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Greek Coins :
Indo-Greek Coins : Indo-Greek Silver Drachm of King Zoilos I
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Indo-Greek Silver Drachm of King Zoilos I - C.2288
Origin: Northwestern India
Circa: 130
BC
to 120
BC
Collection: Numismatics
Style: Indo-Greek
Medium: Silver
$1,500.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse: Portrait of the Emperor
Reverse: Herakles Holding a Club, Wreath, and
the Skin of the Nimean Lion
Covering roughly modern Afganistan, Pakistan
and northern India, the isolated Indo-Greek
kingdoms survived for more than two centuries.
Starting with the renegade Seleucid satrap
Diodotus in 256 B.C., Alexander's successors in
India became increasingly isolated, eventually
becoming an island of Hellenic people,
completely cut off from their western kinsmen.
Surrounded on all sides, more than 40 Greek
kings ruled this area until they succumbed to the
superior numbers of local people and
subsequently disappeared from history. By
around 130 B.C., the Bactrian dynasties were
overrun by Scythian invaders while the Indian
kingdoms lasted about another century until they
were conquered by the Kushans.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your purse? What eras and lands have
the coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether
contemporary currencies or artifacts of long
forgotten empires. The portraits on Indo-Greeks
coins are very realistic distinctly expressing the
most powerful features and minutest personal
details. These master engravers were no doubt
very familiar with Hellinstic art. Perhaps no
detail better reveals merging of cultures that is
the foundation of the Indo-Greek Kingdoms than
the bilingual legends on the coin. The obverse
legend is in Greek while a legend in Kharosti
encircles Herakles on the reverse. This legend
reads: Maharajasa tratarasa Zailasa and
can be translated as, “of the king, savior, Zoilos.”
Historically, the coins of India have been highly
influenced by Indo-Greek examples such as this
coin. Given the stunning beauty and striking
realism, who would not aspire to imitate this
coin?
- (C.2288)
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