9 Tools of Economic Activity from the Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia to the Kushan Empire

Abstract

Economic actors in Bactria and Gandhāra under the Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia (the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms, ca. 250 –10 ) to the Kushan Empire (ca. 50–350 ) developed and used a range of tools to facilitate their activities. For example, upper imperial elites developed fiscal regimes and prompted monetization especially through the medium of royal coinage production. Institutional frameworks for regulating transactions and resolving disputes – whether in the realms of loans, land transfer, or marriage – were cultivated through the development of increasingly codified legal systems on imperial, local, and religious bases. It was especially, but not exclusively, imperial agents who played an important role in driving the usage of certain languages, calendars, and weights and measures in the realms of their activities. Despite these changes, there is a limited sense of the development of physical transport infrastructure by states in this period, while agricultural processing, water management, and mineral extraction were still activities characterized by the use of traditional methods and technologies. Some new technologies were, however, developed in craft production. An increasing use of written documentation, especially in official contexts, and devices like split tally sticks can also be observed. This chapter looks more closely at these tools, which actors developed and utilized them, and ultimately what kinds of economic activity these tools impacted and facilitated.