1st-century Buddha statue from ancient Egypt indicates Buddhists lived there in Roman times

Live Science ^ | May 02, 2023 | Owen Jarus

[Cronos]

The normal depictions of the Buddha are slim and ascetic.

The “laughing Buddha” is not the Indian founder of Buddhism - Gautama, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai

Budai (Chinese: 布袋; pinyin: Bùdài; Korean: 포대, romanized: Podae; Japanese: 布袋, romanized: Hotei; Vietnamese: Bố Đại) is a nickname given to the ancient Chinese monk Qici (Chinese: 契此) who is often identified with and venerated as Maitreya Buddha in Chan Buddhism. With the spread of Chan Buddhism, he also came to be venerated in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan

In the Western world, Budai is often mistaken for Gautama Buddha himself, and thus is nicknamed the “Fat Buddha”

[Cronos]

Buddha clearly lived - there are primary sources of him as a ascetic founder of Buddhism.

Though note - one must stick with the Hinayana Buddhist commentary as that is the older form (found in Sri Lanka). Gautama explicitly said he was not a god, leave alone God. He was also explicitly within the Sanatana Dhama “Hindu” fold with his concept of escaping the cycles of birth-rebirth. This was/is similar to the Jainist adharma form, only Jainism is stricter and it denies any creator deity.

Gautama was a prince who was shocked by the reality of life and then became a sage, and used existing “Hindu” ascetism to found his own “way”.

This was later spread by the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (who in circa 300 BC ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent from Afghanistan to Karnataka. And later around the time of Christ, a Tocharian/Kushan emperor spread Buddhism further.

Gautama pretty definitely DID exist as did Jesus. There are adequate historical evidence for both.

Strangely enough - there is no primary evidence for a Muhammad - no writings of him for the first 150 years after he allegedly died.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Decades ago I saw a magazine article (LIFE magazine) about how Alexander the Great had been used as a model for Buddhist statues in Afghanistan back in those days. It is easy to see how such a thing could reach Egypt. I remember reading of Hindus being in ancient Egypt.

[daniel1212]

Yet the earliest surviving (extant) manuscript of any of Siddhartha Gautama (who lived in South Asia during the 6th or maybe 5th century BC) teachings date from the first century BC to the third century AD, found in Afghanistan - hundreds of years after his existence - and there is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism, being were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_texts

[frank ballenger]

Thank you for your information.

Hope I pass your class.😊

[SunkenCiv]

Not a good climate for document preservation, and Buddhism declined in its Indian homeland.

https://search.brave.com/search?q=oldest+surviving+text+of+old+testament

https://search.brave.com/search?q=oldest+surviving+text+of+new+testament

[SunkenCiv]

...and vice versa. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

A tighter edit of the Berenike and RomanTrade keywords:

• Exhibition: Roman Coins in India [2011] [10/13/2022]
• Use of Silk In Ancient Egypt [07/24/2022]
• Ancient Chinese Historian Describes The Roman Empire [07/23/2022]
• The Mysterious History of Cinnamon [05/09/2022]
• Volcanic eruption may have forced ancient Egyptians to abandon a city [03/21/2022]
• Ancient Greek Buddhists [10/15/2021]
• Book Review: Federico De Romanis and Marco Maiuro, eds., Across the Ocean: Nine Essays on Indo-Mediterranean Trade [08/14/2021]
• Mould for minting Roman coins found in Talkad [India] [05/30/2014]
• Big noses, curly hair on empress's coffin suggests deep cultural exchange on Silk Road [09/20/2010]
• South Indians in Roman Egypt? [04/07/2010]
• More evidence unearthed at ancient port of Muziris [03/19/2010]
• U.S. and Polish archaeologists successful at Berenike [05/25/2009]
• Tamil Brahmi script in Egypt [12/03/2007]
• Archaeologists Unearth Roman Era Artefacts In Kerala (India) [03/25/2007]
• Ancient Indian port linked to Roman Empire faces extinction(India) [08/22/2006]
• Tamil-Brahmi inscription on pottery found in Thailand [07/17/2006]
• Search For India's Ancient City (Muziris - Roman) [06/11/2006]
• Scientists Discover Ancient Sea Wharf (Marine Silk Road) [12/30/2004]
• The Voyage around the Erythraean Sea [09/12/2004]
• Tamil Trade [09/11/2004]
• Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Maritime Spice Route Between India, Egypt [02/08/2004]
• Archaeologists Find Silk Road Equal [06/12/2002]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Cronos, great post!

[Elsie]

It's possible that the Buddha statue was made locally by people from South Asia living in Berenike, Sidebotham said. While the Sanskrit inscription is damaged, it appears to be a dedication of some form and dates back to the time of the Roman emperor Marcus Julius Philippus (better known as "Philip the Arab"), who reigned from A.D. 244 to 249, Sidebotham said...

"The new Sanskrit inscription and associated finds now show clearly that there was a settled Indian merchant community, rather than just traders passing through," Richard Salomon, professor emeritus of Sanskrit at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the finding, told Live Science.

 

 

 

Sorry, but my logic tells me that these words are just a wee bit incompatable.

[Elsie]

From a trip to the unrestored capitol in ‘62; I had a hand of Buddha from an ancient statue in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

It had fallen from high above from one of the temples there.

I’m not a Buddhist either.

[Elsie]

Back!

From a world tour!

[Elsie]

Ling lek lek ha dua

[Elsie]

...concept of escaping the cycles of birth-rebirth.

He was into recycling before recycling was cool.

[Elsie]

Here they are, back after their
exclusive three-year tour

of Europe, Scandinavia
and the Subcontinent.

Won’t you welcome,
from Calumet City, Illinois,

the show band of
Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.

The Blues Brothers.

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] Fill your head with hair, long beautiful hair, shinin', gleamin', streamin' flaxen waxen...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Apparently no one has heard of “souvenirs”.

Yes, Romans did tourism, yes, they brought home souvenirs. Yes, the shipping your foreign "finds" back home was a big business. Yes, some of them decorated entire rooms in themes from their travels.

Yes, life has changed a lot in 2000 years but people really haven't.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, and Sally didn’t bear children to Thomas Jefferson.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It was probably Jefferson's brother IIRC.

In any case, when it came to her brother (and his half brother in law) he did do right by him.

[yuleeyahoo]

It was pretty robust and the Romans inherited it when they took control of Egypt.