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 SOMMARIO

Marek Jan Olbrycht, Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with
Bactria 9
Yalireza Baqherian, Ilaria Bucci, Alessandra Cellerino, Enrico Foietta, Jafar
Mehr Kian, Vito Messina, Mana Rouhani Rankouhi, Preliminary report on the first
season of excavation of the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, Shami
(6th campaign, 2013) 31
Esmail Hemati Azandaryani, Habibolah Rashidbeigi, Hamid Khanali, Tepe Golshan
a Parthian cemetery in Western Iran 53
Alireza Askari Chaverdi, A stone human bust from Tomb-e Bot, Fars, Iran 65
Yousef Moradi, On the Sasanian fire temples: new evidence from the ¬ahar-Taq of Mil-e Milagah 73
Roberta Menegazzi, Women only? Reconsidering the terracotta reclining figures from Seleucia
on the Tigris 97
Marco Moriggi, Ilaria Bucci, Unpublished graffiti from Hatra 107
Anna Candida Felici, Agnese Fusaro, Asma Ibrahim, Khaleemullah Lashari,
Niccolò Manassero, Mario Piacentini, Valeria Piacentini Fiorani, Alessan-
dro Tilia, Archaeological excavations at Banbhore, Sindh. Preliminary report of the Pakistani-
Italian 2014 and 2015 field seasons 125
 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AT TILLYA-TEPE
AND PARTHIA’S RELATIONS WITH BACTRIA*
Marek Jan Olbrycht**

The Necropolis at Tillya-tepe (“the Golden Hill”) in Afghanistan

T he discovery of a group of very abundantly furnished graves dating to the 1st century A.D. at
Tillya-tepe in north-western Afghanistan is one of the biggest sensations in the history of ar-
chaeology. The discovery was made in 1978 by Viktor Ivanovich Sarianidi.1 The nomad graves of
Tillya-tepe show that in the 1st century A.D. western Bactria was ruled by princes who came from
the Central Asian steppes. Seven graves have been identified, and six of them have been excavated.
They were found to contain over 20,000 artefacts, including items made of gold, iron, bronze, semi-
precious stones, wood, and silk, not only local products but also imports from various distant places
– a Roman coin issued under Tiberius, a gold medallion from India with an image of Buddha, Parthi-
an coins, and mirrors as well as silk from China. The artistic items discovered in the graves are ex-
ceptionally eclectic, a mix of nomadic, Bactrian, and Greek traditions with Chinese, Indian, and
Parthian traits. Fairly extensive reports on the Tillya-tepe discovery were published in the 1980s,2 but
the artefacts, most of which were sent to the Soviet Union for conservation and subsequently kept
in the National Museum at Kabul, were for a long time inaccessible for scholarly research owing to
combat activities in Afghanistan. Only in recent years has the accessibility of the Tillya-tepe artefacts
improved, with a series of exhibitions in several countries which has provided researchers with the
opportunity to see and examine them.3 A number of studies have been published on a variety of as-
pects of the Tillya-tepe art, its cultural associations and ethnic interpretations.4 However, the deter-
mination both of their date and origin, as well as of the ethnicity of the nomads who used these
artefacts has proved an extremely controversial issue. A closer examination is needed of the coins
and the attributes of power discovered in the furnishings of the Tillya-tepe graves.
The Tillya-tepe burial ground is located north of the city of Shibergan (at the start of excavations
in 1969 the distance was 3 km) in western Afghanistan, about 100 km west of the country’s old
metropolis of Balkh/Baktra.
The very name Tillya-tepe (Persian Tilla-tappeh), which means “Golden Hill,” turned out to be
oracular for the archaeologists. Tillya-tepe was situated just a few hundred metres away from the
city of Emshi-tepe, the regional capital from Hellenistic times to the Sasanian period.5 The city cov-
ered an area of about 18 ha on elevated land, with defensive walls up to 12 m in height running round
a 1.5 km perimeter. In all likelihood, the plain around Emshitepe was part of the campi Bactriani, the
Bactrian Fields which Tacitus names as the battlefield of the Parthian armies of Vardanes and Go-
tarzes II in the early 40s A.D. (Tac. Ann. 11.8.4).6

* This paper was written with the financial support of
the Poland’s National Science Centre (project NN108
205640) and of the German Humboldt Foundation (Münster
2010, 2014).
** Marek Jan Olbrycht, Department of Ancient History
and Oriental Studies, Rzeszów University, Rejtana 16C, 35-310
Poland (marekolbrycht@wp.pl).
1 V. I. Sarianidi, a Russian archaeologist with Greek
roots, was born in Tashkent (modern Uzbekistan) in 1929. He
died in Moscow on 22 December 2013.
2 Sarianidi 1985; 1989. See Olbrycht 1990, 273-275. A re-
cent critical outline of the excavations at Tillya-tepe is given
in Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 82-90.
3 Cat. Paris 2007; Cat. Washington 2008; Cat. Bonn 2010;
Aruz, Valtz Fino 2012.
4 Sarianidi 1984; 1987; 1998; Pugachenkova, Rempel’
1986; Pugachenkova, Rempel’ 1991, 11-25; Yatsenko 1989;
Brentjes 1999; Boardman 2003; 2003a; 2012; Schiltz 2008;
2008a; 2010; Mordvintseva 2010; Grenet 2012; Francfort
2012; 2012a; Olbrycht 2013, 201-221; 2015, 350-358; Koshe-
lenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014. The relevant publications
are the studies on the coins (Sarianidi, Koshelenko 1982;
Koshelenko, Sarianidi 1992; Zeymal’ 1999) and on the
clothing of the individuals interred at Tillya-tepe (Yatsenko
1989; 2001; Kuz’mina, Sarianidi 1982).
5 Ball 1982, i, 96.
6 Olbrycht 1997, 84-85.

doi: 10.19272/201603501001 · «parthica», 18, 2016

10 Marek Jan Olbrycht
The Emshi-tepe region is a steppeland on the Bactrian Plain, also known as Afghan Turkestan.
During its hot summers temperatures may go up to 45°C. Shibergan is the region’s metropolis. The
plain of Shibergan is enclosed on the west and east by two waterways, the Darya-e Safid and the
Darya-e Siach, which flow down from the Hindukush in a northward direction towards the desert.
In Antiquity these rivers carried more water than nowadays. There were areas on the plain under
arable farming and pasturelands, which encouraged nomads to make use of this territory. Emshi-
tepe was situated at a strategic point midway between the Amur-darya in the north, which was
about 90 km away, and the Hindukush Mountains in the south, on the road from Margiana in the
west to central Bactria and the city of Balkh, making up a stage on the one of the principal transit
routes linking Babylonia and the Mediterranean lands with Central Asia and China. Immediately
to the north of Shibergan there ran another route which led to an important crossing over the
Amur-darya at Kerki. The central and strategic position of Tillya-tepe and Emshi-tepe implies that
any army that wanted to march into Bactria from the west, from the Margiana side, had to cross
the region.
Southern Bactria was not a place where large groups of nomads stayed. Apart from Tillya-tepe
the only known nomad burial ground here is at Konduz; however the graves were devastated
already in ancient times.7 The situation was quite different in northern Bactria, viz. north of the
Amur-darya, where there are numerous nomad burial grounds dating back to Antiquity, at places
like Airtam in Uzbekistan; Tulkhar, Aruktau, and Kokkum in Tajikistan; and at Babashov in
Turkmenistan.

A description of the burial ground

The Tillya-tepe burial ground was strictly associated with the nearby city of Emshi-tepe. The graves
– at least those of the prince and his chief wives – were arranged in a manner which gave a view of
the city from the necropolis.8
The graves at Tillya-tepe, which in this article I shall label T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6, were laid
out on the site of an earlier Bronze Age temple and its ancillary installations on an extensive eleva-
tion several metres high and stretching over an area of about 1 ha.9 Secondary burials, on sites which
had already accommodated earlier kurgans and burial structures, was a fairly common practice
with nomadic peoples, and examples may be observed for numerous Sarmatian burials, such as
those at Kosika on the Volga. The bodies of the Tillya-tepe deceased were wrapped in fabric and
interred in wooden, lidless coffins lodged in simple, quadrangular graves reinforced with timber
planking. They were furnished with exceptionally sumptuous burial gifts. During the excavation
project 20,578 artefacts, most of them made of gold, were discovered in the graves.
Six of the Tillya-tepe graves have been excavated. One of them (T4) contained the body of a man,
and the rest were women’s graves.10 The chief burial, T4, was the grave of a man aged around 20-
30, and it was located almost at the summit of the hill in the middle of the west façade of the tower
of the earlier citadel. The prince’s grave was the most sumptuously furnished with burial goods
and weapons, and it was also situated in the most important location (Fig. 1).
The women’s graves at Tillya-tepe may be classified in two groups.11 The two most sumptu-
ously furnished female burials, T6 and T3, were located nearest the prince’s grave, T4. These
graves lay within the confines of the old walls at the top of the hill. The women interred in them
were very young, 18-25 (T3), and 25-30 (T6). The sumptuous furnishings, including richly decorat-
ed attributes of power, suggest that that the incumbents of these graves must have been the
prince’s chief wives.

