Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .5
of Shahri-Munk (Northern Bactria) and a Seleucus I dichalkous coin was found at
Afrasiab. A large number of coins (47 specimens of Seleucus I tetradrachms and
drachmas) made up part of the Amu Darya hoard.
Under the reign of Antiochus I, commodity-money relations expanded and
developed more intensively in Northern Bactria and Sogdia. Antiochus I coins have
been found at Takht-i Sangin, including six chalkoi (weighing between 0.72 and 3.12
grams), three drachmas and one chalkous at Old Termez, two chalkoi at Kampyrtepa,
one chalkous at Denau (Northern Bactria), chalkoi at Samarkand and one obolus at
Kurgantepa (Sogdia).
The prevalence of chalkoi among these finds indicates a sufficiently well-developed
money-based economy and, in particular, the existence of small-scale retail trade. It
should also be noted that Seleucid coins from Seleucus I to Antiochus II were found
in an area immediately adjacent to Transoxiana, at Ai-Khanum. This find included
67 specimens, among them 62 Antiochus I coins, one specimen of Seleucus I coins,
three specimens of joint-issue Seleucus I and Antiochus I coins, and one specimen of
Antiochus II (261–246 BC) coins.
The most important event of this period was the emergence of the Bactrian
coinage of the Seleucids under Seleucus I and Antiochus I. Under Seleucus I, silver
coins of high value (tetradrachms, drachmas, hemidrachms) were minted at Bactra
with the head of Zeus on the obverse and the image of Athena in a chariot pulled
by two elephants or four horses on the reverse. They were struck according to Attic
weight standards (whereby a drachma was equivalent to 4.27 grams).
An exception is one series bearing the name of Seleucus and Antiochus, struck
according to the ancient Indian karshapana weight standard, which in practical terms
is 3 grams. Under Antiochus I, Bactrian coinage became even more versatile: gold
staters and silver tetradrachms and drachmas were produced, also struck to the Attic
standard, with the bust of Antiochus shown on the obverse and the head of a horned
horse on the reverse. Copper chalkoi were probably also issued for use in retail trade.
It is quite possible that drachmas of Antiochus I were also minted in Sogdia, as can
be seen, in particular, by the issue at the end of the 3rd and during the 2nd century BC
of Sogdian imitations of Antiochus I drachmas depicting a horned horse head.
During this period, the first coins in the name of a local Bactrian ruler rather
than in the name of a Greek Bactrian king were also issued. These are coins of the
ruler Vakhshuvar, as can be seen in the legend in Aramaic on the obverse: there are
specimens of gold staters (depicting the bust of a man wearing a κυρβᾰσίᾱ (a type of
headdress) on the obverse and a man on a quadriga facing right on the reverse); and
there are also double staters (depicting the head of Alexander in an elephant helmet
on the obverse and a standing figure of Nike facing left on the reverse).
95