Editing History of Afghanistan (section)

==Hellenistic and Later periods (c. 255 BCE – 565 CE)==

===Greco-Bactrian Kingdom===
{{Main|Greco-Bactrian Kingdom}}
[[File:Greco-BactrianKingdomMap.jpg|thumb|Approximate maximum extent of the [[Greco-Bactrian kingdom]] circa 180 BCE, including the regions of [[Tapuria]] and [[Greater Khorasan|Traxiane]] in the West, [[Sogdiana]] and [[Ferghana]] to the North, [[Bactria]] and [[Arachosia]] to the South.]]

The [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] was a [[Hellenistic]] kingdom,<ref name="A History of Greece - pg.64">{{cite book |last1=Doumanis |first1=Door Nicholas |title=A History of Greece |date=2009 |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |isbn=9781137013675 |pages=64}}</ref> founded when [[Diodotus I]], the [[satrap]] of [[Bactria]] (and probably the surrounding provinces) seceded from the [[Seleucid Empire]] around 255 to 250 BCE.<ref name="Atlas of Military History - Greco-Bactrian Kingdom">{{cite book |last1=Lomazoff |first1=Amanda |last2=Ralby |first2=Aaron |title=The Atlas of Military History |date=1 August 2013 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781607109853 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ilZDwAAQBAJ&q=Diodotus+I+seceded+from+the+Seleucid+Empire+around+250+BCE.&pg=PT730}}</ref> Diodotus' dynasty was soon overthrown by [[Euthydemus I]] sometime around 230–220 BCE. After successfully repelling a Seleucid invasion, Euthydemus' son, [[Demetrius I of Bactria]], started an invasion of the [[Indian subcontinent]] between 190 and 180 BCE.<ref name="Strabo XI.XI.I">{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.11.1|title=Strabo XI.XI.I|access-date=4 December 2024|archive-date=19 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419032744/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.11.1|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was known for its high level of Hellenistic sophistication and possessed many wealthy cities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/texte41.html|title=Justin XLI, paragraph 1|access-date=4 December 2024|archive-date=10 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110100422/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/texte41.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref> The main cities of the kingdom were [[Balkh|Bactra]] and [[Ai-Khanoum]] in northern Afghanistan. The Greco-Bactrians continued to dominate Central Asia until about 130 BCE, when the son of [[Eucratides I]], named [[Heliocles I]], was [[Heliocles I#Yuezhi invasion|defeated and driven out of Bactria]] by the [[Yuezhi|Yuezhi tribes]] from the east. After the collapse of Greek rule, the Yuezhi now had complete control of Bactria. It is thought that Eucratides' dynasty continued to rule in [[Kabul]] and [[Alexandria of the Caucasus]] until about 70 BCE when King [[King Hermaeus|Hermaeus]] was also defeated by the Yuezhi. It is possible that Hermaeus was the last Greek ruler in Afghanistan, or perhaps it was one of the later Indo-Greek rulers.

<gallery widths="170" heights="170">
File:Diodotus I of Bactria wearing the diadem.jpg|Gold coin of the Greco-Bactrian king Diodotus I (reigned c. 255–235 BCE), wearing a [[Diadem|royal diadem]].
File:CapitalSharp.jpg|Hellenistic [[Corinthian order|Corinthian capital]] found in Ai-Khanoum, c. 2nd century BCE.
File:Ai-Khanoum mosaic.jpg|Hellenistic floor [[mosaic]] from Ai-Khanoum, c. 2nd century BCE.
</gallery>