7 Sarianidi 1989, 163.
8 This layout is reminiscent of the arrangement of the
rulers’ kurgans at Pantikapaion, the capital of the Bosporan
Kingdom, distributed along the other bank of the bay with a
view onto the Pantikapaion stronghold and Mount Mithridat,
which thereby became the focal point of the layout. The in-
habitants of the princely residences wanted to be able to see
the burial place of their relatives.
9 For this temple, see Sarianidi 1989, 6-45.
10 Cat. Washington 2008, 213.
11 For the two groups of graves see Yatsenko 2001, 75-76.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 11
The second group, graves T1, T2, and T5,
comprised female burials which were not so
richly furnished and located at the foot of the
hill in the shadow of the old temple walls. They,
too, contained the bodies of fairly young
women, aged 20-35 (T1), 30-40 (T2), and 15-25
(T5). Their graves were not so sumptuously
furnished as the ones higher up the hill, and
contained no indisputable attributes of power.
The arrangement of the women’s graves
around T4 and the age ranges of the interred fe-
males suggest that they must have been the
prince’s wives and concubines. None of them
could have been his mother. The graves were
extremely rich, and the furnishings had been
carefully selected and arranged. The deceased
prince’s clan must have had time to organise fu-
nerals as refined and opulent as these. These
burials were not conducted in a random manner
and could not have occurred under enemy rule.
The entire necropolis gives the impression of
having been created at one and the same time. Fig. 1. Tillya-tepe. Bronze Age temple with
This is indicated by the very similar construction the disposition of nomadic burials (T1-T6).
of the burial chambers and their fairly similar
furnishings, as well as by the average age of the
deceased, around 25-35. None of the deceased were old enough for natural causes to have been the
most likely cause of death. Most probably the women were killed following the death of the prince.
A testimonial of the Scythian custom of killing a ruler’s widows is given in Herodotos (4.71-72), in
an account of the slaying of one of the king’s concubines, his servants, and the deceased monarch’s
horses. The prince interred at Tillya-tepe was most probably a nomad from the Sakaraukan-Sakan
group of Central Asia, kinsmen of the European Scythians. Hence the customs described by
Herodotos may be applied in the interpretation of the Tillya-tepe graves.

The coins from the Tillya-tepe graves

The crucial materials for the dating of the Tillya-tepe complex are the coins discovered on the site.
All the graves except T2 and T5 were found to contain coins.12

Grave T3
Grave T3 was found to contain a Roman aureus minted in Lugdunum and dated to the reign of
Tiberius.13 It is the oldest Roman coin discovered in Afghanistan. It bears no date. Such aurei were
struck during the entire period of Tiberius’ reign, but the specimen from Tillya-tepe belongs to a
group dated between circa 15 and 20 A.D. In particular, the pontif maxim variant was issued from
15 onwards.14 This dating provides grounds for a conjecture that grave T3 could not have been ear-

12 Articles with particulars of the coin discoveries have
been published by Sarianidi and Koshelenko (1982; 1992).
13 Sarianidi 1985, 187, no. 130; Sarianidi, Koshelenko
1982, no. 4; Cat. Washington 2008, no. 95. Cf. RIC 1984, 95, no.
29 (= BMCRE 46).
14 I want to express my sincere gratitude to Michel
Amandry whose detailed comments on the Tillya-tepe au-
reus (email from 23.03.2016) facilitated my research. Accord-
ing to Amandry, the aureus belongs to a group singled out by
Giard 1983, 124-5, nº 143 and dated to ca. A.D. 15-20. Some
scholars date the coin to A.D. 16-21 (Sarianidi, Koshelenko
1982, 307-318; Koshelenko, Sarianidi 1992, 23; Zeymal’
1999; Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 152).
12 Marek Jan Olbrycht

Fig. 2. Tillya-tepe. Grave T3. Roman coin of Tiberius. Gold. Diameter 1.9 cm. Weight 7.77 g.
National Museum at Kabul.

lier about A.D. 25, as at least a decade must have passed from the time the coin was minted in Gaul
before it reached Tillya-tepe in Afghanistan.
How did the Tillya-tepe aureus reach Afghanistan – overland via Mesopotamia and Iran? The
chances of this would have been pretty high, as we know that Tiberius sent valuable gratifications,
certainly including his coinage, to bribe the Parthians in the entourage of Artabanos II in A.D. 35-
36. The Roman governor of Syria Vitellius sent money to “the kinsmen and friends” of Artabanos
to bribe them and to eliminate the Parthian King of Kings.15 Moreover, the Roman Emperor gave
the Parthian pretender Phraates assistance and resources needed to assume the throne of Parthia
(Tac. ann. 6.32.1). Tiberius pumped large sums of money into Iberia and Albania in the Caucasus to
subsidise their kings in the hostilities of A.D. 35-36 against Parthian King of Kings Artabanos II. Jose-
phus claims that Tiberius offered large sums of money as an inducement to the kings of the Iberians
and of the Albanians to come out plainly for war against Artabanos.16 Roman money was used by
the Iberians to bribe some Parthians in Armenia (Tac. Ann. 6.33.1). These actions took place in A.D.
35-36 (Fig. 2).17
Remarkably, an aureus struck by Tiberius and dated to A.D. 16-21 has been discovered at Nineveh
in Parthian Adiabene.18 Two Roman coins minted in Syrian Antiocheia under Tiberius were dis-
covered in the necropolis of Magdala in northern Mesopotamia; one of them may be dated to A.D.
33.19 These coin finds may be linked with the influx of Roman money to Parthia in Tiberius’ final
years of the reign.
Numerous Roman coins issued by Augustus and Tiberius have been found in Caucasia.20
Tiberius was the first Roman emperor to embark on a policy of supporting the Iberians and the Al-
banians financially as rivals of the Parthians in the Caucasus. By and large, the coin discovered at
Tillya-tepe might be linked with the influx of Roman coins under Tiberius in Caucasia and Parthia.
The Tillya-tepe aureus could have arrived in Bactria over the route from the Caucasus via the Caspi-
an Sea and the Uzboi-Oxos,21 or via Mesopotamia and Iran. Artabanos II and his troops often moved

15 Ios. Ant. 18.99: ηd ·éÙÔÜ ÙeÓ ·Ù¤Ú· \AÚÙ¿‚·ÓÔÓ
OéÈÙ¤ÏÏÈÔ˜ ÔÌ” ¯ÚËÌ¿ÙˆÓ Âú˜ ÙÂ Û˘ÁÁÂÓÂÖ˜ ηd Ê›ÏÔ˘˜ ÙÔf˜
âΛÓÔ˘ ÁÂÓÔ̤Ӗ â̤ÏÏËÛ ÌbÓ ÎÙÈÓÓ‡ÂÈÓ ‰Èa ÙáÓ Ùa ‰áÚ·
ÂåÏËÊfiÙˆÓ (…).
16 Ios. Ant. 18.97: Ù·ÜÙ· ‰b ÁÚ¿ÊˆÓ TÈ‚¤ÚÈÔ˜ Úe˜ ÙeÓ
OéÈÙ¤ÏÏÈÔÓ ÌÂÁ¿Ï·È˜ ‰fiÛÂÛÈ ¯ÚËÌ¿ÙˆÓ ›ıÂÈ Î·d ÙeÓ \I‚‹ÚˆÓ
ηd ÙeÓ \AÏ‚·ÓáÓ ‚·ÛÈϤ· ÔÏÂÌÂÖÓ \AÚÙ·‚¿ÓÅ ÌˉbÓ
âÓ‰ÔÈ¿Û·È. 17 Olbrycht 2012; 2013, 141-145.
18 Curtis 1976, 53-54. The aureus was in an early 2nd cen-
tury A.D. deposit coming from three tombs excavated in 1852.
It includes coin impressions from Trajan’s issue (semis).
19 A. Oettel in Novak, Oettel, Witzel 2000, 73.
20 Sherozia 2008, 250, lists 2 denarii and 1 aureus of
Tiberius found in Georgia.
21 For trading on this route, see Olbrycht 2013a; Lerner
2014.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 13

