Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .5
Analysis of the information we have indicates that all of the coins minted in
Transoxiana had a narrow, localised sphere of circulation within the areas where
these coins were minted. They did not penetrate into neighbouring provinces and
dominions or beyond the borders of Transoxiana. Their use was limited to local
markets and trade. By contrast, Kushan, Parthian and Roman coins were probably
used as international currency on the routes of the Silk Road passing through this
region. Specimens of these coins have been found well beyond the borders of the
states in which they were minted – in India, Central Asia, Eastern Turkestan and
China.
The nature of monetary relations in the second half of the 3rd–4th centuries AD
(a kind of period of transition from ancient times to early medieval times) differs
significantly from the previous period and needs to be considered in its own right.
The collapse of the great ancient kingdoms of Kushan and Parthia had an impact on
the overall political situation in the area and paved the way for the transition to a new
social system. The most significant events of that time were the large-scale movements
of nomadic peoples – Kidarites, Chionites and Hephthalites; the emergence of
new, smaller dominions; the change of dynasties in the former dominions; and the
political domination of Sassanid Iran in Transoxiana. All these events led to a change
in the composition of coinage and the nature of monetary relations, the emergence
of new centres of minting and the disappearance of Hellenistic traditions from the
iconography, metrology and epigraphy of coins.
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