Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .3
Livshits, in Iranian mythology, a kavi is a ‘good prince’, a patron of Zarathushtra and
Zoroastrianism. He also believed that the title kavi had a higher status than that of
simply a tribal leader.
The name of the second legendary dynasty of the East Iranian Kayanians, founded
by Kavi Kavata (referred to as Kay Qobad in the Shahnama) is derived from the word
kavi. The name combines the title kavi with the name Kavata.
Is it possible, however, that the rulers of Central Asia in the first half of the first
millennium BC used the title ‘king’? The information we have from local sources,
including the Avesta and ancient Iranian epos, is not well substantiated in this
respect. Nevertheless, we can extract interesting details from ancient Greek texts
describing events from the 7th–6th centuries BC, i.e. in the pre-Achaemenid and
early Achaemenid periods.
Thus, according to Ctesias, ‘the Sakas remained outside the satrapies’ and were
led by the king (βασιλεύς – basileus) Cydraeus, the husband of the legendary Zarina,
who probably ruled in the 7th century BC. Amorges, who led the Sakas in the war
against Cyrus, i.e. in the second half of the 6th century BC, and Amoraeus the leader
of the Derbices, also bore the title basileus.
Basileus was also used for the Bactrian ruler Oxyartes. We can tell that the Greeks
were well aware of the different nuances in the hierarchy of the titles used by rulers of
Central Asia by the fact that the ruler of Parthia, Mermerus, was simply referred to as
a dynast (δυνάστης) and the ruler of the Barcani tribe, Astyages, was called an archon
(ἄρχων), i.e. titles used for them were, from the hierarchical point of view, lower down
the scale than basileus. We could therefore argue that in pre-Achaemenid times, the
rulers of the Sakas and Bactria at any rate, did bear a royal title and that their states
may have been referred to as kingdoms. It follows that the title kavi was in use at this
time and was equivalent to the Greek title basileus.
The title of kavi continued to be used in later times, for example on the socalled
‘Turan series’ of copper coins depicting an altar, dating from the 4th–5th
centuries AD, used in the Bukhara oasis; the word kavi is inscribed on them to the
right of the image of the altar. Bukharkhudat coins from the 5th–7/8th centuries AD
bear the inscription pwx’r xwβ k’w’ next to the portrait of the king. This is usually
translated as ‘Lord of Bukhara, Kavi’ or ‘Lord of Bukhara, King’, where the letters xwβ
represent the title ‘lord’ and the letters k’w’ mean ‘king’. Thus the title k’w (= kavi),
was in use in some areas of Central Asia for almost 1,500 years.
Titles of rulers are also cited in the Avesta, the oldest parts of which, the Yashts and
Gathas, pertain to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. In particular, among the
most significant titles mentioned is ‘sastar’ – a ruler of a region and its centre, perhaps
the type of oasis with a central settlement that was typical in Bactria in the beginning
61