Azes II
[[Image:AzesII.jpg|thumb|349px|Silver coin of King
Azes II (r.c. 35-12 BCE).
Obv: King with coat of mail, on horse, holding a sceptre, with Greek royal headband. Greek legend BASILEWS BASILEWN MEGALOU AZOU "The Great King of Kings Azes".
Rev: {{Athena}} with shield and lance, making a hand gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka {{mudra}}. {{Kharoshti}} legend MAHARAJASA RAJADIRAJASA MAHATASA AYASA "The Great King of Kings Azes".]]
Azes II (reigned circa 35-12 BCE), was an
Indo-Scythian king who completed the rule of the Scythians in northern
India.
After the death of Azes II, the rule of the Indo-Scythians in northwestern India finally crumbled with the conquest of the
Kushans, one of the five tribes of the
Yuezhi who had lived in Bactria for more than a century, and who were then expanding into India to create a Kushan Empire.
Soon after, the
Parthians invaded from the west. Their leader
Gondophares temporarily displaced the
Kushans and founded the
Indo-Parthian Kingdom that was to last until the middle of the 1st century CE.
The
Kushans ultimately regained northwestern India circa 75 CE, where they were to prosper for several centuries.
Some
Indo-Scythian kingdom persisted in northern India until the 5th century CE.
[[Image:AzesIIBullCoin.jpg|thumb|350px|Coin of Azes II.
Obv: Bull in erectile state, probable symbol of {{Shiva}}. Greek legend.
Rev: Standing lion, symbol of {{Buddhism}}. {{Kharoshthi}} legend.]]Azes II's coins use Greek and Kharoshti, depict a Greek goddess as his protector, and thereby essential follow the numismatic model of the Greek kings if the Indo-Greek kingdom, suggesting a high willingness to accommodate Greek culture. An originality of the Indo-Scythians is to show the king on a horse, rather than his bust in profile as did the Greeks.
Other coins of Azes depict the
Buddhist lion and the
Brahmanic cow of
Shiva, suggesting religious tolerance towards his subjects.
Azes II is also connected to the
Bimaran casket, one of the earliest representations of the
Buddha. The casket, probably Greek work, was used for the dedication of a
stupa in Bamiran, near
Jalalabad in
Afghanistan, and placed inside the stupa with several coins of Azes II. This event may have happened during the reign of Azes (35-12 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians are otherwise connected with Buddhism (see
Mathura lion capital), and it is indeed possible they would have commendited the work.
*
Yuezhi*
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom*
Indo-Greek Kingdom*
Indo-Parthian Kingdom*
Kushan Empire*
Coins of Azes II* "The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies" by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1581152035
* "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
