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XX. An Account of Greek, Parthian, and Hindu Medals, found in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2009

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Extract

I Have the honour to present to the Society fac-simile engravings of two medals, which fill up a chasm in the Numismatic series of the Greek Kings of Bactria, viz. Apollodotus and Menander.

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Papers Read Before the Society
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1827

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References

page 313 note * See De Sacy. Mémoires sur diverses Antiquités de la Perse.

page 313 note † This winged figure is Victory.—N.

page 313 note ‡ No. 323 of Miannet.

page 315 note * Page 726.

page 315 note † Supposed to have written his book during the reign of Aurelian. He resided at Barugaza, or Barooch, in a commercial capacity.

page 315 note ‡ The error alluded to by Dr. Vincent is of a geographical nature, in Alexander's departure from India.

page 316 note * The Greeks have well preserved the ancient name of Barooch, if classically written—Bhrigu-gacha, the residence of the sage Bhrigu. The site of his hermitage, tradition has placed at some distance from the present city.

page 316 note † Periplus of the Erythrean sea, vol. ii. page 401.Google Scholar Vincent's Navigation of the Ancients.

page 316 note ‡ Parthia, including Hyrcania, Aria, Bactria, Sogdia, Arachosia.

page 317 note * Anc. Univ. Hist., vol. iii. page 846.Google Scholar

page 317 note † Historiæ Regni Græcorum Bactriani, page 38.—Bayer.

page 317 note ‡ The Asi, or Aspii, the Tochari, and Getic Sacæ.

page 317 note § Arrian, chap. iii.

page 317 note ∥ Arrian, book iii, quoting Aristobolus.

page 317 note ¶ St. Croix.

page 317 note ** Silisi, a mountain stream; from Sil, a rock. Hence Saila, the personified appellation of Hemáchal: whence Saïlí, his daughter, one of the names of the river goddess, Gangá.

page 317 note †† One of the rivers of Paradise, according to Marco Polo.—See Marsden's Edition.

page 318 note * Perhaps from Seher, a city, and the race Aspa, or Aswa.

page 318 note † Asi, is a sword; Aswa, Aspa, a horse, in Sanscrit and Persian; what more proper name for Scythic warlike tribes, almost all horsemen? Most probably from one or the other of these words originated the term Asia, not from the wife of Prometheus, as Diodorus asserts, though Isa, a goddess, might afford a claim. The Scythic tribe, which invaded Scandinavia, was known to the prior inhabitants under the name Asi.

page 319 note * “Elle est vaste, et produit de tout, excepté des olives.”—Strabon, liv. xi.

page 319 note † See map to Elphinstone's Cabul.

page 319 note ‡ For more minute boundaries, Strabo may be consulted.

page 319 note § Or Tocharistan, the abode of the Tachari, one of the races mentioned by Strabo, as aiding to overturn the Bactrian kingdom. In Tachari we find the origin of the word Turk: the Usbeck Tartars, or Turks, are still in the old abodes of the Tachari; the name is also found, by the Chinese and Tartar historians, in the words Tak-i-uk.—See De Guignes.

page 319 note ‖ Lewis, Parthian Empire. Ancient authorities differ in the name of this governor on the part of Antiochus Theos: by one he is named Agathocles, and by another Phericles.

page 319 note ¶ See Vaillant.

page 319 note ** Lewis, Parthian Empire, quoting Justin, lib. xxvii. and xli.

page 320 note * Lewis, Parthian Empire, page 14.

page 320 note † This alliance is ascribed, by the author of the Anc. Univ. Hist., vol. iii. page 846, to Theodotus I., but erroneously: he, to his death, remained jealous of the Parthian.Google Scholar

page 321 note * Classes Générales Géographiæ Numismaticæ, by the Chevalier Sestini, who was kind enough to present it to me at Florence.

page 321 note † Description de Médailles Antiques. It contains the description of the only two Bactrian medals yet found, Euthydemus and Eucratides, besides Heliocles, , of “an uncertain epoch.”— Vol. v. page 704.Google Scholar

page 321 note ‡ This was obligingly given to me by the Chevalier Sestini, but I have not been so fortunate as to meet with the account of those prior to Demetrius, by the same author. The, Supplement is printed at St. Petersburgh.

page 321 note § Anc. Univ. Hist., History of Bactria, vol. iii. page 846.Google Scholar

page 321 note ‖ Lewis, , Parthian Empire, page 21.Google Scholar

page 322 note * Anc. Univ. Hist., vol. iii. page 846.Google Scholar

page 322 note † Hist. Reg. Gr. Bactr., page 74.Google Scholar

page 322 note ‡ Note 1. Demetrius, le fils d'Euthydemus, ne paraît point avoir jamais porté la couronne,” &c. &c.—Strabon, liv. xi. sec. iv.

page 322 note § Anc. Univ. Hist.

