The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s6.117

c10.s6.117

If this requires confirmation it can be found in the dolphin twined round an anchor. This type had never before been used in the East, but it was known in the West, in Alexandrian or rather perhaps Phoenician art; it occurs on a mosaic in the House of the Trident at Delos, done by a Phoenician artist not later than the end of the second century B.C., and subsequently at Pompeii, and it has been interpreted to mean ‘prosperous voyage’.² At Delos it seems to be connected with the Phoenician merchants established there, and merchants must have brought it to Bucephala; it need not have come from Phoenicia direct, for there were ‘Syrians’ settled in Merv (p. 15) and Susa (p. 29) and a large body at Seleuceia (p. 18); Phoenician merchants had followed Alexander to India, Phoenicians formed a settlement called Tyre in that country,³ and it was Phoenicians who had passed this symbol across Asia. On Nicias’ coin the symbol meant that his victorious fleet had had a ‘prosperous voyage’. The Triton with dolphin of Hippostratus must refer to the same victory; doubtless Nicias had been actually in command of the joint fleet, but the ultimate importance of the victory is shown principally by the fact that Hippostratus, on one of his silver issues, assumes the title ‘Great King’,⁴ which no Greek in the Farther East had done on his coinage before him⁵ except Eucratides. But as the dolphin twined round an anchor became Nicias’ usual reverse type on his bronze coins,⁶ associated with his head on the obverse, the victory must have been won early in his reign, and might be anywhere from about 60 to 50 B.C. (pp. 326, 336).