===Indo-Greek Kingdom===
{{Main|Indo-Greek Kingdom|History of the Indo-Greek Kingdom}}
The Indo-Greek kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king [[Demetrius I of Bactria|Demetrius I]] invaded north-western India in the early 2nd century BCE. One of Demetrius I's successors, [[Menander I|Menander I Soter]], brought the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] (now isolated from the rest of the Hellenistic world after the fall of Bactria<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jakobsson|first=Jens|date=2009|title=Who Founded the Indo-Greek Era of 186/5 B.C.E.?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20616702|journal=The Classical Quarterly|volume=59|issue=2|pages=505–510|doi=10.1017/S0009838809990140|jstor=20616702|s2cid=170794074|issn=0009-8388}}</ref>) to its height between 165 and 130 BCE. He expanded the kingdom from Afghanistan and [[Pakistan]] to even larger proportions than Demetrius. After Menander's death, the [[Indo-Greeks]] steadily declined and the last Indo-Greek kings, either [[Strato II]] or [[Strato III]], were defeated in c. 10 CE.<ref>Bernard (1994), p.  126.</ref> The Indo-Greek Kingdom was succeeded by the [[Indo-Scythians]].

===Indo-Scythians===
[[File:BimaranCasket2.JPG|thumb|180px|The [[Bimaran casket]], representing the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] surrounded by [[Brahma (Buddhism)|Brahma]] (left) and [[Śakra (Buddhism)|Śakra]] (right) was found inside a [[stupa]] with coins of [[Azes II]] inside. [[British Museum]].]]
The [[Indo-Scythians]] were descended from the [[Sakas|Saka]] ([[Scythians]]) who migrated from southern [[Siberia]] to [[Pakistan]] and [[Arachosia]] from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from [[Gandhara]] to [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]]. One of the most important Indo-Scythian rulers was [[Azes I]], who ruled between about 48–25 BCE. The power of the Saka rulers started to decline in the 2nd century CE after the Scythians were defeated by the south Indian Emperor [[Gautamiputra Satakarni]] of the [[Satavahana dynasty]].<ref>World history from early times to A D 2000 by B .V. Rao: p.97</ref><ref>A Brief History of India by Alain Daniélou p.136</ref> Later the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by [[Chandragupta II]] of the [[Gupta Empire]] from eastern India in the 4th century.<ref>Ancient India by Ramesh Chandra Majumdar p. 234</ref>

===Indo-Parthian Kingdom===
{{Main|Indo-Parthian Kingdom}}
[[File:Abdagases Seistan Circa 1st c AD.jpg|alt=|thumb|290x290px|Coin of Indo-Parthian king [[Abdagases I]] (c. 46–60 CE), with [[Greek language|Greek]] legend on the obverse, and [[Kharosthi]] legend on the reverse.]]
The [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom]] was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named after its eponymous first ruler [[Gondophares]]. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan, [[Pakistan]],<ref name="earrings">{{cite web|url=http://www.marymount.k12.ny.us/marynet/stwbwk05/05vm/earrings/html/emanalysis.html|title=Parthian Pair of Earrings|publisher=Marymount School, New York|access-date=22 November 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024151850/http://www.marymount.k12.ny.us/marynet/stwbwk05/05vm/earrings/html/emanalysis.html|archive-date=24 October 2007}}</ref> and northwestern [[India]], during or slightly before the 1st century CE. For most of their history, the leading Gondopharid kings held [[Taxila]] (in the present [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] province of Pakistan) as their residence, but during their last few years of existence the capital shifted between [[Kabul]] and [[Peshawar]]. These kings have traditionally been referred to as Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was often inspired by the [[Arsacid dynasty of Parthia|Arsacid]] dynasty, but they probably belonged to a wider groups of [[Iranian peoples|Iranic]] tribes who lived east of [[Parthia]] proper, and there is no evidence that all the kings who assumed the title ''Gondophares'', which means "Holder of Glory", were even related. Christian writings claim<!-- Ref. WP Article on St. Thomas --> that the Apostle [[Thomas the Apostle|Saint Thomas]] – an architect and skilled carpenter – had a long sojourn in the court of king [[Gondophares]], had built a palace for the king at Taxila and had also ordained leaders for the Church before leaving for the [[Indus Valley]] in a chariot, for sailing out to eventually reach [[Malabar Coast]].

