Heraios

Heraios

Silver tetradrachm of Kushan king Heraios.
Obv: Bust of Heraios, with Greek royal headband.
Rev: Horse-mounted King, crowned with a wreath by the Greek goddess of victory Nike. Greek legend: ΤΥΡΑΝΝΟΥΟΤΟΣ ΗΛΟΥ - ΣΑΝΑΒ - ΚΟϷϷΑΝΟΥ "The Tyrant Heraios, Sanav (meaning unknown), of the Kushans".

Kushan ruler

Reign

c. 1 –30 CE^{[citation needed]}

Coronation

1 BCE

Predecessor

Sapadbizes

Successor

Kujula Kadphises

Born

23 BCE
Taskhand

Died

30 CE
Srinagar ?

Issue

Kujula Kadphises, Vima Takto

Names
Heraios Kadphises

Dynasty

Kushan


Heraios	1–30 CE
Kujula Kadphises	50–90 CE
Vima Takto	90–113 CE
Vima Kadphises	113–127 CE
Kanishka I	127–151 CE
Huvishka	151–190 CE
Vasudeva I	190–230 CE
Kanishka II	230–247 CE
Vāsishka	247–267 CE
Kanishka III	267–270 CE
Vasudeva II	270–300 CE
Mahi	300–305 CE
Shaka	305–335 CE
Kipunada	335–350 CE

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heraios.

Heraios (Bactrian: Ηλου Ēlou, sometimes Heraus, Heraos, Miaos) was apparently a king or clan chief of the Kushans (reign: c. 1 –30 CE^{[citation needed]}), one of the five constituent tribes of the Yuezhi, in Bactria, in the early 1st century CE.^[1]

Several scholars question his existence as a separate historical figure and suggest that "Heraios" may have been another name for his nominal successor Kujula Kadphises.^[2] For example, numismatist Joe Cribb points out the similarity of coins minted by Kujula to those of a Greco-Bactrian predecessor named Hermaios Soter (or Hermaeus Soter). Moreover, some portraits of Kujula resemble Hermaios, suggesting that Kujula may have initially reused the design of coins issued during the reign of Hermaios Soter.^[3]

The coins bearing the name Heraios were silver and made in the Hellenistic style, using the Greek script. The reverse shows the winged Greek goddess of victory Nike holding out a wreath, over Heraios mounted on a horse. He wears a tunic and has a large bow on the side. Some portraits show Heraios with a marked artificial skull deformation, a characteristic of several Kushan portraits and sculptures of the 1st century CE. On some of the Heraios coins, his name has sometimes been read as ΗΛΟΥ or ΗΙΛΟΥ, which has been transliterated as "Ilou". However other readings of the same texts include "Maou" and "Miaou".

Another coin type of Heraois, c. 1- 30/50 CE
The ethnonym "KOϷ ϷANO" (Koshshano, "Kushans") in Greek alphabet (with the addition of the letter Ϸ, "Sh") on a coin of Heraios.
Tetradrachm, obverse: diademed Heraos right, 1st half of the 1st century CE. From Vakhsh, Tajikistan.