View source for Sases

{{Distinguish|SASES|SAS (disambiguation){{!}}SASes|SASE (disambiguation){{!}}SASEs}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Sases (Sasan)
| title        = [[Apracha]] [[King]]<br /><span style="font-weight:normal;">([[Gandhari language|Gāndhārī]]: <span style="font-style:italic;">Apacaraja</span>)</span>
| image        = Gondophares-Sases Circa AD 20-46 Sases on horseback.jpg
| caption      = '''Rev''' [[Kharoshthi]]<nowiki> inscription: "Great king of kings, divine and saviour, Gondophares Sases".</nowiki>
| reign        = 1st century CE
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Aspavarma]]
| successor    = [[Vima Takto]]
| spouse       = 
| issue        = 
| royal house  = 
| dynasty      = [[Apracharajas]]
| father       = 
| mother       = 
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 
| death_place  = 
| date of burial = 
| place of burial = 
| religion     = [[Buddhism]]
}}
'''Sases''', also known as '''Gondophares IV Sases''' ([[Kharosthi]]: '''𐨒𐨂𐨡𐨂𐨥𐨪 𐨯𐨯''' ''{{IAST|Gu-du-pha-ra Sa-sa}}'', ''{{IAST|Guduphara Sasa}}''<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham|Cunningham, Alexander]], ''COINS OF THE INDO-SCYTHIANS.'' The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 8 (1888), pp. 199-248</ref><ref>''Coins of the Sakas'', The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society Third Series, Vol. 10 (1890), pp. 103-172.</ref>), sometimes '''Sasan''', was an [[Indo-Parthian]] king and [[Apracharajas|Apracharaja]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sastri |first=K. a Nilakanta |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532644 |title=Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas) |date=1957 |page=215 |quote=The interesting additional information we get from these coins is that Sasan, a former associate of Gondophares and afterwards one of his successors in the Taxila region, was the son of Aspa’s brother}}</ref> who ruled in [[Gandhara]]. He is only known from coins and ruled for at least 26 years after succeeding [[Gondophares]].<ref>See main [[Indo-Parthian]] page for references to Robert Senior's modern chronology</ref> At some point during his reign he assumed the title '''Gondophares''', which was held by the supreme Indo-Parthian rulers.

With the modern datings supplied by Robert Senior, Gondophares IV is a likely candidate for several possible historical references to Indo-Parthian kings of the 1st century AD. Traditionally, these references have been thought to be about [[Gondophares|Gondophares I]], as earlier scholars did not realise that "Gondophares" became a title after the death of this king, just as the name of the first emperor, [[Augustus]], in the [[Roman Empire]], was used by all later emperors as a title.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jan Olbrycht |first=Marek |title=The Parthian and early Sasanian empires: adaptation and expansion: proceedings of a conference held in Vienna, 14-16 June 2012 |date= |publisher=Oxbow Books |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78570-207-5 |editor-last=Curtis |editor-first=Vesta Sarkhosh |series=Archaeological Monographs series |location=Oxford |pages=24 |chapter=Dynastic Connections in the Arsacid Empire and the Origins of the House of Sāsān |quote=“Gondophares” passed into the title used by the rulers of Indo-Parthia, just like the honoriﬁc Arsaces in Parthia and Augustus in Rome. |editor-last2=Pendleton |editor-first2=Elizabeth J. |editor-last3=Alram |editor-first3=Michael |editor-last4=Daryaee |editor-first4=Touraj |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/26895576/Dynastic_Connections_in_the_Arsacid_Empire_and_the_Origins_of_the_House_of_S%C4%81s%C4%81n}}</ref>

