Featured The Great Savior Needs No Name… He Still Has One Though

Pellinore · Apr 15, 2018

Thanks for this very informative thread, and those maps are excellent! This part of history is not very clear. To me it is no small wonder, that 'Soter Megas' real name may have been found! His coinage is rather common, but I'm happy we can call this Great Savior now by his first and last name Vima Takto. Here's my one coin of his. It has ten rays but no very clear lettering.

19 mm, 8.41 gr. MACW 2939.

And I have these coins of the Yueh-Chih, it's an imitation following the tetradrachms of Bactrian king Heliocles. An 'ugly' coin of bad metal, not copper but an unclear mix that's prone to rust. Quite special, though. Large, heavy coins of 26-28 mm and 10-14 gr.

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Ed Snible · Apr 15, 2018

I have the 2015 catalog of the ANS collection, Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kideraite Coins by Jongewood and Cribb with Peter Donovan.

Curtisimo said: ↑

View attachment 765053
Figure 6 - Vima Takto AE Unit, Photo Courtesy of CNG - https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=77963
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The unusual thing about these units is that they are magnetic! They must be from a mint with an unusual metal source.

dougsmit said: ↑

The mints for these coins seem to be separated by style. In particular there are legend letters that are more significant than others since they show squared or rounded style best.
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Jongewood and Cribb believe both styles were minted at Begram, a city that is today mostly noted for its US Air Force base. They call the square lettering style "early phase" and the cursive lettering style "late phase". However they don't assign years, both coins are just assigned 90-113 which they believe are the approximate regnal years of Wima Takto.

dougsmit · Apr 15, 2018

This does explain why we lack curved letter coins with many rays and square letter ones with few rays. I would like to see more coins with 7-9 rays.

RAGNAROK · Apr 16, 2018

Curtisimo said: ↑

Hello CT friends. I have slowed down quite a bit on my coin purchases this year which has allowed me the chance to study and learn about some interesting coins in my collection I might not otherwise have spent as much time studying. This awesome coin came to me by way of our coin friend who’s namesake had some serious mother issues (looking at you @Severus Alexander ). I think this coin is fascinating because it was minted by a ruler who did not identify himself on his coins and thus remained a mystery to numismatists for centuries. Also this coin comes from a rare type of ancient civilization that we can study from sources both east and west (I.E. Chinese, Greek, Roman etc.). However, after studying this coin the only thing that I can say about it with certainty is that there is nothing certain to be said about it! More on that below.

View attachment 765049
Kushan Empire
Vima Takto, AD 78-110
AE Unit, Unkown mint, struck ca. AD 78-110
Dia.: 21.2 mm
Wt.: 8.2 g
Obv.: Bust right, 12 rays above, holding object. 3 pronged tamga in left field
Rev.: Horseman right, holding whip. 3 pronged tamga in right field

Origins of the Kushans

View attachment 765048
Figure 1 - Map of Kushan / Yuezhi Migration and Expansion 200 BC - AD 100

According to the Chinese sources the Kushans were one of the many tribes of a nomadic cultural group that are referred to by the Chinese as the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi are interesting because it is possible that they had migrated further east than any other Indo-European speaking population. According to Ban Gu in the Book of Han the Yuezhi are said to have had as many as 100,000 warriors in the 2nd century BC and inhabited what is today the Gansu province neighboring both the Xiongnu to the northeast and the Wusun to the west [1].

View attachment 765030
Figure 2 - Gansu Provence, grasslands of the Qilian Mountains. Thought to be the homeland of the Yuezhi in the 1st millennia BC.

In the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd century BC the Yuezhi seemed to have been the dominant nomadic group in the region and even the first great leader of the Xiongnu, Modu Chanyu, (yup the villain from Mulan) was thought to have been a hostage to them in his youth. However, the unification of China under Qin Shi Huangdi and the subsequent military expeditions of Meng Tian at the end of the 3rd century BC put pressure on the Xiongnu that led to the formation of a powerful confederation that would prove a difficulty to China and a disaster to the Yuezhi. The Yuezhi were crushed by the Xiongnu in 176 BC with the bulk of the survivors fleeing west and eventually displacing the Sakas (Scythians).

