AHC / WI : Greco-Bactrian Buddhism spread and stay in Mediterranea

Yuelang

Yuelang

Banned
As you read history on the Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms, there's parts that they actually knew Buddhism rather well, and many of the Greco-Bactrians did convert into and brought Buddhism back to Hellas proper, in which they are merely deemed as curious eastern philosophy and nothing more...

But what if somehow Buddhism hit the chord and there are far more conversions in the Mediterranean area?

How far back the POD we need to bring Buddhist (southren) Europe here?
 
Timaeus

Timaeus

What about the Persian Empire keeping Greece, spreading its ideas and religions into Greece instead of Greece spreading its ideas into the Middle East?
 
Shahrasayr

Shahrasayr

Buddhism didn't catch on west of Sistan due to the fact that Ashoka and his Greek successors in the west weren't proactive enough in his attempts to spread Buddhism westwards, focusing too much on sending monks towards China and SE Asia. And after the fall of the Parthian Empire to the Sassanids it becomes much harder, as the Sassanids weren't big on religious pluralism.

So if you want Buddhism to flourish and reach Europe you need to make sure that Buddhist shramans reach there by the end of the Mauryan Empire. After that the Sungas were too pre-occupied with holding back the Indo-Greeks (who themselves were about to fall to the Kushans). After the Sungas come the Guptas, but they are ardent Hindus and they ushered in a golden age as they started compiling the Vedas, Puranas and other folk liturgy from all over the empire.

So yeah. You want Greco-Bactrian Buddhism to spread, you need either Ashoka or a Indo-Greek king like Menander (very pious Buddhist) to focus more on sending Buddhism to the west rather than eastwards along the Silk Route.
 
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