American Numismatic Society

During the first centuries AD, a vast inland empire stretched across Central and South Asia. The Kushan Empire was a super power of its time alongside those of China, Persia and Rome. Just how and when the Kushan dynasty was formed continues to be debated, and precise dates, especially for the late Kushan kings, are still elusive, but the coinage alone reveals the Kushan dynasty as a major force in the cultural and political history of the ancient Silk Road.

Evidence for the reigns of a handful of Kushan kings has been gleaned from cryptic references in Chinese and Kashmiri annals, supported by evidence from contemporary inscriptions on stone and metal and from the Kushans' extensive coinage. Some Kushan kings are only known because their names appear on coins. Determining chronologies of kings in Central Asia has depended on numismatics and epigraphy to a greater extent than on archaeology. Coin finds have provided crucial evidence in most Kushan-era archaeological sites. This is especially true for the sites at Begram in Afghanistan and Taxila in Pakistan, together with smaller sites in Pakistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and India. In all these sites the dating of antiquities has largely relied on the coins found in the same or related archaeological contexts (Errington and Curtis 2007:63-72). The 1993 discovery in northern Afghanistan of the Rabatak inscription (Sims-Williams and Cribb 1995/1996; Sims-Williams 1998, 2008) added another piece of firm evidence for understanding the history of the Kushan Empire. The inscription records the purpose of a cult at a religious sanctuary built on the orders of the fourth Kushan king Kanishka I. It lists the gods whose images were to be presented in the sanctuary, and the achievements of Kanishka I in subjugating the cities of northern India. It also provides the names of his dynastic predecessors: his great-grandfather Kujula Kadphises, his grandfather Wima Takto and his father Wima Kadphises, confirming the evidence of royal succession provided by the coins.