Abstract
The study of the Kushan Empire can be approached from only limited vantage points. While certain aspects of Kushan history, such as its cultural and imperial presence can deduced from their material remains, lack of any cohesive narrative history prevents us from contextualising the Kushans in their historical context. From among the various world-historical approaches, the comparative method can be of limited use for Kushan history, as some of the available evidence seem to allow for observations close to what can be found in other ancient and late antique empires of the Iranian/South Asian world. In terms of connections, the lack of certainty in Kushan chronology (see further on the date of Kanishka) prevents us from making any reliable synchronic comparisons. However, some connections can be made in terms of Kushan legacy and the endurance of what we might label an imperial strategy, namely their remarkable control of the regions to the north and the south of the Hindu-Kush range.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
For a concise recap of the enduring discussions on the date of Kanishka, see the debate between Robert Göbl and Joe Cribb (1999). The date now accepted by most seems to be AD 127 established by Falk (2001), although that is far from universal, as Schindel has argued in various publications, including Schindel (2009 and 2014).
- 2.
See Posch (1995) for a criticism of such characterization.
- 3.
- 4.
Shapur’s Ka’aba-i Zardušt inscription (ŠKZ); Ph. Huyse (1999).
- 5.
Κουσην[ων] εθνη εως εμπροσθεν Πασκιβουρων καί εως Κας Σωδικηνής καί · [καί] Τσατσηνής… in the Greek text of the inscription, lines 4–5 (Huyse 1999, I, pp. 23–24).
- 6.
The transcription of ŠKZ is adopted from Huyse (1999, I, p. 23) (§3); the translation is by the present author.
- 7.
Huyse, hesitantly, suggests that this might be Kashgar, which along with Chach, which he translates as Tashkent, would extend the Kushan territories well east and north of their core territories around the Hindu-Kush, see Huyse (1999, II, pp. 36–37) for a discussion of this.
- 8.
- 9.
Ibn Khurradadbeh (1967, p. 29) considers Kushanshah to be the title of the king of Mawara-un-nahr (Transoxiana).
- 10.
Sims-Williams (1996, p. 83).
- 11.
Sims-Williams (2012, p. 79).
- 12.
Bracey (2012).
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
See Rezakhani (2017: Chap. 1).
- 16.
Cribb (1993).
- 17.
For a brilliant, if disorienting, example of this, see J. Cribb’s and R. Göbl’s separate, and widely differing, contributions in Coin, Art, and Chronology, (1999).
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
See Cereti (2010) for a discussion of this.
- 21.
- 22.
Hansen (2012, p. 71).
- 23.
See Hansen (2012, pp. 71–72) and the discussion of the presence of the Twghry (Tocharians?) in Beshbaliq (incidentally meaning “five districts” in Uighur) in Turkistan/Xinjiang.
- 24.
Liu (2001, pp. 261–292), despite its particularly trusting treatment of Chinese sources.
- 25.
See Göbl (1999).
- 26.
The matter of matching Chinese geographical names to the actual geographic settings is a very difficult task, which is a source of constant disagreement between scholars. Anxi is generally accepted to be the name for Parthia, and Kangju is a shifting term pointing to the middle Syr Darya region and sometimes Sogdiana. See Wan 2012 for an example of these disagreements.
- 27.
Nandoumi of the Wusun was previously killed by the Yüeh-zhi.
- 28.
This appears to be referring to the chief of the Xiongnu tribe.
- 29.
See De Blois (2013) for an etymology of the name of the region and the city.
- 30.
The connection between the groups might be further substantiated by the evidence of Pompeius Trogus who says that the Asiani were the kings of the Tocharoi and that they defeated the Saucaraucae (Sacarauli?); Zadneprovskiy (1994, p. 449).
- 31.
The name, specifically speaking, is probably a misnomer as the Tocharians are the speakers of the Tocharian language, a displaced member of the kentum sub-stratum of Indo-European languages; Henning (1938, pp. 545–571).
- 32.
Mair and Mallory (2000, pp. 280–282)
- 33.
