Spalirisos, also spelled Spalirises, (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: , (epigraphic);

Kharosthi The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and ...

: , ) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

king who ruled

Arachosia Arachosia () is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy situated in the eastern parts of the Achaemenid empire. It was centred around the valley of the Arghandab River in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended as far east as the In ...

in the 1st century BCE.

Name

Spalarisos's name is attested on his coins in the

form () and in the

form (), which are derived from the

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

name , meaning "in command of army".

Career

Before his rise to kingship, he served as a commander of

Vonones of Sakastan Vonones, also spelled Vovones (Greek: ΟΝΩΝΟΥ ''Onōnou''Gardner, Percy, ''The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India in the British Museum'', p. 99) was an Iranian king, who ruled Sakastan from 75 BCE to 57 BCE. During the ...

, who had minted coins with his name and that of another commander,

Spalahores Spalahores, also spelled Spalohres or Spalahora, (Greek: ; , (epigraphic); Kharosthi: , ; ruled circa 57-35 BCE), was an Iranian king who ruled Sakastan in the 1st-century BC. Name Spalahores's name is attested on his coins in the Greek form ...

, who are both referred to as "brother of the king". Scholars such as R.C. Senior and

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 ...

consider Spalirisos and Spalahores to indeed be Vonones' brothers, while others such as K.W. Dobbins argue that it was an honorific title given to them, whom he considered to be

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...

s. A major argument against the proposal of a blood relationship between Vonones and the two commanders was due to both of them having

names, contrary to Vonones'

Parthian Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...

name. Saghi Gazerani has suggested that after the

Arsacid The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conqueri ...

re-conquest of Sakastan (sometime between 124–115 BC), which was given as a fiefdom to the Surenid general that led the expedition, the Surenids (who became independent after 88 BC) and Sakas became closely connected, presumably through alliances and intermarriages. Indeed, Parthians and Sakas are often mixed up in

Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...

. The mythological Iranian hero

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...

(who was from Sakastan), is mentioned in Iranian traditions as both Parthian and Saka, thus supporting this dual-identity.

Notes

References

Sources

* * {{authority control Indo-Scythian kings 1st-century BC Iranian monarchs 1st-century BC Iranian people