Plausibility Check: Buddhist Ethiopia?

Hello all, I was wondering on the possibility of Buddhism establishing itself as a major religion in what is today Ethiopia and the horn of Africa. The region in OTL was a hub for trade between the Indian subcontinent and the Mediterranean and coinage from ancient Aksum were found in both regions. I assume this scenario will be more difficult to achieve if Christianity has already gained a foothold in Ethiopia.
What PODs would be needed for Buddhism to catch the eyes of the rulers of the coastal trading towns or the local pastoralists? Could stupas of solid rock become an architectural style of the region?
(This is my first thread in the forum so sincerest apologies if I mess something up.)
 
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Since Christianity didn't spread to Ethiopia until Late Antiquity, you'd need a much wider spread of Buddhism in the West in general.

Could involve Somali Buddhists. Very interesting concept regardless.
 
Since Christianity didn't spread to Ethiopia until Late Antiquity, you'd need a much wider spread of Buddhism in the West in general.

Could involve Somali Buddhists. Very interesting concept regardless.
Thanks for your response. Hmm.. perhaps a Buddhist dynasty of a Persian empire ( i.e. a successor state to the achaemenids) or Egypt or maybe Somali sailors/pastoralists would help make Buddhism more common around the Red Sea?
 
Well, perhaps the classic "butterfly away Christianity" PoD. If Christianity never takes off, or remain a very localized sect in western Asia, I'm positive that this completely butterflies Islam, as well. This means that if Buddhism becomes a substitute for Islam in the later centuries, expanding through the sphere of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea (thus including Arabia and perhaps Egypt), I believe the Ethiopians sooner or later are exposed to this Indian religion.

If it becomes popular or not, it will depend entirely on the circumstances of the TL, but I don't think it's too farfetched if you take Christ and Mohammed out of the equation. It will be a very alien world nonetheless.

BTW, you are correct in the assessment regarding the Horn of Africa. The polities in the southern Red Sea and in the Zanzibar coast had plenty of commercial ties with the northwestern polities of the Indian subcontinent and Arabia, which will surely facilitate cultural and religious contact between these continents.
 
Well, perhaps the classic "butterfly away Christianity" PoD. If Christianity never takes off, or remain a very localized sect in western Asia, I'm positive that this completely butterflies Islam, as well. This means that if Buddhism becomes a substitute for Islam in the later centuries, expanding through the sphere of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea (thus including Arabia and perhaps Egypt), I believe the Ethiopians sooner or later are exposed to this Indian religion.

If it becomes popular or not, it will depend entirely on the circumstances of the TL, but I don't think it's too farfetched if you take Christ and Mohammed out of the equation. It will be a very alien world nonetheless.

BTW, you are correct in the assessment regarding the Horn of Africa. The polities in the southern Red Sea and in the Zanzibar coast had plenty of commercial ties with the northwestern polities of the Indian subcontinent and Arabia, which will surely facilitate cultural and religious contact between these continents.
Yeah, butterflying Christianity seems to be the easier of these steps. Buddhism would probably be practiced by the merchant and urban classes before the locals and nobles. I wonder if the Ethiopian highlands would make a good home for Buddhist monasticism as it did for the Orthodox Christians of OTL?
 
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Ashoka did send buddhist misisonaries to africa, they visited the king of cyrene, so it's not impossible that buddhism could take hold in africa and therefore spread to axum once it rose.
 
Ashoka did send buddhist misisonaries to africa, they visited the king of cyrene, so it's not impossible that buddhism could take hold in africa and therefore spread to axum once it rose.
Do you happen to have more information about this, it's truly fascinating. I guess a later ruler of an Indian kingdom could manage a similar feat (perhaps the Bharshiva dynasty assuming the PODs further west don't butterfly it). Whatever the case, the missionaries would have to arrive when the trading infrastructure of the horn of Africa grows large enough.
 