Mallory and Adams (1997, p. 509).
- 34.
Henning (1949, pp. 158–163).
- 35.
On this title, see Sims-Williams (2002, p. 235).
- 36.
Hulsewé and Loewe (1979, p. 122, n. 292).
- 37.
Enoki, K. (1974, p. 265).
- 38.
Liu (2001, p. 266 n. 7).
- 39.
- 40.
See Humbach (1966, p. 41) for the development of Bactrian Þ /š/and its background.
- 41.
Errington and Curtis (2007, p. 67).
- 42.
- 43.
MacDowall (2007, pp. 103–104).
- 44.
Cribb (1993).
- 45.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 21–37). The case of ΣΑΝΑΒ, appearing on some early Kushan issues, and the possibility of it denoting an authority, such as Sanabares of the Indo-Parthian dynasty, has not yet been fully explored; see Senior 2001–2006: type B1.2 T.
- 46.
- 47.
Sims-Williams (1998, p. 82, ln. 12).
- 48.
I like to thank Razieh Taasob for this idea, which is elaborated in a meticulous study of the early Kushan issues in her unpublished 2017 dissertation at the University of Vienna.
- 49.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 30, coins 44–69).
- 50.
See Sims-Williams (2002, pp. 229–230; 235) for the derivation of the title of Yabgu from Chinese xihou “allied prince”.
- 51.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 34–35), coin 103–112.
- 52.
See Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 25–26) about the range of distribution, including finds in Begram and Taxila.
- 53.
Bopearachchi (2009).
- 54.
Bracey (2012).
- 55.
- 56.
Cribb (1999).
- 57.
- 58.
- 59.
For a more extensive discussion of this matter, see Rezakhani (2017): Chap. 1 and the discussion of the date of Gondophares.
- 60.
Bailey (1980, pp. 21–29).
- 61.
Whitehead (1913, pp. 658–61).
- 62.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 44).
- 63.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 39–51).
- 64.
MacDowall (1968).
- 65.
Sims-Williams (1996) with reconsiderations in (1998).
- 66.
Cribb (1996, pp. 97–142). The identification, now widely accepted by many scholars of the Kushan period, does have some opposition, mainly from Bopearachchi who suggests that Soter Megas was in fact a separate authority, possibly a usurper of the crown of Vima Tak[to] and thus his contemporary. His reason is the fact that the Soter Megas series has a completely different iconography to the rest of the early Kushan series (i.e. the pre-Vima Kadphises silver and copper issues) and thus do not belong to the general Kushan series. I find the suggestion interesting, at least for the political history of the Kushans, but do not understand its necessity in light of the fact that the pre-Vima Kadphises series of Kushan coins generally displays widely varying coin types, mainly owing to the variety of influences and localities and that the Kushan series is not really well formed prior to the rule of the third king of the dynasty. Bopearachchi (2007).
- 67.
- 68.
Göbl (1999, p. 156).
- 69.
See Göbl (1999, pp. 155–156) for a discussion of Cribb’s point and Göbl’s answers.
- 70.
As suggested by Cribb in Sims-Williams and Cribb (1995/1996).
- 71.
- 72.
Shenkar (2014, p. 154).
- 73.
Allchin (1962).
- 74.
Huntington (1980).
- 75.
Aurelius Victor, Ep. de Caesaribus 15.4.
- 76.
See a discussion of the role of religion and art in the Kushan Dynastic art and ideology in ADH, Bivar (2009).
- 77.
Hou Hanshou LXXVII (Chavannes 1906, p. 237).
- 78.
Rosenfield (1967, p. 42).
- 79.
Bivar CHI: 204.
- 80.
Staviskiy (1980).
- 81.
Bracey (2012).
- 82.
Sims-Williams (1998, p. 81, ln. 5).
- 83.
Rosenfield (1967, pp. 41–42).
- 84.
Bivar (1983, p. 204).
- 85.
Rosenfield (1967, pp. 34–36).
- 86.
- 87.
Rosenfield (1967, p. 37).
