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<p>[QUOTE="SeptimusT, post: 8182555, member: 91240"]I would say that a Eurocentric worldview is not justifiable because it doesn't do justice to reality. This isn't me being politically correct [disclaimer: I use the term loosely; this is a legitimate historical discussion, not a political one] or understating the breathtaking achievements of Europeans, but the reality is that nothing happens in a vacuum. </p><p><br /></p><p>Cross-cultural interplay and exchange are an important part of world history, and they go in all directions. There are some big ones that we've probably all heard of, like that the stirrup was invented in Asia, or how the Chinese invented gunpowder and pioneered firearms. There are also the ones that are more difficult to nail down. There are artistic ones, like symbols descended from Greek mythology showing up in Japan, or Britannia (a Roman goddess rooted in Greek religion) becoming a symbol of the British Empire. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are also cultural ones, some of them very deep. European culture is descended from <i>Indo-</i>European culture, which started on the central Asian steppe (probably around modern Ukraine) and spread to India, Europe, and many places in between. Egypt influences India, India influences China, China influences Italy... it's like following a thousand different threads that go over and over one another. You're right that Europe didn't look so promising in AD 1000, but the factors that led to its success were complicated and we have to look beyond Europe to understand some of them. We can't tell an honest history of Europe – let alone of the world – unless we also look beyond Europe. Peter Frankopan's <i>The Silk Roads </i>is good book for getting at some of these big ideas. </p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, this stuff fascinates me, and thinking about it has really changed how I think about, well, everything. It also drives my collecting philosophy, and since this is a coin forum, here's an Indo-Scythian coin that depicts Athena possibly performing a Buddhist <i>mudra</i> (symbolic hand gesture):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/athena-png.1043952/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><b>Indo-Scythian Kings, Azes II, AR Drachm, 15mm, 1.92g, ~58-12 BC</b></p><p><b>Obverse</b>: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY AZOY, King mounted on horse right, holding whip</p><p><b>Reverse</b>: Pallas Athena standing right, holding right hand in gesture (<i>vitarka mudra</i>?), holding spear in left, monograms at left and right, Kharoshthi legend around: <i>maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa / ayasa</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="SeptimusT, post: 8182555, member: 91240"]I would say that a Eurocentric worldview is not justifiable because it doesn't do justice to reality. This isn't me being politically correct [disclaimer: I use the term loosely; this is a legitimate historical discussion, not a political one] or understating the breathtaking achievements of Europeans, but the reality is that nothing happens in a vacuum. Cross-cultural interplay and exchange are an important part of world history, and they go in all directions. There are some big ones that we've probably all heard of, like that the stirrup was invented in Asia, or how the Chinese invented gunpowder and pioneered firearms. There are also the ones that are more difficult to nail down. There are artistic ones, like symbols descended from Greek mythology showing up in Japan, or Britannia (a Roman goddess rooted in Greek religion) becoming a symbol of the British Empire. There are also cultural ones, some of them very deep. European culture is descended from [I]Indo-[/I]European culture, which started on the central Asian steppe (probably around modern Ukraine) and spread to India, Europe, and many places in between. Egypt influences India, India influences China, China influences Italy... it's like following a thousand different threads that go over and over one another. You're right that Europe didn't look so promising in AD 1000, but the factors that led to its success were complicated and we have to look beyond Europe to understand some of them. We can't tell an honest history of Europe – let alone of the world – unless we also look beyond Europe. Peter Frankopan's [I]The Silk Roads [/I]is good book for getting at some of these big ideas. Anyway, this stuff fascinates me, and thinking about it has really changed how I think about, well, everything. It also drives my collecting philosophy, and since this is a coin forum, here's an Indo-Scythian coin that depicts Athena possibly performing a Buddhist [I]mudra[/I] (symbolic hand gesture): [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/athena-png.1043952/[/IMG] [B]Indo-Scythian Kings, Azes II, AR Drachm, 15mm, 1.92g, ~58-12 BC Obverse[/B]: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY AZOY, King mounted on horse right, holding whip [B]Reverse[/B]: Pallas Athena standing right, holding right hand in gesture ([I]vitarka mudra[/I]?), holding spear in left, monograms at left and right, Kharoshthi legend around: [I]maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa / ayasa[/I][/QUOTE]
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