Kushan

A presentation on Kushan Coinage and History by Joe Cribb, Robert Bracey and Lauren Morris
Accessible on line from:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/rec/WN_aDxiMRriTFuoOgZ_WM09ug?meetingId=IPG1GpAT-dxWRMXIj8ZX2VSed1yU2ECe6SHLv4I4JIOXw8XM1T-FJ5cO7LAXRlR2.7iB94Plmtqzdmh1f&playId=&action=play&_x_zm_rtaid=hCfsvtUJTguECvjfh4mz1A.1627128217974.8df0d4862290b7d4758230239bb5646f&_x_zm_rhtaid=358

(222 plates of illustrations will be in special file. The pages' numeration is special for each big chapter. For real book numeration move the cursor to the right border of each pages / 222 таблицы иллюстраций будут в специальном файле. Нумерация по техническим причинам – отдельная для каждого большого раздела. Подлинную нумерацию стрнице в книге можно выяснить, подведя курсор к правой границе каждой страницы).
ABSTRACT:
In this book, you will find a complex research of the clothes of Iranian-speaking peoples beginning from their appearance in the world politics and in the written sources of the 7th–6th cc. BC and up to the Islamization of Iran and Transoxiana in the 7th–8th cc. AD. The accessories of the costume (except belts), the military costume, the rulers’ crowns and the costume materials themselves are not the subject matter of the text; but the hairstyle and sometimes tattoos are being under consideration. The first three chapters are devoted to analysis of the main periods of pre-Islamic history of the Iranian world (the time bounds being different for different regions): [1] the Achaemenid-Scythian time (the 7th–6th cc. BC — 4th–3rd cc. BC, for Transoxiana—up to the mid. of the 2nd cc. BC); [2] the Parthian-Sarmatian time (the 4th/3rd cc. BC — the 3rd/4th cc. AD); [3] the Sassanid and Early Medieval time (the 3/4th — the 7/8th cc. AD). The sections of these chapters deal with materials on the 13 peoples: (1) the Persians of the Achaemenian time; (2) the Early Scythians; (3) the Scythians of the “classic” period (the 5th–4th cc. BC); (4) the “Pazyrykians” of the Altai; (5) the Chorasmians (for all the 3 periods); (6) the Parnes—Parthians of Iran; (7) the Sarmatians and Early Alans; (8) the Yuech-chihs / Kushans of Bactria; (9) the Sogdians (the 2nd and 3rd periods); (10) the Indo-Scythians of Gandhara; 11) the Persians of the Sassanid time; (12) the Khotano-Sakas of Southern Xinjiang (the 2nd and 3rd periods); (13) the Tokharistanians (with other ethnic elements). As far as each of the above-mentioned peoples is concerned the above-stated ideas are analyzed and new materials (including unpublished ones) are taken into account, the details of many depictions are defined and the data on peoples are generalized for the first time. First of all, we have studied the costume of these 13 peoples, which gives the most abundant and many-sided information on the costume as clothes in real life are a mass phenomenon and can be studied productively and correctly only in big series (in case of single depictions rare costume elements and the looks of gods of foreign origin are mistakenly taken for typical ones).
The main tasks of the book are: 1. The reconstruction of the look of the ethnic clothing complex for each of the above-mentioned peoples: the silhouette, the cut (the information about the latter is limited) and the decorative prin-ciples, the last task being the most labour-intensive. The results allow of a reliable attribution of many artifacts from museums and private collections. 2. Eliciting the aesthetical ideal of different ethnic groups reflected in the costume; the analysis of the depictions of supposed representatives of a certain people in the art of other countries for defining the degree of the authenticity in the costume depiction and its representativeness for this ethnic group. 3. The comparative analysis of the costume of each separately taken synchronous people in each of the three main historical epochs; the analysis of the costume of each ethnic group in different periods for defining the character of the costume evolution and heredity. 4. The retrospective eliciting of the look of the original costume of the most ancient Iranians and the “costume” traces of the Iranian penetration to the west of Iran. 5. Eliciting the type of the costume contacts of ancient Iranian-speaking peoples and the difference in their importance. 6. The analysis of the summarized data on the least studied significant functions of the costume aiming at eliciting the specificity of the Iranian world and some of its peoples.
We suggest a complex approach including following elements: (1) dealing with all kinds of sources alongside ob-serving the most possible scope of facts on each studied people (in case of a technical impossibility, the representative statistic excerpts are studied); (2) the proper selection of the costume décor remnants from burials under analysis (only the accounts and publications of high quality are used) excluding significantly fragmented and stylized depictions and, for some regions, images of gods; (3) the analysis of the material according to the linguistic and ethnic principles—not a regional one (which is not typical for modern research on the costume history); (4) considering all the main costume attributes of the ethnic group as a single costume complex that reflects the specificity of the people; 5) the description of the costume of each ethnic group according to the common program in chapters 1–3; (6) considering ethnic complexes against the background of the synchronous neighbouring ones and both earlier and later ones up to their successors in the 19th–20th cc. AD (otherwise the rightfulness of most conclusions is difficult to guarantee); (7) the analysis of costume evolution of separate ethnic groups under the influence of different factors; (8) compiling a special summary tables on the costume of each people (each drawing in them not being an exact copy of a definite depiction, but given in the most appropriate foreshortening without unnecessary details interfering with perception).
MORE INFORMATION: 2nd Internet ed., Moscow: X-lab, 2011: http://www.narodko.ru/article/yatsenko/eurazia/ .