- 88.
- 89.
Bracey (2012, p. 119).
- 90.
Gershevitch (1979).
- 91.
Sims-Williams (1996/1998). An earlier statement in the same inscription that Kanishka had issued an edict initially in Greek (ιωναγγο) and then turned it into Aryan/Arian (αριαο) (Sims-Williams 1998, p. 81, line 3) bears a further resemblance to the case of Darius, the first versions of whose famous Behistun Inscription were composed in Akkadian and Elamite, before it being translated into Old Persian (Aryan) (Schmitt 1999). The use of the term ιωναγγο “Ionian”, the usual term for Greek in Old Peraian, is significant. One would imagine that two centuries of Graeco-Bactrian presence in the region would have contributed a term derived from “´Ελλην Hellens” to mark the language. The continued prominence of the Old Persian/Achaemenid term thus evidences the essential connection of the Bactrian literary world to the larger Iranian one.
- 92.
Sims-Williams (2002, p. 56).
- 93.
Bivar (1979, pp. 202–204).
- 94.
Bracey (2012, p. 120).
- 95.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 89).
- 96.
- 97.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 90–93).
- 98.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 91–92).
- 99.
However, see Gafurov et al. (1974–1975) for many studies of Kushan archaeological remains, although few are devoted to landscape archaeology.
- 100.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 279). The interest of the Kushans in a variety of gods and cults, apart from the evidence of their coinage, can also be found in Kanishka’s Rabatak inscription, where apart from Nana, the gods Umma, Aurmuzd (Ahuramazda?), Sroshard (Srōš), Narasa, and Mihir (Mithra) are also mentioned and honoured (Sims-Williams (1998, p. 82, lns. 9–10)
- 101.
Jongward and Cribb (2015, p. 135). Although the Bactrian rendering of the name, βαζυδευο, might suggest a possible Iranian root as well.
- 102.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 135–137).
- 103.
However, now see Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 4) who suggest a date of AD 190–230 for Vasudeva I. Of course, despite popular acceptance, we should keep in mind that the date of the Era of Kanishka is still a speculative matter, and historical conclusions based on it, including the narrative presented here, should be treated with care and due diligence; see Falk (2001) and contra Schindel (2009) and (2012).
- 104.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 135).
- 105.
Evgeny Zeimal, however, disagrees with the succession of Kanishka II to Vasudeva, suggesting that the two were contemporaneous and ruled in different parts of the Kushan Empire as successors of Huvishka. His identification of these co-ruling kings is based on observations made on their coinage: Zeimal (1983, p. 225 f).
- 106.
Errington and Curtis (2007, p. 71).
- 107.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 179–220).
- 108.
Bivar (2009).
- 109.
Zeimal (1983, p. 223).
- 110.
- 111.
Lüders (1961, pp. 125–126).
- 112.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 164–167).
- 113.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, p. 169).
- 114.
As mentioned, Zeimal suggests that there was only one king named Vasudeva and he was the one who succeeded Huvishka together with Kanishka II and made the image of Shiva and Nandi on the reverse of his coins canonical; Zeimal (1983, p. 233). The significance of this suggestion is that it might help us in establishing the regions that came to the control of the later, or what Dani calls “Eastern”, Kushans. Vasudeva’s Shiva-and-Nandi type becomes the model for the later Kushano-Sasanian issues (Dani (1996, p. 169), thus leading us to believe that Vasudeva’s region of influence was further to the north, possibly consisting mainly of the Kushan “homeland” of Tokharistan/ Bactria.
- 115.
Jongeward and Cribb (2015, pp. 174–178).
- 116.
Dani (1996, p. 169).
- 117.
Errington and Curtis (2007, p. 71).
- 118.
Rezakhani (2017, pp. 87–103).
- 119.
Huyse (1999, p. I, 23) (ŠKZ, ln. 3).
- 120.
The longevity of Kushan imperial idea, and the endurance of its idea in subsequent polities, is perhaps its most important aspect; see Gehler and Rollinger (2014, pp. 11–12) for the importance, or rather perceived importance, of this in historiography of empires.
