Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .2
sites of Dalverzintepa, Kampyrtepa and Khalchayan in the Surkhan Darya region of
Uzbekistan, undertaken by the Uzbekistan Art History Expedition in the 1960s–80s,
revealed the depth of Hellenistic traditions in Kushan urban culture. In fact, Heracles
continued to be widely venerated in Kushan Bactria and some other areas of Central
Asia well after the end of Greek rule.
The depiction of Heracles as a bearded, stocky athlete carrying a club on his left
shoulder appears on one group of copper coins of the Kushan king Huvishka (midlate
2nd century AD). An image of Heracles sitting on a rock or omphalos after one
of his labours was used on silver imitations of Euthydemus tetradrachms, minted
in the Bukhara oasis between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. A clay
statue of a naked Heracles was found at the site of Dilberzhin in present-day northern
Afghanistan. Terracotta images of Heracles have also been found at several sites in
Northern Bactria, at Barattepa, Kara-Pichok and Sar-i Band. An image of a bearded
Heracles in profile on a carnelian gem-intaglio was among the golden jewellery found
in the Dalverzintepa hoard. Numerous finds from the Dalverzintepa site attest to the
syncretic nature of the culture of this town, which included aspects of Indo-Buddhist
and Hellenic cultures along with local Bactrian elements. Objects that had been
imported from different regions of the Near and Middle East were also found here.
This is no coincidence, as Dalverzintepa was situated on one of the most important
branches of the Silk Road, which ran from ancient Tarmita along the Surkhan valley
to the land of the Comedi and from there to the Stone Tower.
During the Kushan period, Hellenistic traditions were preserved not only in large
towns such as Dalverzintepa, but also in small provincial towns.
The finds from the Kampyrtepa site attest to this. The pottery that was found here
is of particular interest, especially a large two-handled black clay vessel decorated all
over with palmettes, leaves, wavy lines and rectangles with dots in the corners. Its shape
is that of a typical Greek amphora. The palmette-leaf ornamentation is also a Hellenic
borrowing. In Greece, amphorae were generally used for storing oil and wine.
Other typically Greek forms of pottery have also been found at Kampyrtepa: for
example an oinochoe, a single-handled wine jug with three spouts, which allowed wine
to be poured into three receptacles at once. Similar vessels with one, two and three
spouts have been found in Khatyn-Rabad, Old Termez and other sites in Northern
Bactria and Sogdia.
Vessels similar to Greek kraters with wide necks and large bodies, which were
used for diluting wine with water in Greece, have also been found here.
Other interesting finds include iron keys in the form of a long rod with a fourtoothed
ending, between 5 and 7.5 cm long. Their shape is similar to that of keys
found in mainland Greece and the Greek cities of the northern Black Sea area.
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