STUDIES

IN
ANCIENT ART
AND
CIVILIZATION
16

JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY
Kraków 2012
Editorial Board
Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka (Editor-in-Chief, Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Piotr Bieliński (Univeristy of Warsaw)
Eliot Braun (W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Jerusalem)
Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Renée Friedman (British Museum, London)
Georgia Kokkorou Alevras (National and Kapodistrian University, Athens)
Janusz A. Ostrowski (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Tomasz Polański (University of Kielce)
Joachim Śliwa (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Michael Vickers (University of Oxford)

Secretary to the Editorial Board

Agnieszka Fulińska

List of Reviewers
Piotr Bieliński (University of Warsaw)
Jarosław Bodzek (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Eliot Braun (W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research,
Le Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem)
Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Teresa Dziedzic (Wrocław University of Technology)
David Evans (University of Sydney)
Renée Friedman (British Museum, London and American Hierakonpolis Expedition)
Dorota Gorzelany (National Museum, Krakow)
Georgia Kokkorou Alevras (National and Kapodistrian University, Athens)
Wojciech Machowski (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Marek Olbrycht (University of Rzeszów)
Janusz A. Ostrowski (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Elias K. Petropoulos (Democritos University, Komotini
and International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki)
Tomasz Polański (Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce)
Władysław Rączkowski (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań)
Cezary Sobczak (Archaeological Museum, Warsaw)
Joachim Śliwa (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
Michael Vickers (University of Oxford)
Michał Wasilewski (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)
studies in Ancient Art
and Civilization

16
Universitas Iagellonica

DE antiquorum artibus
et civilisatione
studia varia

Pars XVI

Edidit
Evdoxia Papuci-Władyka

Cracoviae MMXII
 Jagiellonian University

Studies
in ancient art
and Civilization

16

Edited by
Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka

Krakow 2012
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Agata Dobosz

TRANSLATIONS AND LANGUAGE CORRECTIONS

Authors and Ian Jenkins, Agnieszka Fulińska

Cover Design
Szymon Szweda

Layout
Marta Korczyńska-Zdąbłarz

On the cover
Terracotta statuette (Princes Czartoryski Foundation deposited with the National Museum
in Krakow, inv. no. MNK XI-1061, see p. 213). Photo by Marek Studnicki

© coPYRIGHT BY
INSTYTUT ARCHEOLOGII UNIWERSYTETU JAGIELLOŃSKIEGO & AUTHORS
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 Contents

Eliot Braun
Qiryat Ata. New perspectives on a late prehistoric
site in the southern Levant......................................................................7
Joanna Dębowska-Ludwin
Traces of early Egyptian burial rituals in Proto- and Early Dynastic
graves from Tell el-Farkha....................................................................39
Mariusz A. Jucha
Naqada III – Old Kingdom pottery in the Nile Delta:
a view from Tell el-Akhdar...................................................................49
Mariusz A. Jucha
Naqada IIIB pottery in the Nile Delta:
a view from Tell el-Farkha....................................................................61
Urszula Stępień
Tabular scrapers from the Eastern Kom at Tell el-Farkha.....................75
Wawrzyniec Miścicki
Thoughts on changes in Greek warfare during the Archaic
period with reference to the representation of the phalanx
in contemporary art...............................................................................85
Jarosław Bodzek
On the dating of the bronze issues of Tissaphernes...........................105
Łukasz Miszk
The interpretation of loomweights in various
archaeological contexts......................................................................119
Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka
The rural area of the Greek colony Akra (Kerch district, Ukraine):
the settlement of Zavetnoe 5. Seasons 2009-2010..............................131
Agnieszka Fulińska
Arsinoe Hoplismene. Poseidippos 36, Arsinoe Philadelphos
and the Cypriot cult of Aphrodite........................................................141
Aleksandra Klęczar
‘Who lives and must not die’. The myth of Adonis
in Hellenistic poetry...........................................................................157
Kamil Kopij
Propaganda war over Sicily? Sicily in the Roman
coinage during the civil war 49-45 BC..............................................167
Katarzyna Lach
Aurei of Vespasian struck in Alexandria............................................183
Francesco Ferraro
Le erme di Dionysos ovvero del suo ierofante...................................191
Emilia Smagur
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins............................................201
Dorota Gorzelany
The art of re-creation: terracotta statuettes and their copies.
About one ‘Tanagra’ from the Princes Czartoryski Museum.............213
Karolina Rosińska-Balik
Virtual reconstruction in archaeological service:
a case study of the temple of Divus Iulius
on the Forum Romanum......................................................................223
Kasper Hanus
The applications  of  airborne  laser  scanning  in  archaeology.........233
Manuel Serrano, Michał Bzinkowski
Marcin Czermiński and his eyewitness account of the Minoan
excavations in Crete at the beginning of the 20th century.................249
Leszek Zinkow
Pharaonic disguise. Contemporary politics
in Egyptian camouflage......................................................................269
 Studies in Ancient Art and Civilization 16
Kraków 2012