Fig. 3. Grave T3. Parthian coin of Mithradates II. Silver. Diameter 2.2. cm. Weight 3.46 g.
National Museum at Kabul.

between northern Mesopotamia, Armenia and eastern Parthia in A.D. 35-37. The same applies to
his sucessors Vardanes and Gotarzes II ruling in the 40s A.D.22
There is yet another, less probable possibility: a denarius issued under Tiberius has been discov-
ered at Taxila (Gandhara); some experts believe it reached the place by the sea route over the Indian
Ocean.23 This find suggests that the Tillya-tepe aureus came by way of the Indian Ocean and via
the Indus Valley and Gandhara.
Another coin found in grave T3 was a Parthian issue of Mithradates II, king of Parthia in 122-87
B.C.24 The title “King of Kings” on it and the absence of a tiara date the coin to ca. 110-100 B.C.
(Fig. 3).
Remarkably, the interval separating the coins found in this grave amounts to more than 100 years.
The question arises how it was that a Roman aureus and a Parthian coin of Mithradates II came
into the collection of the deceased queen’s grave goods. The woman in grave T3 was one of the
prince’s chief wives, and the coins along with their position must have been intended to communi-
cate a specific message on the defunct queen. The exact position of these coins in grave T3 allows
of a more detailed interpretation. The Mithradates II coin was found in the deceased woman’s
hand,25 whereas the Tiberius aureus was in a corner under a decorative vessel.26 The Parthian coin
in her hand indicated her connection with Parthia. She must have been descended from the Ar-
sacids, moreover not from the Sinatrukid line but from the Artabanids (ca. 8-51 A.D.), whose line
went back to Mithradates II the Great.27 This interpretation is based on the fact that from Mithra-
dates I (165-132 B.C.) onwards Parthia exerted a strong political influence on western Bactria and the
adjoining parts of Margiana and the Herat area. Historical sources and coins found in western
Afghanistan show that the region belonged to the Parthian Empire until the second half of the 1st
century A.D. The Parthian coins discovered at Tillya-tepe may thus be interpreted as evidence for
the local princes’ relations with the Arsacids. In view of their dating, we may conjecture that the
princess in grave T3 probably belonged to the clan of Artabanos II, his son Vardanes, and his adop-
tive son Gotarzes. These three monarchs reigned in Parthia from about 8 A.D. to 51 A.D. The choice
of a Mithradates II coin emphasised the princess’ connection with that great Parthian monarch and
his successors in the 1st century A.D.

22 Olbrycht 1997; 2013, passim. 25 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 96.

23 Cat. Washington 2008, 261. 26 Ibidem, no. 95.
24 Ibidem, no. 96; Sarianidi 1985, 187, no. 127; Sarianidi, 27 Olbrycht 2013; 2014, 92-97.
Koshelenko 1982, no. 1. The specimen should be identified
as type 27/3 after Sellwood 1980.
14 Marek Jan Olbrycht

Fig. 4. Tillya-tepe. Grave T6. Imitation of a Parthian S33 issue with a countermark. Gold.
Diameter 1.8 cm. Weight 3.35 g. National Museum at Kabul.

On the other hand Rome was a remote but renowned power, respected even in the heart of Asia.
The gold coin did not serve a commercial purpose, but was more of a prestige item. The Roman
gold coin was no doubt intended to symbolise the queen’s prestige and the relations the Parthians
enjoyed with their great rival in the West. It played a similar role to the function of the Chinese
mirrors and Indian artefacts including a gold medallion from Grave T4.

Grave T6
Two coins were discovered in Grave T6, which held the remains of one of the prince’s chief wives,
just as in Grave T3. One of the coins in T6 was an imitation of a Parthian S33 issue with a counter-
mark previously known from original coins.28 It was found in the deceased woman’s hand.29
Most scholars attribute the S33 type to Gotarzes.30 This identification is erroneous. Type S33 coins
were issued by Sinatrukes, the founder of a new Arsacid line in Parthia, who reigned in the 70s
B.C.31 The coin shows the monarch in a tiara decorated with the figures of deer, which in my opin-
ion was connected with the influence of the Sakas and Sakaraukai and their religion on Sinatrukes
and his son Phraates III.37 Sinatrukes was installed on the throne by the powerful Sakaurakai, who
exerted an influence on the balance of power in Parthia for a long time. The line of kings descended
from Sinatrukes included Phraates III, Orodes II, Phraates IV, Phraatakes, and Vonones I. Sintrukes
and his descendants deposed the branch of the Arsacids descended from Mithradates II. Sinatrukid
coins and their imitations were in circulation in Bactria including western Afghanistan, in areas con-
trolled by nomadic clans, from the close of the 2nd century B.C. (Fig. 4).32
If we attribute the type S33 coins to Sinatrukes we can readily reconstruct the historical back-
ground. The Arsacids did not produce gold coins in their chief imperial minting houses. Therefore
the gold coin from Tillya-tepe must have been made on commission from a local prince.
The countermark is an en face view of the bust of a king,33 and it was put on the coin in a position
which does not interfere with the image of Sinatrukes. This shows that the local prince acknowl-
edged the authority of the Arsacids.

28 Sarianidi 1985, 187, no. 128; Sarianidi, Koshelenko
1982, no. 3; Cat. Washington 2008, no. 146.
29 Cat. Washington 2008, 227.
30 Thus Sellwood 1980 and Koshelenko, Sarianidi
1992, 24-25.
31 This was the identification I put forward in my earlier
work (Olbrycht 1997a. Loginov, Nikitin 1996, 41 have
reached the same conclusion.
32 Mitchiner 1976, 396-406.
33 Type 91.1 after Sellwood 1980.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 15

Fig. 5. Tillya-tepe. Grave T6. Countermarked imitation of a drachm of Phraates IV. Silver.
Diameter 2.0. cm. Weight 2.77 g. National Museum at Kabul.

The practice of applying countermarks to Arsacid coins started in the reign of Mithradates II
(122-87), who subdued the nomadic tribes which arrived in Afghanistan from the steppes. However,
the custom was associated mainly with Sinatrukid coinage and their imitations.34 The Sinatrukid
monarchs – Sinatrukes, Orodes II, and Phraates IV – were constantly summoning their allies, the
steppe clans from Afghanistan, for assistance. One of Orodes II’s wives came from an Indo-Sakan
clan.35 Countermarks are also attested on the coins of Tanlismaidates, a Sakan ruler in the
Maimana region (western Afghanistan).36
The second coin from Grave T6 is a countermarked imitation of a drachm of Phraates IV
(S52.19).37 It was found in the deceased woman’s mouth. The Tillya-tepe Phraates IV imitation is
of poor quality. The countermark on the Phraates IV coin shows the image of a ruler in a Macedo-
nian helmet (type S91.13) (Fig. 5).
Phraates IV’s coins and their countermarked imitations were in circulation in Bactria. 69 imita-
tions of Phraates IV coins with pseudo- countermarks (viz. countermarks applied to the original
die) have been discovered at Takht-i Sangin (Tajikistan, northern Bactria),38 in a hoard comprising
one coin of Antiochos I, one coin of Euthydemos, 2 coins of Heraios Sanab (1 obol and 1
tetradrachm), 8 coins of Soter Megas, and 2 coins of Vima Kadphises. The last-mentioned reigned
around A.D. 100. The Takht-i Sangin hoard shows that countermarked imitations of Phraates IV’s
coinage were customarily made in Bactria, and continued to circulate long after his death, through-
out the whole of the 1st century A.D., right up to the times of the Great Kushans.
The question arises why were imitations of Phraates IV coins so widespread in Bactria? Were
there no originals in the region? Phraates IV appears to have played a colossal role in the history of
the clans of western Bactria, engaging them in his bid for the throne of Parthia ca. 31-26 B.C. More-
over, he was a kinsman of the Sakan clans. After his death (around 3 B.C.), in the violent decades
of the early 1st century A.D., when there was fighting for the throne during the reigns of Phraatakes,
Vonones I, and Artabanos II, coins were in short supply in the eastern parts of the empire. To meet
the huge demand imitations of Phraates IV coins started to be minted and became so popular that

