Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c10.8

c10.8

No coins of any Greek prince, however, could have been in circulation in India before Alexander invaded the country. It is presumed that even during the period of his short stay there in the course of his conquests in the north-western regions, he could hardly have found any time to issue coins in his newly acquired territories. A copper coin of squarish shape bearing the name of Alexander, which was supposed at first to be his Indian issue, has been long since declared to have no connection with India¹. But two silver coins (tetradrachms) bearing the name of Alexander and one silver coin, that of Philip Aridaeus, were discovered by Marshall in the course of his excavations at the Bhir Mound site Taxila². These coins ‘bear on the obverse head of Alexander wearing the lion skin, and on the reverse Zeus seated on a throne with the eagle on his right hand and the sceptre in left’. Though they have different legends and monograms, they are closely similar to one another. On one of the coins of Alexander, the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ can be distinctly read. Their freshly-minted condition and the fact that they were recovered from a stratum, assigned by Marshall to the 3rd or 4th Century B.C., may lead one to suppose that they were actually minted in India. But this first recorded find of such coins in India is still unique and the coins could have been brought here from outside.