The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c26.263

v1.c26.263

There can be no dispute as to the proper local attribution of the second of these two series. In style they have the closest possible affinity to a fairly numerous set of gold staters and silver tetradrachms and drachms, which also read ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, but which present types that we have not encountered hitherto. On the obverse is a youthful head, markedly unlike either Antiochus I or Antiochus II, and on the reverse is a full length figure of Zeus, thundering, with an eagle at his feet (Pl. II, 11 and 12); the dies are carefully adjusted (↑↓), but although letters and monograms occur freely, nothing to suggest 🜂 is ever found. Next in order comes a group of gold and silver coins, exactly resembling those just described excepting only in the legend, which is now ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΟΔΟΤΟΥ (Pl. II, 13 and 14). We are thus brought into the presence of what is undoubtedly the money of the fully developed kingdom of Bactria, and at the same time we are put in possession of a clue which may guide us to a clearer understanding of some of the ground we have traversed. Gardner long ago pointed out that the head on the ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ pieces was identical with that on the similar pieces with ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΟΔΟΤΟΥ, and a glance at Plate II will demonstrate the soundness of his view. He proposed to recognise it as the portrait of Diodotus, and to regard its appearance on money bearing the name of the suzerain as a stage in the vassal’s progress towards complete independence. Von Sallet, while refusing to accept Gardner’s theory as to the portrait, agreed with him in assigning the whole of the coins to Diodotus, whose ‘canting badge’ he discerned in the figure of Zeus. Both scholars seem to be right in their positive contentions: the portrait is that of Diodotus, and the figure of Zeus is the king’s ‘canting badge.’ And it may be that there is further help to be got from the coins with the head of the horned horse and from those with the seated Apollo. We found that these two sets were to some extent parallel, and that the latter led naturally up to the Bactrian series proper. The monogram which was so prominent on both can be resolved most readily into ΔIO[δότου]. The definite acceptance of that interpretation would enable us to reconstruct the story of the rise of Bactria somewhat on the following lines.