Lately I've become interested in learning about the Kushan Empire. However, unlike say the Indo-Greek Kingdoms that preceded them, I cannot find much in terms of bibliography about the Kushans. I have managed to find some articles or chapters in books that treat broader subjects, but haven't been able to find a book focusing solely on the Kushans.
Can anyone recommend a bibliography on the topic? Preferably in English.
Much of the way characters talk about the Kushan Empire implies it's been around for a long time; Morgar and Wallatoria are said to have been fighting it for a long time, and the Pontiff refers to many earlier holy wars against them. However, the flashback Ganishka has as Griffith is killing him states that before Ganishka ascended the throne the Kushan were just one small kingdom of the east among many; that it was Ganishka himself who made the Kushan Empire into an Empire at all. This heavily implies that Ganishka has been Emperor for a very long time- for his Empire's entire existence. Just as Zodd has been fighting for centuries, Ganishka has been conquering for centuries.
A few other details support this; while Ganishka does try to rape Charlotte, we don't see him with any wives or children- why would he need any heirs, when he's immortal? Also, in the same flashback as before Ganishka and the other members of the royal family are wearing clothing very different to anything we see the Kushan wear in the story itself; they show a lot of skin in the style of the Indian empires of late antiquity, as opposed to the Mughal and Ottoman inspired aesthetic of the modern Kushan. Ganishka has been Emperor for so long that the fashion and culture of his empire has shifted with him.
I think Berserk pretty heavily implies that Ganishka has ruled the Kushan Empire for centuries if not longer. This is interesting on the face of it, because clearly he's not pretending to be successive generations of Kushan monarchs, he's basically openly an immortal God-Emperor. While some other long-lived apostles are clearly common knowledge- when Judeau's introducing Nosferatu Zodd his immortality's treated as a fact, not a weird rumor- the fact that an immortal apostle is openly the monarch of the world's most powerful empire means that in the world of Berserk immortals clearly must be an accepted thing that exist. It also makes me wonder if the world of Berserk has seen any other immortal political figures like Ganishka.
FIRST OF ALL, THIS ISNT REPOST! Also i tried to add much more than the previous one
Before we start with the rounds, let us introduce their differences and similarities:
- Both are great empires, that pose a big threat to the kingdoms where our heroes mostly hang around
- Both are based on historical empires(Kushans take name from actual empire from history and also happened to based on 15th century Persia and India, while Nilfgaard is based on Holy Roman Empire)
- Both are technologically advanced over most of the nations
- Both carry a knowledge of magic, but magicians are rare(I dont know anything about Nilfgaard and their magicians aside the obvious golems, but ive seen things like Kushan wizards using demon animals in battles, and dont forget about Daka warriors and their bloodthirsty tendencies)
- Both are slave masters(Do i need to talk about it?)
- Both are humongous empires that have lot of cultures, therefore lot of soldiers of occupied lands
Now to their differences(Ignoring the cultural difference):
- Nilfgaard doesn't posses military use of large monsters like Kushans have(Although Kushans sometimes use them)
- At the time of stories, Emhyr is ordinary human with the knowledge of political tactician, while Ganishka is form of a Demigod(If we assume that God hand are the real gods) who has knowledge of demonic creativity
- Sometimes Geralt serves the Nilfgaard for some moments, Guts kills Kushans
- We can see Kushan use of Gundpowder (They bombarded Wyndham before razing it to the ground for example).
- As i mentioned, Kushans have magicians controlling the monsters
RULES:
- We dont include their enemies as possibility(So no Northern kingdoms nor Griffith and his Hawks)
- We dont c
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I believe this is Chehel Burj or Forty Towers Fortress however I can not find coordinates or a google maps link confirming the exact location. Likely somewhere in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan.
I figure the Kushan are a pastiche made up of a whole much of Islamic empires.
A lot of the clothing I can recognise as India, the turbans, the waistcoats, the dreads that sage/rishi wears. Plus a lot of the characters and generals look Indian to me.
The Kushan elephant killer weapon that Zodd uses is a Nepali weapon used to kill cattle.
The whip swords and hand knives Silat uses are Indian, the idols in the Kushan camps are South Asian, the Buddhist monks/cult look South East Asian with their style of robes...
The armour, elephants, cavalry all remind me of the three gun powder empires. The galleys look Ottoman, the strange weapons the daka use are actually real tribal weapons from India made with deer horn.
The scene of Guts and Serpicos' second duel looks a lot like the architect of Al-Andalus, and Serpico mentions the city once belong to the Kushan. Maybe Kushan is a generic term the same way "Moor" once was.
Plus the irl Kushan empire was a melting pot of Bactrian, Buddhist, Persian, Steppe, Hindu cultures.
The Kushan invasion itself conjures images from the Arab conquests and Ottoman empire in the Balkans. Though the Ottoman or Timurids role would be a little ahead of schedule given the lack of extensive gunpowder use.
I know that makes the Kushan empire massive but Kanishka was a invincible apostle with an insatiable appetite for conquest and a demon army.
I did a Wikipedia deep dive recently and found an empire I had never heard of - The Kushan Empire. They were an empire in central asia in mid/late antiquity that controlled silk road trade and connected Rome and China. I thought they would make a good civ, so here's what I came up with:
Leader - Kanishka the Great Leader Ability - Foretold by Buddha. Receive +2 Great Prophet Points per turn in your capital upon researching Mysticism. Your cities exert double religious pressure. Conquering a city automatically converts it to your majority religion.
Civ Ability - Center of the World. +5% to science, faith, and culture for each civ youβre trading with. Trade routes sent to the Kushan empire generate +4 gold for the Kushan and +25% tourism for that civ.
Unique Unit - Yuezhi Horse Archer. Ranged Cavalry unit. Available at Horseback Riding. Production cost of 150, and requires 10 horses. 4 movement and 1 range. 15 combat strength and 25 ranged strength. Trade routes within four tiles of a Yuezhi Horse Archer cannot be plundered. Upgrades to field cannon.
Unique Building - Silk Road Post. Replaces the Market and is 25% cheaper to build. International trade routes starting from a city with a Silk Road Post generate +25% more gold and +2 religious pressure.
This civ allows you to play peaceful and get boosts from trading with multiple empires, and also lets you spread your religion through conquest. The UU is similar to the Sake horse archer (apparently the Saka and the Yuezhi - the predecessors of the Kushan empire - fought each other), and the UB lets you spread religion quicker. Other civs can boost your gold output and have an incentive to trade with you because you can help certain civs get to a culture victory quicker.
Let me know your thoughts!