34 According to Simonetta 2006, 46-47 the countermarks
were placed always on coins of Sinatrukes, Phraates III,
Orodes, and imitations of drachms of Phraates IV. There are
some countermarked drachms of Mithradates II. Simonetta
locates these coins in the area of Herat.
35 Olbrycht 2016a.
36 Simonetta 2006, fig. 2.7. See Alram 1986, no. 1269;
Weber 2004; Rtveladze 1995, 187. Mitchiner 1976, 407 lo-
cates Tanlismaidates’ principality near Herat.
37 Sarianidi 1985, 185, no. 129; Sarianidi, Koshelenko
1982, no. 2; Zeymal’ 1999, 240 dates this coin to the 1st century
A.D., but does not treat it as an imitation.
38 Zeymal’ 1983, 129-139.
16 Marek Jan Olbrycht
they continued to be issued for well-nigh the whole of the 1st century A.D., until western Bactria
became part of the kingdom of Soter Megas in the late 1st century A.D. and there was a vast influx
of his coinage.39
There is a countermark on the imitation Phraates IV coin from Tillya-tepe, depicting the profile
view of a prince in a Macedonian helmet of the Boeotian type. Sarianidi and Koshelenko see a sim-
ilarity between this countermark and images of the ruler Sapadbizes whose coins circulated in
western Bactria.40 Zeymal’ rejects this comparison and is of the opinion that such countermarks
with a head wearing a helmet are to be associated with imitations of the obols of Eukratides made
by the Yuezhi.41 However, the Sapadbizes connection, based on the resemblance of the images,
should be regarded as the more likely interpretation. Images showing princes in Boeotian helmets
imitated representations on the coinage of Eukratides, one of the last Graeco-Bactrian rulers, van-
quished by the Parthians in the mid-2nd century B.C.
But there is still an unanswered question: who was Sapadbizes – a Saka or a Yuezhi prince? Sapad-
bizes’ coinage has been dated to the 1st century B.C. or early 1st century A.D. He belonged to a dy-
nasty or a maybe a group of related rulers, Arseiles was certainly another member of this group.42
The coins of Sapadbizes and Arseiles show the image of the goddess NANAIA on a lion-like animal.
Perhaps other rulers, such as Pabes and Pseigakharis, belonged to this group, but the iconography
of their coins is different from that of Sapadbizes and Arseiles.43
There is a head in a Boeotian helmet, similar to the one on the countermarks, on a cameo dis-
covered in Grave T4. Countermarks with a head in a helmet44 are observed on the Parthian coins
or imitation of coins issued by Orodes II, Phraates IV, and perhaps Artabanos II (this identification
has been disputed) as well as Vardanes, though the helmet on most of the coins has a broader beak
than on the cameo.45
The major rulers of the Sapadbizes clan are called Sapadbizes (or Sapalbizes), and Arseiles.
Sapadbizes and Arseiles are clearly Iranian names. Sapadbizes derives from < *spada-pati-©a- “army
commander,” whereas the form Arseiles < *arša(n)-ila- or *r.ša- ila-, is the hypocoristic of arša(n)-
“male, warrior” or of r.ša- “bear”.46 Their Iranian etymology implies that Sapadbizes and Arseiles
belonged to an Iranian-speaking clan, which would rule out the Yuezhi but suggest that they could
have been Sakas or Sakaraukai. Indo-Sakan princes often had names with meanings like “comman-
der”, and such names could have been used in their honorific titles.47
The occurrence of two imitations of coins associated with the Sinatrukid line of the Arsacids
(Sinatrukes’ and Phraates’ issues) in the grave of one of the chief wives of the Tillya-tepe prince is
by no means coincidental. Their purpose was to manifest the deceased princess’ links with the Sina-
trukids, the line of the royal family of Parthia which was very influential in Bactria. After 20 A.D.,
following the demise of the Sinatrukids in Parthia, and the death of Vonones I, one of the branches
of this line established the Indo-Parthian monarchy.48 These coins from Tillya-tepe suggest that the
princess laid to rest in T6 came from the Parthian-Sakian dynasty, or more precisely from Indo-
Parthia itself. Evidently the Tillya-tepe prince took the trouble to cultivate relations with both the
Indo-Parthian Sinatrukids and the western Parthian Artabanids – the two main lines of the Arsacids
vying for power in Parthia in the early 1st century A.D.

39 Rtveladze 2012, 157-168. 44 S91.12-13, countermark V in Sellwood 1980, 294-295.

40 Sapadbizes: Gardner 1886, 119, pl. xxiv 14, 15; Alram
1986, 1259-1260; Mitchiner 1975-1976, type 509.
41 Zeymal’ 1999, 240.
42 For the coins of these rulers, see Alram 1986, types
1257-1260.
43 Francfort 2012, 283-285, and 2012, passim, includes
Pulages, Pabes, Arseiles and Sapadbizes in one group of
rulers called the “Pulagides”. For a more detailed list of no-
mad rulers in Bactria and Eastern Iran, see Alram 1986, nos.
1252-1270.
45 Mitchiner 1976, types 611-1, 612, 613; Sellwood 1980,
295.
46 See Grenet 2012, 20, n. 8. Likewise Pabes derives from
*papa- “father”. The hypocoristic suffix -ila-, an element oc-
curing in the name Azilises, means “little Azes”. Grenet 2012,
ib., following Pavel Lurje and Nicholas Sims-Williams.
47 Harmatta 1989.
48 Olbrycht 2013, 122-131; 2016.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 17

Fig. 6. Tillya-tepe. Grave T1. Coin of Heraios Sanab. Silver. Weight 0.25 g. National Museum at Kabul.

Grave T1
A silver coin not mentioned in Sarianidi’s first publications on Tillya-tepe was discovered in the rela-
tively modest Grave T1. Zeymal identified this coin on the basis of A.B. Nikitin’s photograph in 198349
as an obol of Heraios Sanab, a prince of the Yuezhi clans. The coin was published in 1992 (Fig. 6).50
The dating for a lord known as Heraios Sanab has not been established beyond doubt. Joe Cribb
is of the opinion that the Heraios obols were connected with Kujula Kadphises, a Kushan prince in
the latter half of the 1st century A.D.; 51 whereas A. D. H. Bivar52 dates the reign of Heraios to the
turn of the millennia. M. Alram dates Heraios to the early 1st century A.D.53 According to E. Zey-
mal Heraios Sanab was a vassal of Vima or Kujula Kadphises.54 However, a late dating of Heraios
Sanab to the reign of Kujula Kadphises is unacceptable. In view of the context of the finds of these
coins Heraios Sanab must have wielded power prior to the times of the Great Kushans, the first of
whom (Kujula Kadphises) reigned from ca. 40/50 to ca. 80 A.D.55 The beginning of the expansion
of Kujula’s territory in eastern Afghanistan may be dated to the 50s-70s A.D.56 Thus it seems that
the most likely solution is the dating of Heraios Sanab to the first half of the 1st century A.D.
Heraios Sanab seems to be the first Kushan ruler known by name. His coins are widespread in
Eastern Bactria and in Gandhara and it seems he began the process of uniting the Yuzehi under the
rule of the Kushan clan.57 The coins of Heraios Sanab bear the legend consisting of four words
translated as ‘of ruling Heraios, Sanab, Kushan”. Heraios is not necessarily a personal name, as
many claim. According to E. Rtveladze’s hypothesis, Sanab (and on some coins ‘Anteikh’) is a nick-
name and the personal name is actually ‘Kushan’.58 Rtveladze assumes that the coins of Kushan
may have been struck be several rulers of the Yuezhi but it seems doubtful that several princes used
the same honorifics and same names from late 2nd c. B.C. to the beginning of the 1st c. A.D.59 Most
of Heraios’ coins were found in South Tajikistan, some also in Dilberjin, Termez, Kabulistan and
Gandhara. Baghlan district belonged to the homeland of the Kushan. Western Bactria was not one
of the lands ruled by Heraios Sanab. This prince was powerful in eastern Bactria, and this is prob-

49 Zeymal’ 1983, 150, n. 10; Idem 1999. 53 Alram 1986, 1263-1268.

50 Koshelenko, Sarianidi 1992, 22. 54 Zeymal’ 1983, 149-157.
51 Cribb 1993, 107-134 is of the opinion that Heraios was 55 Grenet 2012, 8, gives the dates 40s-80s A.D.
Kujula Kadphises, or Kujula’s vassal or forerunner, which 56 Olbrycht 1998, 228-229.
does not explain very much. 57 Rtveladze 2009, 68.
52 Bivar 2009: “towards the end of the first century B.C.E, 58 Ibidem, 80.
or during the first century CE, seems probable enough.” 59 Idem 2012, 159-161.
18 Marek Jan Olbrycht
ably why the Tillya-tepe prince married a woman from Heraios Sanab’s clan. However, she was one
of his secondary wives, which is shown by the position of her grave and the fact that there were no
clear attributes of royal power in it, unlike the T3 and T6 women’s graves.