== Rule ==
[[File:BuddhistReliquaryWithContent1stCenturyCE.jpg|left|thumb|Buddhist reliquary with coinage, apparently of Sases.<ref>[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] Item 38116 [http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38116]</ref> Sases inscribed a Buddhist [[triratna]] with his [[tamgha]] on some of his coins.]]
During the dominion of the [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom|Indo-Parthians]], [[Apracharajas|Apracharaja]] Sasan, as described on numismatic evidence identifying him as the nephew of [[Aspavarma]],<ref>Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage, Volumes 7 à 9, Michael Mitchiner, Hawkins Publications, 1976, p.721</ref> emerged as a figure of significance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sastri |first=K. a Nilakanta |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532644 |title=Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas) |date=1957 |page=215 |quote=The interesting additional information we get from these coins is that Sasan, a former associate of Gondophares and afterwards one of his successors in the Taxila region, was the son of Aspa’s brother}}</ref> Aspavarman, a preceding Apracharaja contemporaneous with [[Gondophares]], was succeeded by Sasan, after having ascended from a subordinate governance role to a recognized position as one of Gondophares's successors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sastri |first=K. a Nilakanta |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.532644 |title=Comprehensive History Of India Vol.2 (mauryas And Satavahanas) |date=1957 |page=215 |quote=The coins further show that Sasan, who was at first a subordinate ruler under Gondophares, subsequently assumed independent or quasiindependent status.}}</ref> He assumed the position following [[Abdagases I]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Srinivasan |first=Doris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuevCQAAQBAJ&dq=sases+apraca&pg=PA103 |title=On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World |date=30 April 2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2049-1 |page=106 |language=en |quote=In the Indus valley Gondophares was succeeded by his nephew Abdagases and then by Sases.}}</ref>

The [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] ruler [[Vima Takto]] is known through numismatic evidence to have overstruck the coins of Sasan, whilst a numismatic hoard had found coins of Sasan togethor with smaller coins of [[Kujula Kadphises]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Srinivasan |first=Doris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuevCQAAQBAJ&dq=sases+apraca&pg=PA103 |title=On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World |date=30 April 2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2049-1 |page=115 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.academia.edu/15209723/DATING_AND_LOCATING_MUJATRIA_AND_THE_TWO_KHARAHOSTES Dating and locating Mujatria and the two Kharahostes], Joe Cribb, p.29</ref> It has also been discovered that Sasan overstruck the coins of [[Nahapana]] of the [[Western Satraps]], this line of coinage dating between 40 and 78 AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rienjang |first1=Wannaporn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7dTDwAAQBAJ&dq=Ubouzanes&pg=PA16 |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017 |last2=Stewart |first2=Peter |date=2018-03-14 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-78491-855-2 |pages=16–17 |language=en}}</ref>

==Connection with Phraotes==
[[File:Gondophares-Sases Seistan Early-mid 1st century AD King Parthian-style tiara.jpg|thumb|300px|Coin of Gondophares-Sases from [[Seistan]] in the [[Parthian style]] (Early-mid 1st century CE). '''Obv''' King with Parthian-style tiara. '''Rev''' BACILEYC BACIL(EWN M)EGAC YND-OFEPPhC OEPON MAZOM NOC CAh. Gondophares with Nike standing behind, crowning him.]]
In the 1st century CE, [[Phraotes]], a Greek-speaking king of the city of [[Taxila (ancient)|Taxila]], was met by the philosopher [[Apollonius of Tyana]] dated approximately to 46 CE, according to the [[Life of Apollonius Tyana]] written by [[Philostratus]]. The Gondophares who fits this date is Gondophares IV Sases, whose coinage has been dated to 40-78 AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rienjang |first1=Wannaporn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7dTDwAAQBAJ&dq=Ubouzanes&pg=PA16 |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017 |last2=Stewart |first2=Peter |date=2018-03-14 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-78491-855-2 |pages=16–17 |language=en}}</ref> Apollionus describes the king as an Indian.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=76 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=Tho Indus passed, their new guide led them straight to Taxila, where was the palace of the Indian king.}}</ref>

