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.
AIA-1E