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A Trip Around the World through Time from my Second Ancient Coin (A Menander Drachm)
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<p>[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 6264374, member: 112852"]Hi folks! It's been ages since I checked in last. Today my second, very long-awaited ancient coin came in the mail.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1248009[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This tiny coin, which is about the diameter of a dime, though considerably thicker, is a silver drachm minted during the reign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander_I" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander_I" rel="nofollow">Menander I Soter</a> (i.e. "Savior"), an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom" rel="nofollow">Indo-Greek king</a> ruling at various times over areas that are now parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. The Indo-Greek kingdom won its independence from the Seleucid Kingdom, which was founded by the Greeks who went with the Macedonian king Alexander the Great into the Middle East and beyond. Interestingly, "Soter" is also a title used by the Macedonian King Ptolemy I of Egypt. This coin has been dated to 155-130 BC/BCE.</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse reads: "BASILEOS SOTEROS MENANDROU," (literally, "Of King Menander, the Savior"), and features a beautiful bust of Menander with very well-defined facial features, wearing a headpiece. For a coin this small, the high relief of the bust surprises me, and I am also quite happy to see an amazing amount of detail that was first imprinted onto the coin, and which has still stood the test of time.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse features an equivalent Prakrit-language legend written in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi" rel="nofollow">Kharosthi </a>script: "Maharaja Tratarasa Menadrasa." Kharosthi is an <i>abugida: </i>a syllabary whose symbols represent a consonant and a vowel together. Kharosthi itself ultimately derives from the Aramaic script of the Achaemenid Empire, most likely during the time of Darius the Great (approximately 522-486 BC/BCE).</p><p><br /></p><p>The Kharosthi script was actually deciphered in the 19th century by British and German scholars using ancient Indo-Greek coins, including those of Menander. Once they had deciphered the script, they were able to read the Kharosthi and also the Brahmi sections of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka" rel="nofollow">Edicts of Ashoka</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>As some of you may know, Ashoka was a famous Buddhist conqueror King in the third century BC/BCE. His edicts were written in three languages using four scripts (Greek, Prakrit (scripts were Brahmi and Kharosthi), and Aramaic. The edicts themselves speak of Buddhist missionaries sent as far as the Mediterranean. In this regard, many scholars have noted the commonalities between some ancient Greek thought at this time, and Buddhism; there may be some actual connections there. For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegesias_of_Cyrene" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegesias_of_Cyrene" rel="nofollow">Hegesias of Cyrene</a> was a philosopher thought to have been influenced by Buddhist thought. Hegesias lived in Cyrene, which was ruled by one Magas, who is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as having received Buddhist missionaries. Additionally, some scholars think that the practice of Buddhist monastic living influenced the community of the Essenes, who would prove to have an important influence on the development of early Christianity. (For more on this claim, see in the linked article on the Edicts of Ashoka, above.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse of this drachm shows a helmeted deity, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_Alkidemos" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_Alkidemos" rel="nofollow">Athena Alkidemos</a>, ("Athena, defender of the people," the patron deity of Pella in Macedonia) holding a thunderbolt. I particularly like the fact that I can see the face in the center of the shield that Athena Alkidemos is holding. To the lower right of Athena Alkidemos is a mintmark, one of many used on Indo-Greek coins. The figure of Athena Alkidemos would be used on the Indo-Greek coins after Menander, so this design stuck for some time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Menander, the most successful of all the Indo-Greek kings, has three notable mentions that I am aware of in the Classical sources. One of these is a completely offhand mention by Plutarch, in his <i>Political Precepts</i> (not his <i>Moralia</i>, as mistakenly indicated in one Wikipedia entry). Plutarch mentions Menander as an example of how a just king is revered by his subjects:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>But when a certain man named Menander, who had been a good king of the Bactrians, died in camp, the cities celebrated his funeral as usual in other respects, but in respect to his remains they put forth rival claims and only with difficulty came to terms, agreeing that they should divide the ashes equally and go away and should erect monuments to him in all their cities. (Political Precepts 28.6. <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Praecepta_gerendae_reipublicae*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Praecepta_gerendae_reipublicae*.html" rel="nofollow">Source here</a>.)