View attachment 765050
Figure 3 - I admit it, I like Disney’s Mulan… Okay

The Yuezhi were forced to flee further south in 132 BC when they suffered another catastrophic defeat at the hands of a combined force of Xiongnu and Wusun. These series of migrations and displacements pushed first the Scythians (Saka) and then the Yuezhi themselves south of the Jaxartes river where they came into conflict with the Greeks of Bactria. Between the years 150 to 130 BC the Greeks of Bactria were ultimately overthrown and an Indo-Scythian (Saka) Kingdom was established. At some point during this migration period a tribe of the Yuezhi known as the Kushana gained political supremacy within the group and subsequently displaced, assimilated or conquered the Central Asian elements of the Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian kingdoms into Kushan control.

The first Kushan ruler to claim as such on his coins identified himself as Heraios, possibly around 1 AD (He may be the same person as Kujula Kadiphises – see below). Below you can see a portrait of him from one of his coins and it is interesting to note that his portrait exhibits very noticeable skull deformation. This is interesting because it shows that even under Hellenic and Indian influence the Kushan / Yuezhi people still practiced elements of their nomadic heritage. I also think it is an interesting point to keep in mind when considering early Kushan coin portraiture.

View attachment 765051
Figure 4 - Heraios AR Tetradracm, Image courtesy of CNG - https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=272281

As is typical when reading about the Kushans there is some controversy whether Heraios and Kujula Kadiphises are the same person or whether Kujula Kadiphises was Heraios’s successor. Either way by the end of Kujula Kadiphises’ long reign wish ended around AD 80 the Kushan Empire was a well-established and stable entity which had extended its control from northern India in the south to the Tarim Basin in the northeast to the borders of the Parthian kingdom to the west. This leads us to the reign of our “Great Savior” or “Soter Megas” who for centuries had to remain nameless due to his self-indulgent imperial title being too long for his coins to contain much else…

Who is Soter Megas?

In the early to mid-1800s scholars were perplexed by the huge number and wide distribution of coins that were turning up with the inscription ΒΑCΙΛΕV ΒΑCΙΛΕVWΝ СWΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑС(King of Kings, Great Savior) but otherwise lacked the name of the king that issued them. Early researchers attributed these alternatively to the Parthians, the Bactrians and the Indo-Scythians. In the mid-1800s it was recognized that there were similarities (such as a distinctive rendering of the Gandharian letter j) with the named coins of Kujula Kadiphises and it was speculated that the Soter Megas coins were of the Kushan dynasty and immediately succeeded the coins of Kujula Kadiphises. This led to the theory that there was a nameless king who existed between Kujula Kadiphises and Vima Kadiphises (see timeline under Question 1 below).

This theory didn’t stop the debate however and everything from regional viceroys and usurpers to either of the two Kadiphises were proposed as alternatives for the identity of the nameless king. It seemed that the uncertainty surrounding Soter Megas would never be solved until the early 1990s when two things happened to change this situation.

1. An inscription was discovered in Rabatak, Afghanistan in 1993 that listed the genealogy of the Kushan ruler Kanishka I. The inscription confirmed that there was a Kushan ruler between the two Kadiphises which now had a name: Vima Takto. (Figure 5)

2. A hoard of coins with the same bull and camel design used by a coin series of Kujula Kadiphises was found with the inscription “Maharajasa Rajatirajasa Devaputrasa Vima Takha”(great king, king of kings, son of god Vima Takha). Notice in Figure 6 that the tamga (a symbol used as a type of Kushan dynastic stamp) on this coin matches the Soter Megas coin. The use of the title “king of kings” on both coins is also significant. On the balance of this evidence it seems clear that these coin types should be associated with the Soter Megas issues and can therefore be linked with the successor of Kujula which the Rabatak inscription showed to be Vima Takto.