===Kushan Empire===
{{Main|Kushan Empire}}
[[File:Map of the Kushan Empire.png|thumb|Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line), according to the [[Rabatak inscription]].]]
The [[Kushan Empire]] expanded out of Bactria (in Central Asia) into the northwest of the subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor, [[Kujula Kadphises]], about the middle of the 1st century CE. They came from an Indo-European language-speaking Central Asian tribe called the [[Yuezhi]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/105520/Zhang-Qian |title=Zhang Qian |date=2015 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/654618/Yuezhi |title=Yuezhi |date=2015 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> a branch of which was known as the Kushans. By the time of his grandson, [[Kanishka the Great]], the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm| title = and Si-Yu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, (Tr. Samuel Beal: Travels of Fa-Hian, The Mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-S?ng, Books 1–5), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. London. 1906 and Hill (2009), pp. 29, 318–350| access-date = 8 December 2015| archive-date = 7 July 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as [[Saketa]] and [[Sarnath]] near [[Varanasi]] (Benares).<ref>which began about 127 CE. "Falk 2001, pp. 121–136", Falk (2001), pp. 121–136, Falk, Harry (2004), pp. 167–176 and Hill (2009), pp. 29, 33, 368–371.</ref> The Kushans inherited the Hellenistic culture of Bactria and their [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]] included a diverse group of deities, some Greek and some native Iranian. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, and as the Kushans expanded southward, the deities<ref>{{cite book|author=Rafi U. Samad|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNUwBYGYgxsC&pg=PA93|year=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-859-2|page=93}}</ref> of their later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority.<ref>{{cite book|author=Grégoire Frumkin|title=Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyinsov0000frum|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=Brill Archive|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyinsov0000frum/page/51 51]|id=GGKEY:4NPLATFACBB}}</ref> They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to Central Asia and China. Historian [[Vincent Arthur Smith|Vincent Smith]] said about Kanishka:

{{Blockquote|He played the part of a second Ashoka in the history of Buddhism.<ref name="ReferenceC">Oxford History of India – Vincent Smith</ref>}}

The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the [[Silk Road]] through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and [[Roman Empire|Rome]]. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming [[Gandhara art]], which reached its peak during Kushan Rule. By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor was [[Vasudeva I]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans|website=www.kushan.org|access-date=8 December 2015|archive-date=7 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Si-Yu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, (Tr. Samuel Beal: Travels of Fa-Hian, The Mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-S?ng, Books 1–5), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. London. 1906</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:BuddhistTriad.JPG|Early [[Mahayana Buddhist]] triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, [[Maitreya]], [[The Buddha]], [[Avalokiteśvara]], and a Buddhist monk. 2nd–3rd century, Gandhara.
File:Kumara, The Divine General LACMA M.85.279.3.jpg|Kumara or [[Kartikeya]] with a Kushan devotee, c. 2nd century CE.
File:Gandhara, omaggio di un re kushana al bodhisattva, II-III sec.JPG|Kushan prince, said to be [[Huvishka]], making a donation to a [[bodhisattva]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marshak |first1=Boris |last2=Grenet |first2=Frantz |title=Une peinture kouchane sur toile |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |date=2006 |volume=150 |issue=2 |pages=957|doi=10.3406/crai.2006.87101 }}</ref>
</gallery>

=== Sasanian Empire ===
{{Main|Sasanian Empire}}
[[File:Sasanian Empire 621 A.D.jpg|thumb|260px|The [[Sasanian Empire]] at its greatest extent c. 620 CE, under the king [[Khosrow II]].]]
The [[Sasanians]] ended the rule of the [[Kushan Empire|Kushans Empire]]. Officially known as the Empire of Iranians, the Sasanian Empire was the last Persian Empire before the rise of [[Islam]]. Named after the House of [[Sasan]], it ruled from about 224 to 651 CE. In the east around 325 CE, [[Shapur II]] regained the upper hand against the [[Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom]] and took control of large territories in areas now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Much of modern-day [[Afghanistan]] became part of the Sasanian Empire, since [[Shapur I]] extended his authority eastwards into Afghanistan and the previously autonomous [[Kushans]] were obliged to accept his [[suzerainty]].

