{"id":134030,"date":"2023-04-28T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T21:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=134030"},"modified":"2023-04-28T14:03:14","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T21:03:14","slug":"buddha-statue-found-in-egypt-points-to-ancient-india-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/04\/28\/buddha-statue-found-in-egypt-points-to-ancient-india-links\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddha statue found in Egypt points to ancient India links"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy Adaderana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>A statue of Buddha has been discovered in Egypt\u2019s ancient seaport of Berenice on the Red Sea, shedding light on trade ties with India under the Roman empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Polish-US mission discovered the statue dating back to the Roman era while digging at the ancient temple in Berenice\u201d, an antiquities ministry statement said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The find has important indications over the presence of trade ties between Egypt and India during the Roman era\u201d, the head of Egypt\u2019s supreme antiquities council Mostafa al-Waziri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statue, with part of its right side and its right leg missing, measures 71 centimetres (28 inches) in height and portrays Buddha with a halo around his head and a lotus flower by his side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Waziri said Berenice was one of the largest seaports in Roman-era Egypt, and was often the destination for ships from India laden with spices, semi-precious stones, textiles and ivory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Egypt has unveiled many major archaeological discoveries in recent years, amid attempts to revive its vital tourism industry after years of political unrest and the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, critics say the flurry of excavations has prioritised finds that grab media attention over hard academic research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The crown jewel in the government\u2019s plans is the long-delayed inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids in Giza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government plans to attract 30 million tourists a year by 2028, up from 13 million before the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Source \u2013 AFP<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8211; Agencies&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy Adaderana A statue of Buddha has been discovered in Egypt\u2019s ancient seaport of Berenice on the Red Sea, shedding light on trade ties with India under the Roman empire. A Polish-US mission discovered the statue dating back to the Roman era while digging at the ancient temple in Berenice\u201d, an antiquities ministry statement said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}