Imitating Indian Coins: A Rare Copper Series of Agathokles of Bactria and Its Implications for Mobility (20 min)

Presenters

Charlotte N. Gorant, Columbia University

Abstract

This paper investigates movement between Hellenistic Greece and ancient India through the circulation patterns of a rare copper coin series issued during the reign of Agathokles of Bactria (r. 190 B.C.E.–180 B.C.E.). In the period following the decline of the Mauryan Empire, Sanskrit literature seems to indicate that Greek rulers traveled beyond the borders of Bactria into India. We find an expression of such cultural interactions in a lesser-studied series of copper coins issued during the reign of Agathokles of Bactria (r. 190 B.C.E.–180 B.C.E.). Rather than imitating Greek coinage, it is striking indeed that the Agathokles series imitates the iconography of Indian types, namely coins with the six-arched hill and star on the obverse and tree shrine on the reverse. The silver coins of Agathokles with bilingual legends and Indian deities have been the predominant focus in earlier scholarship, and there has not yet been a study that focuses on the symbolic issues in copper.

The aim of this paper is to further substantiate a “blend zone” across political boundaries through the case study of these imitations of Indian coins and their contexts, which has been overlooked perhaps due to disciplinary and geographical boundaries. The coins compel us to revisit our very understanding of Bactrian coinage. While the current sample size is limited, the archaeological contexts establish a firm chronological basis. In contrast to the well-known silver coins is the peculiar lack of the official title, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ. The legend in the Kharoṣṭhī script hirañasame, which has been problematically translated as “golden monastery,” perhaps has another meaning that will be put forward for consideration.