The medallion in Grave T4

An Indian gold medallion with a Kharoshthi inscription was discovered in the prince’s grave (T4).60
It shows a nude male figure rolling a wheel and the image of a lion. The individual depicted on the
coin is identified as Buddha.61 The dating of the medallion ranges from the mid-1st century B.C. to
mid-1st century A.D.62 The medallion from Grave T4 must be recognised as a clear sign of the Tillya-
tepe prince’s prestige, demonstrating his far-reaching dynastic relations with the Sakan clans pre-
dominant on the vast territories of India from Sistan to the Himalayas.

The prince ’ s grave at Tillya-tepe (T4)

The chief grave at Tillya-tepe is T4, the burial-place of the prince.63 There is much to suggest that
he was the chieftain of a steppe clan which had arrived in Bactria in connection with the nomadic
invasions after ca. 140-130 B.C. The prince’s grave (2.7 m long, 1.3 m wide, 1.8 m deep) was dug inside
the top of the former temple construction. On top of the burial plot, at a depth of around 40 cm,
archaeologists discovered a horse’s skull and forelegs. This was a custom observed by nomads, as
reported by Herodotos 4.71. The deceased, a male aged 20-30, was laid out on his back with his head
turned to the north. The grave was covered with a wooden construction, preserved only fragmen-
tarily.64 Such wooden coverings were used in the burials of the Sargat Culture in south-western
Siberia, e.g. at Isakovka (Omsk district), kurgan 3, burial 6.65
On the deceased’s left side there was a long sword and a dagger in a scabbard. On his right side
archaeologists found another dagger in a scabbard. Around his head there was an iron folding chair,
two bows and two quivers with iron arrowheads. Near his feet there was a a set of roundels or
phalerae.66 V. Sarianidi suggests that these six roundels belong to the horse harness.67 However,
there is no trace of a horse harness. Therefore it is quite probable that these phalerae belonged to
the sword and dagger decoration.68
The body of the deceased prince was decorated with numerous ornaments. There were hun-
dreds of gold tabs and plaquettes sewn onto his garments. He was dressed in a kaftan, a shirt,
trousers, and boots. The prince’s apparel included warm winter items (Fig. 7).
Even though not much has survived of the Tillya-tepe fabrics, we are still able to partially recon-
struct his apparel on the basis of the location of the ornaments such as the brooches, bracteates,
and appliqués which had originally been attached to the textiles.69 For instance, part of the arrange-
ment of the metal appliqués on the prince’s back was preserved.70 The use of gold disks to decorate
garments is known from a Parthian sculpture from Hatra.71 The prince’s apparel may be described
as very similar to the Parthian costume;72 earlier the Asian Sakas and Scythians had worn similar

60 Sarianidi 1985, 188-9, no. 131; Cat. Washington 2008,
no. 119. See Fussman 1982, 155-169; MacDowall 1987, 179-
190; Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 136-150.
61 Fussman 1982, 155-169.
62 The medallion is dated to ca. second half of the 1st c.
B.C. (Fussmann 1987, 71-73, 84) or the last quarter of the 1st c.
B.C. (Schiltz in Cat. Paris 2007, 280). Koshelenko, Mun-
chaev, Gaibov 2014, 140 propose the timespan between mid-
1st century B.C. and mid-1st century A.D. but stress that the
date put forward by Schiltz is probable. Zeymal’ 1999, 240
proposed 1st century A.D.
63 Sarianidi 1989, 84-110. 64 Ibidem, 86.
65 Koryakova, Epimakhov 2006, 304.
66 For the phalerae (or buttons) see Cat. Washington 2008,
nos. 110-112.
67 Sarianidi 1985, 39.
68 Mordvintseva 2010, 198, n. 38. Schiltz 2008, 271
thinks that the buttons were in fact used on a sword-belt.
There are fairly similar artefacts from Sakian Issyk (4th cen-
tury B.C.), and from Sarmatian burials in the final centuries
B.C. See Mordvintseva 2001.
69 Yatsenko 2001.
70 Cat. Washington 2008, illustration on p. 226.
71 See Ghirshman 1962, pl. 110.
72 Yatsenko (1989, 265-266) believes that the T4 kaftan
was a tunic, not a Parthian-style jacket done up at the front.
V. Schiltz holds a similar opinion (Cat. Washington 2008,
265). But later Yatsenko (2001, 81-83, pl. 10) changed his mind
and concluded that the prince’s kaftan was a jacket with a
front opening. This is the conclusion with the best grounds.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 19

Fig. 7. Grave T4 at Tillya-tepe. Plans of the sepulchral chamber (1-3) and intersections (4-5).
20 Marek Jan Olbrycht
clothing. However, the Scythians wore longer, knee-length kaftans, while Parthian kaftans were
shorter, showing the daggers their wearer had attached on his thighs.73
Under the prince’s head there was a gold phiale-type bowl and a soft silk cushion.74 Herodotos
(4.71) mentions that gold bowls were put in the graves of Scythian princes. Elsewhere (4.9-10) he
writes that the Scythian hero and founding ancestor had a gold cup hanging from his belt. The
heads of the women in graves T3 and T6, who I believe must have been the prince’s chief wives,
rested on metal vessels.
A four-lobed dagger with a gold hilt and round pommel was found on the prince’s right side. Its
scabbard had been cast in gold. Another scabbard, made of bronze and gold, was on his left side.
There was also an iron knife with a single-edged blade and an ivory handle. A leather case contain-
ing two double-edged knives, arranged blade-to-blade in a single line, was attached to this scabbard.
Similar composite scabbards containing a dagger and a knife were in use in Mongolia and Tuva in
the 5th-3rd century B.C.75
Four-lobed daggers were one of the chief attributes of power with the Parthians in the Sina-
trukid age. They appear on the coinage of Orodes II and Phraates IV, and there is evidence for their
use in Kommagane in the same period (see below).
All that remains of the two composite bows are the bone plates. Herodotos 4.9-10 writes that the
Scythian heroic founding ancestor, called Herakles in his account, used two bows.76 Again we have
striking agreement between Herodotos’ text and the customs we observe in the nomadic burials
of Tillya-tepe.
One of the artefacts that has survived is a 9-cm high model of a tree and a ram made of gold,
which was part of an elaborately decorated crown.77 V. Sarianidi writes of a “headdress of the dia-
dem type,” and refers to analogies from Khokhlach/Novocherkassk and the crowns from Peter I’s
Siberian Collection.78 The Khokhlach crown has the shape of a massive diadem with a figural dec-
oration.79 The figure of a standing ram was a part of the Tillya-tepe headdress. A tube behind the
horns and rings at the hooves allowed the figure to be attached to the headdress. The latter was
made of organic material, maybe leather or felt. Felt caps with wooden figures were used in the Al-
tai Culture.80 The crown made of gold and pearls was shaped like a tree consisting of leaves and
flat disks. This crown is similar to the crown of the princess from Grave T6. Similar golden trees
are known in the Siberian collection in the Hermitage Museum.81
One of the prince’s key attributes was a gold belt82 consisting of nine medallions connected to-
gether by eight twisted chains. On each of the medallions there is a scene depicting a rider mounted
on a panther. They are representations of the goddess Nanaia/Nana on her lion-like animal.83 Sim-
ilar belts have been discovered at Hatra in western Parthia. The Hatran items are later (2nd-early 3rd
century A.D.) but belong to the same fashion, which was prevalent in the Parthian Empire but not
so widespread among the Kushans in Bactria. There is a belt made up of eight medallions connected
by sections of four braided chains on a statue of Hatran ruler Valgash.84 The roundels carry images
of gods including Herakles, Shamash, Nana on the lion, and some unidentified figures. Another
instance are the medallion belts on the figure of an anonymous ruler of Hatra.85 Belts consisting
of medallions are portrayed on the Parthian coinage of Orodes II (57-38 B.C.) and Phraates IV (38-
3 B.C.). They were regarded as emblems of power.86 A similar belt of nine medallions (7 roundels
and 2 quadrangular plaques) has been discovered in Grave I of the Georgian necropolis at Ar-

