{"id":156943,"date":"2023-05-05T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T00:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=156943"},"modified":"2023-05-06T00:09:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T00:09:01","slug":"ancient-buddha-statue-unearthed-in-egyptian-port-city-of-berenike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/history\/ancient-buddha-statue-unearthed-in-egyptian-port-city-of-berenike\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Buddha Statue Unearthed in Egyptian Port City of Berenike"},"content":{"rendered":"           <!--  <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n                jQuery(document).ready(function() {\r\n                    jQuery(\".key-accordion-item .key-menu\").on(\"click\", function() {\r\n                        if (jQuery(this).parent().hasClass(\"active\")) {\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                        } else {\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-content\").slideUp();\r\n                            jQuery(\".key-accordion-item\").removeClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).parent().addClass(\"active\");\r\n                            jQuery(this).next().slideDown();\r\n                        }\r\n                    });\r\n                })\r\n            <\/script> -->\r\n\r\n\r\n            <!-- start html -->\r\n\r\n            <div class=\"news-key-takeaway-wapper\">\r\n                                <span style=\"background-color:#EF8638;\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\r\n                <ul class=\"news-key-nbox\" style=\"border-color:#EF8638;background-color:rgba(239, 134, 56, 0.1);\">\r\n                                                        <li>Archaeologists have discovered a 1,900-year-old statue of Buddha in the ancient Egyptian port city of Berenike, offering substantial evidence of the trade and cultural exchange that occurred between ancient Rome and India.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The statue, the earliest known representation of Buddha found to the west of Afghanistan, is carved from Mediterranean marble and measures 28 inches in height.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>Berenike played a significant role as one of the largest ports under Roman rule in Egypt, allowing for the exchange of goods such as ivory, textiles, and semi-precious metals.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>An inscription discovered at Berenike suggests the presence of an established Indian merchant community residing in the city, as opposed to merely passing traders.<\/li>\r\n                                                                    <li>The ongoing excavations in Berenike, which commenced in 1994, are a collaborative effort between American and Polish research teams and have resulted in significant findings that emphasize the existence of a global economy that interconnected Europe, Africa, and Asia during the first century of the Christian era.<\/li>\r\n                                                <\/ul>\r\n            <\/div>\r\n            \n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remarkable Discovery Sheds Light on Cultural Exchange between Ancient Rome and India<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A team of archaeologists has made a fascinating discovery in the form of a 1,900-year-old statue of Buddha in the ancient Egyptian port city of Berenike, located along the Red Sea coast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This statue, which is the earliest known representation of Buddha found to the west of Afghanistan, offers substantial evidence of the trade and cultural exchange that occurred between ancient Rome and India.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statue measures 28 inches (71 centimeters) in height and portrays Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. The depiction shows him standing while holding parts of his robes with his left hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A halo surrounds Buddha&#8217;s head, from which sunlight radiates downwards, signifying his enlightened mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statue, carved from Mediterranean marble, is believed to have been created in Alexandria around the second century C.E.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>The Importance of Berenike in Ancient Trade Networks<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Established in the third century B.C.E., Berenike played a significant role as one of the largest ports under Roman rule in Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city&#8217;s strategic position on the trade route connected the Roman Empire to various parts of the ancient world, allowing for the exchange of goods such as ivory, textiles, and semi-precious metals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Berenike was ultimately abandoned around the sixth century C.E.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>                        <!-- <div class=\"container-c\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- <div class=\"row justify-content-between\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- <div class=\"col-post-800\"> -->\r\n                        <!-- start html -->\r\n                        <div class=\"blockquote-wapper\">\r\n                            <div>\r\n                                <span class=\"text_quot\">\r\n                                    <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statue measures 28 inches (71 centimeters) in height and portrays Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. The depiction shows him standing while holding parts of his robes with his left hand.<\/span><\/p>\n                                <\/span>\r\n\r\n                                <div class=\"quot_icon\">\r\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-content\/themes\/culture\/icons\/i_quot.svg\" type=\"image\/svg+xml\">\r\n                                <\/div>\r\n                            <\/div>\r\n\r\n                            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"quot_tick\" src=\"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-content\/themes\/culture\/icons\/i_quot_tri.svg\" type=\"image\/svg+xml\">\r\n                        <\/div>\r\n                        <!-- end html -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                        <!-- <\/div> -->\r\n                                    <\/h2>\n<h2>The Presence of an Established Indian Merchant Community<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An intriguing separate Sanskrit inscription discovered at Berenike dates back to the rule of Roman Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus, more commonly known as &#8220;Philip the Arab.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This finding suggests the presence of an established Indian merchant community residing in the city, as opposed to merely passing traders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This information aligns with ancient historical records that indicate Indians, some of whom were Buddhists, lived in Alexandria.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Ongoing Excavations at Berenike<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The excavations in Berenike, which commenced in 1994, are a collaborative effort between American and Polish research teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The American team is led by Steven Sidebotham, a historian at the University of Delaware, while the Polish team is headed by Mariusz Gwiazda, an archaeologist at the University of Warsaw.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In spite of political turmoil and financial constraints, both teams have persisted in their efforts to uncover the history of the now-deserted port.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A significant find occurred in 1999 when a jar filled with 17 pounds of black peppercorns was discovered in a Berenike temple.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These peppercorns, dating back to the first century, were exclusively grown in southwestern India during that period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This discovery, among others, emphasizes the existence of a global economy that interconnected Europe, Africa, and Asia during the first century of the Christian era, with Berenike exemplifying this intricate network.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":156942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}