The first recorded history of East-West cultural exchanges

The first recorded history of East-West cultural exchanges

It was the story of Alexander the Great's invasion of the region of Transoxiana, Central Asia starting 330 BC. The Transoxiana refers to the Jaxartes River, the Oxus River and the Zeravshan River basin, including the entire Uzbek region and the southwestern part of Kazakhstan today.

Alexander the Great 334 BC - 323 BC

In 334 BC, King Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, crossed the Hellspont and began a 10-year battle of the Eastern Expedition. In 330 BC he conquered the entire Persian Empire (the Achaemenid Dynasty) and continued to advance to Central Asia.

In 329 BC, Alexander came to the southern edge of the Ferghana Basin and built the Alexandria Eschate on the south bank of the Syr River (probably Khujand city of Tajik today). Similar to other cities that bore his name, Alexander placed many retired veterans and Greek mercenaries to settle in the city as a base for the outlying borders and future expeditions.

In 327 BC he conquered the Bactria region (Bactria, which refers to the south of the Amu Darya, north of Hindu Kush, the Chinese Han Dynasty mentioned as 大夏).

Seeking to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea" (the Indian Ocean), he invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops. In 325 BC he withdrew from the Indus Valley and left an army in Punjab.

After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, the entire Bactria, Transoxiana and Ferghana region were still under the rule of the Greek sect of the Seleucid Empire.

Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and the resulting spread of Greek culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization.

In 321 BC, India, Chandragupta Maurya had overthrown the Nanda Dynasty at Fahrenheit on the banks of the Ganges River (now Patna) and rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander's Macedonian armies. He established the Maurya Dynasty and his empire had fully occupied Northwestern India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander by 320 BC.

Emperor Ashoka 304 BC - 232 BC

Ashoka the Great, grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, was the third Indian emperor (r. 304 BC to 232 BC) of the Maurya Dynasty.  He expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east.

Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism. This period marks the first spread of Buddhism beyond India to southern and Central Asia. He is remembered for the Ashoka Pillars and Edicts, and also for sending Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka and Central Asia, as far west as the Greek kingdoms, in particular the neighboring Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.

The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ashoka's edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written in Greek, and one in both Greek and Aramaic. 

The Kingdom of Khotan was an ancient Buddhist kingdom located at the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. All versions of the legend suggest that the city was founded around in the third century BC by a group of Indian Noble during the reign of Ashoka. Residents were Indo-Aryans, ancient Tibetians and Sakas.

The Sacae (Sakas) on the ancient Persian inscription or the Scythian recorded in the ancient Greek literature, are famous ancient nomadic warriors roaming in the prairie, whose territory is about today in Kazakhstan.

Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 256 BC - 125 BC

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (256-125 BC) was established to serve as point of Greek and Indian cultural exchange. Diodotus, the satrap of Bactria founded the kingdom when he seceded from the Seleucid Empire around 250 BC and became King Diodotus I of Bactria. The expansion of the Greco-Bactrians into northern India from 180 BC established the Indo-Greek Kingdoms in Indus Valley, which was to last until around 10 AD.

The Kingdoms of Bactria, which has been in existence for more than 120 years, was an important Hellenistic civilization center in Central Asia at that time.

During the reign of the Greeks, a large amount of coins was issued, and the words that were handed down became precious materials for studying the history and art of this period. These currencies are portraits of Greek rulers of all ages and were cast from 3rd to 2nd centuries BC.

About 400 kilometers east of the Alexandria Eschate is the Tarim Basin, the ancient Western Region of China (Chinese Han Dynasty mentioned as 西域, the modern Xinjiang), where the Indo-European people may lived there. There are signs that the Greek expedition had arrived in Kashgar in western Xinjiang. According to the Greek historian Strabo (64-23), "the Greeks expanded their empire, even as far as the Seres" (The ancient Greeks called the people at the East as Seres, who are good at making silk products).

Perhaps the time when the East first contacted with the West was around 200 BC.

Yuechi at the Hexi Corridor 403 BC - 209 BC

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi (月氏) were an ancient people first reported in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, while Western historians tend to think that the Yuezhi people are one of the Tocharians, the people that migrated to the easternmost part due to the ancient Indo-European migration,  when they were living in the Tarim Basin.

