XXVI. Note on Ancient Coins: Collected in Seistan by Mr

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XXVI.

NOTE ON ANCIENT COINS

COLLECTED IN SEISTAN BY MR. Gt. ¥. TATE, OF THE SEISTAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION.

BY E. J. EAPSON, ST.A., M.E.A.S.

following is a description of the coins referred to in Mr. Tate's article which appears in the present number of the Journal, pp. 663-672. Mr. Tate has given an admirably clear account of the provenance of these coins, and it is much to be wished that all collectors of Oriental coins would keep a similar accurate record of the precise localities from which their specimens are obtained. It is only by the accumulation of such important evidence that we can hope to make any real progress in the study of Indian numismatics.

I. COINS DEEIVED PEOM GEEEK SOTJECES. 1. Obv. Helmeted head of Athene to r. Rev. Eagle. PI. 1. M -55 ; Wt. 50 grs. \y. Head, B.M. Cat.: Attica, p. 26, PL vii, 9, 10; Eapson, Indian Coins, § 9, PL i, 7.] Coins of this class are imitated from the Athenian coinage, which was carried by commerce to the most distant parts of the world. Some of the imitations which are found in Northern India are simply slavish copies of the head of Athene on the obverse and the owl on the reverse; but the class to which this specimen belongs has acquired a certain degree of independence of the original from which it is derived: the head of Athene is retained, but an eagle has taken the place of the owl of Athene on the reverse.

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 15:44:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00032500 674 ANCIENT COINS COLLECTED IN SEISTAN.

For the possible connection between these coins and those of Sophytes, who at the time of Alexander's invasion of India (326 B.C.) was ruling over a district on the banks of the Acesines, v. Rapson, Indian Coins, §§ 9, 11.

2. Obv. Head of Herakles in lion's skin to r. Rev. Globular surface without type. PI. 2. M -5 ; Wt. 64-5 grs.

This is an ancient native imitation of the coinage of Alexander the Great. In the original, the reverse-type is ' Zeus enthroned.' In this particular imitation, the obverse ' Head of Herakles' only has been copied, and the reverse has been left without a type—a peculiarity which is also to be observed in some of the ancient Gaulish and British imitations of Greek and Roman coins. Cf., for instance, Evans, Coins of the Ancient Britons, PL B, 8.

II. SELEUCID KINGS OF SYRIA.

SELEUCUS I, B.C. 306-281. 3. Obv. Head of Herakles in lion's skin to r. Rev. Zeus seated to 1, on throne ; BASIAEQZ I ZEAEYKOY in two vertical lines in r. field; in 1. field, mon. ^ (?) ; beneath throne, mon. pft] (?). Tetradrachni. PL 3. Ml; Wt. 225 grs.

This is a specimen of the earliest coinage of Seleucus, on which he retains the types of Alexander the Great. It is interesting as showing an arrangement of the legend BAZIAEQZ SEAEYKOY which has not been hitherto noticed. For the other methods of arrangement, fourteen in number, v. Babelon, Rois de Syrie, p. x. In 306 B.C., when Seleucus took the title of king, he was in possession of all that portion of the empire of Alexander the Great which lies between the Oxus and the Indus. His coins may, therefore, be expected to be found in Seistan.

The reverse of this specimen is in such a poor state of preservation that it is impossible to decipher the monograms with certainty. The drawings given above cannot claim to be strictly accurate.

III. GREEK KINGS OF BACTRIA.

DiODOTUS, B.C. 250. 4. Obi. Head of king to r. Rev. Zeus striding to 1., hurling thunderbolt. (In- scription illegible.) Hcmidrachm. PI. 4. M -5; "Wt. 25-5 grs. This piece is probably an original; but it has been so defaced by cleaning that it is not possible to be certain that it may not be an early imitation. As the inscription is lost, it is impossible, also, to say whether both portrait and inscription were those of Diodotus, or whether the coin belongs to that transitional class in which the portrait of Diodotus occurs in conjunction with the name of Antiochus.1 Diodotus, originally satrap of the province of Bactria, revolted against his Seleucid over-lord, Antiochus II, and founded the Greek kingdom of Bactria, c. K.C. 250.