Do you happen to have more information about this, it's truly fascinating. I guess a later ruler of an Indian kingdom could manage a similar feat (perhaps the Bharshiva dynasty assuming the PODs further west don't butterfly it). Whatever the case, the missionaries would have to arrive when the trading infrastructure of the horn of Africa grows large enough.

The edicts of Ashoka which were inscribed on the pillars of ashoka contain the following verse.

"Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it [conquest by Dhamma] has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni."

Magas was king of cyrene in libya and ptolemy ran egypt. So there were attemps by ashoka to spread buddhism into africa and we know they had some success in alexandria because christian writers were writing about alexandrian buddhists in the 2nd century ad (clement of alexandria did) and we have egyptian gravestones marked with buddhist symbols from the ptolemaic era.
 
The edicts of Ashoka which were inscribed on the pillars of ashoka contain the following verse.

"Now it is conquest by Dhamma that Beloved-of-the-Gods considers to be the best conquest. And it [conquest by Dhamma] has been won here, on the borders, even six hundred yojanas away, where the Greek king Antiochos rules, beyond there where the four kings named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas and Alexander rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far as Tamraparni."

Magas was king of cyrene in libya and ptolemy ran egypt. So there were attemps by ashoka to spread buddhism into africa and we know they had some success in alexandria because christian writers were writing about alexandrian buddhists in the 2nd century ad (clement of alexandria did) and we have egyptian gravestones marked with buddhist symbols from the ptolemaic era.
Wow amazing! I wonder if Ptolemaic Egypt would make a good vector for Buddhist philosophy to spread up the Nile valley? I can't say for certain if the Ptolemies would ever become strictly Buddhist or if they'd last long enough for it to become more widespread during their rule.
 
What PODs would needed for Buddhism to catch the eyes of the rulers of the coastal trading towns or the local pastoralists?

I would say coincidence would help. Many merchants sailed from Egypt or Arabia to India, you just need a very charismatic monk making the journey from India to Africa and preeching Buddhism in Ethiopia.
 
I would say coincidence would help. Many merchants sailed from Egypt or Arabia to India, you just need a very charismatic monk making the journey from India to Africa and preeching Buddhism in Ethiopia.
I can see this happening, especially as the Red Sea trade picks up. If this is the only POD and it occurs around the conversion of OTL Aksum the interaction between the Buddhist and Coptic monks would be interesting. Debates in the shade of an obelisk perhaps?
 
I can see this happening, especially as the Red Sea trade picks up. If this is the only POD and it occurs around the conversion of OTL Aksum the interaction between the Buddhist and Coptic monks would be interesting. Debates in the shade of an obelisk perhaps?

Debates between Greek philisophers and Buddhist monks seem to have happened, although it would be interesting to see what happens if they are more common. Large scale Buddhist influence on the Roman Empire might be a danger for Christianity, since Buddhism respects local gods.

Now imagine a Buddhist Byzantium.
 
Debates between Greek philisophers and Buddhist monks seem to have happened, although it would be interesting to see what happens if they are more common. Large scale Buddhist influence on the Roman Empire might be a danger for Christianity, since Buddhism respects local gods.

Now imagine a Buddhist Byzantium.
I think the Roman empire could host more debates if the Mediterranean remains heterogeneous in terms of major religious and philosophical makeup.

Buddhist Byzantium is about as bizarre as it gets.....that or Carthage.
 
Persian Empire permanently triumphs over the Greeks with its successor states spreading their culture instead of the Hellenistic Age happening, leading to Zoroastrianism and Buddhism dominating the Eastern Mediterranean and neighboring regions?
 
Persian Empire permanently triumphs over the Greeks with its successor states spreading their culture instead of the Hellenistic Age happening, leading to Zoroastrianism and Buddhism dominating the Eastern Mediterranean and neighboring regions?
Sounds about right. In this scenario such successor states could embrace the beliefs of the lands further east. Such beliefs would be interpreted through a near eastern lens as opposed to a Greek one I think (or with Greek thought joining the hodgepodge if they are subsumed). A synthesis of Buddhism with Babylonian or Pharonic culture would be strange indeed. These developments could branch of in east Africa and Arabia as well.
 
