Tuesday

Indo - Scythians Azes II (circa 35 - 12 BC)


Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas (or Scythians), who migrated into BactriaSogdianaArachosiaGandharaKashmirPunjabHaryanaUttar PradeshGujaratMaharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE.
It has been claimed that ancient historians including Arrian  and Ptolemy have mentioned that the ancient Sakas ('Sakai') were basically nomads. However, Italo Ronca, in his detailed study of Ptolemy's chapter vi, marks the statement: "The land of the Sakai belongs to nomads, they have no towns but dwell in forests and caves" as spurious.
The first Saka king in India was Maues or Moga who established Saka power in Gandhara and gradually extended supremacy over north-western India. Indo-Scythian rule in India ended with the last Western Satrap Rudrasimha III in 395 CE.
The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion, played a significant part in the history of South Asia as well as nearby countries. In fact, the Indo-Scythian war is just one chapter in the events triggered by the nomadic flight of Central Asians from conflict with tribes such as the Xiongnu in the 2nd century CE, which had lasting effects on BactriaKabulParthia and India as well as far-off Rome in the west.


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