Emilia Smagur
Kraków

Mithra on Kanishka
and Huvishka coins

Abstract: Mithra is one of the ancient deities represented on coins

of the Great Kushans. The initial Kanishka issue features the Greek version
of the solar deity Helios accompanied by the legend in Greek. The next
issues feature the identical figure but the legends are in Bactrian and read
Mithra in a few varieties of spelling. On the Huvishka coins more diverse
types of Mithra in varied positions are observed, as well as together with
another deity Mao. The coins are similar to the Roman and Alexandrian
coinage as the moneyers probably copied some Roman coin designs and
drew the examples from pattern-books. This suggests that Kanishka and
Huvishka were inclined to the Greco-Iranian traditions of Bactria, whereas
their predecessors and successors gave the priority to the Iranian gods
in their coinages. Scholars still dispute the moment when Mithra begun to be
represented as himself, not just as a solar deity of a syncretic character.
Keywords: coinage of the Great Kushans; Kanishka coins; Huvishka
coins; Mithra representations

The pantheon of the gods depicted on the reverses of coins minted

by Kanishka the Great (c. AD 127-151)1 and Huvishka (c. AD 154-186)
is extraordinarily complex in comparison with other ancient divine
pantheons represented on coins. It includes over thirty gods worshipped
in Rome, Alexandria, the Hellenistic Orient and India (Rosenfield 1967,
1
The establishment of the Kanishka’s succession date was disputed by scholars for a long
time. At present, the introduction of the new era to celebrate the beginning of the king’s rule
is dated to AD 127/8 (Bivar 2009).
202 E. Smagur

69). This reflected the religious diversity characterising the territories

occupied by the Kushans. However, the popularity of, for example, Jainism,
and Buddhism in their empire (evidenced by the other archaeological
sources) is not sufficiently confirmed in the coinage (MacDowall 1975, 142).
It is still not clear why the Kushans decided to place these specific deities
on their coins which were also the means of disseminating their ideas through
their iconography, and thus a propaganda issue.
Rosenfield (1967, 70) convincingly argues that the gods featured
on the Kushan coins were comites augusti – the gods supporting the kingdom
and the main directions of the ideological expansion of its rulers (see also
MacDowall 1975, 143).
On coins of the Great Kushans, the images of Iranian deities that were
popular particularly in eastern Iran prevail (Humbach 1974, 136-137),
although representations of deities of Iranian origin appear very rarely
on monuments other than coins. In the Kushan Empire, only Buddhism was
a religion producing cult images on a large scale (Rosenfield 1967, 72).
During the reigns of the Great Kushans, the Iranian tradition constituted
the centre of their dynastic politics (MacDowall 1978, 308). Humbach
(1975, 136) believes that Kanishka and Huvishka returned to the Greco-
-Iranian traditions of Bactria, whereas their predecessors and successors
gave priority to the religions of Indian origin in their pantheon. According
to Fussman (1974, 37), the fact that the Great Kushans set up inscriptions
in places difficult to approach, employing legends in three languages,
and introduced gold coinage perhaps suggest that they had in mind
the Achaemenid tradition since they wanted to be seen as the guardians
of Iranian values and the conquerors of Bactria, exacting revenge
on the successors of Alexander the Great. In the opinion of Harmatta,
the domination of Iranian cults in the religious policy of Kanishka may
be connected with an increasing interest of the king in the western part
of his empire ever since Parthia began to threaten the Kushans (Harmatta
et al. 1994, 322).
The Bactrian inscription of Rabatak, discovered in 1993 (Sims-Williams
and Cribb 1995/6, 75-142; Sims-Williams 2008, 53-68) contributed greatly
to the study of the Kushan Empire. The inscription was written on a rock
in the Bactrian language and in the Greek script during the early years
of Kanishka’s reign. It contains, inter alia, the information about replacing
the Greek language with the Bactrian language called Aryan; it describes
the cities under the rule of the Kushan Empire during his reign and
lists the names of the kings who ruled up to his time. It also announces
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins 203

