The Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom

The two greatest powers in Central Asia in the early centuries of the Common Era were the Kushan and the Sasanian Empires, both of which dominated the macro-region and left a broad artistic and cultural legacy. The Kushan Empire was highly developed from the first to the third centuries AD, from which point Sasanid rulers in Iran started to extend their power, at the expense of the Kushans’ eastern border. Although the Sasanians ultimately secured supreme power in this region, there was a period of co-existence and political negotiation between the two, as attested by the discovery of Kushano-Sasanian coins in Afghanistan and Pakistan.