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The Destruction of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage > Afghanistan tre of the region, whose ruler is known are specifically described as locally cur- only been able to hint at the contents References Salter (eds), Coins, Art and Chronology: as the ‘khar of Rob’. The open copy rent. A further stage in Arab economic and importance of an immense new - Sims-Williams, Nicholas and Joe Cribb, “A Essays on the Pre-IslamicHistory of the Indo- refers to “the city of Kandban”. This domination is revealed in a document body of material. The new documents New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Iranian Borderlands, Wien: Denkschriften seems to be an earlier name for the from the year 525 (= AD 757), which cover a period of more than four cen- Great” in Silk Road Art and Archaeology 4 der Österreichischen Akademie der Wis- same town, which is found only in the refers to the payment of taxes to the turies, including some periods for (1995-1996):75-142. senschaften, Philosophisch-Historische earliest documents. Arabs. In a document of two years later, which we have hardly any authentic - Sims-Williams, Nicholas, “Nouveaux doc- Klasse 280 (1999); 244-258. A letter dated in the year 239 refers a son of the local landowner bears the sources. The publication of these texts uments sur l’histoire et la langue de la explicitly to the Sasanian emperor, the name “Khamir”, probably a local form will soon be completed with the appear- Bactriane” in Comptes rendus de l’A- Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams of the Shahan-shah. The writer identifies of the Arabic title amir. Soon after- ance of the second volume of my Bac- cadémie des Inscriptions & Belles-lettres SOAS in London is an expert on Sogdian and himself as “Meyam, the steward (and) wards, Arabic would replace Bactrian trian Documents from Northern (1996 [1997]):633-654. Bactrian languages. Together with Joe Cribb ruler of the houses of the illustrious, as the language of the local adminis- Afghanistan, which will include the let- - ——- , NewLight on Ancient Afghanistan: of the British Museum, he deciphered and successful Peroz Shahanshah”. If the tration, as is clear from a group of Ara- ters and Buddhist texts. Then the whole The Decipherment of Bactrian, London: interpreted the newly discovered Rabatak era indeed began in AD 233, the year bic tax records which appear to have of the material will be available to stu- SOAS (1997). inscription in northern Afghanistan. 239 should correspond to AD 471, come to light together with the Bactri- dents of many disciplines, to be com- - ——- , Bactrian Documents from Northern E-mail: [email protected] during the reign of the Sasanian ruler an documents. pared with Chinese and Arabic sources Afghanistan, Vol. I: Legal and Economic Peroz. The apparent reference to his The documents described above have and confronted with archaeological and Documents, Oxford: Oxford University name, therefore, seems to confirm already made it possible to decipher ethnographic data. I confidently expect Press (2000 [2001]). More info > the chronological framework which Bactrian script, revealing a previously that the result will be to cast new light - ——- , “From the Kushan-shahs to the See also http://www.gengo.l.u- had been deduced from the inscrip- unknown tongue which, in its heyday, on many aspects of the history and cul- Arabs: New Bactrian Documents Dated in tokyo.ac.jp/~hkum/bactrian.html tions of Tochi. However, “peroz” may was one of the world’s most important ture of ancient Bactria and modern the Era of the Tochi Inscriptions” in (in English and Japanese). also have been intended as a mere epi- languages. In this brief survey, I have Afghanistan. < Michael Alram and Deborah E. Klimburg- thet meaning “victorious”. Similar formulae in later documents suggest that this may, in fact, be the correct interpretation. Hephthalite Arrivals The Destruction of Afghanistan’s A later group of documents reveals the presence of the Hephthalites as a new political power. Three documents, dated in the years 260 (= AD 492) to Cultural Heritage 295 (= AD 527) refer to a property tax Afghanistan’s civil war, raging between rival groups fighting for political power, gave birth payable to the Hephthalites or to “the to the systematic looting of archaeological sites, such as Aï Khanum, Begram, and Hadda. Hephthalite lords”. The vendors are Their willful destruction, coupled with illicit diggings and vandalism in pursuit of material referred to as servants of the king gain, obliterated the ancient heritage of sculptures and paintings. On 22 March 2001, three (“shah”) and the purchasers as servants weeks after decreeing that all the statues of Afghanistan should be destroyed, the Taleban of a lord with the Persian name briefly opened the National Museum to journalists. They revealed a