the beginning of the new era introduced by Kanishka at the beginning of his
reign. The gods mentioned in the inscription (Nana, Omma, Aoromozdo,
Mozdooano, Sroshardo, Narasao and Mithra) are identified as the deities
from whom he obtained the kingship. According to Cribb (2008, 122),
the presence of Aoromozdo (Ahura Mazda) mentioned among them confirms
Stein’s (1888, 89-98) theory about the deities on the coins of the Kushans
as deities related to Zoroastrianism. This had been disputed by Rosenfield
(1967, 82), but some elements of the Kushan religion, such as for example
the fact that Ahura Mazda was subordinated to the goddess Nana, suggest
that their religion was clearly rooted in the same tradition as Zoroastrianism,
but represented a variation specific to the territories spreading to the east
of Iran (Cribb 2008, 122-126).
Vima Kadphises (reigned c. AD 100-127/8) introduced a new obverse
type featuring a ruler sacrificing at a small fire altar clad in the traditional
Iranian nomad costume and wearing an Iranian cap. The same attire
is worn by the Kushan aristocracy depicted in the sculptures at Surhh Kotand
belonging to the Mathura school (MacDowall 1978, 208). MacDowall (1978,
311) suggests that the image of Kanishka on the obverses of Greek issues
of copper tetradrachms should be interpreted as an earthly representation
of Ahura Mazda linked with Anahita (Nanaia) and Mithra (Helios) depicted
on reverses; that would be an echo of the triad popular in Iranian religions
of the Parthians. The representations of Kanishka making a sacrifice to one
of the gods who gave him kingship on the obverse, and the relevant deity
on the reverse of his coinage may be interpreted as parts of the same image.
Although the names of the deities mentioned in the Rabatak inscription
are not exactly the same as those on the coins so far as their spelling
is concerned, the interpretation of the deities’ iconography suggests that
the purpose of placing them on the coins was the same as in the case
of the Rabatak inscription (Cribb 2008, 122-126).
Coins of the Great Kushan are much more of a Roman than a Parthian
type (Rosenfield 1967, 73). Göbl (1968, 104-106) claims that the inspiration
for the images on Kushan coin reverses came from two main sources. One
was the coinage of the Imperium Romanum, especially the Roman aureus
that circulated in regions situated along trade routes. The other source was
Alexandrian pattern-books containing coin designs that reached Bactria and
parts of India. According to his findings, the Kanishka coins were imitations
of coins of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, and the Huvishka coins of coins
of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (see also MacDowall 1975, 143).
Callieri (1990, 90-91) is of the same opinion in that he sees the source
204 E. Smagur

of Mithra iconography in images on the reverses of some coins

of Antoninus Pius2 that can be interpreted as depicting the emperor
as Sol. Callieri (1990, 90-91) also emphasises the similarity between
the iconographic type appearing on the Antoninus Pius coins and that
on the reverses of coins of Hadrian issued in Asia3 bearing an image
identified as Lunus whose cult was popular in Roman Asia and who could
be a prototype for the Mao representations and underlines the relation
between Sol and Lunus recalls that between Mithra and Mao. According
to Rosenfield (1979, 73), the imagery on the Kushan coin reverses evokes
the style of Roman coins on which gods are shown emotionally detached,
usually as small figures, depersonalised and identified mainly by means
of their legends or their attributes. They are certainly neither aesthetised
nor expressive images.
MacDowall (1975, 145-149), who analysed the Kushan copper coinage,
came to the conclusion that the employment of specific types of reverses
had an additional utilitarian purpose. Three main Kushan mints (Bactria/
Kapisene, Gandhara and Kashmir) were divided into officinae, and
the product of each was distinguished by a characteristic type of reverse.
This system seems to be a borrowing from the Roman coinage organisation
system that coincided with a period when Greco-Roman pattern books
were in use. MacDowall (1975, 145-149) assumes that Mithra was popular
in those parts of the confederation that had their roots in Bactria.
Undoubtedly, Mithra is one of the gods that appears most frequently
on the reverses of the gold and copper coins minted by the Great Kushans.
Göbl (1984, Fig. 25) states that Kanishka and Huvishka coins were issued
in two mints: ‘A’ and ‘B’. Mithra appears on the reverses of all three series
issued at mint ‘A’ always as the products of the first officinae. In the first
issue struck probably before the Bactrian language became official, the deity
was accompanied by a legend in Greek with his name spelled as HΛIOC.
In the second and the third issue, his name is written in Bactrian and reads
MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 31), but in the third issue Mithra appears in four
variants: A1 (Göbl 1984, Fig. 52), A2 (Göbl 1984, Fig. 56), A3 (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 64), and B (Göbl 1984, Fig. 68). Only in one issue, being the product
of the first officinae of mint ‘B’, Mithra is labelled as MEIPO (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 75) or MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 75A, 79).
In the Kanishka coinage, Mithra is always in the same iconographic
type. The initial issue of coins of Kanishka the Great shows him as the Greek
2
Mattingly 1940, 84, Pl. 12.17, 269, Pl. 40.11.
3
Mattingly 1936, 388, Pl. 73.3.
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins 205

