Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c18.1

c18.1

§ 7. Early Persian Coins. — During the period of Achaemenid rule (c. 500—331, B.C.) *Persian* coins circulated in the Panjab. Gold double *staters* (**Plate I, 5**) were actually struck in India, probably in the latter half of the 4^th cent. B.C. (E. BABELON, Les Perses Achéménides, pp. xi. xx. 16, Pl. II, 16—19, and 27). Many of the silver *sigloi*, moreover, bear counter-marks so similar to the native punch-marks as to make it seem probable that the two classes of coins were in circulation together (**Plate I, 3**), and this probability is increased by the occurrence on sigloi of characters which have been read as Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī letters (**Plate I, 4**).