View attachment 765052
Figure 5 - Rabatak Inscription

View attachment 765053
Figure 6 - Vima Takto AE Unit, Photo Courtesy of CNG - https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=77963

The discovery of the Rabatak inscription also made it possible to link Vima Takto with his portrait sculpture and with an inscription from Dasht-e Nawur that had previously been identified with his son Vima Kadiphises [3]. The Dasht-e Nawar inscription describes him as “king of kings, the great salvation, Wima Tak[to] the Kushan, the righteous, the just” thus further associating him with the title used on the Soter Megas coins. It also means that Vima Takto was likely the Yan-gao-zhen mentioned in the Chinese Hou Han Shu that is credited with extending Kushan power into northern India.

However, even if we can tentatively claim that Vima Takto = Soter Megas there are still so many frustrating questions to be answered about this coin…

Questions I Wish Could be Answered but Can’t

I should preface this section by admitting that I do not own and have not read the Mitchner book (Oriental Coins and There Values) that covers this issue. The reasons for this are that, 1: it’s too expensive for me to justify with my modest collection of oriental coins at this point and, 2: it was written in 1978 so would not have had the benefit of all the new discoveries on this issue from the last few decades. From reading other sources I believe that I have the basic gist of his hypothesis but those who own the book feel free to chime in.

Questin 1: When was this coin minted?

The attribution that I see most often from dealers (Mitchner?) places this issue from AD 80 – 90. However, Joe Cribb, a former curator at the British Muesum, has been heavily involved with the more recent research on this issue and the below table is based on his findings [3].

View attachment 765054
*Cribb makes a compelling case that Heraios and Kajula Kadiphises are the same person
Table 1 – Timeline of the early Kushan Kings

The longer timespan for Vima Takto’s reign would make some sense considering how common the coins are. However, to add a level of complexity to the dating of this issue Cribb suggests that the Soter Megas coins were actually started under the reign of Kajula and simply continued by Vima Takto [2] in order to standardize the currency… urrrggg!

Based on die studies Cribb also managed to layout a chronological 4 phase pattern of this issue. I am currently missing some of the illustrations that would help me to understand how this works so I have sent Mr. Cribb an email and I will update this thread if I hear back.

Question 2: Who is depicted on the obverse of this coin?

The attribution I see most often for this coin describes the obverse showing a portrait of the king, bust right, holding scepter with rays above his head. Cribb [2] interprets the obverse as a representation of the sun god Miiro holding an arrow with sunrays emanating from his head. This interpretation leads to possible connections between the depiction of the arrow and influence derived from the archer aspect of the Greek Apollo and would explain the rays above the busts. Miiro seems to be regularly shown with sunrays around his head on coins and other Kushan art.

Another interesting aspect to consider is the portrait of Heraios shown in Figure 4. If one were to trust the hypothesis that Heraios and Kajula are the same person and that it was under Kajula that the Soter Megas coinage was started then why would the Soter Megas coins not show noticeable skull deformation on the portrait?

The counterclaim would be that Heraios is a separate and earlier ruler and that the practice of skull deformation had died out within the dynasty by the time the Soter Megas coins were struck. I was not able to find much archeological evidence of when skull deformation stopped being practiced by the Kushan rulers so I would be much interested in hearing some of your thoughts.

View attachment 765055
These coins may be difficult to study but they feel great in hand and have nice, high relief designs

Question 3: Do the number of rays have significance?

In my research I have read that there is a theory that the number of rays, which vary from 15 to 4, can be used to date the coin within the series (perhaps annually?). The number of rays is theorized to decrease over time based on studies of the style of the coins. It seems strange to me that the number of rays would go DOWN with time. What would happen after the 15 years’ worth of rays was used up? I have not been able to find a satisfactory explanation of this theory in any of the literature that I have read. Anyone with a more advanced knowledge of this feel free to chime in.