Fig. 1. Gold coin of Kanishka, the legend Helios on the reverse.

© Trustees of the British Museum, scale 2:1

solar deity labelled with his Greek name Helios (Fig. 1). That issue is called
‘Greek’ as it features Greek versions of gods on the coins that carry legends
in Greek. The legend Helios appears only on Kanishka coins (Rosenfield
1967, Pl. V, 90; Göbl 1984, Fig. 25). The god is shown as a man standing
facing, his head turned to the left with a radiate nimbus around his head.
His right hand is raised in a characteristic blessing gesture, very common
on Kushan coins. His left hand rests on a short sword hilt or on his hip.
He is clad in a coat, tunic and boots. Apart from the legend, this representation

Fig. 2. Gold coin of Kanishka, the legend Mithra on the reverse.

© Trustees of the British Museum, scale 2:1
206 E. Smagur

is identical with later representations of Mithra (Fig. 2) on reverses

of Kanishka coins (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VI, 115-116; Göbl 1984, Fig. 31,
56, 79). In one variant, the god carries a knobbed staff instead of a sword
(Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VI, 117).
In the first gold Kanishka issue the following deities are represented:
Mithra, Nana, Mao, Oado, Athsho and Oesho. Five of them are labelled
with their Greek names: Helios, Selene, Hephaistos, Anemos and Heracles.
The images of these six deities constituted the main designs on the coin
reverses during the reign of Kanishka (Cribb 2008, 122-126). Since
the introduction of Bactrian legends on coins, the representations of these
deities continued to be the same regarding their iconography; only in the case
of Selene replaced by Mao the gender of the deity is changed. Most probably
a Kushan Helios had never been a Greek god but was one of the divine
patrons of the dynasty, the Indo-Iranian or Zoroastrian Mithra depicted
in the way described above according to an interpretatio graeca (Harmatta
et al. 1994, 322). It is worth mentioning that in the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa
the Sun God (usually Sūrya) is called ‘Heli’ and his land ‘Heliloka’
(Rosenfield 1967, 77).
On Huvishka coins representations of Mithra are more diverse. The god
is still depicted standing, with a radiate nimbus, wearing a nomad’s robe,
but according to Rosenfield (1967, 82), eight iconographic types of Mithra
images can be identified:
a) (Fig. 3) Mithra faces rights, holding a sword or arikusa in his left hand,
and in his right a torque or a diadem (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VI, 118-119;
Göbl 1984, Figs 135, 136);
b) the same type as on the Kanishka coins described above (Rosenfield
1967, Pl. VI, 120-121; Göbl 1984, Figs 137, 138);
b1) similar but slightly modified: Mithra holds a staff resting on his arm
or on the ground (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VI, 122-123, Pl. VII, 124;
Göbl 1984, Fig. 172);
c) Mithra holds a diadem in his right hand, with his left hand on his hip
(Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VII, 125-126; Göbl 1984, Fig. 174);
c1) similar to c) above but he carries a staff in his left hand (Rosenfield
1967, Pl. VII, 127-128; Göbl 1984, Fig. 173);
d) Mithra holds a staff in his right hand, with his left hand resting on his hip
(Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VII, 129; Göbl 1984, Fig. 172);
e) Mithra portrayed in a Classical style facing right and holding a staff in his
right hand and an arikusa in his left hand, wearing a helmet (Rosenfield
1967, Pl. VII, 130; Göbl 1984, Fig. 200);
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins 207

Fig. 3. Gold coin of Huvishka, reverse type a).

