If I may ask for peoples opinion. I have Roman coins, and I have Greek coins, and I have Indian coins, and I also have "Indo-Scythian", "Indo-Greek", and "Baktrian" coins, as well. Would I file them (together) under "Greek", or would I file them (together) under "Indian" (sub-continent incl. Pakistan etc.)???? I welcome your opinions, (and reasons). 80-65 BC Apollodotos II Indo-Greek-Conquests of Alexander the Great 35 B.C.-5 A.D. II BMC 19 180-160 BC Apollodotos I Soter Baktria AE Square Drachm 120-110 BC, Strato I Soter Baktria AE Square Drachm
Personally, I would file them under (Greater) "India" because, while they do have some Hellenistic elements (use of Greek inscriptions, some designs) they also have some distinctly Indian elements to the coins (e.g. Kharosthi script), and the issuing groups are far from anything that you could reasonably call Greek, certainly in terms of geography and (arguably) culture of most of the population. Some coin dealers use the term "Oriental Greek" or "Eastern Greek" as a grab bag for everyone that was in Asia (outside of Anatolia) and used Greek inscriptions or iconography on their coins. This includes such diverse cultures as Phoenicia, Parthia, Elymais, Bactria, India-Scythians, etc. and so I think "Oriental Greek" is more useful as a marketing tool than as a serious way to categorize a collection. (Not that it's completely useless- it does help me to know which section of a dealer's website or auction catalogue to check out first. )
That's a very good question and I'd love to hear how others do it! Many large collections and catalogues follow Eckhel's system of sorting all non-Roman ancient coins geographically. Basically, you start at Gibraltar and go clockwise around the Mediterranean. My collection is much smaller, though, and I do it in a different, more amateurish way. All my (in the widest sense) Greek coins are in a large slide box organized into three parts: A first section contains civic coins sorted alphabetically by region and city. A second section holds coins of the Hellenistic kingdoms and their succesors in a mixed chrono-geographical order going west to east: Macedon – Ptolemaic – Seleucid - smaller eastern kingdoms (Cappadocia, Pontus, etc.) – Greco-Bactrian – Indo–Greek – Indo–Scythian – Kushan and successors. A third section holds eastern coins showing at least some Greek influence but coming from states that were not successors of Alexander's Empire: Achaemenid Empire – Mauryan Empire (needs to go somewhere...) – Parthian Empire – smaller eastern states (Armenia, Elymais, Nabataean Kingdom, etc.) – Sasanian Empire. Punic coins (mainly Carthage) as well as all things Celtic live in a different box.
I agree with @Parthicus . If it's Greek with Kharosthi on the back, it goes in the India binder. Granted, I dont have any monolingual Greek Bactrian coins... but that is a dilemma I would love to face!
@Finn235 Unfortunately, @Pellinore's post does not show up on my page. Can you reproduce (quote) it for me please?
For what it's worth, I place them with my Indian coins - but those aren't kept far from my Greek coinage, either. This may sound meaningless, but the appeal of these is in their hybridity, and while I have to impose some sense of order on my collection, I love the ambiguity of where they 'belong.' They are a testament to our common human heritage, a meeting of Greek, Indian, and Persian numismatic traditions, and ultimately a reminder that we are all closer together than apart. Here's a hasty photograph of a display where I've tried to emphasize that:
I focus primarily on the "Indo-Greek" border region. But because of that i have no worries whether i should goup my coins under Indian or Greek or other. I just have binders for all the subcategories. The fact that the coinage of the region shows an amalgamation of Greek, Parthian, Indian and Central Asian influences is one of its main attractions also for me. For example, an exceptionally Greek style portrait on a Kushan copper (Vima Takto):
As a a result of your contributions, I have decided to 'file' my coins under the Geographical regions, as opposed to 'Ruling' race influences. Therefore, my Indo Scythian, Baktrian, (etc.) coins will be located in with my 'eastern' coins of Indian, Kushan, (etc.) I thank everyone for their contributions.
A really interesting collecting area once the more familiar Greek and Roman coins start to seem very well known. Also typically much more reasonable in price, with some exceptions. John