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During my Instagram Live talk this morning, someone asked abt the religious situation in late antique/early Islamic Central Asia & I mentioned this guy’s coins & their mixed religious iconography. So, a short thread on Zhūlād of Gozgān, king of Ghur (or the mountains?)...
Zhulad is one of the authorities who issued coin, probably somewhere to the north of the Hindukush, in the area of Gozgān. His coins sometimes bear the mint mark of Amber, which is now called Sar-e Pol & in fact borders the modern Afghan province of Jowzjan (Gōzgan)
(map: NSW)
(map: NSW)
Let’s start with his name, an interesting indication of religion in the region. Zhūlād is from Zhun-lād, Bact. for “given by Zhun”.
Zhun was a local Bactrian god, prob a sun god (like Surya), evidently with a shrine in Zamindawar to the south. We don’t know much about him.
Zhun was a local Bactrian god, prob a sun god (like Surya), evidently with a shrine in Zamindawar to the south. We don’t know much about him.
The name of Zhūlād of Gōzgān is mentioned in the Bact. Econ Docs, written as ζολαδο γοζογανο. It is also mentioned on his coins, w/the title γαριγο þαο (garigo šao) “King of the Mountain” on reverse. I have suggested to read this as Gorigo šao “King of Ghur”. More on that later!
But the coin of Zhūlād is full of scripts, languages, & religions. Look, there’s the Sasanian fire altar & attendants on the R (it’s a bust of Khosrow II on the A/!). So, Zoroastrianism is prominent.
There is also GDH ‘pzwt “Increased Glory” in MP, the motto of the Sasanians!
There is also GDH ‘pzwt “Increased Glory” in MP, the motto of the Sasanians!
Then, his coins are really imitating the Arab-Sasanian coins, prob that of Abdallah b. Khazim. So, on the obverse margins, there is an Arabic bismillah too! The Sasanian star ‘n’ crescent, slowly becoming a Muslim sign, is also used... even extended to reverse margin!
These are all not saying much about the wings of Farr/Xwarnah on the crown, the heavy earrings, and the unique tamgha on the obverse at 2’. The coins is a little thing of wonder: local religion of Zhun, imperial religion of Zoroastrianism, and the new religion of power, Islam.
A note on reading Gorigo Šao, “King of Ghur”. 500 years later, Minhaj Siraj Jowzjani (so a local boy), in the history of the Shanasbid kings of Ghur, mentions a Pūlād as their ancestor. I think this Pūlād is in fact Zhūlād & like his descendants, he too was a king of Ghur!
So, these little coins, if you read them right, have many stories to tell of cultural, religious & political ties across time. These stories from the fringes of the late antique and early Islamic world really tie a lot of strings & tell us so much when we lack written sources.
