Greek sovereigns, to the ‘Good Law’ as described in the Indian work entitled 'Milindapañha' is a testimony of Menander’s personal sympathy for Buddhism and shows the power of the Buddhist teachings. As the Greek dominion over Gandhara was coming to an end,Theodorus, a local governor, dedicated a Buddhist reliquary in Swat. Bactria was the land where the Greek civilizations merged with Buddhism and produced a fascinating heritage.