DOI issue:
I. Artykuly
DOI article:Kalita, Stanisław: Portraits of rulers on greco-bactrian and indo-greek coins: an attempt at classification
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21229#0010
statehood originated, still leaves much to be desired despite splendid
French strides at Ai Khanum and on the Amu-Darya.
The most numerous and uniform group of relics reflecting the history
of the Hellenistic kingdoms in Bactria and India is coins struck by respec-
tive rulers in either the Attic or Indian systems. For researchers involved
in this portion of Hellenistic history, coins are the main source of infor-
mation.
A comprehensive interpretation does not, unfortunately, produce
a single final conclusion about the political history of Greco-Bactrian and
Indo-Greek kingdoms, the genealogies of their rulers1, or even the num-
ber of monarchs bearing the same name. Western sources mention seven,
perhaps eight Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek rulers, while coins contain
evidence of at least 40 kings. Throughout literature, starting from the
monograph by W. Tarn ( The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge, 1938),
to A. K. Narain’s The Indo-Greeks (Oxford, 1957), to the same author’s
reconstruction of the Hellenistic period in central Asia presented in Cam-
bridge Ancient History, to the newest monumental study of Greco-Bactrian
and Indo-Greek coins by Osmund Bopearachchi (Monnaies grécodjarArien-
nes et indo-grecques. Catalogue raissoné, Paris 1991), we run into mutually
contradictory historical and chronological interpretations of those coins
which result in the adoption of quite varied visions of Hellenistic life on
both sides of the Hindu-Kush.
The differences arise primarily from varied interpretations of parti-
culars (such as the question of whether the number of kings named
Demetrius was one, two, or three, or perhaps, highly speculatively, even
five?)2 which significantly modify genealogical systems already accepted
in science.
Constant changes in the perception of Greco-Bactrian history result
from a qualitative increase in relics, especially coins, and also from a more
comprehensive analysis of existing numismatic relics - not only Greek but
also Indo-Scythian and others. Yet we can hardly claim that each new ver-
sion found in literature, though fuller and better documented, explains
1 Cambridge Ancient History, vol. VII, 1984, p. 394
2 C. M. Kraay, Demetrius in Bactria and India, Quademi Ticinesi di Numismatica et Anti-
chia Classiche, X 1981, reprinted in: Numismatic Digest, IX 1985, pp. 12-28 (editor’s com-
mentary pp. 28-30)
8
French strides at Ai Khanum and on the Amu-Darya.
The most numerous and uniform group of relics reflecting the history
of the Hellenistic kingdoms in Bactria and India is coins struck by respec-
tive rulers in either the Attic or Indian systems. For researchers involved
in this portion of Hellenistic history, coins are the main source of infor-
mation.
A comprehensive interpretation does not, unfortunately, produce
a single final conclusion about the political history of Greco-Bactrian and
Indo-Greek kingdoms, the genealogies of their rulers1, or even the num-
ber of monarchs bearing the same name. Western sources mention seven,
perhaps eight Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek rulers, while coins contain
evidence of at least 40 kings. Throughout literature, starting from the
monograph by W. Tarn ( The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge, 1938),
to A. K. Narain’s The Indo-Greeks (Oxford, 1957), to the same author’s
reconstruction of the Hellenistic period in central Asia presented in Cam-
bridge Ancient History, to the newest monumental study of Greco-Bactrian
and Indo-Greek coins by Osmund Bopearachchi (Monnaies grécodjarArien-
nes et indo-grecques. Catalogue raissoné, Paris 1991), we run into mutually
contradictory historical and chronological interpretations of those coins
which result in the adoption of quite varied visions of Hellenistic life on
both sides of the Hindu-Kush.
The differences arise primarily from varied interpretations of parti-
culars (such as the question of whether the number of kings named
Demetrius was one, two, or three, or perhaps, highly speculatively, even
five?)2 which significantly modify genealogical systems already accepted
in science.
Constant changes in the perception of Greco-Bactrian history result
from a qualitative increase in relics, especially coins, and also from a more
comprehensive analysis of existing numismatic relics - not only Greek but
also Indo-Scythian and others. Yet we can hardly claim that each new ver-
sion found in literature, though fuller and better documented, explains
1 Cambridge Ancient History, vol. VII, 1984, p. 394
2 C. M. Kraay, Demetrius in Bactria and India, Quademi Ticinesi di Numismatica et Anti-
chia Classiche, X 1981, reprinted in: Numismatic Digest, IX 1985, pp. 12-28 (editor’s com-
mentary pp. 28-30)
8