The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s6.91

c10.s6.91

The Greek kings of the eastern group cannot be arranged in order, but one or more must have bridged the gap between Strato I and the last pair of eastern kings, Hippostratus and Nicias, about whom a certain amount of information can be recovered. Hippostratus’ coins⁸ show both the round and the square omicron, and the bearing of this upon his date must be considered. The square omicron had appeared sporadically at Athens from the third century B.C.,¹ and there is an isolated occurrence of it at Susa in an inscription of 98 B.C.;² but its regular appearance upon the Parthian coinage begins at some period in the reign of Orodes II,³ who reigned from 55 to 38/7 B.C., and this decided Professor Rapson to date its appearance in India to c. 40 B.C.,⁴ a little later than the probable time of its appearance in Parthia, though he has entered a caveat that as regards the dating of the square letter-forms generally in India questions of different local usages may come in.⁵ I think it may be taken that, if a king has a reasonably abundant coinage and that coinage regularly shows both forms of omicron (no king’s coinage I think shows the square form alone), part of his reign anyhow should be later than c. 40 B.C.; but perhaps one can get a little closer than this. If I am right about the Chinese evidence (pp. 337 sqq.)—and no alternative explanation is apparent—Hermaeus was reigning somewhat before 48 B.C. and somewhat after 32 B.C. His reign then may be called c. 50–30 B.C., and his coinage shows a mixture of both forms of omicron, which helps to date Hippostratus; for as Hippostratus’ coins show the same mixture he must roughly be contemporary. But on a coin of Spalyris, who was dead before Hermaeus’ accession (pp. 341 sq.), there is the square omicron,⁶ though he generally uses the round one;⁷ the square omicron, therefore, is no bar to Hippostratus having begun to reign some years earlier than 50 B.C.,⁸ should other indications point to that; the abundance of his tetradrachms suggests a reign of substantial length.