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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Claudius_Gothicus, post: 7548811, member: 116315&quot;]While my main interest in numismatics has always been Roman Imperial coinage, I can&#039;t deny that I have also taken a liking to Bactrian and Indo-Greek coinage and, from there, it has developed into an interest for the other nations that existed in that area, both in the same timeframe and also after it. Out of them, one of the most prolific in issuing coins was that of the Western Satraps, to which my most recent acquisition belongs to:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1302381[/ATTACH] </p><p>Isvaradatta (242-243?), Drachm, Mint B.</p><p>Obverse: head right, wearing satrapal cap, surrounded by blundered Greek legend;</p><p>Reverse: Rajno Mahaksatrapasa Isvaradattasa Varse Prathame, three-arched hill, with crescents above and to the left, sun to the right and river below;</p><p>Fishman 24.2</p><p><br /></p><p>The history of the Western Satraps is very incomplete, due to a lack of sources, but historians were still able to piece it together thanks to numismatic evidence as well as the scant literary fragments. The Western Satraps arose in the 1st century AD in Northwestern India, following the Saka invasion of the region, which had swept away the Indo-Greek Kingdom and had led to the estabilishment of several small Scythian kingdoms in its place. The Western Satraps had managed to conquer a large territory and, in particular, they controlled the region of Gujarat and its trade ports, the most important of which was Barygaza, through which eastern goods flowed to the west, and thanks to the maritime commerce they amassed vast wealth. They were originally led by the Kshaharata Dinasty, whose most well-known member, Nahapana, is usually identified as the Nambanus mentioned in the <i>Periplus of the Erythraean Sea</i>, a manuscript that lists the main trade routes of the area in that time period:</p><p>&nbsp; <i> &quot;Beyond the gulf of Baraca is that of Barygaza and the coast of the country of Ariaca, which is the beginning of the Kingdom of Nambanus and of all India&quot;</i></p><p>If the identification is correct, then he is the only one of these kings to be mentioned by a Western source. However, eventually Nahapana&#039;s luck ran out, and his dynasty was destroyed by the Satavahana, and replaced by the Kardamakas, who ruled the kingdom possibly all the way until its end in the 5th century (it&#039;s uncertain whether the last few kings also belonged to this line).</p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/WKshatrapas.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><i>The greatest territorial extention of the Western Satraps (Wikipedia; Map made by user PHG)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Now, as far as their coinage goes, the Western Satraps mainly struck drachms in silver, of which they had plenty thanks to the lucrative trade routes that they controlled. It&#039;s interesting to note that this design was apparently very popular, and was imitated for many centuries afterwards. Anyway, the drachms of Kardamakas always follow the same exact design, with the king&#039;s head on the obverse surrounded by a blundered Greek legend, a residual of the coinage of the Indo-Greeks, and which sometimes also contains a date, while the reverse features a Buddhist stupa, surrounded by two crescents, a sun, a river and a Brahmi legend that is far more interesting than the one on the obverse; the reason is that the reverse legend always identifies the issuing ruler as well as his father, thus allowing us to determine the correct succession of rulers.</p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%AE%E0%A5%8D.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><i>One of the Great Stupas of Sanchi, whose construction began in the 3rd century BC - even before the Western Satraps (Wikipedia; By Udit Sharma - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>This brings us back to Isvaradatta, as he is the only one that does not follow this convention: instead of naming his father, this ruler (whose name means &quot;The God-Given) states his regnal year instead, which has been interpreted as meaning that he did not belong to the ruling dynasty and that he did not have illustrious ancestors. While quite a few Kardamaka kings were likely rebels themselves against their relatives, as we can infer from the rarity of their coins and the conflicting titles claimed by some of them who reigned at the same time, Isvaradatta might be the only one who was external to the dynasty. In any case, his rebellion must have been unsuccessful, as his coins of the first year are scarce, and those of his second very rare. As for the dating of his reign, that is also uncertain, as the date on the obverse is usually missing or extremely blundered, though an example has been read as 164 of the Western Satrap Era, which would mean that he reigned in 242-243 AD, as an opponent of the legitimate ruler Vijayasena.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1302417[/ATTACH] </p><p>I have tried separating the words on the reverse with the red bars, to allow everybody to associate them to the translation (the arrow indicates the starting point): Rajno Mahaksatrapasa Isvaradattasa Varse Prathame - Of the King and Great Satrap Isvaradatta, in the first year. If the coin had been one of the very rare ones struck in his second year, then the reverse legend would have ended in Dvitiye instead.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was without a doubt very interesting to venture in a field that is so distant from my main collecting subject, but I certainly enjoyed it (and I also enjoyed writing this thread), and I will certainly pick up more coins from the region in the future. Post your coins of the Western Satraps, your coins of usurpers, or anything else you feel like might be relevant <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sources:</p><p>- &quot;The Silver Coinage of the Western Satraps in India&quot;, by A. M. Fishman;</p><p>- &quot;How to read the legends on coins of the Western Kshatrapas&quot;, by Pankaj Tandon;</p><p>- &quot;Studies in the coinage of the Western Ksatrapas&quot;, by Amiteshwar Jha &amp; Dilip Rajgor;</p><p>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Satraps;" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Satraps;" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Satraps;</a></p><p>- <a href="http://coinindia.com/home.html;" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://coinindia.com/home.html;" rel="nofollow">http://coinindia.com/home.html;</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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