Item: i98542

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

India –
Kushan Empire

Huvishka – King circa 151-190 A.D.
Bronze Tetradrachm 23mm (12.19 
grams) Struck circa Circa 151-190 A.D.
Reference: MK 859/857 (obv./rev.); 
cf. ANS Kushan 999 (for obverse);
Huvishka the Kushan’ in Batrian) 
Huvishka seated on elephant to right, holding spear.
Meuro (Mithra), 
radiate and nimbate, standing left, extending hand in benediction and 
holding filleted scepter; tamgha to left.

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are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of 
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Mithra, 
commonly known as Mehr, is the Zoroastrian angelic divinity 
(yazata) of covenant, light, and oath. In addition to being the 
divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing 
protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and of the 
Waters.

The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries to “Persian” (i.e., 
Zoroastrian) sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant 
scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, 
making it, at most, the result of Roman perceptions of Zoroastrian 
ideas.

Like most other Divinities, Mithra is not mentioned by name in the Gathas, 
the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and traditionally attributed to Zoroaster 
himself, or by name in the Yasna Haptanghaiti, a seven-verse section 
of the Yasna liturgy that is linguistically as old as the Gathas. As a member of 
the Iranian ahuric triad, along with Ahura Mazda and Ahura Berezaiti (Apam 
Napat), Mithra is an exalted figure. Together with Rashnu “Justice” and Sraosha 
“Obedience”, Mithra is one of the three judges at the Chinvat Bridge, the 
“Bridge of Separation” that all souls must cross. Unlike Sraosha, Mithra is not, 
however, a psychopomp, a guide of souls to the place of the dead. Should the 
Good Thoughts, Words, and Deeds outweigh the Bad, Sraosha alone conveys the Soul 
across the Bridge.

As the Divinity of Contract, Mithra is undeceivable, infallible, eternally 
watchful, and never-resting. Mithra is additionally the protector of cattle, and 
his stock epithet is “of Wide Pastures.” He is Guardian of the waters and 
ensures that those pastures receive enough of it.

The lack of Mithra’s presence in the texts was once a cause of some 
consternation amongst Iranians. An often-repeated speculation of the first half 
of the 20th century was that the lack of any mention (i.e., Zoroaster’s silence) 
of Mithra in these texts implied that Zoroaster had rejected Mithra. This  
ex silentio speculation is no longer followed. Building on that speculation 
was another series of speculations, which postulated that the reason why 
Zoroaster did not mention Mithra was that the latter was the supreme God of a 
bloodthirsty group of daeva-worshipers that Zoroaster condemned. 
However, “no satisfactory evidence has yet been adduced to show that, before 
Zoroaster, the concept of a supreme god existed among the Iranians, or that 
among them Mithra – or any other divinity – ever enjoyed a separate cult of his 
or her own outside either their ancient or their Zoroastrian pantheons.”

The Avestan Hymn to Mithra (Yasht 10) is the longest, and one of the 
best-preserved, of the Yashts. Mithra is described in the Zoroastrian 
Avesta scriptures as “Mithra of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the 
Myriad Eyes,” (Yandasna 1:3), “the Lofty, and the Everlasting… the Province 
Ruler,”(Yasna 1:11), “the Yazad (Divinity) of the Spoken Name” (Yasna 3:5), and 
“the Holy,” (Yasna 3:13). The Khorda Avesta (Book of Common Prayer) also refer 
to Mithra in the Litany to the Sun, “Homage to Mithra of Wide Cattle Pastures,” 
(Khwarshed Niyayesh 5), “Whose Word is True, who is of the Assembly, Who has a 
Thousand Ears, the Well-Shaped One, Who has Ten Thousand Eyes, the Exalted One, 
Who has Wide Knowledge, the Helpful One, Who Sleeps Not, the Ever Wakeful. We 
sacrifice to Mithra, The Lord of all countries, Whom Ahura Mazda created the 
most glorious, Of the Supernatural Yazads. So may there come to us for Aid, Both 
Mithra and Ahura, the Two Exalted Ones,”(Khwarshed Niyayesh 6-7), “I shall 
sacrifice to his mace, well-aimed against the Skulls of the Daevas” (Khwarshed 
Niyayesh 15). Some recent theories have claimed Mithra represents the Sun 
itself, but the Khorda Avesta refers to the Sun as a separate entity – as it 
does with the Moon, with which the Sun has “the Best of Friendships,” (Khwarshed 
Niyayesh 15).

The
Kushan Empire (Ancient Greek: Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; Bactrian: Κυϸανο, 
kus, khasano,
Kushano) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian 
territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of 
modern-day territory of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and northern India, at 
least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where 
inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor 
Kanishka the Great.  

The Kushans were most probably one of 
five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people 
of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang 
and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty, 
Kujula Kadphises, followed Greek religious ideas and iconography after the 
Greco-Bactrian tradition, and also followed traditions of Hinduism, being a 
devotee of the Hindu God Shiva. The Kushans in general were also great 
patrons of Buddhism, and, starting with Emperor Kanishka, they also employed 
elements of Zoroastrianism in their pantheon. They played an important role 
in the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and China.

The Kushans 
possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes, but 
soon began to use the Bactrian language.  Kanishka sent his 
armies north of the Karakoram mountains. A direct road from Gandhara to 
China remained under Kushan control for more than a century, encouraging 
travel across the Karakoram and facilitating the spread of Mahayana Buddhism 
to China. The Kushan dynasty had diplomatic contacts with the Roman Empire, 
Sasanian Persia, the Aksumite Empire and the Han dynasty of China. The 
Kushan Empire was at the center of trade relations between the Roman Empire 
and China: according to Alain Daniélou, “for a time, the Kushana Empire was 
the centerpoint of the major civilizations”. While much philosophy, art, and 
science was created within its borders, the only textual record of the 
empire’s history today comes from inscriptions and accounts in other 
languages, particularly Chinese.

The Kushan Empire fragmented into 
semi-independent kingdoms in the 3rd century AD, which fell to the Sasanians 
invading from the west, establishing the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom in the 
areas of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara. In the 4th century, the Guptas, an 
Indian dynasty also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and 
Kushano-Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by invaders from the 
north, known as the Kidarites, and then the Hephthalites.