The first human statue of Greek sculpture

 The first human statue of Greek sculpture was made of Tathagata Buddha.

 To spread Buddhism, Emperor Asoka recounts that he sent messengers to Hellenistic kings as far as the Mediterranean and to people throughout India, and claims that as a result they all converted to the Dhamma.  He names the Greek rulers of the time, heirs to Alexander the Great's conquests from Bactria to Greece and North Africa, displaying a surprisingly clear understanding of the political situation at the time."

  "The Gandharan Buddhist texts (the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever discovered, circa 1 BCE) are attributed to the Dharmaguptaka school. And some believe that the founder of that Buddhist school...was a Greek...  "Dhammarakkhitā (Pāli, "protected by the Dharma"), was one of the missionaries sent by the Maurya emperor Ashoka to propagate Buddhism.  He is described as a Greek (Pali Yona) in the Mahavamsa, and his activities indicate the strength of Hellenistic Greek involvement during the early centuries of Buddhism.

  One of the prominent missionaries was Yonaka Dhammarakkhita.  He...was a Greek monk, a native of 'Alasanda' (Alexandria).  In the Pali tradition he is known as a master of psychic powers as well as an expert in Abhidhamma.

The first anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha are often considered to be the result of Greco-Buddhist contact.  Before this innovation, Buddhist art was "aniconic": the Buddha was depicted only through his symbols (an empty throne, the Bodhi tree, the Buddha's footprints, the Dharma Chakra).  This reluctance towards anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, and the sophisticated development of aniconic symbols to avoid it (even in narrative scenes where other human figures would appear), appears to be linked to a statement of the Buddha reported in the Digha Nikaya,  that discouraged representation of himself after the extinction of his body...perhaps not feeling bound by these restrictions, and "because of his cult form, the Greeks were the first to attempt sculptural representations of the Buddha  ".

 Namo Buddhaya 💙

 Divya Roy ✍️