The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

Volume 3 the Classical World

Episode 61

The Kushan Empire. Oh, In this episode we will be exploring a very interesting area of the world.

Generally speaking, it's the lands centered around the modern country of Afghanistan. This area we have mentioned before in reference to the

Hindu Kush mountain range. To the north the Kazakh step. To the west, the lands of the Persian empires.

To the east, the Indus Valley and the lands of India.

And to the south south the Baluchistan coast of the Arabian Sea.

It is a crossroad of cultures with constant influence throughout history from the Persians, the No Mads and

merchants of the Lowlands and the Indian cultures. Firstly we have to pick a place in time to start this episode.

We know that the first major imperial forced to influence this area

were the Ekeminid Persians who expanded into this area

from the west during the 5th century B.C. The first major political shift of power here was when Alexander the Great marched to

eastwards from his Macedonian homelands, conquering the ekeminids on the way.

Alexander the Great reached the lands of the Indus Valley before his

death. Very soon after his death, Chandragupta Moria would come to prominence in the Indus Valley before taking control

of the Margar the kingdom at its capital city of Patale Putra on the Ganges River, thereby establishing the Moria Empire.

Salucus Nia Kata would take control of the easternmost lands of Alexander the Great Empire

and therefore establish the Seleucid Empire.

However, when Seleucus attempted to retake the lands of the Indus Valley back from Chandragupa Moria, he would be

unsuccessful and the Morians would remain in control. Further misfortune for the Seleucids would follow in the middle of the third century

B.C. when Deodotus Sota, the satrap of Bactria, seceded from the Seleucid Empire, establishing a kingdom which we retrospectively

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