Les Sassanides en Asie Centrale

• Autores: Frantz Grenet
• Localización: Antiquité tardive: revue internationale d'histoire et d'archéologie, ISSN 1250-7334, Nº. 30, 2022 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Les Sassanides en conflit : géopolitique de l’empire perse tardo-antique), págs. 89-102
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • The Sasanian expansion in Central Asia territories (mainly Bactria-Tokhārestān, Gandhāra, and territories to the South of the Hindukush) is presented according to the last advances of numismatics, archaeology and art history. This expansion went through successive phases of advances (under Shāpūr I, Shāpūr II, Khosrow I), separated by drawbacks. Between c. 280 and 400 a succession of viceroys, probably issued from one or several junior lines of the Sasanian dynasty, issued gold coins which indicate a certain degree of autonomy, but their zone of control was eventually reduced to Bactria. In Bactria surveys of irrigation networks and excavations of some large or middle-sized urban sites suggest a demographic optimum before the “Hun” invasions starting in the 2nd half of the 4th c. The religious picture is more diversified than in Iran. On coins the rulers proclaim themselves “Mazdaean Lords”, but the main deity, Burzāwand yazad, is a syncretic figure combining Vayu and Shiva. There is no clear evidence for a widespread persecution of Buddhism. Sasanian symbols permeate all artistic expressions of power, a situation that will last until the Islamic conquest.