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1. INDO-PARTHIAN
(20 BCE- 250 CE)
Sachin Kr. Tiwary

2. INDO-
PARTHIAN
Pahlava
Dynasty
Suren
Kingdom
Gondopharid
Dynasty

3. NOMENCLATURE & ORIGIN –
• The Parthian Empire was founded by Arsaces I of Parthia when he rebelled
against the Seleucid Empire. King Mithridates, the great grandson of
Arsaces I, further expanded by the empire by taking over Mesopotamia
from the Seleucids.
• The Parthian kingdom had its reach from Turkey to eastern Iran.
• Parthian kingdom founded by the Gondopharid branch.
• The largest of these sub-kingdoms- the Indo Parthian kingdom, located west
of the Parthian homeland was founded in the late 100 BCE by the first of
several kings named Gondophares, who was a Scythian (Saka) king &
member of the House Suren family, one of the seven major noble houses
of the Parthians.
• One of the most esteemed families in Arsacid Iran, which not only had the
hereditary right to lead the royal military.
• House of Suren is one of two Parthian noble families explicitly mentioned
by name in sources dateable to the Arsacid period.
• It was called the Indo-Parthian Empire since its coinage was influenced by
the coinage of Parthia.

4. There is still a lot of dispute about
their origin.
• Area of Rule- Parts of
eastern Iran, Afghanistan,
N-W Indian subcontinent (parts of
modern Pakistan & n-w India).
• The chronology of the Gondopharid
kings has long been uncertain,
predominantly based on coins.
• It was the third biggest dynasty that
ruled over present day Iran,
Afghanistan, Pakistan&Northern India.
• Capital city- Taxila, Later between
Kabul&Peshawar.
• Language- Aramaic, Greek,
Pali (Kharoshthi script),
Sanskrit, Prakrit (Brahmi script) Parthian
,
• Religion- Zoroastrian, Buddhism,
Hinduism.

5. SOURCES:
Literature [Foreign]-
• Apollonius of Tyana (c. 15-100 CE)- was
a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in
the Roman province of Cappadocia in Anatolia. Life of Apollonius of Tyana is
a text in 08 books written in Ancient Greece by Philostratus. It tells the story
of Apollonius of Tyana. He describes constructions of the Greek type,
probably referring to Sirkap & explains that the Indo-Parthian king of Taxila,
named Phraotes, received a Greek education at the court of his father &
spoke Greek fluently
Archaeological [Epigraphs, Numismatics, Architecture- Art]-
• Epigraphs- Inscription from Takht-i-Bahi bears two dates, one in the regnal
year 26 of the Maharaja Guduvhara (again thought to be a Gondophares),
& the year 103 of an unknown era; Kalvan Insc. of Azez-II.
• Excavated site- Jandial (Taxila, Pakistan) is a Zoroastrian fire temple from
the period of the Indo-Parthians.
• Coins/ Numismatics- The most important evidence.

6. Periplus of the Erythraean Sea(100 CE)-
It describes the presence of Parthian kings fighting with each other in the area of Sindh, a region
traditionally known at that time as "Scythia" due to the previous rule of the Indo-Scythians
there:
"This river (Indus) has seven mouths, very shallow & marshy, so that they are not navigable, except the one
in the middle; at which by the shore, is the market-town, Barbaricum. Before it there lies a small island,
& inland behind it is the metropolis of Scythia, Minnagara; it is subject to Parthian princes who are
constantly driving each other out." Chapter- 38

7. The Chinese explore- Zang Qian described Parthia as an advanced urban civilization.

8. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Gondophares I (c.19-46 BCE)
•Gondophares called himself King of Kings, a Parthian title. Around 20–
10 BCE he made conquests in the former Indo-Scythian kingdom,
perhaps after the death of the important ruler Azes.
•Gondophares became the ruler of areas
comprising Arachosia, Seistan, Sindh, Punjab, & the Kabul valley, but it
does not seem as though he held territory beyond eastern Punjab.

9. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Gondophares II Sarpedones (first years-20 CE)
He was an Indo-Parthian king. He was a lieutenant or kinsman
of Gondophares, & ruled Sakastan, where he had coins
minted with the title of King of Kings. He was possibly son of
the first Gondophares.

10. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Abdagases I (c. 46 to 60 CE)
He ruled Gandhara & possibly over the Indus.
He was a nephew & successor of Gondophares.
The most important successor was Abdagases, Gondophares’
nephew, who ruled in Punjab & possibly in the homeland of
Seistan.

11. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Gondophares III Gudana, previously Orthagnes (c.20-30 CE)
He was one of the successors of Gondophares, together with
Abdagases, Sases, Gondophares II, Sarpedones, & Pacores.
He may have ruled from Arachosia to Eastern Punjab.
Orthagnes ruled mostly in Seistan & Arachosia, with
Abdagases further east, during the first decades CE, & was
briefly succeeded by his son Ubouzanes.

12. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Gondophares IV Sases, (mid-100 CE)
He ruled in n-w parts of India in modern Pakistan. He is only
known from coins. His coins show the Greek deity Zeus,
forming a benediction sign (possibly Vitarka mudra), and
incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the triratana.

13. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Ubouzanes, (late-100 CE)
Ubouzanes was a ruler of the remnants of the Indo-Parthian
Kingdom in Arachosia in the first century CE. He was the son
of Orthagnes. He was unknown until the late 20th century
when a hoard of coins was found in Jammu.
Joe Cribb analyzed them in 1985, discovering some belonged
to a new ruler. Cribb placed him between Orthagnes
and Pacores.

14. DYNASTIES & RULERS:
Pacores (100-135 CE)
He is well-known from coins minted in Seistan and Kandahar, mostly
silver drachms (It was the currency used in Greece during several
periods) and tetradrachms (It was an Ancient Greek silver coin
equivalent to four drachmae).
The time of his reign can be determined as many of his coins over
strike those of Vima Takto.
He is the last well attested ruler. After his coins there is a single
surviving coin with the name Abdagases II and a set of poorly made
Indo-Parthian coins with unnamed rulers before the Kushan
Empire conquered it.

15. DECLINE:
• The Kushans unde
r Kujula
Kadphises began
absorbing the
northern Indian
part of the
kingdom in 100
CE.
• They managed to
retain control of
Sakastan, until its
conquest by
the Sasanian
Empire in c. 224.

16. Thank you
Any Questions ?