Buried Ancient Egyptian Port Reveals Hidden Connections () Distant Civilizations

Seems like the fact of a large India-Egypt trade link via the red sea was known atleast a year back, and specifically this evidence from Berenike. This [0] link describes the author William Dalrymple talking about it and also about his book [1] which is already out, which presumably covers this in more detail. A lot of Indian scholars are (re)discovering Indic history and we can expect much more of ancient India specific history to come out, which was unknown or has been forgotten over the ages, given the ancient nature of the Indian civilization.

[0] https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/economy/story/indias-anc... [1] https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Road-Ancient-India-Transformed...

While a lot of these finds are new and wonderful, especially that sanskrit inscription, the connections between the civilizations weren't exactly hidden. There are references to Hindus and Buddhists sprinkled throughout Greek histories, there were Greco-Buddhist kingdoms in what's now Afghanistan, Ashoka sent missionaries with his Buddhist edicts far west and had them translated into Greek and Aramaic.

I think the development of Christianity and later Greek philosophy has _clear_ signs of influence from Buddhism, and I'm sure the influence was bidirectional. These people talked to each other and they argued with each other and learned from each other. Egypt in particular was a wildly religiously inventive melting pot, and the Hermetic and Gnostic texts _especially_ have signs of influence from eastern religion, and if there were active Buddhist communities in Berineke that were presumably proselytizing, that makes a lot of sense.

I think a lot of people sort of make the assumption that because there are core differences between the religions that there is no influence, but sometimes doctrines only become settled through opposition. It's not always "Yes, and", sometimes it's "yes, but", and the popularity of certain ideas (for example the idea of salvation through personal enlightment) could force various sects to adapt and find similarities, while also differentiating themselves. Christianity is obviously not buddhism or an offshoot of Buddhism, but that doesn't mean that aspects of it weren't a reaction to encounters with Buddhist ideas.

Truly great article, and surprisingly lives up entirely to the very click-bait sounding title. The writer has a great mix of anecdotes, facts, and images.

I feel like we don't often hear about times where these civilizations and religions mingled and worked together. The Isis temple would have been something to see.

History is fascinating. It's fairly common knowledge in academia there are sites in East Africa derived from Buddhist use with Indic names. The article touches on south-west subcontinental trading ports, mentioning Pattanam just north of modern Kochi in Kerala. I traveled there in 2011 (shortly after accidentally experiencing the start of the Arab Spring revolution in Tunisia!) when we were starting Kraken, and with a background in ancient Chinese history and many years in China, I was impressed to see many active cantilevered fishing structures erected in bamboo[0]: just the same as you can see today in some parts of China. There's also a theory that the monk who introduced Kung Fu in China was actually teaching an established martial art from this same region of Kerala (of course this is not entertained in China for political reasons, it makes a lot of sense). Most of Southeast Asia owes heavy cultural debts to southern Indian seafaring, as typified by the Borobodur bas-relief boat carving showing outriggers associated with southern India ("katthu-maram" = "two sticks tied together" = catamaran = technology which powered Austronesian seafaring)[1]. Incidentally, the very name China itself was asserted by a prominent historian to be possibly derived from an Indic name for a tribal confederation in Yunnan/Guizhou/Guangxi, Yelang.[2]

[0] https://www.outlooktraveller.com/experiences/heritage/chines... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur_ship [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinas

> He became friendly with the local tribespeople, who showed him ruins that archaeologists didn’t know existed. “They’ll take you to places—the last Westerner was some Roman guy,” he jokes.

Makes you really stop and think.

Raoul McLaughlin in The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean estimates that customs taxes on trade through Red Sea ports could have accounted for fully _one third_ of all Roman income in the first century AD. It’s always been fascinating to me what might have happened if Rome tried to play tall instead of wide.

Photos of the buddha that was discussed in the article and not shown: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berenike_Buddha

Travelling with the Ancients by Dr. Shailendra Bhandare : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grtom6O4jv8

There are two words in Hindi today, Kohl and Kajaal, which refer to black makeup, often made with lead, worn under the eyes. If you look for the etymology of Kohl, you'll find that it is from Akkadian[0]. The Sanskrit word, from where the Hindi word is descended, shares the exact same meaning as the Akkadian word[1], and they sound almost the same. How is this possible, if not for a connection between Bronze Age Indic and Near Eastern cultures?

It is quite probable that the modern categories by which we divide religions, nations, cultures, people, are all flawed when brought into relief as this article does. Social interchange is far more complex than 19th century definitions of national identity.

[0]https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gu%E1%B8%ABlum#Akkadian [1]https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/apte_query.py?qs=kajja...

Well written article. I was surprised by the lengths the author went to avoiding the use of the word Hindu. Those "Indic" deities are Hindu gods. The "undeniably Buddhist" reference to universal happiness is also likely the Hindu Upanishad chant of "सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः".

Anyone have insights on what would motivate an otherwise well informed author to do that?

Not directly related, but that whole area of the Red Sea in southern Egypt is gorgeous (Berenike aka Berenice, Marsa Allam, etc). Far away from the more crowded spots of Egypt. Scuba diving that in my opinion rivals or exceeds the Great Barrier Reef. Great for kitesurfing as well.

military air force base just there https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Banas

() replaces “between”

Which shorthand is this?

Wow! The extent and sophistication of ancient trade routes

Incredible article.

Oh, port. Not portal. Never mind.

Hidden in temple basements across India are manuscripts, undeciphered, some of which speak to this ancient era. Preserve them before they rot! Archaeological and historical preservation in India needs attention and resources.