Indo-Greek Coinage

La présence des Grecs en Asie Centrale et en Inde est la conséquence directe des expéditions d’Alexandre le Grand, lesquelles donneront naissance vers 250 avant J.-C. au royaume gréco-bactrien et vers 180 avant J.-C. au royaume indo-grec, séparés par l’Hindu Kush. L’étude des monnaies frappées par les 45 rois de ces deux royaumes est fondamentale pour comprendre leur évolution économique et politique.
A partir d’un corpus majoritairement inédit, fondé sur les monnaies issues du marché de l’art, Olivier Bordeaux se focalise sur six souverains présentant des problématiques remarquables: la division du monnayage des souverains homonymes Diodote I et II, l’évolution typologique des monnaies d’Euthydème I, les liens existants entre les monnayages d’Eucratide I et de Ménandre I, la place d’Hippostrate dans les souverains indo-grecs et indo-scythes.
La méthodologie retenue, l’étude de coins, nous a permis d’apporter de nouvelles et précieuses informations sur les ateliers monétaires et le sens que l’on peut attribuer aux monogrammes, ainsi que sur les relations souvent conflictuelles entretenues par les Grecs en Inde.

The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms find their origins in the consequences following Alexander the Great’s expeditions in Central Asia and India. Circa 250 BC, the Seleucid satrap seceded from the Seleucid kingdom and became king under the name Diodotus I; the Indo-greek kingdom appears circa 180 BC when the Greeks cross the Hindu Kush. The coins struck by the 45 Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings are the main data available to historians.
Mostly based on unpublished coins sold on the art market, Olivier Bordeaux focuses on six kings, each of them offering a specific problematic: the coinages of Diodotus I and II, that presents the same title and typology; the evolution of the Heracles on the reverse of Euthydemus I’s coins; the links regarding especially the position of the legend on Eucratides I’s and Menander I’s coins; the position of Hippostratos among the last Indo-Greek kings in the West Panjab and the Indo-Scythians.
The data provided by the die-studies allows us to dismiss or sustain the many hypotheses concerning the mints and their locations,  the meaning of monograms as well as the often conflictual relations shared by the Greeks in Central Asia.

Best public domain classic works on indo-greek coins, numismatics of Gupta and other ancient Indian kingdoms, coins of early Islamic dynasties of India, numismatics of Mughal Empire, European conquers and Indian princely states of modern era. Thousands of pages of text and coin images. Excellent reference materials.

Beste klassische Werke über indo-griechische Münzen, Numismatik von Gupta und anderen altindischen Königreichen, Münzen früher islamischer Dynastien Indiens, Numismatik des Mogulreichs, europäische Eroberer und indische Fürstenstaaten der Neuzeit. Tausende Seiten von Text- und Münzbildern. Ausgezeichnete Referenzmaterialien.

This bibliography is intended to complement Rachel Mairs’ The Archaeology of the Hellenistic Far East: A Survey (available on this site and at bactria.org). It is hoped that the current work will be of similar use in gathering material concerning the coins of the Hellenistic Far East together in a single place. Readers are asked to submit corrigenda or details of new publications to [email protected] or as a message through Academia.

The aim of this paper is to examine the emergence of the Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava imagery in north India, with special focus on the Gandhāra region. It will be shown, that earliest numismatic evidence on the Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava imagery goes back to the 3rd century BCE and by the 2nd century BCE a well-developed iconography was in vogue in the North-West Frontier of India. As coins are metal objects, these images have survived, but images made of perishable material like wood and clay have perished due to the rough climatic conditions. It will also be argued that most of the images depicted on the coins were most probably engraved following existing prototypes. Although not as popular as Brahmā and Indra who were directly integrated into Gandhāran Buddhist art, Viṣṇu images made of stone, mainly schist, emerged independently going through a transitional period leading to an elaborate codification. The iconography of hitherto to unpublished sculptures will be discussed in relation to the already existing numismatic and plastic imagery.

Historical sources concerning the Hellenistic kingdom in Bactria are scarce, and studies of them should be supported by the well-advanced numismatic analyses. This article discusses the chronology and genealogy of the Bactrian rulers. New suggestions include: the status of Pantaleon as a co-regent of Euthydemos II and the reconstruction of a possible pedigree for Pantaleon and Agathokles; that Eukratides I adopted the title Great King due to developments in Persia; that the ‘Demetrius, king of India’ mentioned by Justin could be identified with the Indian king Demetrios III, who might be redated to ca. 150 BCE; and an analysis of the relationship between Eukratides I and the last Bactrian kings. The so-called commemorative coins of Eukratides I are tentatively attributed to Heliokles I, as steward of Eukratides I.

"Monograph on the Greek Kingdom of Bactria (sources, archaeology, history, fortune)

Reviews:

in English, http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2010/2010-10-33.html

in Italian, http://histara.sorbonne.fr/cr.php?cr=1020&lang=fr

in French, F. Lefevre, Revue des études grecques, 124 (2011), 154-155."

Bi-lingual coins are one of the best primary sources to study the ethnic fusion that has happened in a particular region. Amongst the ancient civilisations, the Indian culture is the most fortunate one that has seen many cultural influxes by conquest, trade and commerce from the West and the East. Due to this, India became the meeting ground of different linguistic people, especially the Persians and the Greeks. To cater to the need of these groups, the ruling clans in India, especially the Mauryas, started engraving inscriptions on the rocks and stone pillars in bi-lingual scripts/languages.