CONTENTS:
PREFACE 5
CHAPTER 1. The Achaemenian-Scythian time (7th/6th cc. — 4th/3rd cc. BC) 29
1.1. The Persians 29
1.2. The European Scythians 47
1.3. The Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains 83
1.4. The Khorasmians 102
The main conclusions 106
CHAPTER 2. The Parthian-Sarmatian time (3rd cc. BC — 3rd/4th cc. AD) 112
2.1. Parthian Iran 113
2.2. The Sarmatians, the Early Alans and the “Late Scythians” 131
2.3. The Yuech-chihs/Kushans 170
2.4. The Khorasmians 187
2.5. The Indo-Scythians 192
2.6. The Sogdians 197
2.7. The Khotano-Sakas 201
The main conclusions 207
CHAPTER 3. The Sasanian and Early Medieval (Pre-Islamic) time (3rd/4th–7th/8th cc. AD) 212
3.1. Sasanian Iran 213
3.2. The Sogdians 231
3.3. Tokharistan and the neighboring regions to the South 247
3.4. The Khorasmians 262
3.4. The Khotano-Sakas 266
The main conclusions 274
CHAPTER 4. The mechanisms of the costume contacts and
the ways of evolution of the costume of ancient Iranians.
The symbolism of costume 279
4.1. The mechanisms of the costume contacts 280
4.2. The ways of evolution of the costume of various peoples 314
4.3. The sign functions of the costume 322
The main conclusions 362
CONCLUSION 364
APPENDIX. The suggestions on the methods of fixation and description of the costume relics
in burial complexes 367
Glossary 370
BIBLIOGRAPHY 371
Abbreviations 416
List of Iluustrations (in English)          418
List of illustrations (in Russian) 423
Illustrations 435-657
Summary                    658
Contents                      663

This article presents the evidence for the dating of the Heraus coinage, and therefore also the dating of the Kalchayan bagolango (royal temple).
This article was written at a time when the date of Kanishka I and Azes I were still debated. In the light of more recent research the date of Kujula Kadphises should be later, c. AD 50-90.

An account of the early nineteenth century process of identifying the remains of the Kushan dynasty, through its coins, its inscriptions and references in Chinese and Buddhist texts. Focussing on the contribution of early numismatists, James Tod, Horace Wilson, Charles Masson, James Prinsep and Sir Alexander Cunningham.

