Peroz (

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

: ,

Gupta script The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script)Sharma, Ram. '' 'Brahmi Script' ''. Delhi: BR Publishing Corp, 2002 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcon ...

: ''Pi-ro-ysa'' "The victorious", ruled circa 350-360 CE), was according to modern scholarship an early

Kidarite The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Eur ...

ruler in

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

, right after the end of

Kushano-Sasanians Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in ...

Rule

The rule of the Kushano-Sasanians ended in the mid-4th century CE, when they lost their territories to the invading

Kidarites The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Euro ...

Huns.The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila, Michael Maas, Cambridge University Press, 201
p.284 ff
/ref> Peroz was a successor of the first Kidarite ruler

Kirada Kirada (Brahmi: ''Ki-ra-da'', ruled 335-345 CE), is considered by modern scholarship as the first known ruler of the Kidarite Huns in the area of Gandhara in northwestern India, possibly at the same time as another Kidarite ruler named Yosada. ...

, and the immediate predecessor of the famous Kidarite ruler

Kidara Kidara I (Late Brahmi script: ''Ki-da-ra'') fl. 350-390 CE) was the first major ruler of the Kidarite Kingdom, which replaced the Indo-Sasanians in northwestern India, in the areas of Kushanshahr, Gandhara, Kashmir and Punjab. Reign Kidara hims ...

. He was previously thought to be one of the last of the

Kushano-Sasanids Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in ...

Kushanshas Kushanshah (Bactrian language, Bactrian: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ, ''Koshano Shao'', Middle Persian, Pahlavi: Kwšan MLK ''Kushan Malik'') was the title of the rulers of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom, the parts of the former Kushan Empire in the areas of S ...

rulers. He minted his own coinage and used the title of

Kushansha Kushanshah ( Bactrian: KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ, ''Koshano Shao'', Pahlavi: Kwšan MLK ''Kushan Malik'') was the title of the rulers of the Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom, the parts of the former Kushan Empire in the areas of Sogdiana, Bactria and Gandhara, na ...

, ie "Kings of the Kushans".The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3, E. Yarshate
p.209 sq
/ref>

Siege of Amida (359 CE)

Historian

Khodadad Rezakhani Khodadad Rezakhani (Persian language, Persian: خداداد رضاخانی, born 1976) is an Iranian historian of Late antiquity, late antique Central Asia, Central and West Asia. He has been associate research scholar at The Sharmin and Bijan Mo ...

suggests that Peroz was at the Siege of Amida in 359 CE, where a Kidarite army under

Grumbates Grumbates or Krumbates was a king of the Chionitae, probably of the Kidarites tribe, an ancient nomadic tribe of Transoxiana. Etymology The exact origin of his name is not fully known. Hyun Jin Kim etymologized his name as ''*Qurum-pat'', "rul ...

is known to have supported the Sasanian army of

Shapur II Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...

in besieging the city held by the Romans. In his account of the siege,

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

describes in detail the costume, and in particular the headgear of one of the besieging rulers: Kidarite Peroz ram horns headgear

This ruler is traditionally held to be

, although Ammanus Marcellinus doesn't expressly say so, and Shapur's traditional headgear, a crenellated crown, is very different. The headgear with ram's horn would rather correspond to that of Peroz as seen on many of his coins in the Sasanian style. Ammianus Marcellinus also mentions that the king, whom he assumes to be Shapur, was called "Saansaan" and "Pirosen" by the Persians, which could actually refer to "Šāhanšāh Pērōz", the ruler of the eastern Hunnic tribes (

Chionites Xionites, Chionites, or Chionitae (Middle Persian: ''Xiyōn'' or ''Hiyōn''; Avestan: ''Xiiaona''; Sogdian ''xwn''; Pahlavi ''Xyon'') were a nomadic people in the Central Asian regions of Transoxiana and Bactria. The Xionites appear to be syno ...

, Gelani, and Sagistani).

Coinage in the style of the Kushano-Sasanians

Besides his coins in the Kushan style, Peroz issues silver and gold coinage in the Sasanian style, in which he often retains the name of Kushano-Sasanian ruler Varahran I, but in which Varahran is shown wearing a characteristic Sasanian headgear with the addition of two ram horns. File:Peroz III Kushanshah in profile.jpg, Coin of Peroz in the name of Varahran I. ''Obverse: Crowned bust with Sasanian headgear and ram horns; Brahmi “Pi” to right/ ''Reverse:'' Fire altar with attendants and ribbons; Brahmi “Nam” in exergue. File:HUNNIC TRIBES, Kidarites. Peroz. Circa 395-425 CE.jpg, Coin of Peroz.

mint. ''Obverse:'' Bust facing, wearing crown with ram’s horns surmounted by korymbos and ribbons. Brahmi legend ''Pi-ro''./ ''Reverse:'' Fire altar flanked by two attendants.Another similar coin with readin

/ref> File:Kushano-Sasanian Vahrām (Bahram) I struck under Kidarite ruler Peroz Circa AD 330 365 CE.jpg, Coin in the name of the

Kushano-Sasanian Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in ...

ruler Varahran I, struck under Peroz (ram horns added), circa AD 330 365 CE.

tamgha A tamga or tamgha (from otk, 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga, lit=stamp, seal; tr, damga; mn, tamga; ; ); an abstract Seal (emblem), seal or Seal (emblem), stamp used by Eurasian nomads and by cultures influenced by them. The tamga was normally the e ...

to right.

Balkh ), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001 , pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_relief=yes , pushpin_label_position=bottom , pushpin_mapsize=300 , pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...

mint.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{s-end 3rd-century monarchs in Asia 3rd-century Iranian people