Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
7 - The Kushan Empire
At the Crossroads of Ancient Eurasia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2018
Book contents
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- New Approaches to Asian History
- Empires of Ancient Eurasia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Pastoral Nomads and the Empires of the Steppe
- 2 Early China
- 3 Zhang Qian and Han Expansion into Central Asia
- 4 The Early Han Dynasty and the Eastern Silk Roads
- 5 The Roman Empire and the Western Silk Roads
- 6 The Parthian Empire and the Silk Roads
- 7 The Kushan Empire
- 8 Maritime Routes of the First Silk Roads Era
- 9 Collapse of Empires and the Decline of the First Silk Roads Era
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Chapter Seven demonstrates that, despite being descended from pastoral nomads, the Kushans created a powerful sedentary empire that controlled vast regions of Inner Eurasia for the first two centuries of the Common Era. This corresponds precisely with the high point of the First Silk Roads Era, and it is no exaggeration to suggest that it was the stability created by the Kushans, through their unbroken line of royal succession, their superb coinage, their apparent religious tolerance, their support of Gandharan and Mathuran art, and the cordial relations they maintained with their neighbors once they had constructed their empire, that helped facilitate the extraordinary material and cultural exchanges that epitomize this key period in ancient world history. Despite the fact that the Kushans constructed an essentially land-based Empire, at least two of the major trade routes that passed through their territory headed towards ports along the west coast of South Asia, some of which probably came under their direct control during the Great Kushans period. These ports were crucial in maritime Silk Roads trade between Asia and Roman Egypt.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Empires of Ancient EurasiaThe First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE, pp. 176 - 203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
Selected Further Reading
Benjamin, C., “The Yuezhi,” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017, at: http://asianhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-49.Google Scholar
Cribb, J., “The Early Kushan Kings: New Evidence for Chronology. Evidence from the Rabatak Inscription of Kanishka I,” in Alram, M. and Klimburg-Salter, D., eds., Coins, Art and Chronology. Essays on the Pre-Islamic History of the Indo-Iranian Borderlands. Vienna, 1999.Google Scholar
Errington, E., Cribb, J. and Claringbull, M., eds., The Crossroads of Asia: Transformation in Image and Symbol in the Art of Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. London: The Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992.Google Scholar
Falk, H., ed., Kushan Histories: Literary Sources and Selected Papers from a Symposium at Berlin, December 5 to 7, 2013. Bremen: Hempen Verlag, 2016.Google Scholar
Gobl, R., System und Chronologie der Münzprägung des Kušānreiches. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1984.Google Scholar
Jongeward, D., Buddhist Art of Pakistan and Afghanistan: The Royal Ontario Museum Collection of Gandhara Sculpture. Toronto: University of Toronto, Center for South Asian Studies, 2003.Google Scholar
Mairs, R., “Glassware from Roman Egypt at Begram (Afghanistan) and the Red Sea Trade,” British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 18 (2012), pp. 61–74.Google Scholar
Mehendale, S., “Begram: Along Ancient Central Asian and Indian Trade Routes,” Cahiers d’Asia centrale 1 (1996), pp. 47–64.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, D., “Begram, the Periplus and Gandharan Art,” Journal of Roman Archaeology 2 (1989), pp. 93–100.Google Scholar
Zurcher, E., “The Yueh-chih and Kanishka in the Chinese Sources,” in Basham, A. L., ed., Papers on the Date of Kanishka. Leiden: Brill, 1968, pp. 346ff.Google Scholar