Editti greci di Aśoka: una nuova ipotesi sulla redazione degli editti di Kandahār

This paper focuses on the redaction of the Greek Edicts of Aśoka (mid-third century BCE), found in Old Kandahār (Afghanistan). The two Greek edicts (Kandahār I and II) are not mere translations from the original Prakrit edicts but appear to be adapted to the Greek culture. Three redactors, with different degrees of linguistic ability, are to be distinguished. Assuming a sociolinguistic situation of diglossia for Arachosia in the mid-third century BCE, we aim at demonstrating that the three redactors spoke a north-western variant of Prakrit as their first language (L1) and learned Greek in gymnasia as a second language (L2). The employment of some expressions and formulas used in Classical Greek works suggests scholastic learning of Greek. However, some peculiarities of the Greek texts (such as incorrect use of the article, irregular syntax, etc.) could be explained by the substrate interference of their first language, i.e., the Prakrit.