Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
One of the most interesting achievements from Amanullah’s reign came in 1922, when he gave a 30-year monopoly on excavations to DAFA, the Franco-Afghan Archaeological Delegation. DAFA would go on to education a generation of erudite Afghan scholars of the past through their archaeological findings, which were plenty. Excavations at Hadda in the 1920s, Surkh Kotal in the 1950s, Ai-Khanum in the 1960s & 70s - all shed so much light on the Kushan Empire, Alexander’s Greek successors that ruled Afghanistan and most interestingly, Greco-Buddhism. This phenomenon of cultural syncretism whereby Hellenist and Buddhist cultures merged was centered in Gandhara, in present-day eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Many of those same Afghans trained by DAFA would go on to fuse these discoveries with their nationalist sentiments, in the process creating a standardized national history for Afghanistan, the nation-state. Side-note, this was the subject of my PhD.
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Music Used:
Doug Maxwell - Arabian Nightfall (Sting):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bRzD...
If any of the images or songs are yours, please let me know I will amend them. Please don't report me straight away!
One of the most interesting achievements from Amanullah’s reign came in 1922, when he gave a 30-year monopoly on excavations to DAFA, the Franco-Afghan Archaeological Delegation. DAFA would go on to education a generation of erudite Afghan scholars of the past through their archaeological findings, which were plenty. Excavations at Hadda in the 1920s, Surkh Kotal in the 1950s, Ai-Khanum in the 1960s & 70s - all shed so much light on the Kushan Empire, Alexander’s Greek successors that ruled Afghanistan and most interestingly, Greco-Buddhism. This phenomenon of cultural syncretism whereby Hellenist and Buddhist cultures merged was centered in Gandhara, in present-day eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Many of those same Afghans trained by DAFA would go on to fuse these discoveries with their nationalist sentiments, in the process creating a standardized national history for Afghanistan, the nation-state. Side-note, this was the subject of my PhD.
FREE NEWSLETTER:
https://mailchi.mp/a69f93be6c66/hikma-history-newsletter
- Become a Patron for as little as a dollar a month to vote on upcoming and keep the movement going!
patreon.com/user?u=12397811
Massive thank you to our Patreons:
Elman
Zaki
Adam
Wafeeq
Yannick
Areeb
Eamon
Derek
Z
Farid
Ibrahim
Ari
Fodool
Haseeb
Amir
LizK
Munawwar
CoreBard
Christopher
Khammam
- Join our social media community:
Twitter:
twitter.com/HikmaHistory
Instagram:
instagram.com/hikmahistory
Facebook:
facebook.com/HikmaHistory
Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hikma...
#bactria #afghanhistory #ancienthistory
Images Used:
Music Used:
Doug Maxwell - Arabian Nightfall (Sting):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bRzD...
If any of the images or songs are yours, please let me know I will amend them. Please don't report me straight away!
