The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s7.280

c10.s7.280

It exists in the representation of a Buddha statue on a coin of Maues;¹ for that Maues reigned from *c.* 80 to *c.* 58 B.C. seems now certain enough (Chap. VIII)—his reign may have begun somewhat earlier but cannot have ended later—and no one can ever again place this king near the Christian Era without first explaining away the definite fact of the identical Telephus-Maues monograms at Kapisa (see App. 16), which will take some doing. The high probability (we shall find it is a certainty) of there being a representation of Buddha on a coin of Maues was pointed out in 1914 by Mr Longworth Dames,² to whom the credit belongs; but it was done in a review, which might easily escape notice, especially in 1914, and as the review was later than the three numismatic works professedly dealing with the Saca coinage, those who consult those works naturally find no trace of the matter; I have in fact only met one reference to it, and that did not appreciate its significance.³ Longworth Dames was not considering the controversy over the origin of the Buddha-statue, for in 1914 it was not in view; he was merely interpreting a particular coin, which must now be examined.