3. The Kidarites in Bactria | Digitaler Ausstellungskatalog

The Kidarites are one of the few East Hunnic peoples to have been recorded in Western written sources. Of particular interest is the work of Priscus (d. around 474 CE), a late Antique historian writing for the East Roman emperor, which records a conflict between the Sasanian kings Yazdgard II (438–457 CE) and Peroz (459–484 CE) and the Kidarites. This confrontation is said to have been caused by Yazdgard's refusal to continue paying the tribute money agreed upon with the Kidarites. In 467 CE, Peroz defeated the Kidarites, and their capital Balaam – believed to be Balkh in northern Afghanistan – was temporarily taken over by the Sasanian kings. In this context, Priscus speaks explicitly of "Huns, who are called Kidarites".

Chinese chronicles of the Northern Dynasties (386–581 CE) report that the capital of the Kidarites (here recorded as the Da Yuezhi) was Balkh (Boluo). Under the leadership of the king Kidara (Jiduoluo) they crossed the great mountains and invaded India. Also five kingdoms north of Gandhara are supposed to have been under Kidarite dominance. Jiduoluo's son is said to have ruled from Fulousho (Peshawar, Pakistan); the Kidarites moved around with their herds, and they used gold and silver coins.

It is not entirely clear when the Kidarites settled in Bactria, but with certainty they belonged to the earliest Hunnic clans to strike their own coins in Bactria while becoming sedentary in the second half of the 4th century CE. From their coins it is clear that they thought of themselves as heirs to the great Kushan kings, their empire once stretching from Central Asia to India. On their coins they also included the title "Kings of Kushan", which is why they are referred to as Kushan in Byzantine and Chinese histories. This could also explain the report of the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (d. ca. 395 CE) that the Sasanian king Shapur II (309–379 CE) spent the winter of 356 CE with his troops on the northeast frontier of his empire – the border region with Bactria – among the Chionites (= Huns) and Kushan (= Kidarites). In this context the titular of a Kidarite ruler found on clay bullae is notable: "King of the Huns, the great Kushan King, Ruler of Samarkand" (Fig. 3/B). The presence of the Kidarites in Sogdiana is confirmed by other clay bullae with the images of Kidarite rulers found during excavations in Kafir Kala, a late Antique settlement 12 km south of Samarkand (Fig. 3/C, D).

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At the beginning of the 5th century CE the area under the control of the Kidarites stretched from Sogdiana and Bactria across the Hindu Kush to Uddiyana (Swat) and Gandhara as well as to Taxila in present-day Pakistan. The Kidarites struck their own coins in all of these areas largely following the patterns found there.

Kidarites in Bactria

The Kidarites took control of Bactria from the Kushano-Sasanian governors around the year 370 CE, but it is unknown if this happened with the approval of the Sasanian king Shapur II (309–379 CE) or through a violent takeover of the region. The administrative center of the province was the city Balkh (Fig. 3/B), which possessed a mint that was then used by the Kidarites (the name is sometimes given on the coins as Bachlo, see Nos. 2, 3). The gold skyphat-dinar which in their imagery hardly differ from the Kushano-Sasanian predecessors were struck here. On the obverse, a standing king brings an offering to an altar (Nos. 4–6); the inscription in the Bactrian language gives his name and the title "Great King of Kushan" or "King of Kushan". A newly recovered tamga (Fig. 3/A) could be seen as a clue to the takeover of power by the Kidarites. On the reverse the East Iranian god Oesho is depicted like the Indian god Shiva with a bull. This coin type remains the same; only the crowns and the name of the issuing ruler (Wahram or Kidara) change. The ram's horn crown of Wahram is striking (No. 4), and he may well already belong to the Kidarites. King Kidara is shown with a lotus crown; the globe mounted at the top of the crown and flanked by two upward streaming ribbons is noteworthy (No. 6). This coin type continued to be struck unchanged over a long period of time, also by Kidara's successors, although it did undergo a radical change in style and debasement through the reduced gold content of the coins (No. 7).

The end of Kidarite rule in Bactria is marked by a new type of coin that the Sasanian king Peroz (457–484 CE) struck in Balkh following his victory over the Kidarites, an event recorded by Priscus (No. 8). Peroz is shown with his second crown which he wore between 458 and 474 CE. However, his rule over Bactria was short, for soon a series of Kidarite imitations were struck, although it is unclear who was responsible for these issues (No. 9). By 483/4 CE the Hephthalites, another Hunnic group, had taken over power in Bactria (see showcase 10), and Peroz fell in battle against them.

A hoard of coins found in 1933 south of the Hindu Kush in the Buddhist monastery of Tepe Maranjan (in Kabul, Fig. 3/F) provides an important reference point for the chronological placement of Kidarite coinage in Bactria and documents the end of Sasanian dominance in Kabulistan. Beside 367 Sasanian silver drachms of the kings Shapur II (309–379 CE), Ardashir II (379–383 CE) and Shapur III (383–388 CE) from the imperial Sasanian mint in Kabulistan, the hoard also contained twelve gold skyphats of the Kidarites from Balkh. The coins must have been buried around 385 CE, showing that Kidarite gold coins were in circulation before this date. The former Sasanian mint in Kabulistan was subsequently taken over by the Alkhan (see showcase 6 and 7).

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