Search Results

This chapter examines the history of the establishment of cities in Bactria. It explains that the creation of cities in Bactria is represented by Ai Khanum for the Hellenistic period and Termez for the Great Kushans. These two exceptional cities were deliberately created to integrate an ancient centre and they assumed the role of capital for a new age. The chapter suggests that their establishment was significantly influenced by political power and that they negatively affected other towns.

This chapter examines the archaeological evidence concerning the monetary circulation in ancient Tokharistan. The findings describe the highly complex and uninterrupted development of monetary relations in Tokharistan in the Classical period, during which the coin assemblage changed. This era included periods of advance and decline, with the periods of decline occurring after the fall of the great ancient kingdoms of the Graeco-Bactrians and the Kushans.

The political aspects of Indo-Greeks, Shakas, Parthians, Kushans and Indo-Sassanians are described. The Shaka-Kushan phase saw a distinct advance in building activities. The Shakas and Kushans introduced better cavalry and the use of the riding horse on a large scale. They also popularized the use of reins and saddles. The Kushans were the first rulers in India to issue gold coins on a wide scale. They also encouraged agriculture. Several rulers adopted Vaishnavism and Buddhism. The origin of Mahayana Buddhism is also discussed. The effect of Gandhara art spread to Mathura, which was primarily a centre of indigenous art. Indian astronomy and astrology gained from contact with the Greeks. The Indians did not owe anything striking to the Greek medicine, botany, and chemistry. In the field of technology too, the Indians appear to have benefited from the contact with the Central Asians.

Sasanian studies in the past have focused mainly on its western regions, with its well-known remains from Azerbaijan through to Mesopotamia and Fars, and its relationship with the Roman Empire to the west. However, more recent discoveries in the east have emphasised the equal importance of these more neglected regions: the investigations of the Gorgan Wall, new fire temple complexes at Bandiyan and Sarakhs, the Bactrian documents, the Ghulbiyan painting and the rock relief of Shapur at Rag-e Bibi to name just some. This chapter will offer an overview of the Sasanian material evidence, mainly in Afghanistan, as well as the traces of Sasanian influences in art and archaeology further east. We will then attempt to identify the Sasanian presence in the archaeological record in Afghanistan and tie this to some of the documentary and literary evidence. In the light of this evidence it is then possible to reassess the Sasanian Empire, its focus and its attitudes to the west.

References to ‘kurds’ appear in Sasanian and early Islamic sources, denoting herding groups. The Sasanians had to contend with a number of nomadic groups on their northeastern, Central Asian frontiers, from the third through the early seventh century ad Periodic incursions onto the Iranian plateau occurred, but the impact of these, beyond ephemeral raiding and plundering, is unclear.