Kanishka III (

Greco-Bactrian The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic-era Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world in Central Asia and the India ...

: ΚΑΝΗϷΚΕ ''Kanēške'';

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 e ...

: 𐨐𐨞𐨁𐨮𐨿𐨐 ', ';

Brahmi Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...

', '; sa, कनिष्क), was a

Kushan The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...

emperor who reigned from around the year 265 CE to 270 CE. He is believed to have succeeded Vasishka and was succeeded by Vasudeva II. He ruled in areas of Northwestern India.

Inscriptions

In an inscription dated to the "Year 41" (probably of the 2nd century of the Kanishka era) and discovered on the borders of the river Ara in Punjab, he qualifies himself as a ''Maharaja rajadhiraja Devaputra Kaisara Kanishka'' ("Great King, King of Kings, Son of God,

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

, Kanishka), suggesting some awareness of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

as ''Kaisara'' seems to stand for "Caesar", and names himself as the son of Vajheshka, identified as Kushan ruler Vashishka. The inscription is rather worn and the reading ''Kaisara'' has been doubted, especially since no other mentions of this title are known from Kushan sources.

Coinage

It was initially thought that there were no definite coins known of him, as the "Kanishka" named in the coins was not differentiated. Only workmanship and graphical style in relation to other known rulers, tend to suggest attribution to this later Kanishka. However, this hypothesis was shaken by coin hoards being found in

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

where coins of Kanishka III were found and identified in large numbers. All these finds north of the

Oxus river The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

seems to indicate that it was legal tender for a period of time.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanishka 03 Kushan emperors 3rd-century Indian monarchs