Vima Kadphises (c. AD 113–127) was an Indo-Scythian King who expanded the Kushan territory in Afghanistan and northwest India. David Jongeward in his book ‘Kushan Mystique‘ described Vima’s coins: “The portrayal of the king as emerging from a mountaintop may be a reference to Oesho, a Kushan god of the sky and mountains who appears on the deity side of the coin. If so, this is an early example in Kushan coinage in which king and god share iconography. On his inaugural copper tetradrachm, the king is portrayed as a standing figure dressed in a heavy, knee-length tunic worn over baggy trousers bunched at the ankles. His head is turned to the left, his feet splayed out in padded boots. He has a big nose, heavy beard and moustache, a tall cap with an upturned brim and diadem ribbons fluttering behind. He clasps the hilt of a sword with his left hand. An upright trident stands to the left of a small fire altar, and a knobby club stands to the right of the king’s leg. The coarse facial features and heavy tunic lend a sense that this is a man accustomed to the rugged outdoors. The copper coin portrait gives quite a different impression from that of the gold coin. This looks more like a Central Asian nomadic tribesman king who has just stepped inside after a bitterly cold day in the Hindu Kush. The rugged strength is subdued by a surprising gesture: the king extends his right hand to make an offering at a small fire altar. A powerful man portrayed in a quiet moment. Nothing quiet is expressed in the bilingual inscription, however, written on the king side in Greek: King of kings, great saviour, Wima Kadphises. On the deity side, the Gandhari inscription appears in the Kharoshthi script: Of great king, King of kings, Lord of the world, great lord, Wima Kadphises, saviour…
Vima Kadphises’ son Kanishka I refined the standing full-figure coin portrait introduced by his father, an image conveying kingly dignity combined with quiet composure. He stands frontally with head turned, right hand poised over a fire altar, as if dropping pellets of incense onto coals. He has a long beard and wears a jewelled cap with a crest ornament. His mantle is double-clasped at the chest and worn over a long tunic and leggings. He holds a spear in his left hand and is armed with a sword. Flames emanate from his right shoulder. Kanishka dropped the use of Kharoshthi inscriptions. His first coins are simply inscribed in Greek: King of kings, of Kanishka. Kanishka then changed the coin language from Greek to an Iranian language known to modern scholars as Bactrian, but retained the use of the Greek script. Kanishka used an extra character in the Greek alphabet, Þ for the Bactrian ‘sh’. The new Bactrian inscription on his gold coins reads: King of kings, Kanishka Kushan…
The coin image of Kanishka I in an act of worship seems to reveal a clearly conceived intention to express a royal relationship with the gods represented on the other side of his coins. The two sides represent worshipper and worshipped in acts of reciprocity. The king displays his reverence for the gods, demonstrated by his making an offering at a fire altar; the gods in turn bestow blessings and kingship, signified by gestures or proffered objects. Miiro and Mao raise their hands in a gesture of blessing. Nana holds up her lion-forepart wand. Athsho offers a diadem of kingship. Buddha makes a gesture of reassurance, the abhaya mudra. Often, king and god share the same attributes. Both hold tridents or other symbols of authority. Sometimes, both have flaming shoulders and halos. Craig Burns’s intriguing comment is not so far-fetched as it seems: ‘Most coins have two sides, but not Kushan coins. The two sides are really one.’
Kanishka’s grandson Vasudeva’s coin designs departed from the Huvishka imperial bust portraits to reintroduce the image of the standing king making an offering at a fire altar, but with a significant difference: Vasudeva coins portray an armoured, militaristic king. He holds a spear or trident. His armoured tunic appears to be made of plate mail. He wears a tall, conical helmet with a crescent and edged with jewels. On some coins, the king has flames emanating from his shoulders, and on some, a banner is attached to the back of his tunic. With very rare exceptions, only one deity appears…
Arabic sources called the Rus fireworshippers >
The Rus used the swords forged in the area of former Kushan Empire >
Another coincidence is that Trident was used by the Rus as their Coat of Arms. Could all this be just a coincidence though? “Royal Scythia, Greece, Kyiv Rus‘ book takes a closer look at the matter.