- 121.
- 122.
See Gehler and Rollinger (2014, pp. 3–4) for a discussion of the types of systems that we could consider “imperial.”
- 123.
On possible Zoroastrian presence in Bactria, see Sims-Williams (2000).
- 124.
Sims-Williams (1998, p. 81, ln. 2)
- 125.
- 126.
Gehler and Rollinger (2014, p. 7).
- 127.
Gehler and Rollinger (2014, pp. 9–10).
- 128.
Rezakhani (2017, pp. 72–86).
- 129.
Sims-Williams (1998, p. 81, ln. 3).
- 130.
Gehler and Rollinger (2014, pp. 10–11).
- 131.
A prominent proponent of this date is Joe Cribb, in many articles, including Cribb (1999).
- 132.
- 133.
A brilliant and thorough study of this is reflected most recently in the article by Fabrizio Sinisi (2017).
- 134.
See above as well as Jongeward and Cribb (2015) for a study of Kushan gold issues in various stages.
Bibliography
Allchin, F. Raymond. 1962. Upon the Antiquity and Methods of Gold Mining in Ancient India. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 5 (2): 195–211.
Alram, Michael. 1999. Indo-Parthian and Early Kushan Chronology: The Numismatic Evidence. In Coins, Art and Chronology, ed. Michael Alram and Deborah Klimburg-Salter, 19–51. Vienna: Verlag der OeAW.
———. 2007. Ardashir’s Eastern Campaign and the Numismatic Evidence. In After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam (Proceedings of the British Academy 133), ed. Joe Cribb and Georgina Herrmann, 227–242. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Atwood, Christopher P. 2012. Huns and Xiongnu: New Thoughts on an Old Problem. In Dubitando: Studies in History and Culture in Honor of Donald Ostrowski, ed. Brian J. Boeck, Russel E. Martin and Daniel Rowland, 27–52. Bloomington IN: Slavica.
Aurelius Victor, Sextus. 2012. Liber de Caesaribus. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Bailey, Harold W. 1980. A Kharoṣṭhi Inscription of Senavarma, King of Oḍi. JRAS 112 (1): 21–29.
Benjamin, Craig. 2007. The Yuezhi: Origin, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria (Silk Roads Studies Series, XIV). Turnhout: Brepols.
Bivar, Adrian David Hugh. 1979. The Absolute Chronology of the Kushano-Sasanian Governors in Central Asia. In Prolegomena to the Sources on the History of Pre-Islamic Central Asia, ed. Janos Harmatta, 317–32. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
——— 1983. The History of Eastern Iran. In The Cambridge History of Iran, edited by E. Yarshater, III (1):181–231. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———. 2009. Kushan Dynasty, i. Dynastic History. In Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online).
Blois, Francois de. 2013. Bactria, Bāxδī-, Balx. In Commentationes Iranicae, Vladimiro f. Aaron Livschits Nonagenario Donum Natalicium, edited by Sergei P. Tokhtasev and Pavel Lurye, 268–71. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Historia.
Bopearachchi, Osmund. 2007. Some Observations on the Chronology of the Early Kushans. Res Orientales 17: 41–53.
———. 2009. Kujula Kadphises. In Encyclopaedia Iranica (Online).
Bracey, Robert. 2011. Kankali Tila and Kushan Chronology. In Felicitas: Essays in Numismatics, Epigraphy & History in Honour of Joe Cribb, ed. Shailendra Bhandare and Sanjay Garg, 65–80. Mumbai: Reesha Books International.
———. 2012. The Mint Cities of the Kushan Empire. In The City and the Coin in the Ancient and Early Medieval World (BAR International Series 2402), 117–131. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Cereti, Carlo G. 2010. Xiiaona- and Xyôn in Zoroastrian Texts. In Coins, Art, and Chronology II, ed. Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, 59–72. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Chavannes, Edouard. 1906. Trois Généraux Chinois de La Dynastie Des Han Orientaux. T’oung Pao 7 (2): 210–269.