According to the study of the ancient corpses unearthed from the Tarim corpse and the ancient tombs in Xinjiang, the appearance of the Tocharians is yellow-brown or brown hair, blue eyes and high nose. It has the characteristics of the original Indo-European people, and the skull resembles the Nordic type. 

During the Warring States Period (403 BC - 221 BC) of Chinese History, the Yuezhi tribe lived in the Hexi Corridor around Dunhuang in the west of Zhangye, Gansu, and the Yuechi drove away the Wusun (烏孫) people living near today Dunhuang.

During the end of the Chinese Qin Dynasty (pre-209 BC), Yuezhi was strong enough that, the Xiongnu (匈奴) leader,  Mandan Chanyu had sent his son as a hostage to the Yuechi. The Xiongnu was located in the southern part of the Gobi Desert and the Yinshan area. 

Xiongnu Empire, Modu Chanyu 209 BC - 174 BC

In 209 BC, the hostage of Xiongnu fled back from the Yuechi, killing his father to stand on his own as Modu Chanyu (冒頓單于).  Chinese sources report them as having created an empire under Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC. Modu expanded the Xiongnu Empire (匈奴帝國) at all dimensions. 


To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu (東胡) of eastern Mongolia, as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu. 

After the North was unified, Modu immediately sent troops at the South to conquer the Chinese Han Dynasty (漢朝). At that time, the Chinese Dynasty was just reunified, and Emperor Liu Bang moved his general to the north to strengthen border defense. In 200 BC, Han's army at the north surrendered to Xiongnu. After getting the Han's army, Modu continued to go south. As a result, Liu Bang was surrounded by the Xiongnu in Mapu Mountain (near the northeast of Datong City) for seven days.

Modu recovered the Xiongnu territory captured by the Qin Dynasty and occupied part of the northern Han Dynasty, and began to gradually dominate the City States of the Western Region.

Migration of Yuezhi 162 BC - 145 BC

After a major defeat by the Xiongnu in 162 BC, the surviving Yuezhi people had to abandon the Hexi Corridor and migrate. The migration of the Yuezhi people split into two groups. A small number of Yuezhi people moved southeast to the northwestern part of the Qilian Mountains in Gansu and Qinghai. They are called Lesser Yuezhi (小月氏). The main force of the Yuezhi, leaving Gansu, fled west through the Gobi desert, along the road opened by their ancestors and the ancient Tocharians. They are called Greater Yuezhi (大月氏).

The so-called Greater Yuezhi  began migrating north-west in about 165 BC, first settling in the Ili valley, immediately north of the Tian Shan mountains, where they defeated the Sai (Sakas): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Han Shu 漢書 61 4B). This was "the first historically recorded movement of peoples originating in the high plateaus of Asia."

In 155 BC the Wusun, in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, again managed to dislodge the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley, forcing them to move south-west. The Yuezhi passed through the neighboring urban civilization of Ferghana (Chinese Han History mentioned as Dayuan 大宛) and settled on the northern bank of the Oxus, in the region of northern Bactria, or Sogdia (modern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Chinese Han History mentioned as Kangju 康居).

The Yuezhi frequently looted Ferghana. In 145 BC, the historic city of Ferghana, Alexandria Eschate was burned by the Yuezhi. The the famous urbanization of Western Greek style and oriental Persian elements that were built by the Greek Bactrians was reduced to ashes. The Hellenistic civilization of Ferghana was also basically removed during this period.

Visit of Zhang Qian 138 BC - 115 BC

In 139 BC, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty sent  Zhang Qian (張騫) to sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. Zhang Qian was once detained by the Xiongnu on the road and married his wife in the Xiongnu. In 129 BC, Zhang Qian and his entourage escaped from the control of the Xiongnu, and then went west along the Tarim River, passed through the Kucha country (now Xinjiang Kuchedong), Shuleguo (now Xinjiang Kashgar) and other places, over the great hills, to the Ferghana basin. 

