Azes II

Azes II
Indo-Scythian king
Azes II in armour, riding a horse, on one of his silver tetradrachms, minted in Gandhara.
Reign	Indo-Scythians: perhaps 35–12 BC
Predecessor	Azilises
Successor	Zeionises/Kharahostes

Azes II (reigned c. 35–12 BCE) may have been the last Scythian king in Gandhara, western Pakistan. However, due to new research by R. C. Senior, his actual existence is now seriously in doubt, and "his" coins, etc., are now thought to refer to those of Azes I.

After the death of Azes II, the rule of the Indo-Scythians in northwestern India and Pakistan finally crumbled with the conquest of the Kushans, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had lived in Bactria for more than a century, and who were then expanding into India to create a Kushan Empire. Soon after, the Parthians invaded from the west. Their leader Gondophares temporarily displaced the Kushans and founded the Parthian that was to last until the middle of the 1st century CE. The Kushans ultimately regained Mardan and Taxila c. 75 CE, where they were to prosper for several centuries.

Azes II is also connected to the Bimaran casket, one of the earliest representations of the Buddha. The casket, probably Greek work, was used for the dedication of a stupa in Bamiran, near Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and placed inside the stupa with several coins of Azes II. This event may have happened during the reign of Azes (35–12 BCE), or slightly later. The Indo-Scythians are otherwise connected with Buddhism (see Mathura lion capital and the multiple Buddhist dedications of the Apracas), and it is indeed possible they would have commendited the work. However it now thought that a later king, issuing coins in the name of Azes, such as Kharahostes, made the dedication.

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