Fromo Kesaro
Fromo Kesaro ϕρoµo κησαρo "Rome Caesar" | |
---|---|
Majestic Sovereign | |
Turk Shahi King | |
Reign | 739-745 CE |
Predecessor | Tegin Shah |
Successor | Bo Fuzhun |
Fromo or Phromo Kesaro (
Origin of the name "Rome Caesar"
From 719 CE, Tegin Shah was the king of the Turk Shahis. He then abdicated in 739 CE in favour of his son Fromo Kesaro. The name "Fromo Kesaro" was the probable phonetic transcription of "Rome Caesar" in honor of Caesar, the title of the then Eastern Roman Emperor Leo III the Isaurian who had defeated their common enemy the Arabs in 717 CE.[3][a] Leo III the Isaurian then sent an embassy through Central Asia in 719 CE, which travelled as far as China.[3] The Chinese annals record that "In the first month of the seventh year of the period Kaiyuan [719 CE] their Lord [拂菻王, "the King of Fulin"] sent the Ta-shou-ling [an officer of high rank] of T'u-huo-lo [吐火羅, Tokhara] (...) to offer lions and ling-yang [antelopes], two of each. A few months after, he further sent Ta-te-seng ["priests of great virtue"] to our court with tribute."[7]
Investiture of Fromo Kesaro in 738/739 CE
The Turk Shahis were nominally vassals of the Chinese Tang dynasty court, and they regularly sent embassies for official matters. In 738 CE, Tegin Shah sent a request in order to abdicate in favour of his son Fromo Kesaro. These events are recorded in the Chinese annals Cefu Yuangui.[8]
In the 27th year [of
Khorasan Tegin Shah] submitted a memorial requesting that due to his old age, his son Fulin Jipo [for Fulin Jisuo 拂菻罽娑] may succeed him on the throne. The Emperor agreed and dispatched an envoy in order to confer the King's title on him through an Imperial Edict.
Conflict with the Arabs
Fromo Kesaro appears to have fought vigorously against the Arabs. The Arabs are known to have been forced to pay tribute to Fromo Kesaro, since Sasanian coins and coins of Arab governors were overstruck on the rim with the following text in the
Obverse: ϕρoµo κησαρo βαγo χoαδηo κιδo βo ταzικανo χoργo
Reverse:oδo σαo βo σαβαγo ατo ι µo βo γαινδo
Fromo Kesaro, the Majestic Sovereign, [is] who defeated the Arabs and laid a tax [on them]. Thus they sent it.
The victories of Fromo Kesaro against the Arabs may have forged the Tibetan epic legend of King Phrom Ge-sar.[3][12]
Succession
In 745 CE, Fromo Kesaro sent a request to the Chinese court in order to abdicate in favour of his son Bo Fuzun (勃匐準, his name is only known from Chinese sources). These events are again recorded in the Chinese annals
In the 4th year of the Tianbao reign [745 CE]
Wuchang. He was conferred the title of "General of Left Stalwart Guard".
The Turk Shahis eventually weakened against the Arabs in the late 9th century CE.
Notes
Turk Shahi rulers 665-822 CE | ||||||||||||||
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- ^ Martin 2011, p. 127:"He received this laudatory epithet because he, like the Byzantines, was successful at holding back the Muslim conquerors."
- ^ The study of these new coins originally appeared in "New Coins of Fromo Kēsaro" by Helmut Humbach in: G. Pollet (ed.), "India and the Ancient World. History, trade and culture before A.D. 650". Professor P.H.L. Eggermont jubilee volume. Leuven 1987, 81-85, plates. XI-XIII
- ^ Tianbao (天寶, 742–756), era name used by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang
References
- ^ Hund).
- ^ Readings with photographs in "New Coins of Fromo Kēsaro" by Helmut Humbach in: G. Pollet (ed.), "India and the Ancient World. History, trade and culture before A.D. 650". Professor P.H.L. Eggermont jubilee volume. Leuven 1987, 81-85, plates. XI-XIII
- ^ ISBN 978-1-317-34090-4.
- ISBN 2-503-51681-5.
- ISBN 978-9-493-19401-4.
- ^ Piras, Andrea. "FROMO KESARO. Echi del prestigio di Bisanzio in Asia Centrale, in Polidoro. Studi offerti ad Antonio Carile, a cura di G. Vespignani (Centro italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo), Spoleto 2013, pp. 671-690": 681.
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(help) - ^ Old Book of Tang (舊唐書 Jiu Tangshu), ch. 198 (written mid-10th century C.E.), for 618-906 C.E: "開元七年正月,其主遣吐火羅大首領獻獅子、羚羊各二。不數月,又遣大德僧來朝貢" quoted in English translation in Hirth, F. (1885). China and the Roman Orient: Researches into their Ancient and Mediaeval Relations as Represented in Old Chinese Records. Shanghai & Hong Kong.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of papers (PDF). INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITY. pp. 195–196.
- ISBN 978-94-93194-01-4.
Chinese original: 二十七年,其王烏散特勒灑以年老,上表請以子(THY:以嫡子)拂菻罽婆嗣位,許之,仍降使冊命。
- ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of papers (PDF). INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITY. pp. 195–196.
- ^ "15. The Rutbils of Zabulistan and the "Emperor of Rome"". Pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
- ^ "New Coins of Fromo Kēsaro" by Helmut Humbach in: G. Pollet (ed.), "India and the Ancient World. History, trade and culture before A.D. 650". Professor P.H.L. Eggermont jubilee volume. Leuven 1987, 81-85, plates. XI-XIII
- ^ ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
- ISBN 9780333124291.
- ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of papers (PDF). INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITY. p. 259.
- ISBN 978-94-93194-01-4.
Chinese original: 天寶四年,又冊其子勃匐準為襲罽賓及烏萇國王,仍授左驍衛將軍。
- ^ Kuwayama, S. (2002). Across the Hindukush of the First Millennium: a collection of papers (PDF). INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES KYOTO UNIVERSITY. p. 259.
- ^ D. W. Macdowall, "The Shahis of Kabul and Gandhara" Numismatic Chronicle, Seventh Series, Vol. III, 1968, pp. 189-224, see extracts in R. T. Mohan, AFGHANISTAN REVISITED … Appendix –B, pp. 164-68
- ^ Raizada Harichand Vaid, Gulshane Mohyali, II, pp. 83 and 183-84.
- H. G. Raverty, Tr. Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Maulana Minhaj-ud-din, Vol. I, p. 82
- ^ "16. The Hindu Shahis in Kabulistan and Gandhara and the Arab conquest". Pro.geo.univie.ac.at. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
Sources
- Martin, Dan (2011). "Greek and Islamic Medicines' Historical Contact with Tibet". In Akasoy, Anna; Burnett, Charles; Yoeli-Tlalim, Ronit (eds.). Islam and Tibet: Interactions Along the Musk Routes. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 117–144. ISBN 978-0-7546-6956-2.