The Kushans and the Emergence of the Early Silk Roads

The Kushans and the Emergence of the Early Silk Roads A thesis submitted to fulfil requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Research) Departments of Archaeology and History (joint) By Paul Wilson Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Sydney 2020 This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources has been acknowledged. 1 Abstract: The Kushans and the Emergence of the Early Silk Roads The Kushans were a major historical power on the ancient Silk Roads, although their influence has been greatly overshadowed by that of China, Rome and Parthia. That the Kushans are so little known raises many questions about the empire they built and the role they played in the political and cultural dynamics of the period, particularly the emerging Silk Roads network. Despite building an empire to rival any in the ancient world, conventional accounts have often portrayed the Kushans as outsiders, and judged them merely in the context of neighbouring ‘superior’ powers. By examining the materials from a uniquely Kushan perspective, new light will be cast on this key Central Asian society, the empire they constructed and the impact they had across the region. Previous studies have tended to focus, often in isolation, on either the archaeological evidence available or the historical literary sources, whereas this thesis will combine understanding and assessments from both fields to produce a fuller, more deeply considered, profile. The fundamental question explored throughout this study is whether the Kushans, more than any others, inspired and were instrumental in creating the emerging ‘Silk Roads’ network; or whether it was the birth of the Silk Roads that gave rise to the Kushans. 2 Table of Contents: List of Figures: ...……………………………………………………........................................ 3 Map 1: Ancient Exchange Routes prior to the Kushan Empire……………….. 7 Map 2: Extent of the Kushan Empire…………………………………..……..... 33 Map 3: Silk Roads post Kushan Era ………………………………………….. 62 Acknowledgements: ………….………………………………………………………………… 4 Chapter 1: Introduction……………… …………………………………………………….. 5 Chapter 2: The Silk Roads ……………………………………………………….…….. 8 Bronze Age/Iron Age ……………………………………………………………. 11 Pre-Kushan Period ………………………………………………………………. 13 The Kushan Era ………………………………………………………………….. 18 Chapter 3: Historical Records ……………………………………………………….… 30 Chapter 4: The Kushans – Authors of Change and Exchange ………. 34 The Emergence of the Kushans ……………………………………….………. 34 The Kushan State ……………………………………………………………….. 38 Extent of Empire …………………………………………………………………. 42 Chapter 5: Kushan Culture – Influences and Impact ………………………… 50 Language ………………………………………………..……………………….. 51 Religion …………………………………………………………………………… 54 The Arts …………………………………………………………………………… 57 Chapter 6: Conclusions ………………………………………………………………….. 63 Appendix A: The Kushan Era – Chronology and Royal Genealogy …………..………….. 68 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………….……. 70 3 Acknowledgements: Professor Alison V.G. Betts Department of Archaeology (Chair), Silk Road Studies Programme, University of Sydney Dr David Brophy Department of History, University of Sydney Robin Lane-Fox New College, Oxford University Robert Bracey The Kushan Coins Project, British Museum Markus Breier University of Vienna JBH Worldwide 4 Chapter 1: Introduction As humans chose to come together into more settled groups, so they initiated forms of exchange to improve, extend and ameliorate their lives. What is more, some of these lives became increasingly sedentary. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, with societies in Asia at the forefront of many key developments, systems of transaction across that continent led the way in forming long-distance, multi-faceted webs of exchange. It was these improved and more sophisticated networks, trading both physical goods and less tangible commodities such as ideas and technology, which in the early historic period would combine and integrate to form what became known as the Silk Roads1. This coming together was unprecedented in size, reach and extent, and it enabled Asian societies to take a lead for over one thousand years, regularly eclipsing Europe and Africa in the process. As this Silk Roads network emerged, the major powers of the day, including China, Parthia and Rome, have rightly been acknowledged as key participants. At the same time a fourth force, the Kushans, were also rising to become a significant protagonist on the Eurasian landmass, yet their influence has been greatly overshadowed. One primary reason for this has been that the Kushans, throughout their history, left very little in the way of their own written material