© Trustees of the British Museum, scale 2:1

f) similar to e) above, but the god holds a diadem in his left hand (Rosenfield
1967, Pl. VII, 130; Göbl 1984, Fig. 193).
During the reign of Huvishka, Mithra features on the first three (out
of four) issues of the first officinae of mint ‘A’. The first issue features three
iconographic types: type a) with the legend MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Figs 135,
136), type b) with the god labelled as MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Figs 137, 138)
or MIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 139) or MIPPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 140), and type
b1) with the accompanying inscription MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 140a).
In the second issue, the following types are observed: the above mentioned
type b) with the inscription MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 170) or MIYPO
(Göbl 1984, Fig. 171), type c) with the legend read MIOPO (Göbl 1984,
Fig.174), and type c1) with his name spelled as MIOPO (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 173).
The third issue coins may be divided into three groups. In the ‘A’ series
Mithra is depicted in type b) labelled as MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 194),
in type c) with the legend MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Figs 190, 197) or MIYPO
(Göbl 1984, Fig. 195), in type c1) with the incription MOPO (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 191), MIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 192) or MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 198),
in type e) with the legend MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 200) and, finally, in
type f) labelled as MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 193). The ‘B’ series includes
the Mithra representation in type c1) with the inscription MIIPO (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 228) whereas the ‘C’ series includes representations intype c) with
the legend MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Figs 250, 252) and in type e) labelled
as MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 251).
208 E. Smagur

In mint ‘B’, an image of Mithra appeared on the products of all four

issues of the first officinae. In the first issue, the deity is represented in
type b) together with the legend MEYPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 293) or MIIPO
(Göbl 1984, Fig. 294) and in type b1) with the legend MIIPO (Göbl 1984,
Figs 290, 291) or MIOPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 292). The second issue features
Mithra depicted only in the iconographic type b) together with the inscription
MIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 317) or MIIPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 318) or MIOPO
(Göbl 1984, Fig. 319) or MYPO (Göbl 1984, Fig. 320). The third issue
is characterised by a Mithra representation of type c) with the legend MIOPO
(Göbl 1984, Fig. 341) and in type c1) with the same legend (Göbl 1984,
Fig. 340). The deity in type b) labelled MIOPO is the only type appearing
in the last, fourth issue (Göbl 1984, Fig. 375).
Taking all the above into account, it can be stated that the most popular
type of the representation of Mithra in the Huvishka coinage is type
b), identical with the image used during the reign of Kanishka. Type b)
predominates in the issues of mint ‘B’ and prevails, together with types c)
and c1) in the issues of mint ‘A’. Types a) and f) are the rarest of the Mithra
representations on coins.
Furthermore, Mithra, the Sun God is depicted together with Mao,
the Moon God only on the first issue coins struck by Huvishka in the first
officinae of mint ‘B’ (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. VI, 113-114; Göbl 1984, Fig. 295).
On the reverses of these coins two gods are standing opposite to each other.
Mao faces right holding a sword and a short staff, whereas Mithra is radiate,
armed with a sword and making a characteristic gesture of benediction.
These two gods standing facing each other with Kanishka between them
can also be seen on the Kanishka reliquary (Rosenfield 1967, 81).
It is also worth noting that daily transactions were probably made using
copper coins of far less value than the gold coins that were not in everyday
use. Therefore, the iconography of copper coins was probably the vehicle
for the dissemination of ideas, propaganda issues, designed to reach a wide
public.
The copper coins of the Kushans were the products of three main mints
in Bactria/Kapisene, Gandhara and Kashmir (MacDowall 1975, 145).
The first Greek issue of Kanishka coins could have been struck in Kapisene,
and the reverse carrying a representation of Mithra was one of two (apart
from Nanaia) types of copper coin reverses. In the next copper issues Mithra
is one of the six main deities featuring on reverses (the others are Nana,
Mao, Oado, Athsho and Oesho).
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins 209

