Rachel Mairs

This volume provides a thorough conspectus of the field of Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek studies, mixing theoretical and historical surveys with critical and thought-provoking case studies in archaeology, history, literature and art. The chapters from this international group of experts showcase innovative methodologies, such as archaeological GIS, as well as providing accessible explanations of specialist techniques such as die studies of coins, and important theoretical perspectives, including postcolonial approaches to the Greeks in India. Chapters cover the region’s archaeology, written and numismatic sources, and a history of scholarship of the subject, as well as culture, identity and interactions with neighbouring empires, including India and China. The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World is the go-to reference work on the field, and fulfils a serious need for an accessible, but also thorough and critically-informed, volume on the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms. It provides an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the Hellenistic East.

The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World

Alice Stevenson

The sixth annual Current Research in Egyptology symposium took place from 6th-8th January 2005 at the University of Cambridge. Although the topics covered by the papers were many and varied, if there is a general theme it would be that of exploring the borders and parameters of the discipline of Egyptology. Contents: Preface; Symposium papers not included in this volume; Bringing Egypt out of academia: Outreach and inclusion in the Petrie Museum (Yvette E Balbaligo); Pepi I and the Temple of Satet at Elephantine (Richard Bussmann); The unique Amun-Re at Luxor Temple (Andras Gulyas); Ostraca, literature and teaching at Deir el-Medina (Fredrik Hagen); Children and the dead in New Kingdom Egypt (Nicola Harrington); 'It is better to be silent than speak in vain': The challenge of producing proverbs in Demotic and Greek (Nikolaos Lazaridis); Egyptian artefacts from Central and South Asia (Rachel R Mairs); Investigating Ancient Egyptian Towns: A case study of Itj-tawy (Claire Malleson); A study of Ramesside royal women's tombs in the Valley of the Queens (Heather Lee McCarthy); Designing materials for language self-instruction: A case study of Middle Egyptian (Anne Morrison); New consideration on Campbell's Tomb (Mike Stammers); The material significance of Predynastic and Early Dynastic palettes (Alice Stevenson); Egyptian royal women and diplomatic activity during the New Kingdom (Georgia Xekalaki).

Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Symposium which Took Place at the University of Cambridge, 6-8 January 2005

Current Research in Egyptology 2005

In 2014, a collection of papers was found on eBay: a scrapbook, inside which was written 'Testimonial Book of Dragoman Solomon N. Negima'. The letters pasted into the testimonial book bear recommendations of Negima's services as dragoman – a combination of tourist guide and interpreter – in the Holy Land, from travellers of different nationalities, social classes, religions, genders and races. Using these reference letters, and the first-hand published and unpublished accounts of the travellers themselves, this book tells the stories of several such tourists, including the intrepid Victorian female traveller, Ellen E. Miller, and an African–American minister, Rev. Charles T. Walker, who had been born into slavery. Between the lines of others' letters, Solomon Negima's remarkable life story also emerges: from a German mission school in Jerusalem, to the British army in the Sudan, to a successful career as a dragoman in Palestine and Syria, and finally to comfortable retirement with his son, Aziz, and daughter, Olinda, at a Mormon mission in Jerusalem. The discovery of this unique scrapbook allows us an insight into the lives of individuals whose histories would otherwise be lost to us, and a new perspective on the history of travel in the Middle East.

The Dragoman Solomon Negima and His Clients (1885–1933)

From Khartoum to Jerusalem

In the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s conquests in the late fourth century B.C., Greek garrisons and settlements were established across Central Asia, through Bactria (modern-day Afghanistan) and into India. Over the next three hundred years, these settlements evolved into multiethnic, multilingual communities as much Greek as they were indigenous. To explore the lives and identities of the inhabitants of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, Rachel Mairs marshals a variety of evidence, from archaeology, to coins, to documentary and historical texts. Looking particularly at the great city of Ai Khanoum, the only extensively excavated Hellenistic period urban site in Central Asia, Mairs explores how these ancient people lived, communicated, and understood themselves. Significant and original, The Hellenistic Far East will highlight Bactrian studies as an important part of our understanding of the ancient world.

Rachel Mairs

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