ABSTRACT
The study of Greco-Buddhist relations has its origin and the wider context in the study of the Greeks in Bactria and India. While the influence of British scholars on the formation of colonial image of India cannot be undermined, it nevertheless must not be forgotten that the whole process of the adoption of imperial rhetoric by historians began in Prussia, pioneered by the German scholar, Droysen. Droysen in his Geschichte des Hellenismus (1878) being under the influence of Hegel’s historicist and idealist account of reality was the first to define Hellenization and present Hellenism as an Epochenbegriff, an epochal term, which found its practical realization in the "historical developments of the period". In order to properly understand the problem of collective memories and to explore its possible prospects for Greco-Buddhist studies, it will be reasonable to look at the views presented by Halbwachs.