The first Huvishka copper issue from Kapisene features images

of four out of these six deities: Mithra, Mao, Oesho and Athsho. In the next
issues the number of reverse types was reduced yet the predominant image
was that of Mithra.
Mithra did not enjoy such supremacy in the copper issues from
Gandhara and Kashmir. During the reign of Kanishka, the reverse with his
representation was one of six main types of reverses of coins belonging
to the first issue, but in the second issue new types of reverse were introduced
and the significance of this god diminishes. The reverse with Mithra does not
appear in the third issue since it is replaced by Oesho. The reverse bearing
Mithra is one of six main types of reverse on coins issued by the mint
in Kashmir; however, MacDowall (1975, 148-149) believes that Mao
is the more consistently important type for this mint.
In Indian iconography Mithra is never depicted in a chariot unlike
the Sun God (Grenet 2006), although a chariot and horses feature in imperial
Buddhist sculpture and in pre-Kushan coinage (Rosenfield 1967, 82). Mithra
is always shown standing clad in an Iranian robe holding warrior attributes
or a wreath that can be interpreted as a symbol of his royal investiture.
In some cases, his hand is formed in a blessing gesture, in one case directed
towards Mao (Grenet 2006). According to Humbach (1975, 136), this gesture
(two raised fingers) may be interpreted as a mudra.
It is also possible that the deity labelled as Serapo on Huvishka
coins (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. IX, 186-187; Göbl 1984, Fig. 185) should be
interpreted as Mithra, the divine protector of the kingdom, although in this
case his iconography was borrowed from Greek and Egyptian representations
of Serapis. It could be, as with the coins with the legend Helios, an attempt
on the part of the Kushans to identify their own god with an older, familiar
deity (Bivar 1979, 741-750; Cribb 2008, 122-126).
Most of the deities belonging to the Kanishka and Huvishka pantheon
should be interpreted as Zoroastrian and originating from the Median-
-Persian imperial tradition. Nevertheless, although the name Mithra appears
in the Avesta (Nabarz 2005, 3), his role in the Kushan religious system
is different. In the Kushan pantheon, the association between Mithra and
Mao is unquestionable, whereas in the Avesta Mao is linked with Huuar,
and there are only a few references to close relations between Mithra and
the Sun in the book (Humbach 1975, 137). MacDowall (1978, 308) notes
the fact that the Kushans chose only elements common to the Indo-Iranian
heritage that could serve for propaganda purposes.
210 E. Smagur

When the Yuezhi arrived in Bactria, they had their own religion and
it definitely was not Zoroastrianism. They could get to know the cult
of Mithra in the Sogdian language since linguistic evidence confirms
the presence of a cult of this deity in the territories situated north
of the Oxus River during the time of Alexander the Great (Harmatta
et al. 1994, 315-317). Most probably, in the Kushan Empire Mithra was
worshipped as the Sun God as is suggested by his representation wearing
a radiate nimbus, as well as by coins on which Mithra is depicted standing
facing Mao. MacDowall (1978, 314-315) notices certain analogies between
the Mithra cult in the Kushan Empire and in the Imperium Romanum,
and believes that in both cases it should be considered in an astronomical
context. Perhaps the Kushans and the Romans drew from the same Lower
Mesopotamia heritage when they created the image expressing the Iranian
idea in the form of a Classical personification.
The period in which the Kushans met Romans on the Silk Road
corresponds chronologically to the time when the first images connected
with Roman Mithraism appeared, as well as to the moment when Kanishka
started to expose the cult of Mithra on his coinage (MacDowall 1978, 314-
-315). It should also be emphasised that this solar deity on the coins minted
in the territory of ancient Bactria had already appeared during the reigns
of the Greco-Bactrian kings, and scholars still argue over the moment
from when we can talk about an image of Mithra, and not about a solar
deity of a syncretic character (Dani 1978, 92; Bivar 1979, 741-750; Grenet
2006). MacDowall (1975, 147) believes that Helios, or a ruler depicted
as Helios, is shown on the Vima Takto coins (Rosenfield 1967, Pl. I, 14, 15),
and that Helios was identified with Mithra from the beginning of the Kushan
kingdom.
But complete certainty regarding the identification of this deity
as Mithra is based on inscriptions with his name, and they appear
on the coins of Kanishka and Huvishka only.
Mithra on Kanishka and Huvishka coins 211

References

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Emilia Smagur
c/o Institute of Archaeology
Jagiellonian University
[email protected]
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