page 322 note ∥ Supplement, page 4 and 5, quoting Strabo.

page 322 note ¶ Page 75.

page 322 note ** Strabon, liv. xi.

page 322 note †† The Hyphasis, the Sutledge of modern geography, one of the five eastern arms of the Indus.

page 322 note ‡‡ Or Suroi, as Bayer, more nearly approximating to the original , writes it.

page 323 note * Balk'h, or Bactra.

page 323 note † Hist. Reg. Græc. Bact., sec. xxxiii. page 77.Google Scholar

page 323 note ‡ Bayer, page 79.

page 324 note * In the same section, Bayer, quoting from Ptolemy (the geographer), “There were many kings of India: Ozene of Tiastanus; Baithana, the seat of Siriptolemœus:” doubtless Ujjayan; and Pattan, on the Godáveri river; ”Karoura, the palace of Kerobotheus; Modoura, the palace of Pandion; and Arthoura, the palace of Sornus:” the first most probably the abode of the Curu-putras, or sons of Curu; the second, clearly Mat'hurâ, held by the Pandu princes, the descendants of Puru, which they actually did in Alexander's time, and for eight centuries before. Arthoura, the abode of Sornus, may be Arore, on the Indus, the capital of Sehris, also a generic appellation of the sons of Sehl, another of the heroes of the great war.

page 324 note † Thus the Greeks are termed.

page 324 note ‡ The Scythic race of the Oxus and Jaxartes; the Turshka and Tukyac of the Hindu; Tachari, or Tochari of the Greeks; and Tagitai or Chagitai of Turkisthan, and the Tartar historians of Tocharestan, the Saca-dwipa of the Puráns, the country of the Sacæ or Sac'hæ, the races: of which the Parthians were, the Sacæ of the province of Aria; hence the titular appellation of all its princes, Arsaces: and from Saca-dwipa, which D'Anville properly places about the fountains of the Oxus, the Greeks composed the word Scythia.

page 325 note * Gōr-ind, the lords of Gor. Ind, a contraction of Indra, in poetical composition, very commonly applied to a prince.

page 325 note † Maunas, perhaps the Macwana tribe, still found in the Sauráshtra peninsula.

page 325 note ‡ Agra-gráma (town), ísa (lord).

page 325 note § See page 23, Strabo, lib. xi.

page 326 note * Hist. Reg. Gr. Bact., page 81.Google Scholar

page 326 note † Strabo, note 2d, liv. xi., torn. iv.

page 326 note ‡ Mannert Geog.

page 326 note § Strabon, liv. xv.

page 326 note ‖ Bayer, quoting from Ptolemy.

page 327 note * Arrian, however, makes it longer than the Delta of the Nile.

page 327 note † Inland on the north, the district of Barugaza (Baroach) joins to Sinde, and is subject to the Parthians of Minnagar; and the sea-coast from Sinde towards Guzzerat is called Surastrene.—Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, vol. ii., page 393.Google Scholar

page 328 note * Sáma, or Syáma, was one of the names of Crîshna, from his dark complexion, hence Samba; and one branch of their family having lost sight of their origin, say they came from Rúm Sham, or Syria. The Batti and Járejá annals fortunately aid each other to develope the little that is to be gleaned of that remote period.

page 329 note * “I find from Claudius Ptolemy, that there was a city within the Hydaspes, called Sagala, also Euthydemia, and I scarcely doubt that Demetrius called it so from his father, though after his death, and that of Menander. When Menander subdued Bactria, I cannot define; but we may conjecture that Demetrius was deprived of his patrimony, A.U.C. 562 (A.C. 192).”—Bayer, page 84.

page 329 note † Carte des Marches d'Alexandre.

page 329 note ‡ Page 105. This great geographer, quoting from Ptolemy, says, “Sagala is called Euthymedia, but that he would fain read Euthydemia.”

page 329 note § 48 miles S.W. of Lahore.

page 329 note ‖ Mirza Mogul Beg, part of whose journals and remarks this very intelligent Mogul presented to me many years ago.

page 329 note ¶ As. Res.

page 330 note * On first reading this passage, it struck me that the singular monument described by Mr. Elphinstone as the “Tope (Barrow) of Maunikyeula,” might be one of these trophies to merit.

It is, however, much nearer to Taxila than Sangala, and which, doubtless, was within Menander's control. ”There was nothing at all Hindu in the appearance of this building; most of the party thought it entirely Grecian.”—See Elphinstone's Cabul, page 130, vol. i., and plate in vol. ii., second edition.Google Scholar

page 331 note * Rumi pati, in the original. The term Rumi, applied to Syria, appears to have been used long before the removal of the seat of government by Constantine. Alexander is always called “Sekander Rumi;” and wherever the Roman sway prevailed, the country was termed Roumiah.

