The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.261

v1.c26.261

Among the coins bearing the name of Seleucus are very rare gold staters and silver tetradrachms, having on the obverse a portrait of the king with bull's horns, and on the reverse the head of a horned horse (Pl. II, 3). The same types, with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, are found on two unique silver pieces—a drachm and a tetradrachm (Pl. II, 4)—which may belong to the joint reign. All of these are struck from unadjusted dies, and all of them have on the reverse two monograms which, to judge from their complexity and from the manner in which they vary, must conceal the names of individual magistrates. Apparently in direct line of succession to the preceding comes a gold and silver series, beginning under Antiochus I and continued under Antiochus II, which contains staters (Pl. II, 5 and 6), tetradrachms (Pl. II, 7 and 8), and smaller denominations. The reverse type is the same, but the coins are now struck from carefully adjusted dies, usually ↑↓ but in one case ↑↑. The magistrate's names show little variation. As a rule, there is only one, that being 🜚, Al, or 🜛¹. The device of a horse’s head would be peculiarly appropriate to Bactria, with its famous cavalry, or to Sogdiāna; and it is undoubtedly from Afghānistān and Bukhāra that the coins in question usually come. As they cover at least part of the two reigns, they must be to some extent contemporary with certain gold staters and silver drachms which have a head of Antiochus I or of Antiochus II on the obverse, and on the reverse the ordinary Seleucid type of the seated Apollo (Pl. II, 9 and 10). Here again the dies have been carefully adjusted (↑↓). The magistrate’s name, too, is obviously the same, being invariably Δ, 𐌣, or 🜂. It has sometimes been suggested that the monogram represents the name of a mint rather than of a magistrate. As against that view it must be remembered that the two parallel series differ not only in type but also in style, the treatment of the ends of the king’s diadem being specially characteristic.