The title 翕侯 or 翖侯 xihou applied to Kujula Kadphises, in Chinese textual sources, and, on the coins of Kujula Kadphises in the forms yavuga, yaüa or yaü in Gandhari Prakrit and εἰα[ι]οϛ (ēia[i]os) or ζαοοϛ (zaoos) in Greek, is normally rendered in modern scholarship as “yabgu,” from the later Turkish version of the title. This link with the later Turkish term has led some to understand the Kushan title from its Turkish usage as “tribal chief” (e.g. Cribb 1985, p. 146; Salomon 1996, pp. 440–441; Srinavasan 2007, p. 6; Liu 2001, p. 267). In the Turkish context it is used both for the level of authority immediately below the royal title qagan and as a title for the chief of a tribal group. In the Chinese texts relating to the Kushan xihou Kujula Kadphises and other individuals among Inner Asian peoples, it appears to have the former meaning. And it appears to have the same meaning in Kujula Kadphises coin inscriptions.
There has been frequent debate in academic research about the origins of the title, with two widely held positions predominating, one identifying it as a Chinese title, the other as a Central Asian title transcribed into Chinese. Recent publications have outlined the debate, especially the entry for the term jabguya in Encyclopedia Iranica (Sims-Williams and de la Vaissière 2012), which presents the main arguments on both sides and concludes that the term is a Chinese transcription of a title used by the Wusun and Yuezhi peoples of Inner Asia. One of the authors of this note had previously proposed that the term was a Chinese title meaning “allied prince” (Sims-Williams 2002, pp. 229–230). The same position is proposed in his commentary on the Western Regions section of the Hou Han Shu by John Hill (Hill 2009, p. 588).
This paper sets out to examine the use of the term in the Chinese chronicles of the period of the Kushan xihou and in coin and stone inscriptions of Kujula Kadphises to illustrate the function of this title for him (Hou Han Shu 118, 13; Hill 2009, pp. 28–29) and interrogate the contextual evidence from these sources for the meaning of this title and its likely origins.

Nine gold discs were collected by Dr.Samuel Eilenberg. Eight discs have a portrait of a Kushan king, probably later than Huvishka, holding a bird-tipped scepter and wearing a cloak or coat closed by a single broach. One disc has a portrait of Silenos, teacher of Dionysus.

archaeological excavations conducted by a team from the Saa in 2004 at a subterranean tomb in the province of Dibba al-hisin have revealed a wealth of luxurious objects. of special interest are two ivory combs characterized by such unique features as to merit being attributed the description of royal. a brief description and discussion of the implications of this discovery are presented in this article which is itself dedicated to our honorable friend and colleague Professor Dr Joaquin Cordoba with whom we share many fond memories during many years of joint enterprise in Sharjah.

इतिहास को जानने में पुरातात्विक साक्ष्यों की महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका होती है। जिसे सिक्के, अभिलेख, स्मारक, भवन, मूर्तियां और चित्रकला के माध्यम से जाना जा सकता है। किसी भी देश के सिक्कों के प्रचलन के इतिहास से उसके अतीत के विषय में प्रामाणिक जानकारी मिलती है। सिक्कों की छाप से न केवल बीते समय की प्रगति बल्कि तत्कालीन प्रौद्योगिकी और कला-कौशल के विकास का पता चलता है। सिक्के अपने दौर की राजनीतिक, धार्मिक और सांस्कृतिक क्रियाकलापों के संवाद के साधन के रूप में एक ठोस साक्ष्य का प्रतीक है। भिन्न कालखंडों के सिक्कों के समग्र अध्ययन से पूरे देश की संस्कृति और सिद्धांतों के क्रमिक विकास की एक पूरी तस्वीर नजर आती है।

I've made a website for my children's book 'Jaya's Golden Necklace: a Silk Road Tale' at jayasgoldennecklace.com. You will find links to excellent websites & videos on the Silk Road, the Kushan Empire, early Buddhism and much more. I hope it's useful and enjoyable. The book is the story of a young girl's empowerment and the first book for children about the cultural roots of the Buddha image in the multicultural world of the Kushan Empire.