Project description
Redefining power in ancient central Asia
Overlooked as a mere transit point on the Silk Road, Hellenistic central Asia was home to the sophisticated Baktrian Empire. Traditional scholarship often relies on the outdated concept of East versus West, failing to capture the complexity of Baktrian ideology. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the GOSH project aims to bridge this gap by applying a comparative anthropological framework to the study of sacred kingship. By analysing the visual vocabulary of ancient coins alongside Near Eastern and Indic sources, GOSH moves beyond Alexander the Great’s influence to reveal a dynamic network of power shaped by interconnected traditions. This approach offers insights into global history, political theory and the spiritual politics of ancient monarchy.
Objective
The Gosh project will develop a comparative anthropological framework to investigate Central Asian kingship, roughly modern Afghanistan, Northern Uzbekistan, Western Tajikistan, Eastern Turkmenistan, during the Hellenistic period, aiming at replacing outdated binaries that rely on shopworn dichotomies (Greek/Oriental, East/West), or leave the vast extent of Central Asia embedded in ‘Silk Road’ narratives of transit and exchange merely linking other ‘core’ regions of ancient Afro-Eurasia. World-historical, comparative research on kingship does not engage with Central Asian material, particularly coins, a key source on Baktrian ideology of power. Specialists in the region overlook the potential of the social sciences (especially anthropology) for their agendas. By focusing on the Hellenistic Baktrian Empire (ca. 330-150 BCE), I seek to bridge this divide, offering a new methodological framework for approaching Central Asian kingship comparatively across disciplinary boundaries and scholarly traditions. I aim to do so by comparing the coins’ visual vocabulary and titles with Near Eastern (particularly Achaemenid), Indic, and steppic sources on the ideology, rhetoric, visual cultures, and performances of kingship to redress the focus on Alexander’s model, showing how Baktrian monarchy emerged out of the interplay of multiple distinct but interconnected traditions. The project draws on anthropological theories of sacred kingship to examine the role played by religious and cultic traditions in shaping royal self-representation and driving cultural and political change, contributing to the scholarship of global history, political theory, and anthropology. GOSH will present a revisionist theory of the spiritual politics of Baktrian kingship based on a new empirical understanding of its visual cultures. Beyond ethnic affiliations and cultural divides, Baktrian kingship is reframed as part of a dynamic network of power, ideological interplay, and cultural exchange.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- humanities languages and literature literature studies literary genres essays
- social sciences sociology anthropology
- social sciences sociology ideologies
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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WC1E 6BT London
United Kingdom
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