The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.s1.13

v1.c15.s1.13

Coins also have preserved the names and titles of kings who have left no other record; and by their aid it is sometimes possible to reconstruct the dynastic lists and to determine the chronology and the geographical extent of ruling powers. But it is only when coin-legends appear as the result of Greek influence in the North-West that this source of history becomes available. The earlier indigenous coinage was little more than a system of weights of silver or copper stamped with the marks of the monetary authorities. The first Indian king whose name occurs on a coin is Sophytes (Saubhūti), a contemporary of Alexander the Great. The legend of his coins is in Greek. After his date no inscribed coins are found for more than a hundred years. During this interval Greek rule in N.W. India had ceased. It was resumed about the beginning of the second century by Alexander's Bactrian successors, who issued in their Indian dominions a bilingual coinage with Greek legends on the *obverse* and a translation of these in an Indian dialect and an Indian alphabet on the *reverse*.