Ferghana King welcomed the envoys of the Chinese, and sent people to guide, helping Zhang Qian and others to reach the location of the Yuezhi people, Sogdia, where the land is fertile and the people live comfortably.  The request for an alliance was denied by the son of the Yuezhi king, who preferred to maintain peace in Sogdia rather than to seek revenge.

Zhang Qian, who spent a year in Transoxiana and Bactria, wrote a detailed report which gives considerable insight into the situation in Central Asia at the time. 

In 130 BC, Yuezhi migrated southward from Sogdia and later settled in Bactria, where they then defeated the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with Bactrian peoples mentioned in classical European sources. 

 

In 119 BC, Emperor Wu ordered Zhang Qian once again to go to the Western Region to implement the foreign policy with the local great powers. The entourage was about 300, with thousands of cattle and sheep, silk and lacquer ware. 

Zhang Qian arrived in Wusun State in the Ili Basin. King of Wusun Kunmo welcomed his visit. Since then, Zhang Qian has dispatched a deputy to conduct diplomatic activities in Yuezhi, Sogdia, Ferghana, Parthia, Hindu in the surrounding areas of Wusun. In 115 BC, Zhang Wei returned to China and took messengers of Wusun who came to the Han Dynasty to explore the road, as well as dozens of Wusun horses.

Following Zhang Qian's embassy and report, commercial relations between China and Central  Asia flourished, as many Chinese missions were sent throughout the end of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century BC, initiating the development of the Silk Road.

Kushan Empire 30-375

The next mention of the Yuezhi in Chinese sources is relating to the early 1st century BC. At this time, the Yuezhi are described as occupying the whole of Bactria, organized into five major tribes  (翖侯, "Allied Prince"). 

It also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BC, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi already followed the Buddhist faith during the 1st century BC.

In the late 1st century CE. It reports that one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Guishuang (貴霜), had managed to take control of the tribal confederation.

The central Asian people who called themselves Kushana, who were among the conquerors of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, are widely believed to have originated as a dynastic clan or tribe of the Yuezhi.  

After that point, they extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries (30 - 375). Despite their change of name, most Chinese authors continued to refer to the Kushanas as the Yuezhi.

The Kushan Empire became a Buddhist center under Kanishka I (r. 127-140) and his successors. the Mahayana Buddhism was then introduced to the Han Dynasty via the Silk Road.

有記錄的第一次東西方文化交流

是公元前330年亞歷山大大帝（Alexander the Great）東征中亞的故事，地點是河中地區（Transoxiana）。河中地區指中亞錫爾河（Jaxartes River）和阿姆河（Oxus River）以及澤拉夫尚河（Zeravshan River）流域，包括今烏茲別克全境和哈薩克西南部。

亞歷山大大帝東征  前334年 - 前323年

前334年，古希臘馬其頓國王亞歷山大大帝渡過赫勒斯滂海峽（Hellespont），開始了長達10年的東征之戰。前330年他征服整個波斯帝國（阿契美尼德王朝），並繼續向中亞推進。

前329年亞歷山大來到費爾干納盆地（Ferghana）南方邊緣，並在錫爾河南岸建造絕域亞歷山卓城（Alexandria Eschate，可能是今天塔吉克的苦盞）。如同他其他建造的同名城市一樣，亞歷山大安置許多退役老兵和希臘雇傭兵在城內定居，作為國境外圍聚點和日後遠征的前進基地。

前327年他征服了巴克特里亞地區（Bactria，指阿姆河以南，興都庫什以北地區，漢朝史書稱大夏，古希臘文獻中說為吐火羅）。

爲了尋找並抵達「世界的盡頭和大外海」，前326年亞歷山大侵略印度大陸，但最終應軍隊要求不得不撤軍。前325年他從印度河流域撤走，在旁遮普留下了一支軍隊。

前323年亞歷山大逝世後，整個巴克特里亞、河中地區和費爾干地區還在希臘化塞琉古帝國（Seleucid Empire）統治中。

前321年，在印度，月護王（旃陀羅笈多 Chandragupta Maurya）利用馬其頓軍隊對當地政權的破壞，領兵推翻了當時的難陀王朝（Nanda Dynasty），建立了孔雀王朝（Maurya Dynasty），定都位於恆河河岸華氏城（今印度巴特那）。他隨後並從旁遮普趕走了馬其頓軍隊。