EuTHYDEMUS, C. B.C. 206. 5. Obv. Head of king to r. Rev. Herakles seated to 1. on rock; r. BA2IAEQ2; 1. [-]Y0[YA]HMOY. Hemidraehm. PI. 5. M -5 ; Wt. 24-5 grs. The art and the poorly executed letters of the Greek inscription convict this specimen of being a native imitation; but it is an early imitation, and not far removed from the prototype. Coins of the class to which it belongs are usually

1 Gardner, B.M. Cat.: Seleucid Kings of Syria, pp. xv, 15, pi. v, 7. This appears to be the correct yiew. Babelon, Rois de Syrie, p. lx, denies that the portrait is that of Diodotus, but without any sufficient reason.

known as 'Saka imitations of Bactrian coins,' for which v. the references given in Indian Coins, § 28. This class belongs to a period beginning c. 120 B.C., when the Greek kingdom of Bactria had been overwhelmed by the Scythian invaders, who imitated for their own use the coins which they found circulating in the country.

6. DEMETRIUS, C. B.C. 190. Obol. [y. Gardner, B.M. Cat.: Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India, p. 6, PI. ii, 11, 12.] To Euthydemus and his son Demetrius are attributed the earliest conquests made in India by the Greek princes of Bactria: v. reff. in Indian Coins, § 18.

IV. INDO-PARTHIAN DYNASTY. The history of this dynasty is at present very obscure. A summary of what is known will be found in Indian Coins, § 61. It seems to have held Kandahar and Seistan in the first century A.D., and probably for some time before and after. At the time of its best-known monarch, Gondophares, its power extended to the ~W. Punjab and Sind. Its precise connection with the contemporary Parthian dynasty is un- certain ; but, from this point of view, certain Parthian coins (». inf., p. 677) found in Seistan and bearing as a counter- mark the symbol which is characteristic of the coins of Gondophares are most interesting. In October, 1903, I received from Mr. R. Hughes-Buller, the Superintendent of the Imperial Gazetteer of Baluchistan,, a great number of coins of this Indo-Parthian dynasty (Gondophares and Pacorus). As these came also from Seistan, we have abundant numismatic evidence of the rule of the Indo-Parthian dynasty in this region. All the coins of this dynasty which I have noted in Mr. Tate's collection are of bronze, and are uniformly in such a poor state of preservation, or have been so badly ' cleaned' according to the very vigorous method described

by Mr. Tate, that only small fragments of the inscriptions can be read.

7-10. PACORUS. ? 1st or 2nd cent. A.D. [v. Gardner, B.M. Cat.: Gk. and Scythic Kings, p. 110, PI. xxiii, 8.]

11, 12. ORTHAGNES. ? 1st or 2nd cent. A.D. [Ibid., p. 109, PI. xxiii, 9.] PI. 8 (Obverse). M -9; Wt. 109 grs.

V. PAETHIAN DYNASTY. Small silver coins (drachms) of the following kings of Parthia have been noticed in Mr. Tate's collection. A full description of all the varieties, except the countermarked coins of Orodes, will be found in Gardner's Parthian Coinage (International Numismata Orientalia, Pt. v) and Wroth's B.M. Cat.: Parthia. 13. MlTHRADATES II, B.C. 123-88. 14,15. PHRAATES III, B.C. 70-57. 16,17. ORODES I, B.C. 57-37. 18,19. ORODES I, countermarked with the symbol ^ of the Indo-Parthian dynasty (v. inf.). 20. PHRAATES IV, B.C. 37-2. 21. GOTARZES, A.D. 40-51. 22. PVOLAGASES II, A.D. 77-146. 23-28. MlTHRADATES IV, A.D. ? 130-147. 29. VOLAGASES IV, A.D, 191-207. The countermarked specimens of Orodes I are most interesting and important1 (Pis. 6 and 7). They show that Parthian coins struck between B.C. 57 and 37 were stamped

1 Cunningham, Num. Chron., 1890, p. 119, noted the fact that coins of 'Artabanus' were found countermarked with the 'symbol of Gondophares,' but no specimen seems to ha\*e been published, and it is impossible to verify the statement. He probably meant Artabanus III (A.D. 10-40) ; but it is, of course, possible that he may have used the name ' Artabanus' by mistake for 'Orodes.'

for reissue by some member of the Indo-Parthian dynasty. This dynasty seems to have ruled first in Kandahar and Seistan. It is possible that the Indo-Parthian power may have arisen during, or shortly after, the reign of Orodes, and that the money then current in this region was countermarked by the new rulers with their distinctive symbol.

