Kushan Empire: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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[[Image:GBAMap.jpg|thumb|200px|Boundary of the Kushan empire at its greatest extent, cac. [[150 A.D.]]]]

The '''Kushan Empire''' (cac. [[1st century]] A.D.AD- [[3rd century A.D.]]) was a state that at its height, about [[150s|150]] - [[250s|250]] CE, stretched from [[Tajikistan]] to the [[Caspian Sea]] to [[Afghanistan]] and down into the [[Ganges river]] valley. The empire was created by [[Tocharians]] from modern [[Xinjiang]], [[China]]. They had diplomatic contacts with [[Rome]], [[Sassanian]] [[Persia]] and China, and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between the East and the West.

==Origins==

The name ''Kushan'' derives from the Chinese term, traditionally transliterated ''Guishang'', that described a branch of the [[Yuezhi]]: a loose confederation of [[Indo-European]] peoples speaking versions of the [[Tocharian_languages|Tocharian]] language. They were the easternmost Indo-Europeans, who had been living in the arid grasslands of the [[Tarim Basin]] in modern-day [[Xinjiang]], until they were driven west by the [[Xiongnu]] in [[176 BC|176]]-[[160 BCEBC]].

The Yuezhi reached the Hellenic kingdom of [[Greco-Bactria]], in the [[Bactrian]] territory (northernmost Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) around [[135 BC]], and displaced the Greek dynasties there, who resettled in India in the western part of the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]].

[[Image: Heraios.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Silver tetradrachm of Kushan king [[Heraios]] (AD [[1]]-[[30 AD]]) in [[Greco-Bactrian]] style, with horseman crowned by the Greek goddess of victory [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]].]]

In the [[1st century BC|following century]], charismatic leaders welded the group into a tight confederation. Gradually wresting control of the area from the [[Indo-Scythians|Scythian]] tribes, the Yuezhi expanded south into the region traditionally known as [[Gandhara]] (the [[Pathan]] areas now shared between Pakistan and Afghanistan) and established a capital near present-day [[Kabul]].

==A multi-cultural Empire==

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===Kujula Kadphises===

At the beginning of the [[1st century]] AD, during the reign of [[Kujula Kadphises]], the Kushans suffered a strong setback, as a large part of their empire was invaded by the [[Parthians]]. The Parthian leader [[Gondophares]] established an [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom]] that was to last until the end of the century. By around 75 AD [[75]], however, the Kushans had regained most of their territory.

===Kanishka I===

[[Image: KanishkaI.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Gold coin of Kushan emperor [[Kanishka|Kanishka I]] (c.[[100]]-[[126 AD]]) with a Hellenistic representation of the [[Buddha]] (except for the feet spread apart, Kushan style), and the word "Boddo" in [[Greek script]].]]

The rule of [[Kanishka|Kanishka I]], the third Kushan emperor, who flourished from the late [[1st century|1dt]] to the early/mid-[[2nd century AD]], was administered from two capitals: Purushapura (now [[Peshawar]] in northern Pakistan) and [[Mathura]], in northern India. The Kushans also had a summer capital in [[Bagram]], where the "[[Bagram|Begram Treasure]]", comprising works of art from Greece to China, has been found.

The rule of the Kushans linked the seagoing trade of the Indian Ocean with the commerce of the [[Silk Road]] through the long-civilized [[Indus Valley]]. At the height of the dynasty, the Kushans loosely oversaw a territory that extended to the Aral Sea through present-day Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan into northern India.

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==Decline==

[[Image: KanishkaII.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Gold dinar of Kushan king [[Kanishka II]] ([[200]]-[[220]] AD)]]

From the [[3rd century A.D.]] the Kushan empire began to fragment.

Around [[200 AD]] [[Vasudeva I]] died and the Kushan empire was divided into western and eastern halves. Around [[224]]-[[240 AD]], the [[Sasanians]] invaded [[Bactria]] and Northern India. Around [[270]], the Kushans lost their territories on the Gangetic plain.

Remants of the Kushan empire were ultimately wiped out in the [[5th century AD]] by the invasions of the [[White Huns]], and later the expansion of [[Islam]].

==Main Kushan rulers==

* [[Heraios]] (AD [[1]]-[[30 AD]])

* [[Kujula Kadphises]] ([[30]]-[[80 AD]])First Kushan emperor

* [[Vima Kadphises]] ([[90]]-[[100 AD]])

* [[Kanishka|Kanishka I ([[100]]-[[126 AD]])]]

* [[Huvishka]] ([[126]]-[[164 AD]])

* [[Vasudeva I]] ([[164]]-[[200 AD]]) Last of the great Kushan emperors

* [[Kanishka II]] ([[200]]-[[222 AD]])

* [[Vashishka]] ([[232]]- [[246 AD]])

* [[Vasudeva II]] ([[246]]- [[256 AD]])

* [[Kanishka III]] ([[256]]- AD[[275]])

* [[Shaka I]] ([[325]]-[[345]])

==See also==