印度阿育王 前304－前232

阿育王（Aśoka，意譯無憂，故又稱無憂王，前304年－前232年）成為孔雀王朝的第三代君主。他是一位佛教徒，也帶來佛教的繁榮，後世稱為佛教護法。

阿育王大力宣揚佛法，據傳說阿育王在位期間，共建造八萬四千座佛塔。在他即位第17年，在華氏城由帝須長老舉行第三次佛教結集，使佛教成為了印度全國性的宗教。

阿育王在西元前269年開始統治了印度大陸大部份的土地，王朝的版圖擴張到現在的阿富汗。他向周邊中亞和南亞地區派出許多傳教團，尤其是派去錫蘭的傳教團，使斯里蘭卡至今都是南傳佛教的中心。佛教此時傳入中亞河中、西域地區。

傳說中古代西域于闐國（今新疆和闐縣附近）為阿育王的一子地乳王於公元前232年建立。早期西域居民有古印度人、羌人以及塞人。

塞人，即古波斯碑銘上的 Sacae（Sakas）或古希臘文獻所記錄的斯基泰人（Scythian），為古代著名的遊牧戰士，在大草原中漫遊，其領土約在今天的哈薩克斯坦地區。

希臘-巴克特里亞王國 前256年－前130年

約前256年，巴克特里亞總督狄奧多特一世宣布獨立，脫離塞琉古帝國，建立希臘-巴克特里亞王國（Greco-Bactrian Kingdom）。歷經120餘年的巴克特里亞王國是當時中亞一個重要的希臘化文明中心。

希臘人統治時期發行過大量貨幣，其中流傳下來的成為研究這一時期的歷史與藝術的珍貴資料。這些貨幣正面為歷代希臘統治者的肖像，為公元前3～前2世紀鑄成。

絕域亞歷山卓城往東約400公里就是塔里木盆地，古代西域地區（今日的新疆），當時那裏生活着印歐語系的月氏人。

有跡象顯示，希臘人的遠征曾經抵達了新疆西部的喀什，根據希臘歷史學家斯特拉波（Strabo，前64年–23年 ）的記載，「希臘人拓展他們的帝國，甚至遠至塞里斯」（古希臘時期稱東方的人為賽里斯人，Seres，即擅長製作絲綢製品的蠶絲人）。

可能中原與西方第一次接觸的時間在公元前200年前後。

河西走廊，印歐語系的月氏人 前403-前209

關於月氏的來源，中外史學家看法頗不一致。月氏國在先秦史籍中早就見諸記載，即《逸周書》和《管子》中所記載的「禺氏」國。《後漢書•西羌傳》記載：月氏「被服飲食言語略與羌同」，說明月氏的語言很可能屬於藏緬語族。

西方歷史學者傾向認為月氏人就是吐火羅人（Tocharians）的一支，是古印歐人遷徙浪潮中，延伸到最東面，聚居在新疆塔里木盆地一帶的一支民族。

根據對塔里木乾屍和新疆古墓出土古屍骨的研究，吐火羅人的外貌特徵都是黃褐或棕褐頭髮、藍眼睛、高鼻，具有原始印歐人特徵，頭骨類似北歐型。《漢書•西域志》關於西域人有「今之胡人青眼、赤鬚」、「其人皆深目，多鬚髯」。

遠在戰國時期（前403-前221），月氏部落便在今甘肅省張掖以西直到敦煌的河西走廊一帶過著遊牧生活，月氏趕走了居於今敦煌附近的烏孫人，統一了河西。秦末民變時期（前209），月氏進一步強盛，與蒙古高原東部的東胡部落從兩方面脅迫遊牧於戈壁沙漠南部和陰山一帶的匈奴部落，匈奴頭曼單于曾送質子冒頓於月氏。