</p><p><br /></p></blockquote><p>In his <i>Geography</i>, Strabo characterized Menander as having conquered more of India than Alexander the Great.</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>As for Bactria, a part of it lies alongside Aria towards the north, though most of it lies above Aria and to the east of it. And much of it produces everything except oil. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander—by Menander in particular (at least if he actually crossed the Hypanis towards the east and advanced as far as the Imaüs), for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus the king of the Bactrians; and they took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni. (<i>Geography</i>, 11.11.1 <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D1" rel="nofollow">Source here</a>.)</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>So what does all that mean, exactly? Something like this:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1248048[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>(<a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indo-Greek_Kingdom" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indo-Greek_Kingdom" rel="nofollow">Map source here</a>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>A third interesting reference to Menander in the Classical sources is to be found in a koine Greek <i>periplus</i>, which I just learned is a kind of sailor's logbook indicating the locations and distances of ports and coastal landmarks. The specific work Menander is mentioned in is called the <i>Periplus of the Erythraean Sea</i>. It is thought by scholars to have been the work of a Greek subject of the Roman Empire living in Egypt, and is now dated to between 40 to 50 AD/CE.</p><p><br /></p><p>What the <i>Periplus of the Erythraean Sea </i>has to say here actually relates to the acceptance of Menander's coins in trade in the part of India now known as Gujarat:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>...there are to be found on the market in Barygaza even today old drachmas engraved with the inscriptions, in Greek letters, of Apollodotus and Menander, rulers who came after Alexander. (<a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=qQWYkSs51rEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=menander&f=false" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=qQWYkSs51rEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=menander&f=false" rel="nofollow">Source here</a>.)</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>This longevity of Menander's coins in India itself is quite interesting, as this was about two hundred years after the coins were minted.</p><p><br /></p><p>Menander's capital was at Sagala, which is believed to be on the site of modern Sialkot in Pakistan, close to the Indian border. Both Sagala and Barygaza are indicated on the map above.</p><p><br /></p><p>During the time of Menander, the Indo-Greeks were invaded by Eucratides, the Baktrian king. It seems that Menander was successful in stopping the expansion of the Bactrian king Eucratides into the Indo-Greek kingdom. If so, this is quite interesting, because the coins of Eucratides are among the finest in all of numismatic history, and Menander's, while still lovely, are just not as nice. Perhaps Eucratides spent too much time on numismatic concerns instead of strategic ones!</p><p><br /></p><p>What makes Menander really special, though, is his apparent conversion to Buddhism, as recounted in the ancient Buddhist text <i>Milinda Pañha</i>, traditionally known in English as <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha" rel="nofollow">The Questions of King Milinda</a></i>, who is identified as our Menander. I've just purchased a copy of this work, and running at 500 pages, it will certainly take me some time to finish it. Like many ancient documents, it is a composite text, which means that various additions have been added to make the final product that we have today. A shorter version in Chinese exists as well, but that does not appear to have ever been translated into English. I hope to return at some point in the future with a new post featuring some interesting quotes from that work. <i>The Questions of King Milinda</i> ostensibly represents a series of conversations between a Buddhist monk named Nagasena, and King Menander. In it, they discuss philosophy and other matters.</p><p><br /></p><p>Indeed, it is an interesting fact that the Indo-Greek kings Zoilos I and Strato I, who succeeded immediately after Menander, added a new title in Kharosthi to their coins: "dhramikasa," meaning "Follower of Dharma." Dharma, of course, is a well-known Buddhist concept relating to right thoughts, right actions, right words, and so on. The famous Buddhist king Ashoka called himself the "King of Dharma." With inscriptions like these, we have come a long way from the Mediterranean Greek times of Alexander the Great.