Finally got my hands on another indo greek tetradrachm, albeit just like my philoxenos one, in incomplete form. Heliocles II, 90-75BC Tetradrachm, 5.93g Bust of the king, with zeus holding a spear and thunderbolt at the back. Absolutely love zeus here as he is pretty much preserved and in good form. Monogram survived too. The bust is all there too, just some scratch damage done probably during cleaning which has deteriorated it. Rip the legends.
In this condition, people who see my collection might actually believe its 2000 years old. The glittering condition of the rest makes them take my rants with a grain of salt.
@Muhammad Niazi, I'm having to like your preferred terminology, 'Indo-Greek,' in place of the more Eurocentric construct, 'Baktrian' or even 'Bactrian,' which has a way of hiding the real cultural dynamics behind a facade of (very relative, if not effectively redundant) geographic detail. ...And I can't remember Ever seeing a tet from this period, whether early or late. ...Unless it was in an auction catalogue, for crazy money. Congratulations. Best of luck with your endeavors.
It is "real" to the Ancients nay-sayers! Nice job snaring this little beauty! I like your Indo-Greek. I also like Baktria, cuz it it gives me "where" it is. TET Indo-Greek Baktria Menander I Soter BC 155-130 AR Tet 26mm 9.6g Diad - Athena Alkidemos tbolt Gorgon shield SNG ANS 764-767 DRACHM INDO-GREEK KINGDOM Zoilos II Circa 50-40 BCE AR drachm 17mm 2.3g Athena Alkidemos l monograms Antony Actium SNG ANS 1654-1658 I LOVE SQUARES ! Baktria Indo Greco-Baktrian Kingdom Eukratides I Megas 170-145 BCE Dioscuri AE Quadruple Unit
...Okay, time to self-report. Is there a valid distinction between Baktrian and Indo-Greek, as separate series? I was blithely assuming they were synonymous. ...Did the smoking crater, which is my ignorance of this whole area, just double in size?
Haha yess, the bactrians were the precursor to the indo greeks. The Indo greek kingdom was founded by a bactrian king, but later it divided from the main bactrian kingdom which was in central asia and afghanistan. Later kings minted attic standard tetradrachms which are thought to be reminders of their bactrian past.
