Gondophares
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| Gondophares | ||
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| Indo-Parthian king | ||
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| Profile of Gondophares, on one of his coins, minted in Gandhara. He wears a headband, hearings, a necklace, and a cross-over jacket with round decorations. | ||
| Reign | Indo-Parthian: 21 CE - 47 CE | |
Gondophares (Parthian: Vindapharna, lit. "Conqueror of the farn", Greek: ΥΝΔΟΦΕΡΡΟΥ, Pali: Gudaphara, other Indian names: Gondapharna, Guduvhara, Armenian: Gastaphar) was the first king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. A member of the Parthian Suren-Pahlav Clan, he seems to have ruled from 21 CE for at least 26 years. He took over the Kabul valley and the Punjab area from the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises. The extent of his territory is indicated by the distribution of 19th century finds of his coins. He assumed the Hellenistic title autokratôr that was adopted by his Arsacid rivals to the West.
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[edit] Origin
Gondophares (formally known as Rustaham-Gondofarr Suren-Pahlav) seems to have been the youngest son or one of the descendants of Eran-Spahbodh Rustaham Suren-Pahlav, the victorious Parthian general of the Battle of Carrhae, known as "Surena" in Western sources.
[edit] Chronology
On the coins of Gondophares, the royal names are Parthian, but the other legends of the coins are in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī. A votive inscription of the 26th year of Gudavhara or Gondophares, is reported to have been found on a stone at Takht-i-Bahi, northeast of Peshawar with a date in the year 103 of an unspecified era reckoning. This era is likely to have been the Malva or Vikrama era, founded in 57 BCE, this would give a date of 20 CE for his ascension (see Hindu calendar). The stone was formerly in the museum at Lahore. The point is especially important for those Christians who consider that a germ of history is embedded in the Acts of Thomas.
The Indo-Parthian kingdom with its capital at Kabul barely lasted one century. It started to fragment under Gondophares' successor Abdagases I. The eastern part was conquered by the Kushans around 75 CE.
After that point the kingdom was essentially restricted to Afghanistan. The last Indo-Parthian king, Pacores (100-135 CE), only ruled Sakastan and Turan.
[edit] Visit of St Thomas
Gondophares is connected to St Thomas in early Christian traditions embodied in the Acts of Thomas. In that miracle-filled romance Thomas was sold in Syria to Habban, an envoy of Gondophares, and travelled in slavery by sea to India, was presented to Gondophares to undertake the erection of the building the king required:
- "According to the lot, therefore, India fell unto Judas Thomas... And while he thus spake and thought, it chanced that there was there a certain merchant come from India whose name was Abbanes, sent from the King Gundaphorus, and having commandment from him to buy a carpenter and bring him unto him." Acts of Thomas, I, 1-2 [2]
- "Now when the apostle was come into the cities of India with Abbanes the merchant, Abbanes went to salute the king Gundaphorus, and reported to him of the carpenter whom he had brought with him. And the king was glad, and commanded him to come in to him." Acts of Thomas I, 17 [3]
Thomas instead spent all the king's money on alms, and as a consequence was imprisonned by him. Allegedly, Gondophares ultimately rehabilitated Thomas and recognized the validity of Christianity.
Passing on to the realm of another king, named in the Syrian versions as "Mazdai" (thought to refer to the Kushan king Vasudeva), he allegedly suffered martyrdom before being redeemed. St Thomas thereafter went to Kerala and baptized the natives, whose descendants form the Saint Thomas Christians.
The fanciful legendary material of much of the Acts, which approaches the genre of Romance, as well as some of its unmistakably unorthodox theology, made its historicity dismissible for many centuries. "Gondophares" was dismissed as an invention. Then in 1854 General Alexander Cunningham reported (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol.xxiii. pp.679-712) that since the British had been in Afghanistan an estimated 30,000 coins bearing Greek and Indian legends had been found in Afghanistan and the Punjab. The mintings covered three centuries after the conquests of Alexander: coins in the hoards were minted for Scythian conquerors and for Parthian kings such as Gondophares, who thereby emerged from pious legend into history (Medlycott 1905).
[edit] The Biblical Magi "Gaspar"
The name of Gondaphares was translated in Armenian in "Gastaphar", and then in Western languages into "Gaspard". He may be the "Gaspard, King of India", who, according to apocryphal texts and eastern Christian tradition, was one of the three Biblical Magi who attended the birth of Christ. [5]
[edit] Phraotes
It has also been suggested that Gondophares may be identical with Phraotes, a Greek-speaking Indo-Parthian king of the city of Taxila, met by the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana around 46 CE according to the Life of Apollonius Tyana written by Philostratus.
[edit] Coin types
 Coin of Gondophares. |
 Coin of Gondophares. |
 Detail. |
 Gondophares on horseback, with Zeus. |
 Gondophares on horseback (missing), with Zeus and Nike standing on right hand. |
 Gondophares on horseback (missing), with Athena. |
 Head of Gondophares, with Athena. |
 King on horseback, Nike flying behind him with a wreath, with Shiva. |
 Bust of Gondophares, with winged Nike holding palm and wreath. |
 Gondophares on horseback, with symbol of Gondophares. |
 Coin of Gondophares (British Museum) |
| Preceded by: Parthian Suren Princes (In Gandhara and Punjab) Kushan King: Kujula Kadphises |
Indo-Parthian Ruler (21-47 CE) |
Succeeded by: ... Abdagases I |
[edit] Notes
- ^ Chantal Fabrégues, The Indo-Parthian Beginnings of Gandhara Sculpture, (LINK); accessed March 07, 2007
- ^ Acts of Thomas
- ^ Acts of Thomas
- ^ Photographic reference to the profile of Gondophares
- ^ Mario Bussagli, "L'art du Gandhara", p207
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- A.E. Medlycott, India and the Apostle Thomas, London 1905: Chapter i: "The Apostle Thomas and Gondophares the Indian king"
- Coins of Gondophares
- Indo-Parthian coinage