either in the way of literature or inscriptions. Secondly, although archaeological evidence has been more forthcoming, so many of the key sites and potential findings have been and still are in areas too dangerous politically and militarily for the necessary work to be carried out and completed. Thus, with so little known, the tendency has been for the Kushans to be at best side-lined, at worst ignored, by historians and archaeologists alike. Many questions therefore remain and two issues, in particular, stand out: what role did the Kushans play in the key political and cultural dynamics of the period? What was their contribution to the myriad forms of exchange that would emerge across the continent? It is commonly accepted that the Kushans appeared in Inner Eurasia in the first century of the Common Era, and established themselves as heirs, and most likely direct descendants, of the confederation of tribes known in the Chinese sources as the Yuezhi. This earlier nomadic grouping had been forced to migrate westwards from the Gansu Corridor in modern-day China, and had settled in the region now covered by Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan and southern Uzbekistan. From this relatively small geographical and societal base, the Kushans succeeded in establishing an empire so enormous it stretched across much of Central Asia and northern India. This took place during the first, second and third centuries CE, and while their empire was seemingly governed with a light touch in political terms, the Kushans drove their economy with tight control and proved incredibly successful. What is more, the Kushans’ sphere of cultural influence often exceeded their economic and territorial footprints. Indeed, some commentators are calling for this period to be known as a ‘Kushan Era’, with its peak under the ‘Great Kushans’, who ruled through the second and The plural form, ‘Silk Roads’, is increasingly being used to replace the conventional singular ‘Silk Road’, and will be adopted throughout this paper. See Appendix A 5 early third centuries CE.2 Critically, this zenith corresponds very closely to that of the Silk Roads in their initial, ‘emergence’ stage. These observations raise some fundamental questions: was it the new-found stability and advancing prosperity amongst other societies across the emerging Silk Roads which nudged a traditionally splintered Central Asia to unite under a single indigenous force, and finally unlock the vast potential of the region? Or did this new grouping, the Kushans, drive and design systems of change and exchange so successfully that the rest of Asia would be brought together to form one all-enveloping network? Were the Kushans the continent’s ultimate ‘middlemen’, or were they leaders of the entire enterprise? If the interests of the Kushan rulers were not limited solely to the economic sphere, what influence did they have on the broader canvas? Clearly, to answer such questions cultural developments during this period need to be considered alongside commercial activities. Could it be that the essence of the Kushans’ achievement was their appreciation that development could not be had in one sphere without the other, and that if the two systems smoothly worked in tandem the whole could be greater than the sum of its parts? Could the reason why the Kushans became key protagonists in the emergence of the Silk Roads be that their ethos and make-up in many ways mirrored that of the network itself? Regarding sources and evidence, one final problem needs to be tackled. Silk Roads studies have often been hampered by a distinct ‘division of labour between historians and archaeologists’, with historians concentrating their efforts on the literate civilisations, and archaeologists on non-literate communities.3 In recent years the situation has improved, but still advances made in one field do not always cross over into the other.4 For this study, detailed data and research from both fields will be examined extensively and drawn together, in the belief that by evaluating the evidence in unison new light will be shed on all. 2 Benjamin 2018, p202 3 Rosenfield 1967 p4 4 Christian 2000 p71 6 Map 1: Ancient Exchange Routes prior to the Kushan Empire © Paul Wilson (adapted from Googlemaps) 7 Chapter 2: The Silk Roads Understanding of this subject has come a long way since the term ‘Silk Roads’ was popularized by Ferdinand von Richtofen in the late nineteenth century.5 It would be misleading to claim von Richtofen actually christened the network since ‘Silk Road’ was used in ancient texts by the likes of Ammianus Marcellinus in his book The History, and von Richtofen himself alluded to this.6 For the

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