Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan

Hellenistic Culture and Society

by Frank L. Holt

Drawing on ancient historical writings, the vast array of information gleaned in recent years from the study of Hellenistic coins, and startling archaeological evidence newly unearthed in Afghanistan, Frank L. Holt sets out to rediscover the ancient civilization of Bactria. In a gripping narrative informed by the author’s deep knowledge of his subject, this book covers two centuries of Bactria’s history, from its colonization by remnants of Alexander the Great’s army to the kingdom’s collapse at the time of a devastating series of nomadic invasions. Beginning with the few tantalizing traces left behind when the ‘empire of a thousand cities’ vanished, Holt takes up that trail and follows the remarkable and sometimes perilous journey of rediscovery.Lost World of the Ancient King describes how a single bit of evidence—a Greek coin—launched a search that drew explorers to the region occupied by the tumultuous warring tribes of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Afghanistan. Coin by coin, king by king, the history of Bactria was reconstructed using the emerging methodologies of numismatics. In the twentieth century, extraordinary ancient texts added to the evidence. Finally, one of the ‘thousand cities’ was discovered and excavated, revealing an opulent palace, treasury, temple, and other buildings. Though these great discoveries soon fell victim to the Afghan political crisis that continues today, this book provides a thrilling chronicle of the search for one of the world’s most enigmatic empires.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Greece

377 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Frank Lee Holt is a Central Asian archaeologist and author. He is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Houston, and is recognized as one of the leading authorities on Alexander the Great, Hellenistic Asia, and numismatics. Holt received his PhD in History from the University of Virginia.

Holt has written five books and almost fifty articles, primarily concerning Alexander the Great and the Hellenization of Afghanistan.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book expecting a narrative of Bactrian history, and was a bit disappointed to find that it gives none. This is a book about numismatics.

But through solid (if sometimes dense) explanation Holt explains very well why no narrative exists (at least any reliable one) and why Bactrian studies is still pretty far away from constructing a narrative history.

Holt's scholarship can't be faulted though I admit that Bactrian numismatics is all pretty new to me. But the magic was that I'd bought this book as a precursor to reading Tarn's 'The Greeks in Bactria and India,' and I didn't quite get what I'd wanted but Holt convinced me why what I wanted wasn't quite a right approach to Bactrian history anyway.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in Greco-Bactrian history. Dense but worth it.

[Marcus Pailing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a 'history of the Bactrian kingdoms through numismatics', as I thought it would be; but it was a 'history of the development of Bactrian numismatics' ... which was, perhaps, even more interesting. Superb ... you'll feel clever just reading it.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating study of how history from sparse sources is developed. The Bactrian kingdom in Afghanistan consisted of Greeks left over from the Alexander conquest. When the book starts in the 1500-1700's, all that was known of them was from secondary sources - kings that were mentioned in surrounding areas sources. So a list of kings, not complete, and in shaky order.

But then people were finding coins, mostly with one particular king's name. Then by comparing more coins with similar characteristics, matches could be made on the king list. Wild guesses could be made on the relationships between the kings (sons, husband of other king's daughters, etc.) Looking at the craftsmanship (or lack thereof) other suppositions could be made on the state of the kingdom. Finally in the early 20th century, a candidate city was found that could have been Bactrian - really the only one. That is what is fascinating about the story - how the cities just disappeared from the Afghanistan land.

Along the way Holt teaches us how history is made from guesses that sometimes are as crickety as a house of cards when the facts are so few and debatable. Schools of thought on how to interpret and write the history come and go. Should we try to fit everything into a grand narrative that satisfies the human need for a story? Should we stop trying to concentrate on kings but rather try to find out how real Bactrian's lived through the evidence given us from the coins. This evidence could be as simple as the number of monograms (which might be places of minting) indicating the breadth of a kingdom, or as complicated as looking at individual coin die marks to see how accurate they are to see the quality of a society.

I didn't mind the coin focus of the history when it became apparent that this was what the history of Bactria is founded on. I think it also served as Holt's MacGuffin to dig deep into how history is really written and how no school of history is without real problems.

[Starvix Draxon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Holt writes very well. His book is well paced, well written and clearly has a sense of what prose is supposed to sound like. He is also a good story teller. He is not hard to read and is very informative. He also provides some good narratives. I may also be biased because I have taken four classes with him, and I read it for his numismatics class, but I genuinely mean what I say. He knows how to inform and tell a good story.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good at what it does-but not what I expected or wanted.

[Tina Nyman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would be a fascinating read to numismatists, but focuses too minutely on coins for general readers, overshadowing the fascinating conclusions that should be the heart of the narrative.