Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Interview episode on the Kushan Empire with Dr. Lauren Morris.

Hello everyone. I have with me today Dr. Lauren Morris, an archaeologist and historian of pre-Islamic Central Asia and Northwest India.

A PhD graduate of the University of Munich and a committee member of the Hellenistic Central Asia Research Network, the bulk of her research focuses on the dealings of

the Kushan Empire that occupied much of the former Greco-Bactrian and Indigree kingdoms from

the first century BC to the third century AD. And for this episode, she has taken the time

to talk about just that.

First off, let me just say thank you so much for coming on the show to discuss your work.

Thank you for the invitation. I think we're going to have some fun.

Absolutely, but, but before we begin, would you care to give us a bit more about your background?

And what pushed you towards the study of the Kushans and Central Asia as a whole?

Okay, I mean, how far back do we go?

Okay, so I answered this first on the Central Asian side and then second on the Kushan side.

So my undergrad background is actually in classical archaeology and the ancient history of the Greco-Roman world,

which I studied at the University of Sydney. But in one of my classes in my second year,

it was called Ancient Mediterranean Lives, we had a lecture one day which looked at examples of

Hellenistic Royal Cities, including the famous site of Icahunum in Afghanistan, which of course

could be well described as the Eastern Royal Capital, the Greco-Bactree in

Kingdom. Now, I grew up in Commonwealth countries with fairly recent violent colonial

histories that still fundamentally unform our lives there today. So my young mind, of course,

was absolutely blown by the idea and cultural implications of this Greco-Macedonian colonial expansion

and empire building in Afghanistan. And this is also when I really first became aware that

...