匈奴冒頓單于 前209年-前174年

前209年（秦二世元年），匈奴質子自月氏逃回，殺父自立為冒頓單于。冒頓單于即位之後，前206年出征滅亡鄰族東胡，民眾、牲畜和其他物產全部被擄走。冒頓單于乘勝發兵，約在前205—前202年間舉兵向西驅逐走月氏。

冒頓單于統一草原之後，隨即出兵征伐漢朝。當時漢朝剛剛統一，劉邦將韓王信遷徙到北方，加強邊防。前200年韓王信的軍隊投降了匈奴。冒頓得到韓王信的軍隊後繼續南下，結果發生劉邦被匈奴圍困於白登山（大同市東北馬鋪山）7日的事件。

冒頓單于向南收復了被秦朝蒙恬奪取的匈奴領地，佔領了漢朝北部的部分地區，經過一系列的大征伐，北方各族無不臣服匈奴。至此匈奴建立了雄踞大漠南北的匈奴帝國，並開始逐步支配西域各國。

冒頓單于置左右賢王來控制帝國的東西方地區。左賢王是出身攣鞮氏的匈奴貴族，由單于指定為下一任單于繼承人。右賢王則控制上郡（今陝西榆林市）以西的地區。

據冒頓單于於前174年致漢文帝書中說：「故罰右賢王，使至西方求月氏擊之。以天之福，吏卒良，馬力強，以夷滅月氏，盡斬殺降下定之。樓蘭、烏孫、烏揭及其旁二十六國皆已為匈奴，諸引弓之民並為一家，北州以定。」月氏這次敗後，更西遷到準噶爾盆地。同年冒頓去世，子繼承為單于，號老上單于。

月氏西遷 前162年 - 前145年

前162年，老上單于破月氏，倖存的月氏人不得不背棄河西走廊而遷徙。遷徙的月氏人分為兩支，少部分月氏人向東南方向遷入了隴南（甘肅及青海的祁連山西北麓一帶）的羌人區域定居下來，並開始逐漸使用羌的語言，他們被稱為小月氏。而月氏主力，則離開甘肅，穿過戈壁沙漠，沿著他們祖先古印歐人開闢的道路，向西逃亡，他們被稱為大月氏。

大月氏人來到天山以北的伊犁河流域和伊塞克湖流域後，並未站穩腳跟。當初被月氏人趕跑的烏孫人，早於大月氏人來到阿爾泰山以東，伊塞克湖以北，巴爾喀什湖以南地區（今哈薩克斯坦境內），正好是處於伊犁河流域以北的大月氏人的鄰居。烏孫人隨即與匈奴人結盟，不斷攻擊伊犁河的月氏人。至前155年左右，大月氏人被迫再次集體南遷。烏孫人從始佔據了伊犁河谷。

而大月氏人南遷穿越了費爾幹納盆地（漢朝史書稱大宛），來到阿姆河以北地區（西方歷史稱索格底亞那或粟特 Sogdiana, Sogdia, 漢朝史書稱康居）。大宛地區當時在希臘化的巴克特里亞王國（漢朝史書稱大夏）的統治下。大月氏人的到來，控制了阿姆河，切斷了巴克特里亞王國的大宛和阿富汗領地。

西方歷史學者一般認為，古希臘文獻中的吐火羅人即是指西遷的大月氏人。

大月氏頻頻劫掠大宛，前145年，大宛的歷史名城埃斯哈塔亞歷山大（遺址在烏茲別克和塔吉克的交界處）被大月氏人焚毀，這個由亞歷山大大帝建立，經由塞琉古王朝和巴克特里亞王朝不斷修建，兼蓄了西方希臘風格和東方波斯元素的著名城市化為灰燼，大宛的希臘化文明也基本在這一時期被清除。

之後，可能是塞種人的遊牧部落階級統治農業生產的大宛原居民。

張騫出使西域  前138年- 前115年

漢武帝於建元三年（前138年）派張騫出使大月氏以聯合夾擊匈奴。張騫在路上一度被匈奴扣押，並在匈奴娶妻，前129年，張騫和隨從堂邑父兩人逃出了匈奴的控制，取道車師國（今新疆吐魯番盆地），接着沿塔里木河西行，經龜茲國（今新疆庫車東）、疏勒國（今新疆喀什）等地，翻越蔥嶺，到達大宛（今費爾干納盆地）。

