Christopher I. Beckwith (born October 23, 1945) is an American

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and distinguished professor in the

Department of Central Eurasian Studies The Department of Central Eurasian Studies, often abbreviated as CEUS, is a specialized academic department in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University, in Bloomington, India ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

. He has a B.A. in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(1968), an M.A. in

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

from

(1974) and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in Inner Asian Studies from Indiana University (1977). Beckwith, a MacArthur Fellow, is a researcher in the field of Central Eurasian studies. He researches the history and cultures of ancient and medieval Central Asia. Concomitantly he specializes in Asian language studies and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, and in the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Central Eurasia Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of 'Central Asia', mostly the h ...

. He teaches Old Tibetan, Central Eurasian languages, and Central Eurasian history and researches the linguistics of

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

, Chinese, Japanese,

Koguryo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

, Old Tibetan, Tokharian, Old Turkic, Uzbek, and other languages. His best-known works include ''Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia'' and ''Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present.'' ''Greek Buddha'' examines links between very early Buddhism and the philosophy of

Pyrrho Pyrrho of Elis (; grc, Πύρρων ὁ Ἠλεῖος, Pyrrhо̄n ho Ēleios; ), born in Elis, Greece, was a Greek philosopher of Classical antiquity, credited as being the first Greek skeptic philosopher and founder of Pyrrhonism. Life ...

, an ancient Greek philosopher who accompanied

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

on his Indian campaign. The book is noted for its challenging and iconoclastic approach to multiple issues in the development of early

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Pyrrhonism Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. History Pyrrho of E ...

, Daoism,

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...

and the Śramaṇa movement. ''Empires of the Silk Road'' is a rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of Central Eurasia.

Publications

''The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia''
(1987) *''Medieval Tibeto-Burman Languages'' Vols I-III, editor (2002, 2006, 2008) *
Koguryo, the Language of Japan's Continental Relatives
' (2004)
''Phoronyms: Classifiers, Class Nouns, and the Pseudopartitive Construction''
(2007)
''Warriors of the Cloisters: The Central Asian Origins of Science in the Medieval World''
(2012)
''Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present''
(2011)''Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia''
(2015)

References

External links

* * *

Publications

References

External links

See also