</p><p><br /></p><p>This tiny little coin, then, connects a lot of disparate worlds. The king whose portrait it displays was a descendent of the polytheistic Greeks around the Mediterranean, but his realm was far away, as he controlled parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The Kharosthi script used to record the Prakrit legend is itself dependent on the Aramaic of the Achaemenid Empire of Iran, and was deciphered by British and German scholars in the 19th century. That decipherment, based on the study of the Indo-Greek coins, including Menander's, opened the way up for the reading of the Prakrit sections of King Ashoka's edicts, which are key pieces of evidence for the study of early Buddhism. And early Buddhism, in turn, seems to have had some effect on certain strands of ancient Greek philosophy, while the Buddhist practice of monasticism may have influenced the development of the ancient Jewish Essene sect, which would go on to have a significant influence on the development of early Christianity.</p><p><br /></p><p>If any of you are still here at the end, thanks for reading![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 6264374, member: 112852"]Hi folks! It's been ages since I checked in last. Today my second, very long-awaited ancient coin came in the mail. [ATTACH=full]1248009[/ATTACH] This tiny coin, which is about the diameter of a dime, though considerably thicker, is a silver drachm minted during the reign of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander_I']Menander I Soter[/URL] (i.e. "Savior"), an [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom']Indo-Greek king[/URL] ruling at various times over areas that are now parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. The Indo-Greek kingdom won its independence from the Seleucid Kingdom, which was founded by the Greeks who went with the Macedonian king Alexander the Great into the Middle East and beyond. Interestingly, "Soter" is also a title used by the Macedonian King Ptolemy I of Egypt. This coin has been dated to 155-130 BC/BCE. The obverse reads: "BASILEOS SOTEROS MENANDROU," (literally, "Of King Menander, the Savior"), and features a beautiful bust of Menander with very well-defined facial features, wearing a headpiece. For a coin this small, the high relief of the bust surprises me, and I am also quite happy to see an amazing amount of detail that was first imprinted onto the coin, and which has still stood the test of time. The reverse features an equivalent Prakrit-language legend written in the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi']Kharosthi [/URL]script: "Maharaja Tratarasa Menadrasa." Kharosthi is an [I]abugida: [/I]a syllabary whose symbols represent a consonant and a vowel together. Kharosthi itself ultimately derives from the Aramaic script of the Achaemenid Empire, most likely during the time of Darius the Great (approximately 522-486 BC/BCE). The Kharosthi script was actually deciphered in the 19th century by British and German scholars using ancient Indo-Greek coins, including those of Menander. Once they had deciphered the script, they were able to read the Kharosthi and also the Brahmi sections of the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_of_Ashoka']Edicts of Ashoka[/URL]. As some of you may know, Ashoka was a famous Buddhist conqueror King in the third century BC/BCE. His edicts were written in three languages using four scripts (Greek, Prakrit (scripts were Brahmi and Kharosthi), and Aramaic. The edicts themselves speak of Buddhist missionaries sent as far as the Mediterranean. In this regard, many scholars have noted the commonalities between some ancient Greek thought at this time, and Buddhism; there may be some actual connections there. For example, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegesias_of_Cyrene']Hegesias of Cyrene[/URL] was a philosopher thought to have been influenced by Buddhist thought. Hegesias lived in Cyrene, which was ruled by one Magas, who is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as having received Buddhist missionaries. Additionally, some scholars think that the practice of Buddhist monastic living influenced the community of the Essenes, who would prove to have an important influence on the development of early Christianity. (For more on this claim, see in the linked article on the Edicts of Ashoka, above.) The reverse of this drachm shows a helmeted deity, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena_Alkidemos']Athena Alkidemos[/URL], ("Athena, defender of the people," the patron deity of Pella in Macedonia) holding a thunderbolt. I particularly like the fact that I can see the face in the center of the shield that Athena Alkidemos is holding. To the lower right of Athena Alkidemos is a mintmark, one of many used on Indo-Greek coins. The figure of Athena Alkidemos would be used on the Indo-Greek coins after Menander, so this design stuck for some time. Menander, the most successful of all the Indo-Greek kings, has three notable mentions that I am aware of in the Classical sources. One of these is a completely offhand mention by Plutarch, in his [I]Political Precepts[/I] (not his [I]Moralia[/I], as mistakenly indicated in one Wikipedia entry). Plutarch mentions Menander as an example of how a just king is revered by his subjects: [INDENT]But when a certain man named Menander, who had been a good king of the Bactrians, died in camp, the cities celebrated his funeral as usual in other respects, but in respect to his remains they put forth rival claims and only with difficulty came to terms, agreeing that they should divide the ashes equally and go away and should erect monuments to him in all their cities. (Political Precepts 28.6. [URL='http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Praecepta_gerendae_reipublicae*.html']Source here[/URL].) [/INDENT] In his [I]Geography[/I], Strabo characterized Menander as having conquered more of India than Alexander