73 Sarianidi 1989, 87 writes of the trousers that they were
adorned with two parallel rows of rectangular plaquettes, but
the reconstruction gives only one row.
74 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 123.
75 Sarianidi 1989, 101.
76 The arrows discovered in the grave were tipped with
trigonal heads, like the ones from the nomadic necropolis at
Tulkhar.
77 Ram: Cat. Washington 2008, no. 108; tree: Cat. Wash-
ington 2008, no. 121. 78 Sarianidi 1989, 89.
79 Sarianidi 1989, 89-90.
80 Schiltz 2008, 270.
81 Ibidem, 271. See Artamonov 1973, 209.
82 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 107.
83 Although Schiltz 2008, 269 stresses that the figure
shows both female and male features, I prefer to see it as a
goddess, identified as Nana-Nanaia. Likewise Grenet 2012, 6.
84 Safar, Mustafa 1974, 64, fig. 5; Brentjes 1999, fig. 8.
85 Safar, Mustafa 1974, fig. 198, pp. 210-221; Downey
1983, 215. 86 Curtis 2001, 309-310.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 21
maziskhevi near Mtskheta.87 A belt consisting of 16 plaques was discovered in the burial from the
Issyk kurgan (4th century B.C.).88
The items in Grave T4 were decorated using the granulation and incrustation techniques, but
not filigree. The same techniques were applied on artefacts from the remaining graves. A substan-
tial number of them were decorated in the Polychrome Animal Style.89
Another important item is the necklace with a cameo presenting an image of the prince in a Boeo-
tian helmet.90 The necklace consists of two gold wires twisted into loops shaped like the figure eight
welded at the crossing points. This type of neckpiece does not occur in Kushan finds; on the other
hand it may be observed on the coinage of Gondophares, king of the Indo-Parthians.91 The image
of the prince in a Boeotian helmet is reminiscent of the images on the coinage of Sapadbizes’ group.

The chief women ’ s graves, T6 and T3

Grave T6 held the body of a young woman with a deformed skull.92 The grave was situated in the
corridor of the perimeter wall of the temple. The tomb was almost at the top of the mound. The
burial chamber was made of wood and presumably had its wall upholstered with fabric or leather
with gold trimmings.93
The deceased queen’s head rested on a silver platter.94 She had a gold gemstone ring on one of
her fingers, and a large sceptre in her right hand. A Chinese silver mirror lay on her bosom, and an-
other one at her feet. Mirrors belonged to the major attributes of the Scythian goddess Tabiti
(Herodotos 4.59, 4.127). She is often depicted in the art of the Black Sea area as holding a mirror.
Tabiti’s Kushan counterpart Umma uses the same attribute.95
The grandest artefact from Grave T6 is a composite gold crown made of the models of five
trees.96 The crown consists of a gold diadem with five elements attached above it. The crown could
be dismantled and transported.97 This type of attribute is known only from Central Eurasian no-
madic finds, such as those from the burial sites at Issyk, Kobiakovo, and Khokhlach.
One of the rare artefacts is a pair of turquoise and gold clasps, with a bas-relief decoration de-
picting a man and a woman embracing. The couple is said to represent Dionysios and Ariadne on
a dragon.98 The composition also includes a Nike with a garland and a figure with a rhyton standing
next to the dragon’s feet. Similar belt-buckles with an embracing couple have been discovered in
Indo-Parthian Sakastan.99
The woman’s grave T3 contained nearly 5,000 gold items, therefore it must have been the burial
place of the individual ranking next after the prince. Just as in Grave T6, the head of the deceased
woman in T3 rested on a metal platter. A pair of clasps from this grave presents a group of warriors
bearing weapons which warrant special attention.100 Their apparel is reminiscent of the Graeco-
Bactrian style of armour.101 They have a belt tied over a breast place, a Macedonian custom Alexan-
der and his Companions adopted from the Persians. They wear low helmets of the Boeotian type.
Similar, albeit tall, helmets may be observed in the art of Gandhara, e.g. on a figure of Athena.102
On the helmets, horns are visible, a motif well-known in Graeco-Bactrian imagery of kings.103 On
their left side each of the soldiers carry a makhaira-sword hanging on a belt with a scabbard slide,
which was a new way of attaching a scabbard, in widespread use in Parthia and Sarmatia. It is also
shown on objects such as the Orlat Plates from Sogdiana. The griffin-shaped hilts of their swords

87 Brentjes 1989, 43-44. 95 Grenet 2012, 18.

88 Akishev 1978, pls. 19, 21, 50.
89 For the Polychrome Animal Style see Mordvintseva
2003; 2010. 90 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 116.
91 Cf. Bernard 1987, 763-764; Schiltz 2008, 275. For Gon-
dophares’ coinage see Mitchiner 1976, types 1067-69.
92 A similar custom has been observed in a nomad grave
at Koktepe in Sogdiana dated to the 1st century A.D. (Rapin
2007, 54). 93 Cat. Washington 2008, 254.
94 Cat. Washington 2008, 284.
96 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 134.
97 Schiltz 2008, 284.
98 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 136.
99 Ghirshman 1979, pl. i, iii,1.
100 Cat. Washington 2008, no. 79. Only in graves T3 and T6
were belt-buckles found with a symmetrical design. On the T3
clasps, see Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 151-160.
101 Boardmann 2003, 355. 102 Ibidem, 354-5.
103 Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 154.
22 Marek Jan Olbrycht
are reminiscent of the Takht-i Sangin artefacts.104 The frame around the figures consists of a tree
motif and Chinese-style hybrid creatures (part-dragon and part-lion). There is a star or thunderbolt
on the shields. On the trees, birds are depicted, holding long ribbons (probably diadems) in their
beaks. The birds can be identified as the Varagna bird holding the royal Xvarenah power. Eagles hold-
ing diadems in their beaks are often depicted on Phraates IV’s coins.105 Thus the motif of a bird with
a diadem is another instance of Parthian influence discernible in the Tillya-tepe artefacts.106
These clasps show scenes which honour royal power. However, they include figures which are
remarkable for their Graeco-Bactrian armour and Boeotian helmets. If this is a double representa-
tion of a chieftain, why is there no nomadic iconography here? Perhaps the princes of Tillya-tepe
referred in their official iconography to the Graeco-Bactrian tradition, but did not in fact use Grae-
co-Bactrian armour.
Grave T5 produced an intaglio with a representation of Nike holding a diadem with long
ribbons.107
The women from Graves T6 and T3 were not dressed in the same type of costume, for their ori-
gins were diverse. Nonetheless, certain items of their apparel – a tunic and trousers – were common
for both of them.108 They also wore cloaks. Analogies may be found on sculptures from Hatra.109

Ethnic interpretations
Many, very diverse, interpretations have been put forward for the ethnicity of the nomads of Tillya-
tepe. They have been based chiefly on the evidence of the artefacts found in the graves, which are
exceptionally eclectic. There are two principal hypotheses: the Tillya-tepe clan belonged either to
the Yuezhi, or to the Sakas (or to their subdivision called the Sakaraukai). The hypothesis that the
Yuezhi were the dominant group in the locality is represented by E. V. Rtveladze, V. I. Sarianidi, and
others.110 Those in favour of Saka origin include G. A. Pugachenkova, 111 and P. Bernard, who has
suggested a Sakan Sakaraukan affiliation.112
The key to solving the problem are the coins retrieved from the graves and the countermarks on
them. The countermarks were applied in a manner which avoided the obliteration of the main im-
age, that of the king of Parthia, which indicates that the nomads of Tillya-tepe were vassals of
Parthia. The fact that several Parthian coins have been found in the graves – alongside Parthian links
in art and iconography – shows that there was a very substantial Parthian influence in Tillya-tepe
and its region.
The territories which belonged to Sapadbizes’ dynasty were the Balkh region (with Dilberjin),
the Shibergan region, and the Oxos Valley west of Termez.113 Sapadbizes had his issues struck with
the prince portrayed in a helmet of the so-called Boeotian type. The source for this borrowed icono-
graphical type were probably the coins of Eucratides, king of Graeco-Bactria. Sapadbizes’ issues
were found in western Bactria, including several specimens at Kampyrtepe. On the reverse he had
the image of a lion or panther with the Greek inscription NANAIA .114 This goddess was wor-
shipped throughout Bactria, especially by the Kushans. The cult of Nanaia or Nana was widespread
in the cities of the Parthian empire, including Susa, Hatra, Ashur, and it was revived in Bactria as
the result of Parthian religious and cultural influences.115 The tamga depicted on the coins of
Sapadbizes differs from the Kushan tamga.116

