Coins of Ancient India Book PDF Free Download
BACTRIAN AND INDO-GREEK
THE coins of Sophytes, king of the Salt Range in the Panjab, the contemporary of Alexander (Pl. I, 1), form a class by themselves and are not connected with the subsequent development of coinage in India.
The Bactrian issues, on the contrary, are intimately associated with the local Indian coinage, and a few words of historical explanation are needed to show how the association arose.
In or about the year 250 n.c, Diodotos, governor of Bactria, revolted against the authority of the Seleukidan sovereign, and so needed in founding a new kingdom, the independence of which was formally recognized some forty years later by Antiochos the Great.
If Justin may be believed, the founder of the Bactrian money Barvived his success but a short time and was succeeded by his son of the same name.
The extant gold coins of Diodotos, one genuine specimen of which (Fl. L, 2) is in the Anistic Society’s cabinet, exhibit a rather youthful portrait, and it seems reasonable to accept Justin’s statement and distribute the coins to Diodotos II.
After some years, nay about 230 s.a., Euthydemos, a native of Magnesis, made himself master of Bactria. His coinage, which has high artistic merit, is well exemplified in PL I, 3, 4, 7, 8.
The barbarous imitations, supposed to have been struck at Charanene in Suniana (Pl. I, 5, 6, are excellent, illustrations of the way in which a fine numismatic type can be degraded by uneducated copyists.
Demetrios, son of Eathydemos, and son-in-law of Antiochos the Great brought the Bactrian power into contact with India by effecting considerable conquests in the borderlands of the latter country about 190 B.C. Specimens of his gains purely Hellenistic are shown in PL I. 9-11
The clammy rectangular coins of the closely related princes Aga takes and Pantaloon (Pl. II, 1, 2), which belong to the same period, obviously are semi-Indian in character and drive their peculiarity.
| Author | Vincent A Smith |
| Language | English |
| No of Page | 395 |
| PDF Size | 183.5 MB |
| Category | History |
Coins of Ancient India Book PDF Free Download
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