Cribb, Joe. 1993. The ‘Heraus’ Coins: Their Attribution to the Kushan King Kujula Kadphises, c. AD 30–80. In Essays in Honour of Robert Carson and Kenneth Jenkins, ed. M. Price, A. Burnett and R. Bland, 107–134. London: Spink.
———. 1996. A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great. Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4: 75–142.
———. 1999. The Early Kushan Kings: New Evidence for Chronology. Evidence from the Rabatak Inscription of Kanishka I. In Coins, Art, and Chronology: Essays on the Pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, ed. Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, 177–205. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Daffinà, Paolo. 1967. L’immigrazione Dei Sakā Nella Drangiana. Rome: Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
Dani, Ahmad Hasan. 1996. Eastern Kushans and Kidarites in Gandhara and Kashmir. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia 3: 166–180. Paris: UNESCO.
Dani, A. H., and B. A. Litvinsky. 1996. The Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia 3: 103–118. Paris: UNESCO.
De Blois, François C. 2013. Bactria, Bāxδī-, Balx. In Commentationes Iranicae, Vladimiro F. Aaron Livschits Nonagenario Donum Natalicium, ed. Sergei P. Tokhtasev and Pavel Lurye, 268–271. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Historia.
De la Vaissière, Étienne. 2005. Huns et Xiongnu. Central Asiatic Journal 49 (1): 3–26.
Dehkan, A. 1974. The Relationship of the Kushan and the Parthian Empire. In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 113–117. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Di Cosmo, Nicola. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Enoki, Kazuo. 1974. Hsieh, Viceroy of the Yueh-Chih (a Contribution to the Chronology of the Kushans). In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 265–274. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Errington, Elizabeth, and Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis. 2007. From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. London: British Museum Publications Limited.
Faccenna, D. 1974. Excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission (IsMEO) in Pakistan: Some Problems of Gandharan Art and Architecture. In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 126–75. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Falk, Harry. 2001. The Yuga of Sphujiddhvaja and the Era of the Kusanas. Silk Road Art and Archaeology 7: 121–136.
Gafurov, B. G., G. M. Bongard-Levin, E. A. Grantovsky, L. I. Miroshnikov, and B. Y. Stavisky (eds.). 1974. Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), Vol. 1. 2 Vols. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Gafurov, B. G. (eds.). 1975. Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), Vol. 2. 2 Vols. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Gehler, Michael, and Robert Rollinger. 2014. Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte: Epochenübergreifende und globalhistorische Vergleiche. In Imperien und Reiche in der Weltgeschichte, ed. Michael Gehler and Robert Rollinger, 1–32. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Gershevitch, Ilya. 1979. Nokonzok’s Well. Afghan Studies 2: 55–73.
Göbl, Robert. 1984. System und Chronologie der Münzprägung des Kušānreiches. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
———. 1999. The Rabatak Inscription and the Date of Kanishka. In Coins, Art, and Chronology: Essays on the Pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, ed. Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, 151–175. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Grenet, Frantz. 1984. Les Pratiques Funéraires Dans l’Asie Centrale Sédentaire de La Conquête Grecque à l’islamisation. Paris: CNRS.
———. 2002. Regional Interaction in Central Asia and Northwest India in the Kidarite and Hephthalite Periods. In Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples (Proceedings of the British Academy 116), ed. The British Academy, 203–224. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2012. The Nomadic Element in the Kushan Empire (1st–3rd Century AD). Journal of Central Eurasian Studies 3: 1–22.
Gulyamov, Y. G. 1974. Kushanskoye Tsarstbo i Drevnyaya Irrigatsiya Srednyey Asii (Irrigation in Central Asia in the Kushan Period). In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 118–122. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Hansen, Valerie. 2012. The Silk Road: A New History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harmatta, Janos. 1994. Languages and Literature in the Kushan Empire. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia 2: 417–440. Paris: UNESCO.
Henning, Walter Bruno. 1949. The Name of the “Tokharian” Language. Asia Major, N.S. 1: 158–162.