104 Cf. Litvinskiy 2001, 277-290.
105 Cf. Curtis 2007, 422.
106 Thus Koshelenko, Munchaev, Gaibov 2014, 159-160.
107 A similar image is found on a brass ring discovered in
the nomad cemetery at Tulkhar (Tajikistan; Mandel’shtam
1966, 121). 108 See Cat. Nara 1988, no. 9.
109 Sarianidi 1998, 21.
110 Rtveladze 1995, 187; Sarianidi 1998. Likewise Yat-
senko 2001, 86, and Zeymal’ 1999. For Zeymal’ a coin of
Heraios-Sanab discovered in one of the graves is proof that
not only Grave T1 but the entire necropolis at Tillya-tepe was
an early Kushan burial-ground. This however remains specu-
lation for the coin was deposited in a non significant grave and
nothing speaks for its decisive political meaning.
111 Pugachenkova, Rempel’ 1986.
112 See P. Bernard’s review of Pugachenkova, Rem-
pel’ 1986 and Sarianidi 1985 in «Abstracta Iranica» 10, 1987,
68 and 72. 113 Rtveladze 1995, 187.
114 Rtveladze 1994, 84 argues that the animal is a lion.
115 Ibidem, 85-86. On the cult of Nana, see Azarpay 1976,
536-542; Ghose 2006, 97-106.
116 Rtveladze 1994, 84.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 23
Thus the Tillya-tepe necropolis appears to have been established on territories belonging to the
Sakas, or more precisely to the Sakaraukai. In Klaudios Ptolemaios this people is located between
the Oxos and the Syr Darya (Ptol. Geogr. 6.14.14), by which he probably means the period prior to
their invasion of Graeco-Bactria. An invaluable item of information may be gleaned from Orosius,
who writes of a village called Safri, a key point on the communication route in the borderlands of
Parthia proper, inter Dahas, Sacaraucas et Parthyenas (Oros. Hist. 1.2.43). This location, which must
certainly have been based on records from the Parthian period, relates to the centuries after the dev-
astation of Graeco-Bactria by the nomads (ca. 130 B.C.). Therefore it implies that at that time the
Sakaraukai inhabited the territories immediately to the east of the lands of the Dahae (viz. the
steppes of Turkmenistan) and Parthia, which would suggest western Bactria and the middle stretch
of the Amur-darya.117 Thus the prince of Tillya-tepe appears to have come from the Sakan dynasty
descended from the Sakaraukan offshoot of the Saka.
Sapadbizes had a special reverence for the goddess Nanaia/Nana, whose worship had a vivid
Parthian background as it was practised in places like Nisa, Hatra, Ashur and Susa. He had himself
portrayed in a Boeotian helmet, which was a reference to the iconography used by Graeco-Bactrian
rulers. Intriguingly, the traditions of the steppes were of secondary importance in the iconography
of his coinage. But the prince buried at Tillya-tepe had neither a Boeotian helmet nor Graeco-Bac-
trian armour in his furnishings. His weapons and attributes of power are typical of the steppes, like
the ones from Sarmatian graves in the Valley of the Volga or the Don, or of the Sargat Culture. He
must have been a powerful prince of a nomadic clan, with numerous wives and concubines.
The four-lobed daggers deserve special attention. Daggers of this type appeared in Sogdiana in
the Bukhara oasis on the coins of Hyrkodes, a chieftain with steppe origins from the close of the
2nd or early 1st century B.C.118 The phrase MAKAPOY OP¢H£POY appears on the reverse of
Hyrkodes’ coins. While the second word is difficult to interpret, the word MAKA ROY should be
read as ™AKA R OY , as F. Altheim pointed out but gave no grounds.119 The legends on Hyrkodes’
coins are full of inverted characters, and we may assume that a minter who was not fluent in Greek
may have confused the letters and put an M instead of a ™.
On the reverse of Hyrkodes’ coins there is a word in Aramaic characters which should presum-
ably be read as gwzn. D. Weber interprets gwzn or gw’zn as Sogdian forms meaning “deer.”120 Per-
haps the word is the name of a clan or a chieftain’s honorific title. At any rate it is evidence of a deer
cult, which was a distinct practice with the Sakas and Sakaraukai. In another paper i have argued
that the tiara with the deer on the coins of Sinatrukes in Parthia was due to the Sakaraukan influ-
ence on his issues.121
On Hyrkodes’ coins there is a protoma of a horse or an upright male figure with a spear and
flames on his shoulders. This standing figure has a four-lobed dagger.122 A dagger of the prince
discovered at Tillya-tepe belongs to the same type. Four-lobed daggers were used as a royal at-
tribute in Parthia on the coinage of Orodes II and Phraates IV.123 It cannot be ruled out that they
were used as an attribute of power already earlier, under Sinatrukes, when Parthian contacts with
the Sakaraukai intensified. Orodes II abandoned the use of the tiara with deer, which had been the
attribute of his murdered father, and preferred to have four-lobed daggers as his major attribute,
with ornamented belts of the type found on the Tillya-tepe prince. Orodes’ accession was connect-
ed with fighting in Bactria, during which the Sakaraukai were defeated.124 For a time during the
reign of Orodes II his relations with the Sakas of Sakastan were closer. However, Phraates IV re-
vived the alliance with the Sakas of Bactria. Bactrian clans assisted him in his bid for the throne
against Tiridates I.125

117 Tillya-tepe is considered a Sakaraukan territory by 120 In a letter to Alram from 1983, see Alram 1986, 282,
Bernard 1994, 103. However, he does not cite Orosius. n. 1014. 121 Olbrycht 1997a.
118 Francfort 2012, pl. 16. Hyrkodes: Alram 1986, 1236- 122 Cribb 2007, fig. 67, dates Hyrkodes to the 1st century
39 A.D. 123 Olbrycht 2015, 360-369.
119 Altheim 1970, 638. Alram 1986, loc. cit., rejected Al- 124 Pompeius Trogus, Prol. xlii. Cf. Olbrycht 1998, 113-
theim’s suggestion. 114. 125 Ibidem, 118-119.
24 Marek Jan Olbrycht
There are striking parallels between the Tillya-tepe graves and the Sargat Culture graves at
Isakovka and Sidorovka. Grave 6 in kurgan 3 at Isakovka, Omsk district, western Siberia, was cov-
ered with a massive wooden roof of three layers. The funeral chamber was made of a wooden
frame. The remains of a man resting on a wooden bed were wrapped in a golden fabric. The grave
contained three inscribed silver phialae with two Choresmian and one Parthian inscription.126 Un-
fortunatley most of the furnishings of the grave have still not been published, which makes it hard
to date the finds. This grave belongs to the Classic Sargat phase, viz. 2nd c. B.C. - 1st c. A.D.127 Its fur-
nishings suggest that the grave was constructed in the 1st century B.C. The chieftain interred in it
had a four-lobed dagger very similar to the Tillya-tepe one. Some of the Sakas, perhaps also the
Sakaraukai appear to have been strongly influenced by the Sargat Culture.

Date of the Necropolis

Many researchers have conjectured that the Tillya-tepe necropolis was established in the course of
several generations.128 However, the nature of the burials indicates that the interments were made
over a short time, or in fact at the same time, which implies a short spell for the creation of the
Tillya-tepe burial ground.
Apart from the coins, none of the other artefacts discovered at Tillya-tepe offer a clear indication
of a date. Some may be dated approximately over a wide range of the 1st century A.D. Some Chi-
nese mirrors bearing inscriptions and all belonging to the same type129 may be dated to the first
half of the 1st century A.D.130 A fragmented comb made of bone found in Grave T3 may be dated
to the 1st century A.D. as well.131 Similar combs, also dated to the 1st century A.D., have been found
at Begram.132
The Tiberius coin indicates that if the graves were laid out as a single group at more or less the
same time, then they must have been created after A.D. 15. We may assume that at least a decade
must have passed before the coin reached Tillya-tepe from Gaul. Hence a probable cut-off date after
which the necropolis could have been founded would be around A.D. 25.
The close ties with the Parthians patent in the coinage finds suggest that the graves of Tillya-tepe
must have been laid at the latest in the last decades of Parthian dominance in western Bactria, which
lasted until the second half of the 1st century A.D., prior to the Kushan expansion in western
Afghanistan in the final decades of the 1st century A.D. The Chinese Houhanshu chronicle records
Kujula Kadphises’ conflict with the Parthians, which may be dated to the 60s at the earliest, when
the Parthians, or Indo-Parthians, lost Kabul, but they might well have also sustained setbacks in
western Bactria.133 The latest Parthian coin in Kampyrtepe, a city situated close to western Bactria,
is a bronze issue of Gotarzes II (died in A.D. 51).134 But the first massive Kushan coin finds in
Kampyrtepe and western Bactria area begin with Soter Megas coinage dated towards the end of
the 1st century A.D.135 In one of the rooms of Tower 1 at Kampyrtepe, a coin of Soter Megas was
found together with an imitation of a coin of Phraates IV.136
The Kushan expansion in Bactria became widely known in the 60s A.D. The Periplus Maris Ery-
thraei, which is firmly dated to before A.D. 70, speaks of a “warlike Bactrian nation” (Ì·¯ÈÌÒÙ·ÙÔÓ
öıÓÔ˜ B·ÎÙÚÈ·ÓáÓ), which must be a reference to the Kushan expansion.137 In the light of this re-
port the Kushans appear to have been the dominant power in Bactria, a fact which must have im-
pacted western Bactria as well even if it remained still independet for some time. Yet the Tillya-tepe