The Greek and Aramaic inscriptions of Asoka inspired the Greek governors to issue the bi-lingual coins in Greek-Kharoshthi and Greek-Brahmi scripts in the Indian Sub-continent.

Since the time when Buddha lived, there was presence of a fairly high level of currency system to facilitate economic transactions in Indian lands. The karshapanas or the so called "punch marked coins" (PMC) which have been collected or unearthed in large quantities in the Northwestern India and have been witnessed as far as the Eastern India, formed a token currency system and a rudimentary coinage of indigenous origin. 1 The reservations of many scholars about acknowledging the PMC as a regular coin are illogical, in straight words, because these have been found mixed up with coins of the Greek kings of Bactria and India in several coin hoards. Much has been written about the Greek contributions in ancient India, and particularly on the aspect of the origin of Indian coinage as a Greek impact. It is high-time that the economic aspects of the impact of Bactrian Indo Greek (BIG) coinage 2 should be evaluated. Therefore, the paper aims to study the impact of Greek coinage on the ancient Indian economy, in the monetary sector.

Menander I distinguishes himself from his fellow Indo-Greek rulers in many essential ways. His coinage is numerically the most important among the Indo-Greek kings, and he is one of the few Greek rulers to be mentioned both in Greek and Indian written sources. His rule is directly related to the reign of Eucratides I, as they both made war to each other on a scale so large that it shaped their respective kingdoms for decades to come. Menander is also remembered as one of the great conqueror of India, a role which also deeply influenced his rule. This presentation will address every aspect of the coinage of this king, and what we may learn from it.

A brief introduction to Seleukid Bactria is due. When Seleukos I ceded many of Alexander’s easternmost provinces to the Indian king Chandragupta around 305 BC, he kept Bactria, and made this fertile region the centre of a satrapy. The extent of control north of the Oxus is difficult to ascertain, but Hellenistic settlements have been excavated in Sogdiana, and Seleukid coins circulated there. However, recent research indicates that these so-called ‘Antiochos coins’ were later than those in the name of Diodotos, and should instead be attributed to a Bactrian king named Antiochos. This would require us to reinterpret Bactria’s route to independence. Also, new evidence of another contemporary Antiochos, a Seleukid child-king, may complicate our understanding of this period. If Bactria’s independence was quick process, it would seem plausible to regard Diodotos’ secession as a reaction to the crisis in 246/5 BC, as rebellion during the relatively stable reign of Antiochos II would more likely have provoked a Seleukid response.

Numismatics is one of the leading fields in Hellenistic Central Asia studies, since it has enabled historians to identify 45 different Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, while written sources only speak of 10. The coins struck by the Greek kings are often remarkable, both because of their quality and the multiple innovations some of them show: India iconography, local language (Brahmi or Kharoshthi), new weight system, etc. Yet, broad studies by properly trained numismatists still remained scarce, while new coins mainly find their origin on the art market rather than archaeological digs. The current situation in Central Asia, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan, does not help archaeologists to broaden their fieldwork.
Die-studies are more and more often the methodology followed by the numismatists in the last decade, so as to draw as much data as possible from large corpora. During our PhD research, we focused on six kings: Diodotus I and II, Euthydemus I, Eucratides I, Menander I and Hippostratus. Beyond individual results and hypothesis, we tried to ascertain this particular methodology regarding Central Asia Greek coinages. Generally, our die-studies provided good outcomes, while most of our attempts to geographically locate mints or even borders remain quite fragile, in the lack of archaeological data.
Nonetheless, we would like to present new topics and problematics currently examined in Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek numismatics, whether they are field-linked or not. We will try to provide arguments regarding the production of gold, silver and bronze coins, the latter most likely decentralized throughout the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom. Coins  are central in the understanding of royal policies as well as the day-to-day work of the mint workers and life of the Greeks in Central Asia.

Menander I holds a special place in the heart of Central Asia studies, for very many reasons. While his coinage is numerically the most important among the Indo-Greek kings, it represents no less than 57 monograms and 38 different series of coins according to Osmund Bopearachchi's counting in 1991. Our own research adds up several new series and monograms, whether unpublished or unused in preexisting series. As with the study of the Diodotids' coinage we presented two years ago in Paris, our corpus is mainly based on auction-sold coins on the occidental art market, which originates from looted hoards and fortuitous finds in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 1990.
We added to this corpus several unpublished hoards documented and photographed by Osmund Bopearachchi in Pakistan in the 1990's: Bajaur (1993), Mian Khan Sanghou (1993), Siranwali (1993), Rhotak (1994), Sarai Saleh (1994) and Wesa (1994). Our whole corpus thus sums up to about 2,000 coins. We followed the same methodology as for the Diodotids' coinage for Menander's, which is die-study. It consists of a systematic comparison of all coins of the same denomination - obverse and reverse - in order to distinguish the style of the different engravers and to associate monograms.
The coinage of Menander I finds its particular importance in the transition between uninterrupted-legend coins (1h-11h) and interrupted-legend (9h-3h and 7h-4h) on the obverse (Greek legend) and reverse (Kharoshthi legend). This transition is closely linked to Eucratides I's coinage, especially his 20-staters issue (series 4) and the adaptation of the position of the legend.
Our curretly ongoing research focuses on this evolution, which we will give detail of the progressive steps. Did the war started by Eucratides the usurper affect Menander's coinage and how? We will try to show what consequences the multiplicity of monograms have, depending on which type of coins they appear, and theur relations to the location of hoards find spots.