Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .5
word ‘stater’, they are actually referring to a double stater, because the weight of a
stater was 8.3 grams. However, it is equally possible that the inscriptions indicate the
true weight of an ordinary stater, otherwise they would refer to two staters in relation
to drachmas and dhane – the local units of weight. According to the information in
the inscriptions, one stater was equal to four drachmas, with an average weight of 4.4
grams, and one drachma was equal to 5 dhane with an average weight of 0.77 grams.
The use of the terms stater and drachma in the inscriptions suggests that in Kushan
times, the practices from Hellenistic times of using Greek designations for the main
units of weight were still in use. They were probably also used to denote units of value,
as in Niya and Kroraina, for example, according to Prakrit documents found here.
The iconography and weight standards of bronze coins gradually changed. Large
chalkoi weighing 16–17 g were introduced into circulation and large quantities of
these coins have been found in many archaeological sites in Northern Bactria.
The third stage is the period of the reigns of Vasudeva II and Kanishka III, the last of
the Kushan kings who ruled Northern Bactria. A comparison of the metrological data
of the coins shows that they underwent noticeable changes towards the Late Kushan
period, decreasing in diameter and weight. Under Huvishka, bronze coins had already
gradually begun to decrease in weight, while under Vasudeva I and Kanishka III further
reductions in the weight of the main bronze denomination took place.
In the reign of Vasudeva I bronze coins were apparently minted in two
denominations: 6–8 and 9–11 grams, while under Kanishka III only one
denomination of 6–8 grams was minted. Accordingly, the ratio of bronze and gold
coins seemed to change as well, along with the composition of the metal used for
bronze coins, which, unlike the coins of early Kushan rulers, were being minted from
bronze with two or three component metals.
This data leads us to assume that further monetary reform took place in the
Late Kushan period, which primarily affected the bronze denominations: its main
characteristic was the replacement of bulky, heavy coins with coins of lower weight
and smaller diameter that were easier to use in the domestic market. Available data
(the quantitative ratio of coin finds) reveal that during the Late Kushan period,
the scale of commodity-money relations remained at a high level in the towns and
settlements of Northern Bactria.
An analysis of coin hoards provides us with a similar picture. The hoards from the
first stage contain only Soter Megas (Wima I Tak(to)) coins and no other coins from
earlier times, such as coins of the ‘Barbarian Heliocles’. They appear to have been
buried in the initial period of the Early Kushan era.
Seven of the hoards relate to the second stage: six of them contain coins of
Wima Kadphises and Kanishka I, and only one, the hoard from the Temple of Oxus,
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