在這裏，離他們出發地有6,000公里之遙，他們看到了汗血馬，大宛國王歡迎中原的使節，並派人做嚮導，幫助張騫等人到達了大月氏人所在地（康居，今巴爾喀什湖和鹹海之間），這裏土地肥沃，民眾生活安樂，大月氏人無意聯合漢朝來對付宿敵匈奴。

前130年，大月氏人南下征服大夏（巴克特里亞王國），把大夏分給與五個部族，每個部族有一個酋長，稱為翕侯。

後來張騫東返，又被匈奴扣押。直到元朔三年（前120年）才返回長安，回來時只剩他和隨從堂邑父兩人，他的匈奴妻子也一併來到長安。

前119年，漢武帝命張騫為中郎將，再度出使西域，執行聯合西域大國烏孫以「斷匈奴右臂」的外交政策，隨行人員約300，牛羊以萬計，絲綢、漆器、玉器和銅器等貴重物品成千上萬。張騫平安抵達伊犁盆地的烏孫國，烏孫王昆莫歡迎張騫的來訪，並收下了豐厚的禮物。

此後，張騫派遣副使，對烏孫周邊地區大宛、康居、大月氏、安息、身毒（古印度）、于闐等進行外交活動。前115年，張騫帶着數十匹烏孫良馬啟程回國。而烏孫、大宛和其他諸國也派遣使者與歸途的漢朝使者一同來到漢朝，遊覽漢朝的強盛和疆域廣大。

一說張騫在西域時即聽說有佛教。《魏書•釋老志》記載：「及開西域，遣張騫使大夏還，傳其旁有身毒國，一名天竺，始聞有浮屠之教。」 《後漢書•西域傳》關於身毒國記述：「天竺一名身毒，在月氏之東南數千里，俗與月氏同，而卑濕暑熱。其國臨大小，乘象而戰。其人弱於月氏，修浮圖道，不殺伐，遂以成俗。」

之後東西方的商人們紛紛沿着這條張騫探出的道路往來貿易，成了著名的絲綢之路。

貴霜帝國，佛教傳入漢朝 67年 - 102年

公元一世紀初，月氏五翕侯中的貴霜翕侯丘就卻（約16—65年）消滅其他翕侯，統一五部落，建立起貴霜國，丘就卻打敗了開始衰落的安息帝國，又南下攻擊喀布爾河流域和今喀什米爾地區，後定都為高附（今阿富汗首都喀布爾），初步奠定了帝國的基礎。

永平十年（67年），漢明帝夢見金人，於是派人去西域，迎來迦葉摩騰與竺法蘭兩位高僧，並且帶來了許多佛像和佛經，用白馬駝回首都洛陽，皇帝命人將自己避暑的行宮改為精舍讓僧人入住，翻譯《四十二章經》。也就是現在的白馬寺。

因此在中國佛教史上，多以永平十年作為佛教傳入之年。白馬寺成為中國第一座佛寺。

貴霜帝國（Kushan Empire）在迦膩色伽一世（約78—102年）和其承繼者統治之下達至鼎盛，被認為是當時亞歐四大強國之一，與東漢、羅馬、安息三個同一時期的帝國並列。

地處中亞絲綢之路的交通要道，是中原絲綢、漆器、東南亞香料、羅馬玻璃製品、麻織品等貿易中轉站。從其鑄造的金幣可以知道其與羅馬帝國的商業關係。

另外，這些金幣所表達的各種希臘宙斯和勝利女神奈基、羅馬、祆教祭壇、耆那教的公牛、印度教和佛教神祇可以證明貴霜對發揚於當地的宗教和藝術的寬容和融合的關係。

迦膩色伽一世對佛教的支持和宣揚最大。因為迦膩色伽一世不是印度貴族出身，在婆羅門教的種姓制度下不能佔有適當的位置，因此他就選取以佛教管治帝國，貴霜帝國一時成為了佛教中心。由於貴霜帝國扼絲綢之路的要衝，與東漢有密切商業來往，大乘佛教也由絲綢之路傳入東漢。