VI. VASSAL OF THE EARLY SASSANIAN DYNASTY.

ARDAMITRA, VASSAL OF HORMUZD I, A.D. 271-273. 30. Obv. Head of king to 1. ; inscription in Sassanian Pahlavi. [Rev. Sassanian Fire-altar; on either side, an inscr. in Sassanian Pahlavi.1] PL 9. M -9; "Wt. 101-5 grs. This obscure class of coins has been described by the late M. Edmond Drouin in the Revue Numismatique, 1895, p. 52, PL ii, 1-8. According to Drouin, the long inscription in Sassanian Pahlavi on the obv. is the regular coin-legend of Hormuzd I. One of the inscriptions on the rev. is read by him as 'Ardamitra,' and he supposes this to be the name of some vassal of Hormuzd I. The specimens published by Drouin came from Turkestan ; but, as there is no reason to believe that the Sassanian power extended beyond the Oxus, it is most probable that they were carried thither in the course of trade, and that their real home was somewhere farther south. From the occurrence of a solitary specimen in this collection of coins made in Seistan, it would, of course, be rash to infer that this home was Seistan. Some such conclusion is, however, indicated by a piece of numismatic evidence which has not been hitherto noticed. There can be no doubt that there is a very striking resemblance between these coins attributed to a vassal of the Sassanian dynasty and the Indo-Parthian coins of Pacorus

1 The reverse of this particular specimen is quite defaced. The description is borrowed from the coins published by Drouin.

and Orthagnes referred to above (p. 677). Not only are the coins of the two classes themselves similar in size and fabric, but the peculiar arrangement of the hair in the king's portrait, which forms the obverse type of each, is almost identical. The changes which distinguish the coins attributed to a Sassanian feudatory are such as would naturally have been expected if a transference of power had taken place. Inscriptions in Sassanian Pahlavi have taken the place of the Greek and KharosthI inscriptions of the Indo- Parthian coins; and the Sassanian reverse-type, a Fire-altar, has supplanted the Greek figure of Victory. The numismatic evidence might well indicate some connection between the Indo-Parthian dynasty in Seistan and this feudatory dynasty of the early Sassanian empire.

VII. SASSANIAN DYNASTY. The Sassanian coins,1 with two exceptions, call for no special notice. The kings represented are :— 31-33. SHAHFUR I, A.D. 240-271 (one silver, two bronze). 34-38. SHAHPUR II, A.D. 310-380 (four silver, one bronze). 39. ARDASHIR II, A.D. 380-384. 40. VARAHRAN IV, A.D. 389-399. 41. FTRUZ, A.D. 458-488. 42. KOISID, A.D. 491-498. 43. JAMASP, A.D. 498-531. 44. HORMUZD IV, A.D. 578-589. 45, 46. KHUSRU II, A.D. 591-628. 47. ARDASHIR III, A.D. 628-629.

The coins of Jamasp and Ardashir III merit special description on account of their rarity. 43. Obv. Head of king to r.; indistinct traces of inscr. in Sassanian Pahlavi. Rev. Fire-altar and attendants; r. Da ; 1. = (year) thirty-four. PL 10. M 1-05; Pierced. 1 It is to be understood that these are of silver, unless otherwise described.

[y. Longperier, Medailles des Rots Perses, p. 70, PL x, 3;; Mordtmann, Munzen mit Pehlvi-Legenden (reprint from Z.D.M.GL, 1854), p. 77, PL viii, 23.] Mordtmann (op. cit., p. 13) accepts the view of Thomas that Da may represent the mint Darabgird. The Pahlavi date is the former of the two given as equivalent to ' thirty- four' on his PL iii, cf. p. 192. There seems to be great uncertainty as to the chronology of the reign of Jamasp. If Longperier is right in giving to this reign the period from A.D. 498 to 531, as would appear from the chronological table (op. cit., p. 87), this coin must have been struck in the last-mentioned year, 531 A.D. 47. Obv. Head of king to r.; inscr. r., Autahshat; 1., Afzut. Rev. Fire-altar and attendants; v.Mar; l. = (year) two. (The margin as far as the circle of dots has been clipped off.). [v. Thomas, Num. Chron., 1873, p. 251, PL ix, 2-4.]

VIII. MUHAMMADAN GOVERNOR OF PERSIA. 48. ? AEDALLAH BIN ZOBEIR, C. A.D. 683-692. [v. Mordtmann, op. cit., p. 160.] The identification of this piece is not quite certain.

IX. THE CALIPHS. 49. Struck at Wasit: Hejira year [9]6 = A.D. 714. 50. „ „ „ 109 = A.D. 727. 51. „ Balkh: „ 192 = A.D. 807. 52. „ „ „ 1[9]3 = A.D. 808. 53. „ Samarkand „ 194 = A.D. 809. 54. An Abbasid coin of about the Hejira year 200 = A.D. 815 ; date and mint illegible.

X. GHAZNAVID. 55, 56. MAHMUD. A.D. 998-1030.