A few other ideas I had for the variation of the rays: a variation by mint or region, some kind of religious or seasonal significance related to the sun (Ex: more rays if struck in summer, less if in winter), laziness on the part of the engravers over time, the Kushans overthrew their kings every 15 years, older Kushans become less shiny as they age and aliens.

Question 4: What should we call this denomination?

I most often see my coin above listed as a tetradrachm which typically weighed between 8-8.5 grams. There is another smaller denomination of the same design often called a drachm that weighs about 2-2.1 grams. If assigning these to a reduced Attic standard as Cribb does [2] it is clear that the terms didrachm and hemidrachm would be more appropriate. I have elected for the cop-out and decided to refer to these coins as units and ¼ units.

Question 5: Where was this coin minted?

This is the question that has me the most confused of all, which is saying something if you read any of the above. Mitchner seems to have divided the Soter Megas coins into three mints; Balkh, Taxila and Peshwar. The use of curved letters on the reverse instead of squared letters seems to separate the main mint of Taxila from the other two in this system. The notoriously off flan lettering of this series coupled with the condition of most specimens makes this a hard distinction to make (for me at least). If I were to hazard an opinion on my above coin in this system I would assign it to Taxila.

Cribbs research has indicated that there was a general issue of the Soter Megas coinage featuring the Miiro bust / horseman design that he assigns to one mint in Begram. Local mints would then still have been producing their own designs. Instead of denoting different mints the curved vs squared lettering should be seen as an incremental change over time according to this hypothesis. He postulates that the Soter Megas coins began as a local issue in Begram and were then adopted as the general issue or “imperial standard” for the empire by Vima Takto. It appears that even after this the local mints continued striking their own coin designs that were contemporary with the general issue [2]. He lists the local mint locations as: Bactria/Tocharistan, Gandhara, Mathura, Kashmir and an unkown location. This pattern makes some sense if you assume that Kujula and his successors would have wanted to consolidate the mints into a more central authority and it seems that Vima Takto’s son Vima Kadiphises was indeed able to consolidate all of the Kushan mints into one location during his reign [4].

Part of the evidence for Begram is the concentration of Miiro / horseman ¼ units at the site which would not have travelled as far as the larger units in commerce. He does concede that that a spectrum analysis of coins found in Uzbekistan that contain metal from two sources must be explained before a second imperial mint can be ruled out [2][5]. Begram seems to have been a major Kushan site of considerable wealth during the first century AD though unfortunately today it is completely buried underneath an airbase.

View attachment 765056
Figure 7 – Top left, Taxila – Top right, Outline of Begram under airfield. The two contenders for the location of the primary early Kushan mint.

For my own purposes I tend to find Mr. Cribb’s arguments very compelling and would tend to trust his interpretation. However, because I am currently missing some of the resources and references I would need to fully understand the extant research and make a balanced assessment I think I will list this coin’s mint location as “unkown” for the time being and see what future discoveries are made in this area.

----------------------------

So really after all of that the only thing I managed was to give the Great Savior a name and even that might also refer to his father on some coins… I’m tired

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Please unload with all your Kushan or Central Asian coins… or whatever else you want to post.

Also please share any knowledge or insight on this issue that you have and feel free to post any theories you may have on the subject.