the Great. [INDENT]As for Bactria, a part of it lies alongside Aria towards the north, though most of it lies above Aria and to the east of it. And much of it produces everything except oil. The Greeks who caused Bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of Ariana, but also of India, as Apollodorus of Artemita says: and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander—by Menander in particular (at least if he actually crossed the Hypanis towards the east and advanced as far as the Imaüs), for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus the king of the Bactrians; and they took possession, not only of Patalena, but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis. In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni. ([I]Geography[/I], 11.11.1 [URL='http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D1']Source here[/URL].)[/INDENT] So what does all that mean, exactly? Something like this: [ATTACH=full]1248048[/ATTACH] ([URL='https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Indo-Greek_Kingdom']Map source here[/URL].) A third interesting reference to Menander in the Classical sources is to be found in a koine Greek [I]periplus[/I], which I just learned is a kind of sailor's logbook indicating the locations and distances of ports and coastal landmarks. The specific work Menander is mentioned in is called the [I]Periplus of the Erythraean Sea[/I]. It is thought by scholars to have been the work of a Greek subject of the Roman Empire living in Egypt, and is now dated to between 40 to 50 AD/CE. What the [I]Periplus of the Erythraean Sea [/I]has to say here actually relates to the acceptance of Menander's coins in trade in the part of India now known as Gujarat: [INDENT]...there are to be found on the market in Barygaza even today old drachmas engraved with the inscriptions, in Greek letters, of Apollodotus and Menander, rulers who came after Alexander. ([URL='https://books.google.ca/books?id=qQWYkSs51rEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=menander&f=false']Source here[/URL].)[/INDENT] This longevity of Menander's coins in India itself is quite interesting, as this was about two hundred years after the coins were minted. Menander's capital was at Sagala, which is believed to be on the site of modern Sialkot in Pakistan, close to the Indian border. Both Sagala and Barygaza are indicated on the map above. During the time of Menander, the Indo-Greeks were invaded by Eucratides, the Baktrian king. It seems that Menander was successful in stopping the expansion of the Bactrian king Eucratides into the Indo-Greek kingdom. If so, this is quite interesting, because the coins of Eucratides are among the finest in all of numismatic history, and Menander's, while still lovely, are just not as nice. Perhaps Eucratides spent too much time on numismatic concerns instead of strategic ones! What makes Menander really special, though, is his apparent conversion to Buddhism, as recounted in the ancient Buddhist text [I]Milinda Pañha[/I], traditionally known in English as [I][URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha']The Questions of King Milinda[/URL][/I], who is identified as our Menander. I've just purchased a copy of this work, and running at 500 pages, it will certainly take me some time to finish it. Like many ancient documents, it is a composite text, which means that various additions have been added to make the final product that we have today. A shorter version in Chinese exists as well, but that does not appear to have ever been translated into English. I hope to return at some point in the future with a new post featuring some interesting quotes from that work. [I]The Questions of King Milinda[/I] ostensibly represents a series of conversations between a Buddhist monk named Nagasena, and King Menander. In it, they discuss philosophy and other matters. Indeed, it is an interesting fact that the Indo-Greek kings Zoilos I and Strato I, who succeeded immediately after Menander, added a new title in Kharosthi to their coins: "dhramikasa," meaning "Follower of Dharma." Dharma, of course, is a well-known Buddhist concept relating to right thoughts, right actions, right words, and so on. The famous Buddhist king Ashoka called himself the "King of Dharma." With inscriptions like these, we have come a long way from the Mediterranean Greek times of Alexander the Great. This tiny little coin, then, connects a lot of disparate worlds. The king whose portrait it displays was a descendent of the polytheistic Greeks around the Mediterranean, but his realm was far away, as he controlled parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The Kharosthi script used to record the Prakrit legend is itself dependent on the Aramaic of the Achaemenid Empire of Iran, and was deciphered by British and German scholars in the 19th century. That decipherment, based on the study of the Indo-Greek coins, including Menander's, opened the way up for the reading of the Prakrit sections of King Ashoka's edicts, which are key pieces of evidence for the study of early Buddhism. And early Buddhism, in turn, seems to have had some effect on certain strands of ancient Greek philosophy, while the Buddhist practice of monasticism may have influenced the development of the ancient Jewish Essene sect, which would go on to have a significant influence on the development of early Christianity. If any of you are still here at the end, thanks for reading![/QUOTE]
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