They describe Phraotes' residence, [[Taxila]], as being the same size as [[Nineveh]], being walled like a Greek city whilst also being shaped with Narrow roads,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |pages=76 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=Taxila was about the size of Ninovoh, walled like a Greek city}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=77 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=They are taken to the palace. They found the city divided by narrow streets, well-arranged, and reminding them of Athens.}}</ref> and further describe [[Phraotes]] kingdom as containing the old territory of [[Porus]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=76 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=and was the residence of a sovereign who ruled over what of old was the kingdom of Porus.}}</ref> Following an exchange with the king, [[Phraotes]] is reported to have subsidized both barbarians and neighboring states, with the objective of averting incursions into his kingdom.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=78 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=Phraotes, in answer, said that he was moderate because his wants were few, and that as he was wealthy, he employed his wealth in doing good to his friends, and in subsidizing the barbarians, his neighbours, to prevent them from themselves ravaging, or allowing other barbarians to ravage his territories.}}</ref> [[Phraotes]] also recounts that his father, being the son of a king, had become an orphan from a young age. In accordance with Indian customs, two of his relatives assumed responsibility for his upbringing until they were killed by rebellious nobles during a ritualistic ceremony along the [[Indus River]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=81 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=The king then told how his father, the son of a king, had been left very young an orphan; and how during his minority two of his relatives according to Indian custom acted as regents, but with so little regard to law, that some nobles conspired against them, and slow them as they were sacrificing to the Indus, and seized upon the government}}</ref> This event led to the usurpation of the throne, compelling Phraotes' father to seek refuge with the king situated beyond the [[Hydaspes River]], in modern-day [[Punjab]], a ruler esteemed greater than Phraotes' father. Moreover, [[Phraotes]] states that his father, received an education facilitated by the [[Brahmin]]s upon request to the king and married the daughter of the [[Hydaspes|Hydaspian]] king, whilst having one son that was Phraotes himself.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=81 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=How on this his father, then sixteen years of age, fled to the king beyond the Hydaspes, a greater king than himself, who received him kindly... he requested to be sent to the Brahmans; and how the Brahmans educated him; and how in time he married the daughter of the Hydaspian king, and received with her seven villages as pin-money, and had issue one son, himself, Phraotes.}}</ref> Phraotes proceeds to narrate the opportune moment he seized to reclaim his ancestral kingdom, sparked by a rebellion of the citizens of [[Taxila]] against the usurpers. With fervent support from the populace, Phraotes led a triumphant entry into the residence of the usurpers, whilst the citizens brandished torches, swords, and bows in a display of unified resistance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=De Beauvoir Priaulx |first=Osmond |date=1860 |title=The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25581224 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=17 |page=81 |issn=0035-869X |jstor=25581224 |quote=When I crossed the Hydraotis, I heard that, of the usurpers, one was already dead, and the other besieged in this very palace; so I hurried on, proclaiming to the villages I passed through who I was, and what were my rights : and the people received me gladly; and declaring I was the very picture of my father and grandfather, they accompanied me, many of them armed with swords and bows, and our numbers increased daily; and when we reached this city, the inhabitants, with torches lit at the altar of the Sun, and singing the praises of my father and grandfather, came out and welcomed me, and brought me hither.}}</ref>

== Family tree ==
{{Chart top|Apracharajas|width=100%|collapsed=no}}

{{Tree chart/start|align=center|style=font-size:95%}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||||A01|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Vijayamitra]]'''<br><sup>(1)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 1st Century</small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700}}

{{Tree chart||||||||||||||||||||||||!|||||||||||||||||||||||||border=1}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||||A01|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Indravasu]]'''<br><sup>(2)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 1st Century</small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700}}

{{Tree chart||||||||||||||||||||||||!|||||||||||||||||||||||||border=1}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||||A01|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Vispavarma]]'''<br><sup>(3)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 1st Century</small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700}}

{{Tree chart||||||||||||||||||||||||!|||||||||||||||||||||||||border=1}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||||A01|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Indravarma]]'''<br><sup>(4)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 20-50 CE </small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700}}

{{Tree chart||||||||||||||||||||||,|-|^|-|.|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||A01||A02|||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Aspavarma]]'''<br><sup>(5)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 1st Century</small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700|A02=Child of<br>Indravarma}}

{{Tree chart||||||||||||||||||||||||||!|||||||||||||||||||||||border=1}}

{{Tree chart|||||||||||||||||||||||||A01|||||||||||||||||||||border=1|A01='''[[Sasan (Apraca)|Sasa]]'''<br><sup>(6)</sup><br><small>r. {{circa}} 1st Century</small>|boxstyle_A01=border-color:#FFD700}}

{{Tree chart/end}}

{{Chart bottom}}

== See also ==
*[[Apracharajas]]
*[[Gandhara]]
*[[Indo-Parthian kingdom]]

==Notes==
{{Indo-Parthian kings}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Indo-Parthian kings]]
[[Category:1st-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:1st-century Iranian people]]