The biggest problem for Buddhist missionaries is that the rest of the world lacks a karmic understanding of religion. It solves a problem that doesn't theologically exist elsewhere in the world. It thus has a very limited appeal. For it to spread, it needs to be significantly altered to fit the spiritual needs of the masses. Otherwise it is a mere boutique cult that might attract some of the cosmopolitan elite liking its austere appeal. It would compete with or complement Stoicism.

When Buddhism did succeed in spreading beyond the heartland of the karmic religions, it did so in its variant of Mahayanan Buddhism which is very different from the Buddhism of the elders. Buddhism now had a "Pure Land" where righteous people could do go to and enjoy rewards in the afterlife instead of their "self" being cosmically annihilated so that they don't have to be reincarnated. That proved far more popular. But Mahayana Buddhism didn't develop until many centuries later, and perhaps just maybe might have been influenced by the early arrival of Christianity to India.

Other factors besides personal appeal is whether the religion has prestige to attract people to do it. Islam spread mainly because it was the religion of the conquerors. Then it spread into areas that were not conquered because it was the religion of a great empire and brought certain benefits (like a literate culture) that more primitive societies lacked. Christianity slowly built up prestige within the Roman Empire because people became impressed with the prolonged willingness of the martyrs to die for it, and that it provided the basis of one of the few social support networks within the empire. Buddhism would need something to provide the cultural prestige that allows it to flow.

A Buddhist Persian Empire could do that, but you still need to explain how Buddhism triumphed in Persia first.
 
The biggest problem for Buddhist missionaries is that the rest of the world lacks a karmic understanding of religion. It solves a problem that doesn't theologically exist elsewhere in the world. It thus has a very limited appeal. For it to spread, it needs to be significantly altered to fit the spiritual needs of the masses. Otherwise it is a mere boutique cult that might attract some of the cosmopolitan elite liking its austere appeal. It would compete with or complement Stoicism.

When Buddhism did succeed in spreading beyond the heartland of the karmic religions, it did so in its variant of Mahayanan Buddhism which is very different from the Buddhism of the elders. Buddhism now had a "Pure Land" where righteous people could do go to and enjoy rewards in the afterlife instead of their "self" being cosmically annihilated so that they don't have to be reincarnated. That proved far more popular. But Mahayana Buddhism didn't develop until many centuries later, and perhaps just maybe might have been influenced by the early arrival of Christianity to India.

Other factors besides personal appeal is whether the religion has prestige to attract people to do it. Islam spread mainly because it was the religion of the conquerors. Then it spread into areas that were not conquered because it was the religion of a great empire and brought certain benefits (like a literate culture) that more primitive societies lacked. Christianity slowly built up prestige within the Roman Empire because people became impressed with the prolonged willingness of the martyrs to die for it, and that it provided the basis of one of the few social support networks within the empire. Buddhism would need something to provide the cultural prestige that allows it to flow.

A Buddhist Persian Empire could do that, but you still need to explain how Buddhism triumphed in Persia first.
Very solid points. Mahayana Buddhism is probably the most likely of the schools to find a audience amongst the common folk if it's success in much of Asia is anything to go by. It's later rise would put it at odds with a "No Christianity" POD.

Since Aksum did not embrace Christianity until the fourth century and Mahayana Buddhism arose around the second century there's close to 200 years to get this school around the Red sea and the horn. As you and others have shown, giving Buddhism the prestige and greater following further west is the obstacle. Without more prestige, Buddhism would probably remain an anomaly in Ethiopia, with only the occassional monk or monastary on the coast.

Perhaps an even more powerful Kushan dynasty whose culture becomes more prevalent in a declining Parthian empire sends diplomats to Aksum and a Parthian successor state continues the practice? Followed by a charismatic and lucky monk who preaches during a time of upheaval in the Aksumite kingdom?

Of course one could imagine an ATL analogue to Mahayana Buddhism arising in Iran or earlier and spreading west, but that would be hard getting the conditions just right and the audience might not be as receptive as said.
 
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