Gourt Home::Gourt :: Indo-Parthian Kingdom
Gondophares.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Coin of Gondophares (20-50 CE), first and greatest king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.
Obv: Bust of Gondophares and Greek legend: BACIΛEΩC CΩTHPOC VNΔOΦEPPOV "King Gondophares, the Saviour".
Rev: Winged Nike holding a diadem, with a Kharoshti legend: MAHARAJASA GUDAPHANISA TRATARASA "King Gondophares, the Saviour".]]
The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was established during the 1st century CE, by a Parthian leader named Gondophares, in an area covering today's Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. The Kingdom's capital was Taxila, (Pakistan)* and during the last few years of its decline it was centered around Kabul, (Afghanistan).
Origins
Following the weakening of the Parthian empire after conflicts with Rome and the death of Mithridates II in 92 BCE, the Suren, a noble Parthian family of Arsacid descent, started to make inroads into eastern territories that had been occupied by the Indo-Scythians and the Yuezhi, until the demise of the last Indo-Scythian emperor Azes II around 5 CE.
The Parthians ended up controlling all of Bactria and extensive territories in Northern India, after fighting many local rulers such as the Kushan Empire ruler Kujula Kadphises,in the Gandhara region.
Secession from Parthia
Around 20 CE, Gondophares, one of the Parthian conquerors, declared his independence from the Parthian empire and established the Indo-Parthian kingdom in the conquered territories.
The kingdom barely lasted one century. It started to fragment under Gondophares' successor Abdagases. The northern Indian part of the kingdom was retaken by the Kushans around 75.
After that point the kingdom was essentially restricted to Afghanistan. The last king Pakores (100 - 135) only ruled Sakastan and Turan.
The Indo-Parthians were known to the Indians as Pahlavas and are referred to in numerous Indian texts, together with the Yavanas or the Sakas. At the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the Central India Satavahana king Gautamiputra Sātakarni (r. 106 - 130 CE) would call himself "Destroyer of Sakas (Western Kshatrapas), Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) and Pahlavas (Indo-Parthians)" in his inscriptions.
Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Main article: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Some pocket of Parthian rule remained in the East, even after the takeover by the Sassanids in 226. From the 2nd century several Central-Asian Buddhist missionaries became in the Chinese capital cities of Loyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. The first known translators of Buddhist texts into Chinese are actually Parthian missionaries, distinguished in Chinese by their Parthian surname "An", for "Anshi", "country of the Arsacids".
- An Shih Kao, was a Parthian prince, who made the first known translations of Hinayana Buddhist texts into Chinese (148-170).
- An Hsuan, was a Parthian merchant who became a monk in China 181
- Tan-ti (c.254), a Parthian monk.
- An Fachiin (281-306), a monk of Parthian origins.
Main Indo-Parthian rulers
- Gondophares I (c. 20-50 CE) Coin
- Abdagases I (c. 50-65) Coin
- Satavastres (c. 60) Coin
- Sarpedones (c.70) Coin
- Orthagnes (c. 70) Coin
- Ubouzanes (c. 77) Coin
- Sases or Gondophares II, (c. 85) Coin
- Abdagases II (c. 90) Coin
- Pakores (c. 100) Coin
See also
External links
History of Iran | Empires and kingdoms of India | Persian history | Iranian peoples | Lists of monarchs | History of Pakistan | 1st century establishments
Indo-Parthisches Königreich | Royaume indo-parthe | インド・パルティア王国
"Indo-Parthian Kingdom"