gloomy, near-empty “Shabur Shaburan”. The persistence of labyrinth of rooms missing virtually all of its treasures. a Persian aristocracy suggests that there was no abrupt break whereby the rule By Osmund Bopearachchi of the Hephthalites succeeded and Forum > replaced that of the Sasanians. On the Afghanistan ot a single coin is now left in the cabinets where once contrary, it is likely that the local N over 30,000 coins were stored; among them were coins dynasty of the “khars of Rob”, at whose from hoards recovered at Mir Zakah, Chaman-i-Hazuri court this contract was drawn up, con- (Kabul), Qunduz, and from the excavations at Aï Khanum tinued to wield power at a local level, and Begram. Most of the artefacts stolen from the Kabul 1994. February 119, no. Delle’Arte, Giornale Il acknowledging the long-established Museum surfaced a few days later in the Peshawar bazaar Kabul Museum after its destruction overlordship of the Sasanians, but also and, from there, found their way to private collections. paying tribute to the Hephthalites, who Among them are the invaluable ivory plaques excavated at also contained more than 300 kilograms of silver and gold had more recently arrived in the region. Begram by French archaeologists in 1937. objects. Of course, such second-hand information should be Unfortunately, the references to the handled with care, as informers tend either to exaggerate or Hephthalites do not indicate even Hoards of Ancient Coins to romanticize the event. approximately the date of their arrival The ancient site of Aï Khanum, before the illicit The Mir Zakah II hoard was the largest ancient coin deposit Among the artefacts were gold and silver vessels: for exam- in the northern Hindukush. They pro- diggings. ever attested in the history of mankind. It was named after ple, a gold censer in the shape of a high beaker on a round vide only a terminus post quem: by the Mir Zakah, the village where it was found in 1992, 53 km base from which thin trails imitating wisps of incense twist year 260 (= AD 492) at the latest, the north-east of the city of Gardez. The hoard must have con- upwards. Another piece among them was a squat silver bowl Hephthalites had arrived and estab- sisted of approximately 550,000 gold, silver, and bronze with an out-turned rim, with, on the inside of the base, the lished themselves in sufficient strength coins. Of these, I managed rapidly to examine six sacks full impressed image of a sea-horse or Hippocampus, its curled to be able to exact the payment of taxes of coins, each weighing at least fifty kilos, in February 1994 tail terminating in a crescent-shaped curve. or tribute from the local population. in the Peshawar bazaar. We still do not know under what cir- Among the sculptures from the deposit, many depict cumstances the Mir Zakah deposit was found. According to Zoroastrian priests, figurines, gold plaques, rings, and The Turks as Overlords witnesses who visited the findspot, the Mir Zakah II hoard intaglios from the Hellenistic period. A repoussé intaglio The next new arrivals, the Turks, are 1978. Bernard, Paul Professor depicts a galloping biga; two repoussés show the Greek god first attested in the year 407 (= AD Hermes wearing a conical helmet; two carnelian intaglios 639). The khar of Rob now has Turkish depict a standing helmeted Athena holding a long spear and instead of Hephthalite titles, but his a shield in typical Greek style. The jewelery in the hoard, in name and patronymic in the texts show particular pendants, earrings, and bracelets, amounted to that he is no Turk. In the year 478 (= several kilograms in weight! AD 710), a Turkish ruler is named in a The numerous coins in the Mir Zakah II hoard were main- deed recording a donation by “Bag- ly early Indian bent-bar and punch-marked coins from Greek, aziyas, the great Turkish princess ...”. Graeco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, Although she is described as a princess 1993. May Hin-Ichi-Ono, and Kushana origins. Coins of the Indo-Scythian King, Azes of the Turkish tribe of the Khalach, her The ancient site of Aï Khanum, after the illicit II, and posthumous imitations of coins of Hermaeus com- name is evidently Bactrian. She belongs diggings. prise the largest portion. The hoard also brought to light an to the Bredagan family, which is attest- unprecedented number of new varieties, such as a tetradrach- ed as far back as the year 247 (= AD ma of Attic weight standard struck for King Menander I with 479) as the ruling family of the other- unknown type and legend arrangement. wise unknown city of Lan. Probably The most sensational numismatic discovery was a coin of Bag-aziyas was the daughter of a local Nasten, a hitherto unknown Iranian ruler in India. On the ruler, who had been given in marriage obverse, within a bead-and-reel border, the coin carries a bust to a Turkish qaghan.
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