Vonones was succeeded by Spalirises, who has been identified as a brother of Vonones solely because the coins of Spalirises bear the legend "the king's brother" and Vonones is generally believed to be the king in question.[1] Spalirises' son Azes became ruler in Arachosia; and, as we have seen, he was later king of kings in India as Azes II. The next successor whom we know in the Iranian line was a certain Orthagnes. His Iranian name means "victorious," and his coins bear a winged Victory similar to those on the coinage of Vonones I of Parthia, though whether the symbol refers to some conquest or merely to the king's name we cannot tell.
In Arachosia two men were associated at this time in joint rule, Gondopharnes and Guda (or Gudana), possibly a brother of the king of kings Orthagnes. Gondopharnes left Arachosia in a.d. 19 to assume supreme command in India, where he became the most famous of the Pahlava kings. His name also is Iranian, "winner of glory." The coins lead us to suspect that he included within his realm the Pahlava and Saca territory in southeastern Iran and northwestern India as well as the Kabul valley, where large numbers of his coins were found. Abdagases, a nephew(?) of Gondopharnes, acted as viceroy in the new Iranian provinces. Gondopharnes was still in power in a.d. 45, but we do not know the date of his
- ↑ Rapson in CHI, I, 573.
