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Tetradrachm - Huvishka Couch-Lounger, Nana, the Nature Goddess
| Issuer | Kushan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 151-190 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Tetradrachm (4) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Bactrian |
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| Reverse description | The goddess Nana, the Kushan nature and moon deity of Sogdian-Mesopotamian origin, depicted standing in three-quarter or frontal pose facing right, rendered with attributes consistent with her divine role. The figure is shown in long robes with arms extended, likely holding one or more divine emblems or symbols. A Bactrian legend identifying the deity appears in the field. The reverse design reflects the syncretic religious iconography prevalent throughout the Kushan Empire during the reign of Huvishka. |
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| Additional information |
Huvishka's coinage is unusually revealing about the religious pluralism of the Kushan court. Where Kanishka I largely favored Shiva and the Iranian fire deities, Huvishka's issues expanded the divine pantheon dramatically — drawing on Bactrian, Indian, and Hellenistic traditions simultaneously. Nana, a goddess with roots in Mesopotamian Ishtar worship, had by this period been thoroughly absorbed into Central Asian religious practice, appearing across Kushan and Kushano-Sasanian issues for generations.
The "couch-lounger" epithet refers to a specific iconographic type in which Huvishka is depicted reclining — a pose with no clear parallel among other Kushan rulers and still debated among scholars as to its precise ritual meaning.