From around 370 CE, however, towards the end of the reign of [[Shapur II]], the Sasanians lost the control of [[Bactria]] and Afghanistan to invaders from the north. These were the [[Kidarites]], the [[Hephthalites]], the [[Alchon Huns]], and the [[Nezak Huns]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neelis |first1=Jason |title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004181595 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC&pg=PA159 |language=en}}</ref> These invaders initially issued coins based on [[Sasanian]] designs.<ref name="Tandon2013">{{cite journal |title=Notes on the Evolution of Alchon Coins |journal=Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society |year=2013 |last=Tandon |first=Pankaj |issue=216 |pages=24–34 |url=http://coinindia.com/Alchon.pdf |access-date=8 July 2018 }}</ref>
===Huna people===
{{Main|Huna people}}
[[File:Bactrian language letter from Meyam, King of the people of Kadag, 461-462 CE.jpg|thumb|280x280px|A letter of the Alchon Hun ruler [[Mehama]], written in the [[Bactrian language]] using a cursive [[Greek alphabet|Greek script]]. It says: "Meyam, King of the people of Kadag"; dated to 461–462 CE.]]
The [[Hunas]] were nomadic peoples who were of Central Asian origin. Four of the Huna peoples conquered and ruled Afghanistan: the [[Kidarites]], [[Alchon Huns]], [[Hephthalites]], and the [[Nezak Huns]].

====Kidarites====
{{Main|Kidarites}}
The [[Kidarites]] were a nomadic clan, the first of the four [[Huna people]] to live in Afghanistan. They are supposed to have originated in Western China and arrived in Bactria with the great migrations of the second half of the 4th century.

====Alchon Huns====
{{Main|Alchon Huns}}
The Alchon Huns (''Alchono'' in [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]]) were one of the four [[Huna people]] that ruled in Afghanistan. A group of Central Asian tribes, they rose to power around 400 CE. The first major ruler was [[Khingila I|Khingila]], who emerged and took control of the routes across the [[Hindu Kush]] from the Kidarites. Coins of the Alchons rulers Khingila and [[Mehama]] were found at the Buddhist monastery of [[Mes Aynak]], southeast of [[Kabul]], confirming the Alchon presence in this area around 450–500 CE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alram |first1=Michael |title=From the Sasanians to the Huns New Numismatic Evidence from the Hindu Kush |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |date=2014 |volume=174 |page=274 |jstor=44710198 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44710198}}</ref> Alchon ruler [[Toramana]] later overran the northern region of Pakistan and Northern India, and successfully occupied areas as far as [[Eran]] and greatly weakened the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>John Keay, ''India: A History'', p. 158</ref> [[Mihirakula]], the son of Toramana, a [[Saivite]] Hindu, then ruled from his capital of [[Sagala]] in modern [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p2XCgAAQBAJ&q=sialkot+xuanzang&pg=PA113|title=The World of the Skandapurāṇa|last=Bakker|first=Hans|date=16 July 2014|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004277144|language=en}}</ref> Ancient Buddhist writers describe Mihirakula's merciless persecution of Buddhists and destruction of monasteries,<ref>{{Cite book|last=A. L. Basham|url=https://archive.org/details/wonderthatwasind00alba|title=The Wonder That Was India|date=1967|others=Public Resource}}</ref> though the description is disputed as far as the authenticity is concerned.<ref>Hiuen Tsiang, Si-Yu-Ki, ''Buddhist Records of the Western World'' (tr. Samuel Beal), London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, 1906, pp. 167–168</ref> The Huns were finally defeated by the Indian kings [[Yashodharman]] of Malwa and Narasimhagupta in the 6th century. Some of them were driven out of India and others were assimilated in the Indian society.<ref>N. Jayapalan, ''History of India'', p. 134</ref>