”Les Orientaux distinguent entre les anciens Grecs qui avaient leurs Rois ou leur gouvernement particulier, et ceux qui étaient joints et soumis à l'empire Romain. Car ils appellent les premiers Jounan, Jones, de Javan, et ils donnerit à ceux-ci le nom de Roum.”—D'Herlelot, Art. Roum.

page 331 note † Robertson, quoting Polybius, note 15, page 309. See also Maurice's History, vol. i. page 68,Google Scholar who has collected what has been written on Antiochus and the Hindu princes.

page 331 note ‡ This answers well to Ghizni, or Gajni.

page 331 note § Had it been seventy-two years before Vicrama, it would have answered for the period of Eucratides, the son of Demetrius, undoubtedly following Menander.

page 331 note ‖ In the twelfth century.

page 332 note * See Plate XII.

page 332 note † Page 81.

page 332 note ‡ See note 4, liv. xi. Strabon.

page 333 note * Akbery, Ayin, vol. ii. page 118.Google Scholar

page 333 note † “To the East Cashmere” is Abul Fazil's definition of that limit of the kingdom of Sehris, which is either a mistake for Ajamere, or the quarter should be north. “To the west the Muran,” that is, the Indus, or Sind, both having the same meaning distinctively—the river. Both are, I believe, words of Scythic or Tartar origin. The Sin or Sind'h, or, as the Chinese would write it, Y'sin, is only known locally in the valley as the “Meeta Muran,” the Sweet River, by the natives. By written authorities he is styled Abu-sin, the father of the first of rivers. By others, and amongst them Ferishta, “Nil-áb,” the blue stream, or Nile. Query: If Abyssinia has not the same derivation, the land on the Abu-sin, or Egyptian Nile?

page 333 note ‡ It was in 1810 I sent my first party to explore that tract, and to bring to me intelligent natives of the desert and Indus, and I repeated these parties till I exhausted the subject, and had matter for a sketch of its geography.

page 334 note * The Mansoora of the Arabians, and erroneously supposed by some to be Minagara.

page 335 note * Essay on Vicramáditya and Salivahana. —As. Res. vol. ix. page 230.Google Scholar

page 335 note † At the angle of the Indus and Mekran coast: Query, If the Lymrica, or Lymuritá, of Alexander's geographers?

page 335 note ‡ Note 2, liv. xi. page 2S3, vol. iv. Strabon.

page 336 note * A body of 1,200 Scythian horse, armed with bows, claimed the admiration of the Romans. Antiochus had also 150 elephants, a great part received from Sophagasenus and other Hindu princes, when he invaded India, after making peace with Euthydemus, the predecessor of Menander.—Arc. Univ. Hist, page 567.Google Scholar

page 336 note † Heliopolis (Súryapúra) was one capital of Syria.

page 336 note ‡ Hence its name, Bāl-béc. Béc is an idol: so Ferishtra derives it, the idol Bāl. This, the capital in future times of the unfortunate Zenobia, was translated by the Greeks to Palmyra; for it is but a translate of Tad-tar, or Tal-mor, and can have an Indian derivation, from Tar, or Tal, the date, or Palmyra-tree; and Mōr, the head, chief, or crown.

page 337 note * Césari, a lion. Hence the royal appellation of the Cæsars; and Lion (Sin'ha) Lords of India, have the same meaning.

page 337 note † Nehrwara of D'Anville and Renaudôt.

page 337 note ‡ “Sarweya, Cshatiriya tain sár.”

page 337 note § Eclaircissemens sur la carte de l'Inde, p. 37.

page 338 note * By Sir W. Ousely, page 210.

page 338 note † “Tout ce détail me paraît précieux pour la géographie bien loin, que je crois devoir passer par dessus. Il fournit ce qui n'existe point ailleurs, comme on s'en convaincra par l'examen des autres cartes.” This holds good.

page 338 note ‡ Plate XII, Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

page 339 note * Bayer, sect. xi. second series.

page 339 note † Ante C. 134.

page 340 note * See Lewis's Parthian Empire, page 35.

page 341 note * Mr. Williams, resident at the Gykwar court, to whose kind aid I am indebted for being enabled to perform the most interesting of all my journies, and with his society.

page 341 note † I have, however, little hesitation in assigning them to the Balhara sovereigns of Renandot's Arabian travellers, the Bhalla Raes of Anhulwarra Puttan, who were supreme in these countries. “This Balhara is the most illustrious prince of the Indies, and all the other kings acknowledge his pre-eminence. He has, of these, pieces of silver called Tartarian drams. They are coined with the die of the prince, and have the year of his reign.”Renandot, page 15.Google Scholar

The Arabian travellers have by no means attached too much importance to the Balhara sovereignty. They had a distinct era, 375 years posterior to Vicramáditya, which I had the happiness to reckon amongst my discoveries; but on this dynasty I shall have much to say elsewhere.