Humbach, Helmut. 1966. Baktrische Sprachdenkmäler. Vol. 1. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
Huyse, Philip. 1999. Die Dreisprachige Inschrift Šābuhrs I. an der Ka‘ba-i Zardušt (ŠKZ). Vol. 1. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
Hulsewé, Anthony F. P., and Michael A. N. Loewe. 1979. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage, 125 BC–AD 23; an Annotated Translation of Chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. Vol. 14. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers.
Huntington, G. W. B. 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. London: Hakluyt Society.
Ibn Khurdādhbih, Abul-qasim Ubaidullah ibn. 1967. Kitāb Al-Masālik Wa’l-Mamālik. Edited by Michael J. de Goeje. Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, vi. Leiden: Brill.
Jongeward, David, and Joe Cribb. 2015. Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite Coins. New York: American Numismatic Society.
Kuwayama, Shoshin. 2002. Across the Hindukush of the First Millenium. Kyoto: Institute for Research in Humanities.
Lerner, Judith A., and Nicholas Sims-Williams. 2011. Seals, Sealings and Tokens from Bactria to Gandhara (4th to 8th Century CE). Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Li, Rongxi. 1996. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. BDK English Tripitaka 79. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.
Litvinsky, B. A. 1994. Cities and Urban Life in the Kushan Kingdom. In History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. 2. Paris: UNESCO.
Liu, Xinru. 2001. Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies. Journal of World History 12 (2): 261–292.
Loeschner, Hans. 2012a. Kanishka in Context with the Historical Buddha and Kushan Chronology. In Glory of the Kushans – Recent Discoveries and Interpretations, ed. Vidula Jayasval, 137–194. New Delhi: Aryan Books International.
———. 2012b. The Stūpa of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great, with Comments on the Azes Era and Kushan Chronology. Sino-Platonic Papers 227: 1–24.
———. 2002. The Rabatak Inscription and the Nameless Kushan King.In Cairo to Kabul: Afghan and Islamic Studies Presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson, ed. Warwick Ball and Leonard Harrow, 163–169. London: Melisende.
Lüders, Heinrich. 1961. Mathurā Inscriptions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
MacDowall, David W. 1968. Soter Megas, the King of Kings, the Kushana. Journal of the Numismatic Society of India 30: 28–48.
———. 1974. Implications for Kushan Chronology of the Numismatic Context of the Nameless King. In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 246–264. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
———. 2007. The Eras of Demetrius, Eucratides, and Azes. In Des Indo-Grecs Aux Sassanides: Données Pour l’Historire et La Geographie Historique (Res Orientales, XVII), ed. Rika Gyselen, 103–110. Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour l’Étude de la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient.
Maenchen-Helfen, Otto. 1945. The Yüeh-Chih Problem Re-Examined. Journal of the American Oriental Society 65: 71–81.
Mair, Victor H., and J. P. Mallory. 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson.
Mallory, James P., and Douglas Q. Adams. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Taylor & Francis.
Marshall, John H. 1914. The Date of Kanishka. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 973–986.
Nikitin, Alexander B. 1999. Notes on the Chronology of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom. In Coins, Art, and Chronology: Essays on the Pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, ed. Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, 259–263. Vienna: Verlag der OeAW.
Posch, Walter. 1995. Baktrien zwischen Griechen und Kuschan: Untersuchungen zu kulturellen und historischen Problemen einer Übergangsphase: Mit einem textritischen Exkurs zum Shiji 123. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag.
Pulleyblank, Edwin George. 1968. Chinese Evidence for the Date of Kaniṣka. In Papers on the Date of Kanishka, ed. Arthur L. Basham, 247–258. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Puri, Baji N. 1999. The Kushans. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 2, ed. Ahmad H. Dani and Vadim M. Masson, 247–264. Paris: UNESCO.
Rahman, Aman ur, Frantz Grenet, and Nicholas Sims-Williams. 2006. A Hunnish Kushan-Shah. Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology 1 (1): 125–131.
Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2017. ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Rosenfield, John M. 1967. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Schindel, Nikolaus. 2009. Ardashir 2 Kushanshah and Huvishka the Kushan: Numismatic Evidence for the Date of the Kushan King Kanishka I. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 198: 12–14.
———. 2012. The Beginning of Kushano-Sasanian Coinage. In Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum Paris–Berlin–Wien II, ed. Michael Alram and Rika Gyselen, 65–73. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
———. 2014. Ardashir 1 Kushanshah and Vasudeva the Kushan: Numismatic Evidence for the Date of the Kushan King Kanishka I. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 220: 27–30.
Schmitt, Rüdiger. 1999. Beiträge Zu Altpersischen Inschriften. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.
Shenkar, Michael. 2014. Intangible Spirits and Graven Images: The Iconography of Deities in the Pre-Islamic Iranian World. Leiden: Brill.
Simonetta, A. 1974. The Indo-Parthian Coinage and Its Significance in the Chronology of the Kushans. In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 283–88. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 1996. A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great, pt. 1: The Rabatak Inscription, Text and Commentary. Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4: 77–97.
———.1998. Further Notes on the Bactrian Inscription of Rabatak, with an Appendix on the Names of Kujula Kadphises and Vima Taktu in Chinese. In Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies Part 1: Old and Middle Iranian Studies, ed. Nicholas Sims-Williams, 79–93. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag.
———. 2000. Some Reflections on Zoroastrianism in Sogdiana and Bactria. In Realms of the Silk Road, ed. David Christian and Craig Benjamin, 1–12. Turnhout: Brepols.
———. 2002. Ancient Afghanistan and Its Invaders: Linguistic Evidence from the Bactrian Documents and Inscriptions. In Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples, ed. Nicholas Sims-Williams, 225–242. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2012. Bactrian Historical Inscriptions of the Kushan Period. The Silk Road 10: 76–80.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas, and Joe Cribb. 1996. A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great. Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4: 75–142.
Sinisi, Fabrizio. 2017. Royal Imagery on Kushan Coins: Local Tradition and Arsacid Influences. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 60 (6): 818–927.
Staviskij, Boris. 1986. La Bactriane Sous Les Kushans (Problèmes d’histoire et de Culture). Translated by Paul Bernard, M. Burda, F. Grenet, and P. Leriche. Paris: Librarie Jean Maissonneuve.
———. 1980. Kara Tepe in Old Termez: A Buddhist Religious Centre of the Kushan Period on the Bank of the Oxus. Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae Budapest 28 (1–4): 95–135.
Thapar, B. 1974. The Kushan Civilisation in India: An Appraisal of the Component Elements. In Tsentral Asia v Kušanskuyu Epoxu (Central Asia in the Kushan Period), ed. B. G. Gafurov et al., 90–94. Moscow: UNESCO/Nauka.
Thomas, F. W. 1914. The Date of Kanishka. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (New Series) 46 (04): 987–992.
Wan, Xiang. 2012. A Study on the Kidarites: Reexamination of the Documentary Sources. Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 19: 243–301.
Watson, Burton. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China, Translated from the Shih Chi of Ssu-Ma Ch’ien. New York/London: Columbia University Press.
Whitehead, R. B. 1913. Two Coins of Soter Megas, the Nameless King. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 45 (03): 658–661.
Yü, Wing-Shih. 1990. The Hsiung-Nu. In The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, ed. Denis Sinor, 118–149. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zadneprovskiy, Yuri A. 1994. The Nomads of Northern Central Asia after the Invasion of Alexander. In History of Civilizations of Central Asia II, 448–63. Paris: Unesco.
Zeimal, Evgeny V. 1983. Drevnie Monety Tadzihkistana. Dushanbe.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rezakhani, K. (2022). The Kushan Empire. In: Gehler, M., Rollinger, R. (eds) Empires to be remembered. Universal- und kulturhistorische Studien. Studies in Universal and Cultural History. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34003-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-34003-2_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden
Print ISBN: 978-3-658-34002-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-658-34003-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)