I have always been facinated by the kingdom set up by the soldiers & desendants of Alexander the Greats army, that crossed into India. They ruled from Iran to the Ganges for around 300 years. The furthest outpost of Greek culture. Here are 2 of my Bactrians, lets see yours. :thumb: The reverse of both of these coins depict the goddess Diana with spear. Note all writting in Greek. :hail:
A bit of help. On the reverse of the 2 coins I posterd there is a symbol with Diana. It looks like a Greek Kho/Ro (KR) but the coins are 200 years before the birth of Christ. Any input would be helpful.
Very cool coins! I have always liked the Bactrian coinages, some cool types. I don't have any myself, I don't have any Greek or Greek-ish coins, just Roman, and just Empire so far. As far as that symbol goes, I assume it is the monogram of one of the moneyers or mintmaster maybe? I don't know.... Great coins Ripley!
Your welcome Rex. I too enjoy seeing yours, Randy's and DS's ancients. Real nice to share. Here is a Bactrian coin of Aziz'z II, the last of the Bactrian kings. It was he who sent out the 3 wisemen to attend Christ's birth, that day long ago in Bethleham.
The symbol you're referring to is a Buddhist Tirantna, their version of the eye of providence which crops up in various shapes and forms in ancient religions. In this case, the Tirantna, or Three Jewels, represents Buddha, Dharma and Sangha -- the three things Buddhists look to for guidance. Obverses of Bactrian/Indo-Greek/Indo-Sythian coins show their Greek cultural influences, reverses show their Gandhara cultural influences, including Kharosthi legends and symbols. There's a fair amount of variety as to how the Tirantna is portrayed from coin to coin (just as there are some minor variations on how the Chi-Rho would be depicted centuries later) but regardless of the specifics of style, that's what this symbol is.
Very interesting. Ripley: Cool coin of Azes, I have watched and thought about buying a silver drachm or tetradrachm of that style, I most likely will one of these days.... I like the horseman, very neat coins.
Yep Rex, but studing Bactrains, inevitably leads to study of Kushans. That's another story... 2 Kushan coins. Note pointed hat - These folks practiced infant head binding to reshape the skull, like the American Indian Flathead tribe. They were the indegiouns occidental people of Eastern China. Always at war with the Han (Oriental) Hun vs. Han. They asimulated the Bactrians around 10 AD and 400 years later. Thier desendants the Huns conquered the Roman Empire. There you go - driven out of eastern China all the way to the gates of Rome. And now you know the rest of the story.... Good day !!! Kushan - note head shape from binding.
Here is an image of an ancient Kushan. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...a=X&ei=MEeJTa6iOIaasAPcuJD7Cw&ved=0CCQQ9QEwBQ
The second coin shown above reads Apollodotos (II) 110-80 BC but I don't make out the first one. Mitchiner sorted these by mint according to the symbols in the field which occur in a lot of forms. I don't know how he separated them but these look like what he called Kapisa. The reverse figure is Athena. For my Bactrian contribution I'll offer two of the three available ancient nickel coins. The tripod reverse is Euthydemos II 190-171 BC while the panther reverse is Agathokles 171-160 BC. The one I lack is another panther bearing the name of Pantaleon who was brother and co-ruler with Agathokles. Nickel doesn't weather too well and many are corroded like this panther.
Oh, sorry. I thought I was on the science channel were they're discussing bacteria..... Beautiful coins from a time long past....Thanks for posting them and please do forgive the "rube" in me......
Historical fact and if Chinese do not like people excavating ancient graves in central and western China because they are all occidental.
