Kushan Dynasty, Huvishka (160-190 CE), Gold Dinar, "Athsho"(God of Metal and Fire) type, Main Mint in Bactria (Balkh?), Late phase, Obv: a half-length bust of the king, crowned, diademed and nimbate, facing left emerging from clouds, holding a mace-scepter in one hand and the hilt of his sword in the other, Bactrian legend "þAONANOþ.........ηþKI KOþANO" “Shaonanoshao Ooishki Koshano” (King of Kings Huvishka, the Kushan) around the field, Rev: Athsho standing, facing right, flames around his head and shoulder, holding blacksmith's hammer over shoulder and pair of tongs, a tamgha on the right field, the Bactrian legend “αΘÞO” (Athsho) on the left field, a dotted border around the field, 7.73g, 21.0mm, (Gobl # 230/Jongward & Cribb # 736), about very fine, Extremely Rare.

Note: The god Athsho, or Athosho, appears to derive from the Zoroastrian deity 'Atar', the son of Ahura Mazda, and the personification of holy fire, indicated by the flames about Athsho's head and shoulders. Associated with Aša-Vahišta, the personification of truth or righteousness, who appears as Ashaeixsho on coins of Huvishka, the figure of Atar has been employed historically for royal fires. While recognized in Iran as a deity, who admitted or rejected souls in heaven, Athsho was most closely associated in western Mithraism with Hephaistos. The blacksmith's hammer and tongs, symbols of Hephaistos, were also used as tools for igniting the holy fire. thus associating them also with Athsho. Likewise, Pahlavi's commentary on the Atašnyayiš (Sacred Books of the East XXIII:360, note 6) notes the further connection between these two gods in that, like Hephaistos, Athsho "bodily is infirm; spiritually he is a warrior."

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