Heraios

Early 1st century CE Kushan ruler

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

Kushan emperors 30 CE–350 CE
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
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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 "KOϷϷANO" (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.

References

Sources

• Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). "East Iran in Late Antiquity". ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–256. ISBN 9781474400305. JSTOR 10.3366/j.ctt1g04zr8. (registration required)
• Sinisi, Fabrizio (21 October 2022). "Again on "Heraios" Being Kujula and Some Related Problems". Electrum. 29: 87–107. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.22.007.15777.