Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part ii | states
meaning of this ideogram was ‘master’, but given that it applied to the rulers of Central
Asia it is usually taken to refer to a ruler, but not one of royal status.
It follows that the possessions governed by rulers with the title MR’Y were not
kingdom-like states, in the true sense of the word. The title MR’Y also appears on
Southern Sogdian silver coins depicting Heracles and Zeus. These coins also bear
the name of the ruler, which the archaeologist E.V. Zeymal has read as ‘ywnwn
MR’Y, whereas the author of this work, using a restored prototype of the inscription,
believes it reads rtt MR’Y. Judging by the archaic rendering of the letter aleph, similar
to the aleph on the imitations of the tetradrachms of Euthydemus, it is probable that
these coins began to be minted in the second half of the 2nd or in the 1st century BC.
Around the same time, ancient Khorezmian B- and C- group coins dating from
the 1st century BC–1st century AD are inscribed with a different title, a higher-status
title, in Aramaic. The coins are inscribed with MLK’, the title of a supreme ruler (king)
of state entities varying in their political significance, but of significantly higher status
than of those state entities headed by rulers with the title MR’Y. The double title of
Aramaic origin MR’Y MLK’ signifying ‘master-king’ or ‘lord-king’ appears on the
D-group coins which began to be minted in the 4th–5th centuries AD.
A similar dual title, xwβ k’w, of Iranian origin, denotes ‘lord-king’, where the title
xwβ is equivalent to MR’Y (‘master’), and k’w is equivalent to MLK’ (‘king’). These
appear, as has been said above, on Bukharkhudat coins from the 5th century AD and
continued to be used until the 7th–8th centuries AD.
This suggests that unlike other dominions in Transoxiana in the first centuries AD,
Khorezm was a state entity with a higher status – except for Bactria, which was part
of the Kushan kingdom, and so its rulers had a much higher status than the rulers of
ancient Khorezm.
It is therefore fair to assume that in the period from the 2nd–1st centuries BC to the
first centuries AD, the rulers of Khorezm, Bukhara and Kesh (Southern Sogdia) held
titles of Aramaic origin. Unfortunately, there is no clear information about this relating
to Samarkand Sogdia, as the legends on the coins minted there at that time show only
names, but no titles. However, based on Chinese texts showing that the rulers of the
land of Kan (Samarkand Sogdia) belonged to the house of Zhaowu, i.e. Yuezhi, we can
assume that these titles were of Yuezhi origin. Hyrcodes, apparently the founder of this
house, as well as other rulers of Sogdia who issued coins, in particular, with the image
of an archer, could, like his Yuezhi brother-in-arms Kujula Kadphises, use the title of
a tribal leader yabghu, which was possibly of Yuezhi origin. In any case, the Yuezhi
(Kushan) chief Kujula Kadphises was the first ruler to have this title appear on coins.
The reasons why titles of Aramaic origin appear on coins from large areas of
Transoxiana except Bactria, remain unclear. It is possible that this is related to the
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