Dimitrios Papanikolaou: Clement of Alexandria and Buddhism

The paper is concerned with a passage of the Stromateisof Clement of Alexandria (1.15.71.6), which provides the oldest preserved reference in European literature tothe Buddha. The paper argues thatClement does not demonstrate any serious knowledge of Buddha’s precepts. Nevertheless, Buddha’s image in the passage is positive and Buddha is treated by Clement with respect. The paper examines the issue of Clement’s sources on Buddha and accepts that Hellenistic or Roman-era Greek sources might have been proven a useful starting point for Clement’s knowledge on Buddha. On the other hand, it is argued that Clement had oral sources concerning Buddhism in India. This is indicated by the curious indeclinable word BOYTTA used by Clement, a form elsewhere unattested. The paper raises doubts on recent theories which connect BOYTTA to the Parthian language and to Kushan Buddhism. Based on various pieces of evidence (e.g. Clement’s perception of India, Dio Chrysostom’s information on the presence of Indians in Alexandria, epigraphically attested presence of Buddhist Indians in Roman Egypt) the paper stresses the possibility that Clement could have received the information concerning Buddha from Indians living in Alexandria. Particular focus is given to the mime XAPITION (P.Oxy. 413), where whole sections of the plot involve dialogues in unattested forms of south Indian dialects. On the basis of all this evidence, the paper argues that the form BOYTTA could well reproduce the phonology of the word in an obscure vernacular of the Indian subcontinent during the second century AD.