Into the Land of Bones. Frank L. Holt
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Название: Into the Land of Bones

Автор: Frank L. Holt

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: История

Серия: Hellenistic Culture and Society

isbn: 9780520953758

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ ago, remain identical with those currently at issue for the occupying U.S. forces today. Even what Holt, in his new preface, refers to, accurately, as the “messy endgame”—the post-war scramble that has already begun (though we hear little or nothing about this in the media) for control of Afghanistan’s vast mineral reserves—was going strong in the Hellenistic period following Alexander’s death, with a mining boom that quarried Bactria’s mountains to extract the ore that went, as he tells, to make literally tons of currency.

      The geography, of course, changes least of all: even the rivers hemmed in between the Hindu Kush and the high Pamirs are largely defined by that wild and rocky landscape. Now, as in Alexander’s day, the borders are, as Holt nicely puts it, “nominal, not natural . . . porous to such a degree that rebels can easily drift across and regroup among friendly brethren.” How to tell who’s winning the war? Amid all the “parochialism, tribalism, fierce independence, and mutual hostility,” with local warlords playing their own game (Holt’s learned much about those Alexander had to deal with from their modern equivalents, as well as vice versa), to work out who’s an ally, who’s an enemy, especially when they’re liable to suddenly switch from one to the other as profitability dictates, has always been a bewildering business for the invader. All this Holt examines in a cool, fast-moving, fact-packed narrative that shifts with knowledgable ease between the activities, and frustrations, of Macedonians, Victorian imperialists, Americans, and Russians, all struggling with a situation in which, as Sebastian Junger famously put it, “fighting Afghans was like nailing jelly to a wall; in the end there was just a wall full of bent nails.”

      Holt’s extraordinary book is best known, naturally, as a splendid practical lesson from the past for the present, a lethal demonstration of how First World military men and politicians, especially when confronted by a culture they regard as primitive, tend, fatally, not only to think of violent hammer-and-anvil tactics as the answer, but to persist in that belief long after their ineffectiveness has been made clear. (Perhaps it is on that basis that it has been incorporated into the curriculum of the new National Military Academy of Afghanistan: it would be interesting to know what the Academy’s cadets make of it.)

      But Into the Land of Bones is much, much more. It offers the best account yet written, incisive and compelling, of a crucial stage in Alexander’s career of conquest, when unprecedented defeats inflicted by an elusive enemy led him to adopt what can only be described as total war, which resulted, for the Macedonians, in huge occupation forces, endless rebellions, and dangerous military exhaustion, psychological no less than physical. It gives a heart-rending description of the wanton destruction, by warfare, modern religious zealots, and, worst, antiquity looters, of Afghanistan’s ancient cultural heritage. It points out exactly how even the great coin-hoards that survive have been ruined as evidence by being split up and traded on the international market. It showcases the innovative way Holt has refined his numismatic and other evidential skills to probe and illuminate dark periods of Greco–Bactrian history. Its scholarship, never paraded, is stellar, and the use to which that scholarship has been put goes far to refute current gibes at the alleged uselessness of studying antiquity. It is written with elegance, style, and wit. It is, in short, well on the way to becoming a classic, and this updated edition comes in good time to help its recognition as such.

      PREFACE

      ALEXANDER AND AFGHANISTAN

      SINCE AUGUST 2004

      Numbers often numb us, but they have an inescapable precision that mere words cannot match. Consider, for example, the headline “War Grinds on in Afghanistan” compared to the figure 2,665—and counting, the number of coalition deaths in that conflict since Into the Land of Bones first appeared in print. This second preface can only, sadly, confirm in stark numbers the predictions of the first: “The experiences of Alexander the Great, though long ago, still resonate, and they suggest that America’s resolve will be sorely tested in that truculent land. Even now, three years later, the war is not over.” Since those words were written, this has become the longest war in U.S. history and coalition deaths in Afghanistan have increased 15-fold. In addition, at least 13,993 American troops have been wounded there since August 2004, compared to 349 previously. Civilian casualties reached record highs in 2010–2011.

      Numbers also tell the story of the pivotal event in this modern conflict, namely the much-debated surge of some 30,000 troops announced by President Barack Obama in late 2009. Few who had not read Into the Land of Bones might have noticed the remarkable parallel to the troop surge of 22,000 Greeks received by Alexander the Great 2,337 years earlier in 329 bce. Both surges claimed some success, at least sufficient to justify a substantial later withdrawal of weary forces under the name of Victory. Even so, Alexander left about 13,500 reluctant Greek soldiers plus another 10,000 settlers in what is now Afghanistan; it remains to be seen what number will be required of the U.S. military and the dozens of NGOs on the ground. Meanwhile, the messy end-game is already taking shape, with something of an international scramble to wrangle “post-war” access to Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources: gold, copper, iron, lithium, and more. Indeed, there has not been a similar mining boom in this underdeveloped region since—mirabile dictu—the Hellenistic years following Alexander’s campaigns, when massive wealth was dug from the mountainous spine of Afghanistan to manufacture tons of ancient money. The experiences of Alexander still resonate throughout the region, probably more so now than 88 months ago.

      Think also of 311, the number of publications devoted to Alexander’s life and legacy that have appeared since August 2004. This statistic reflects the staying power of Alexander in our modern consciousness. These works include biographies, military studies, leadership manuals, and a steady flow of academic articles in journals one might expect (e.g., Historia) as well as some notable surprises (e.g., Journal of the History of Neurosciences). There has even appeared a novelized account of Alexander’s war in Central Asia (Steven Pressfield’s The Afghan Campaign), a bit of fiction I am saving for retirement. The rest I have read with much profit, particularly Shaul Shaked’s Le satrape de Bactriane et son gouverneur: Documents araméens du IVe s. avant notre ère (Diffusion de Boccard, 2004). This trim book introduces to scholars a number of Aramaic administrative documents found somewhere in Afghanistan. They clearly reveal details about, inter alia, the affairs of Bessus/Artaxerxes and Alexander before, during, and after their conflict. These texts mention dates, places, administrative subordinates, and provisions. The prospects for more such information remain high and may someday allow a much richer narrative than can now be imagined.

      Finally, consider the numbers three and four: Into the Land of Bones was my third book published with University of California Press, and I am grateful to classics editor Eric A. Schmidt for providing this opportunity to issue a corrected edition. I thank the readers and reviewers, especially Paul Cartledge, for bringing these corrigenda to my attention. I also express my gratitude to Peter Green for agreeing to write the foreword. For those interested in the fate of the Greeks in ancient Afghanistan and the extraordinary means by which their story can be told, I signal here the imminent release of my fourth book with University of California Press, Lost World of the Golden King: In Search of Ancient Afghanistan.

       Houston, Texas December 2011

      CHAPTER ONE

      Introduction

      I’ve only to pick up a newspaper and I seem to see ghosts

      gliding between the lines.

      Henrik Ibsen

      THE CROSSHAIRS OF HISTORY

      Afghanistan, the world’s inexhaustible wellspring of warlords and terrorists, cannot escape the crosshairs of history. In each of the last three centuries, superpowers have trained their sights on this tragic land, determined to impose СКАЧАТЬ