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Kushan Empire
Vima Kadphises – Emperor 90-100 A.D.
Bronze Tetradrachm 25mm (15.42 grams) Struck 90-100 A.D.
Reference: BMC 12; Whitehead 36; Mitchiner 3025-46
BACIΛEYC BACIΛEWN CWTHP MEΓAC OOHMO KAΔΦICHC (“Basileus Basileon Sotir Megas Ooimo Kadphisis”): “King of Kings Vima Kadphises the Great Saviour”., King standing facing, sacrificing at fire altar at left, club, axehead-shafted trident to left, tamgha (Whitehead symbol 4) to right.
Kushan legend, Siva standing facing, holding trident and deerskin, bull Nandi standing right behind; w on o at upper left.
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Vima Kadphises was a Kushan emperor from approximately 90–100 CE. According to the Rabatak inscription, he was the son of Vima Takto and the father of Kanishka.
Emperor Vima Kadphises expanded the Kushan territory in Afghanistan and north-west India.
He was the Kushan emperor to first introduce gold coinage, in addition to the existing copper and silver coinage. Most of the gold seems to have been obtained through trade with the Roman Empire. The gold weight standard of approximately eight grams corresponds to that of Roman coins of the 1st century. Gold bullion from Rome would be melted and used for the Kushan mints, into three denominations: the double stater, the stater, and the quarter starter (or dinara).
The usage of gold testifies to the prosperity of the Kushan Empire from the time of Vima, being the center of trade between the Han Dynasty of China (where Vima was known as 阎膏珍), Central Asia and Alexandria and Antioch in the West. The Kushan were able to maintain and protect the Silk road, allowing silk, spices, textiles or medicine to move between China, India and the West. In particular, many goods were sent by ship to the Roman empire, creating a return flow of gold coins, Greek wine and slaves. Works of arts were also imported from all directions, as indicated by the variety and quality of the artefacts found in the Kushan summer capital of Bagram in Afghanistan. A strong artistic syncretism was stimulated, as indicated by the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.
Roman history relates the visit of ambassadors from the Indian kings to the court of Trajan (98–117 CE), bearing presents and letters in Greek, which were sent either by Vima Kadphises or his son Kanishka.
Most of Vima’s coins feature the Buddhist symbol of the Triratana on the reverse (or possibly Shiva’s symbol for Nandi, the Nandipada), together with representations of Shiva, with or without his bull.
Genealogy
The connection of Vima Kadphises with other Kushan rulers is described in the Rabatak inscription, which Kanishka wrote. Kanishka makes the list of the kings who ruled up to his time: Kujula Kadphises as his great-grandfather, Vima Taktu as his grandfather, Vima Kadphises as his father, and himself Kanishka:
“… for King Kujula Kadphises (his) great grandfather, and for King Vima Taktu (his) grandfather, and for King Vima Kadphises (his) father, and *also for himself, King Kanishka” (Cribb and Sims-Williams 1995/6: 80)
 The Kushan Empire was a syncretic Empire formed by Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent 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. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, as Kushans expanded southward, the deities of its later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority.
The Kushans were one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, a possiblyTocharian, Indo-European nomadic people who migrated from the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang) and settled in ancient Bactria. The Kushans possibly used the Greek language initially for administrative purposes, but soon began to use Bactrian language. Kanishka sent his armies north of the Karakoram mountains, capturing territories as far as Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkant, in the Tarim Basin of modern-day Xinjiang, China. 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 Empire, Aksumite Empire and Han China. 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. In the 4th century, the Guptas, an Indian dynasty also pressed from the east. The last of the Kushan and Sasanian kingdoms were eventually overwhelmed by the Hepthalites, another Indo-European people from the north. Historian H. G. Rawlinson states that the “Kushana Period is a fitting prelude to the age of Gupta’s”.
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