====Hephthalites====
{{Main|Hephthalite Empire}}
{{Annotated image
| image=Hephthalites (map).jpg
|=right| annotations =
{{Annotation|75|80|[[Sasanian Empire|{{center|SASANIAN<br />EMPIRE}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|15|60|[[Byzantine Empire|{{center|BYZANTINE<br />EMPIRE}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|250|55|[[Northern Wei|{{center|NORTHERN<br />WEI}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|273|95|[[Liang dynasty|{{center|LIANG}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|155|90|[[Alchon Huns|{{center|Alchon<br />Huns}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|180|110|[[Gupta Empire|{{center|GUPTA<br />EMPIRE}}]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|230|27|[[Rouran Khaganate|JUAN-JUAN KHAGANATE]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|190|13|[[Tiele people|Gaoju Turks]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
|caption= {{center|The Imperial [[Hephthalites]] c. 500 CE}}
}}
The Hephthalites (''Ebodalo'' in [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]]), also known as the White Huns and one of the four [[Huna people]] to live in Afghanistan, were a nomadic confederation in Central Asia during the late antiquity period. The Hephthalites established themselves in modern-day Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century, and were of either [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]]<ref>{{cite book |author=M.A. Shaban |chapter=Khurasan at the Time of the Arab Conquest |editor=C.E. Bosworth |title=Iran and Islam ''in memory of the late Vlademir Minorsky'' |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1971 |page=481 |isbn=0-85224-200-X}}</ref> or [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]]{{sfn|Enoki|1959}} ethnic origins. As they rose to prominence, the Hephthalites displaced the [[Kidarites]] and the [[Alchon Huns]], and soon came into conflict with the Sasanian Empire, whom they defeated on a number of occasions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maas |first=Michael |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-107-02175-4 |pages=287}}</ref> Buddhism was common in the region, and it is likely that the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan]] were constructed around this time. The Chinese Buddhist monk [[Xuanzang]] visited [[Bamyan|Bamiyan]] and [[Kingdom of Kapisa|ancient Kapisa]] (modern [[Parwan Province|Parwan province]]) between 629 and 645 CE, and described the Buddhas of Bamiyan.<ref name="Buddhism of Bamiyan">{{cite journal |first=Meiji |last=Yamada|url=http://www.shin-ibs.edu/documents/pwj3-4/07YM4.pdf |title=Buddhism of Bamiyan |journal=Pacific World, Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies |series=3rd |volume=4 |pages=109–122 |date=1 January 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707012445/http://www.shin-ibs.edu/documents/pwj3-4/07YM4.pdf |archive-date=7 July 2010}}</ref> However during the time of [[Song Yun]], who visited the chief of the [[Hephthalite]] nomads at his summer residence in [[Badakhshan]] and later in [[Gandhara]], observed that they had no belief in the Buddhist law and served a large number of divinities."<ref>{{cite web |title=The White Huns – The Hephthalites |url=http://www.silk-road.com/artl/heph.shtml |access-date=11 January 2013 |publisher=Silkroad Foundation}}</ref> The 6th-century Roman historian Procopius of Caesarea (Book I. ch. 3) related the Huns of Europe with the Hephthalites or "White Huns" who subjugated the Sasanians and invaded northwestern India, stating that they were of the same stock, "in fact as well as in name", although he contrasted the Western Huns with the Hephthalites, in that the Hephthalites were sedentary and white-skinned, and possessed "not ugly" features.<ref>Anthony Kaldellis, ''Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ag0mUQiLb7kC&pg=PA70 p. 70]</ref><ref>Jonathan Conant, ''Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean'', 439–700, Cambridge University Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wJEgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA259 p. 259]</ref>

====Nezak Huns====
{{Main|Nezak Huns}}
The Nezaks were the last of the four [[Huna people]] that ruled in Afghanistan south of the [[Hindu Kush]] from about 484 to 665 CE. They rose to power and took control of the [[Zabulistan]] region after the defeat and death of the Sassanian Emperor [[Peroz I]] in 484 CE by the Hephthalites.{{Sfn|Ziad|2022|p=60}}{{sfn|Alram|2014|p=280}}