The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s2.170

c10.s2.170

In addition to the above, Agathocles (not Pantaleon) issued a series of square bronze coins¹ which have no Greek legend at all, but a Prakrit legend on both obverse and reverse, the only instance of the sort among Greek kings in India. It was for long believed that the symbolism on these coins was Buddhist, but it seems certain now that it is not. The type on the reverse which used to be called a stupa is quite certainly a hill,² a type extremely common on the Mauryan currency (the punch-marked coins) and on coins of Taxila; while the obverse type, a tree in a rail, is one of the commonest types on early Indian coins all over India.³ The reverse bears Agathocles’ name, and the obverse a word which used to be read Hidujasame; there were many interpretations of it,⁴ the most attractive of them, comparing the title δίκαιος on Agathocles’ pedigree coins, being ‘Just to Indians’, which made it look like a propaganda coin. It is now said to be certain that the true reading is Hirañasame, ‘The Golden Hermitage’,⁵ and that the coins are copied from a coin of Taxila which shows the same reverse but on the obverse, instead of the tree in a rail, a plant with the legend Hirañasame; Agathocles, it has been said, in copying the type replaced the plant by a tree in a rail,⁶ but a specimen of this coin at Lahore which has the plant⁷ and used to be called Agathocles’ really belongs to Taxila. The Golden Hermitage has been taken to be the name of some district which issued coins as (practically) part of the Taxila coinage;⁸ there is however a specimen of the coin from Taxila which omits the word Hirañasame.⁹