References

[1] Ban Gu, Book of Han, 61

[2] Cribb, J., The Soter Megas coins of the first and second Kushan kings, Kujula Kadiphises and Wima Takto, Gandharan Studies, vol. 8 pp. 79-122

[3] Cribb, J., The Early Kushan Kings: New Evidence for Chronology

[4] Bracey, R., The Mint Cities of the Kushan Empire; The City and the Coin in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds; Archaeopress, Oxford England 2012

[5] Rtveladze, E.V. and Pidaev, Sh.R. (1981, Katalog Drevnich Monet YuzhnogoUzbekistana, Tashkent
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I'm speechless. Brilliant! Thanks, mate.

ancient coin hunter · Apr 16, 2018

Excellent @Curtisimo ! Great write-up. I'm not that familiar with the history of the area but I have heard of the Hsiung-Nu and some scholars have id'd them as being an enemy referred to by Tzun-Tzu.

Have you heard of the Pazyryk tombs with the Caucasian corpses in central Asia around the same time as the Kushans?

Curtisimo · Apr 16, 2018

RAGNAROK said: ↑

I'm speechless. Brilliant! Thanks, mate.
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Thank you for the kind words!

ancient coin hunter said: ↑

Excellent @Curtisimo ! Great write-up. I'm not that familiar with the history of the area but I have heard of the Hsiung-Nu and some scholars have id'd them as being an enemy referred to by Tzun-Tzu.

Have you heard of the Pazyryk tombs with the Caucasian corpses in central Asia around the same time as the Kushans?
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I hadn't heard of them until reading your post but I just read about them on Wikipedia and I think I'll have to devote some time into reading some more about them. Fascinating. Thanks for the heads up!

Deacon Ray · Apr 16, 2018

Curtisimo said: ↑

...unload with all your...Central Asian coins…
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Deacon Ray · Apr 16, 2018

Curtisimo said: ↑

...interesting coins...I might not otherwise have spent as much time studying...
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Deacon Ray · Apr 16, 2018

Curtisimo said: ↑

...Indo-Parthian...
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TIF · Apr 21, 2018

I have three of these and still have no idea how to properly label them. For now I'm going with a broad attribution, taking a cue from one of the more recent CNG examples of a similar coin. The CNG catalogers tend to be up to date.

INDIA, Kushan Empire
temp. Kujula Kadphises - Vima Takto, c. CE 80-113
AE; uncertain mint (Begram?)
Obv: Radiate, diademed, and draped bust of Miiro (Mithra) right, holding scepter; tamgha to left
Rev: King right on horseback, holding pickax; tamgha to lower right.
Ref: ANS Kushan 147-156 (I do not have this book and do not know if there are other entries based on minor details such as number of rays, number of prongs on the tamgha, etc)

The first was purchased locally in 2013. I was so excited about finding an ancient coin for sale in a curio shop that I grossly overpaid for it. 20 mm, 8.12 gm. Hard to say how many rays this has but there are four seen near the top/front of his head, so I'd guess there are more than double that amount. The legends are mostly off flan and I can't even make out the shape of the character behind the horse (as per Doug's post).

The second and third coins were purchased at the 2014 ANA World's Fair of Money in Chicago. I was on my last round through the bourse and mostly out of money. Educational Coin Company had bags full of these and other less popular coins at low prices so I picked out a couple of nicer examples.

The first of this pair seems to be the most common type, or the one I've seen most often. It has high relief, three-pronged tamghas, and rounded letters; 21 mm, 8.12 gm. The second of the two coins below looked different from the others in the bag so I bought it as well. It has the squared letters, more rays, and four pronged tamghas; 21 mm, 8.41 gm. I have no idea if there is any significance to those differences but suspect its simply the result of time and different engravers.

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Featured The Great Savior Needs No Name… He Still Has One Though

Pellinore Well-Known Member

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Ed Snible Well-Known Member

dougsmit Member

RAGNAROK Naebody chaws me wi impunitY

ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

Curtisimo the Great(ish)

Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

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TIF Always learning.

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Featured The Great Savior Needs No Name… He Still Has One Though

Pellinore Well-Known Member

Guest User Guest

Ed Snible Well-Known Member

dougsmit Member

RAGNAROK Naebody chaws me wi impunitY

ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

Curtisimo the Great(ish)

Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

TIF Always learning.

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