126 Koryakova 2006, 108-110.
127 Koryakova, Epimakhov 2007, 298ff.
128 Sarianidi, Koshelenko 1982 dated the necropolis
broadly within the 1st c. B.C. - 1st c. A.D. Pugachenkova,
Rempel’ 1986 gave a date from 50 B.C. to the early 1st c. A. D.
Boardman 2003, 371 concludes that the graves of Tillya-tepe
“must be later than the Heraeus coin” and that they “belong
to the 2nd half of the 1st century A.D., closer to the Begram
finds.” Boardman systematically ignores the coins in his
chronological estimations, but here he relies chiefly on the
numismatic evidence. His dating is clearly too late.
129 Sarianidi 1985, 201-2, 235, no. 145; 245, no. 70.
130 Lubo-Lesnichenko in: Zeymal’ 1999, 242.
131 Sarianidi 1985, 200, 243, pl. 142.
132 Zeymal’ 1999, 242.
133 Olbrycht 1998, 224-225, 230.
134 Information from E. V. Rtveladze. The coin is believed
to have disappeared some time after its discovery.
135 For the coin finds of Soter Megas, see Rtveladze
2012, 164. 136 Ibidem, 164.
137 Periplus § 47 (ed. Casson). See Casson 1989, 204-205.
For the date of the Periplus, see Ibidem, 7.
 Archaeological Discoveries at Tillya-tepe and Parthia’s Relations with Bactria 25
complex does not show any signs of a Kushan expansion and power, instead it bespeaks a continu-
ation of close relations with the Parthians, and the only coin associated with the Kushans is a
Heraios Sanab specimen, dated to the early 1st century A.D before the reign of Kujula Kadphises.
In that case A.D. 70 would be the terminus ante quem for the Tillya-tepe necropolis.
In view of these political circumstances, we may assume that the Tillya-tepe necropolis must
have come into being not later than around A.D. 70, and that the interval in which the graves were
laid out was A.D. 25-70. It may be further narrowed down to A.D. 41-53 if we take political events in
Parthia and Bactria into account.
What was the cause of death of the approximately 30-year-old prince of Tillya-tepe? There are
no visible signs of damage on the skeleton, hence it is not very likely that he could have been killed
in armed battle. He definitely died at a time when the environs were not subject to large-scale dev-
astation or radical change; his clan had the time and means to arrange for splendid funerals at their
leisure. Remarkably, the graves were not looted, which suggests that the necropolis was guarded
for many years. And this in turn implies that a certain period of peace must have ensued following
the burials, and that those who ruled the area had sufficient power to look after the necropolis prop-
erly. In these circumstances it is likely that the young prince died of a disease.
The prince’s death should be seen in the context of Parthian history in the 40s and 50s A.D., when
during the reigns of Vardanes and Vologases I the clans of Bactria engaged in the Parthian domestic
conflict in support of Gotarzes II. It was on the plains of Bactria that the great battle between Go-
tarzes and Vardanes was played out around 41; however, the royal adversaries were reconciled, as
Tacitus (Ann. 11.9.3) writes. In A.D. 52 the combined forces of the Dahae and the Sakas attacked
Parthia, and there was an engagement with the army of Vologases I, which had earlier been forced
to retreat from the borderland of Adiabene.138 Presumably the Parthians carried the victory, since
in the following years we hear nothing of a threat on the Bactrian front, and Vologases focused his
attention on the Armenian question. Alternatively a compromise might have been entered, where-
by Vologases would have been ready to make concessions in the east to concentrate on Armenia.
We should bear in mind that in the 40s and 50s there were large armies on the move across territo-
ries stretching from Armenia and Babylonia to Bactria, which would have helped to spread diseases
due to the shortages in victuals and animal fodder that often ensued in such situations. An epidemic
of this kind ravaged the army of Vologases I in Armenia in A.D. 53, as Tacitus reports (Tac. Ann.
12.50.1-2). Perhaps the prince of Tillya-tepe was the victim of an epidemic which spread in outcome
of large armies on the move across the country. Therefore, taking the historical developments into
account, it seems reasonable to reduce the time interval for the death of the prince of Tillya-tepe
to ca. A.D. 41-53, when the Sakas and other peoples of the north-eastern marches of Parthia were
taking an active part in the battle of the Parthian giants.

Abstract
A number of studies have been published on a variety of aspects of the Tillya-tepe necroplis, its cultural as-
sociations and ethnic interpretations. However, the determination both of its date and origin, as well as of
the ethnicity of the nomads who established the necroplis has proved an extremely controversial issue. A
closer examination is needed of the coins and the attributes of power discovered in the furnishings of the
Tillya-tepe graves. The necropolis should be seen in the context of Parthian history in the 40s and 50s A.D.,
when during the reigns of Vardanes, Gotarzes II and Vologases I the clans of Bactria engaged in the Parthian
domestic conflict. Taking the historical developments into account, it seems reasonable to reduce the time
interval for the death of the prince of Tillya-tepe to ca. A.D. 41-53, when the Sakas and other peoples of the
north-eastern marches of Parthia were taking an active part in the battle of the Parthian giants.
Keywords: Tillya-tepe, Parthia, Arsacids, Bactria, Afghanistan, Indo-Parthians, attributes of power, numis-
matic evidence.

138 Jos. Ant. 20.91: ï ÌbÓ Ù·ÜÙ\ âÔÙÓÈÄÙÔ ‰·ÎÚ‡ˆÓ ηd âÁ¤ÁÚ·ÙÔ ¢·áÓ Î·d ™·ÎáÓ ¯ÂÖÚ· ÌÂÁ¿ÏËÓ Î·Ù·ÊÚÔÓ‹Û·Û·Ó
牢ÚfiÌÂÓÔ˜, â‹ÎÔÔ˜ ‰b ï ıÂe˜ âÁ›ÓÂÙÔ, ηd ηÙ\ âΛÓËÓ Âéıf˜ ·éÙÔÜ Ùɘ àÔ‰ËÌ›·˜ âÈÛÙÚ·ÙÂ˘Û·Ì¤ÓËÓ ‰È·Ú¿˙ÂÈÓ ÙcÓ
ÙcÓ Ó‡ÎÙ· ‰ÂÍ¿ÌÂÓÔ˜ OéÔÏÔÁ¤Û˘ âÈÛÙÔÏ¿˜, âÓ ·x˜ ¶·Úı˘ËÓáÓ, ôÚ·ÎÙÔ˜ àÓ¤˙¢ÍÂÓ Âå˜ ÙÔé›Ûˆ.
26 Marek Jan Olbrycht

Figure credits
Fig. 1. After Sarianidi 1985, p. 57; Fig. 2. After Sarianidi 1985, p. 187; Fig. 3. After Sarianidi 1985, p. 187; Fig. 4.
After Sarianidi 1985, p. 187; Fig. 5. After Sarianidi 1985, p. 187; Fig. 6. After Koshelenko, Sarianidi 1992, planche
1, figure 1; Fig. 7. After Sarianidi 1989, fig. 30 (p. 85).

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Abbreviations
BMCRE = Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 1-6 (London 1923-1963).
RIC = H. Mattingly, R. Sydenham e.a., Roman Imperial Coinage (London, 1923-67).
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t i p o g r a f i a d i ag na no, ag na no pisa no (pisa ).

*
Dicembre 2016
(cz 2 · fg 21)