Ardeshir I KushanShah
233–245 AD
Ardashir I | اردشیر یکم کوشانشاه | 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥
An approximate recreation of Ardeshir I KushahShah from remaining coins associated with him. Download
Ardeshir I KushahShah with an alternative background. Download
Ver.1 - Last updated: June 14th 2021, by Mo. Rasoulipour
Ardeshir I was the first Sassano-Kushanid king who reigned Kushan in mid 3rd century, right after the Sassanids took control of parts of Kushan Empire. His dominion (marked on map below), might have stretched as far as important ancient cities like Marw, Pishawar, Balkh and Kabul.
It is said that he was appointed as Kushan King by Shahanshah Ardeshir Papakan (The Unifier), the founder of Sassanid Empire. He is likely from the Sassanid family, but his relation to Ardeshir Papakan is perhaps unknown.
Coins appear to have the following writing on them: “The Mazda-worshipping lord Ardashir the Great Kushan Shah” in Middle Persian and in Sogdian (an Eastern Iranian language).
Approximate location of ‘Kushan Shahr’ in relation to ‘Eran Shahr’.
Insignia
Name:
Ardashir is the Middle Persian name derived from old Persian Artaxšaçā "whose reign is through truth". -Iranica
References
Two rare coins found associated with Ardeshir I Kushanshah seen above give a better visual insight on what the crown shape might have been. I have used the markings on the top left (next image) to determine the shape of the crown.
There is a technique in sculpture making that is used to show if a person's eyes were dark or light. The trick is that if the pupil and iris are shown in different elevation, the eyes were likely light, and if they are indistinguishable, they were likely dark. Same technique is seen to mark the color of the eyes of certain Greek/Seleucid coins. It is unclear whether the same technique was widely used by Iranian artists under the Sassanids or not, but the artists here on a few coins seem to insist on showing an elevated iris. With this assumption, the eyes of Ardeshir I Kushanshah were depicted as light hazel in one, and gray in another.
Likely Accuracy of the Creative Recreation
Less than a ‘Weak Guess’:
Due to stylized art of the coins in this era and the fact that there are not a lot of coins found that are associated to Ardeshir I KushanShah, plus a lack of other visual evidence to cross reference, this would likely be almost be a half fictional recreation.
Note: It is likely that the crown and the armor (customary of KushanShahs to appear on coin with) was inlaid with various precious jewels - though I could not find any detailed evidence of how they could have been arranged or what they could have been.
See the latest work in progress:
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