Money and Identity: The Socio-Political Power of Ancient Coinage and the Emergence of Greco-Bactrian Culture

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Money and Identity: The Socio-Political Power of Ancient Coinage and the Emergence of Greco-Bactrian Culture

By Michael Pagano

 

Deep in the heart of Central Asia lies a civilization lost to time, a symbol of the interconnected nature of the ancient world near modern-day Afghanistan: the Kingdom of Greco-Bactria. For hundreds of years, this kingdom served as a hub of multiculturalism along the Silk Road. The taxation of luxury goods along the Silk Road and abundant natural resources allowed the Greco-Bactrians to fund massive initiatives to build hundreds of cities. Despite the cultural impact the Greco-Bactrians had on Central Asia, little remains besides their coinage. Although some historians have argued the traces of the Greco-Bactrian culture perished after the kingdom fell, the coins produced during and after the end of Greco-Bactrian control of the region suggests otherwise.

After Alexander the Great’s death in 323 B.C.E., his empire fractured into pieces fought over by his generals in the Wars of the Diadochi. The Seleucid Empire, one of these successor states founded by Seleucus I Nicator, spanned from Anatolia to the Indus River, and owned the territory that would become the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. In 250 B.C.E., Diodotus I broke the rich region of Bactria away from the Seleucid Empire, which was ruled at the time by Antiochus II, and immediately began to change the coinage. Three types of coins from the beginning of Diodotus’ reign have emerged: the normal commissions with the image and name of Antiochus followed by a new type, with the figure of Zeus striding to the left hurling a thunderbolt, bearing Antiochus’ name but Diodotus’ portrait and royal diadem. Finally, we find issues similar to the second type, but bearing the name and portrait of Diodotus.1 Diodotus consolidated control by replacing one aspect in each new issue of coinage, which may have prevented many from noticing a transition from Seleucid to Greco-Bactrian rule. Later Greco-Bactrian rulers would continue this pattern of coinage, modeling their coinage after Diodotus’ designs. At the same time, the Greco-Bactrians continued using the “Attic standard,” a silver-based weight system for coins introduced by Seleucus.2

Diodotus II “only issued coins with his father’s portrait,” transplanting the practice from Greece.3 This demonstrates the Greco-Bactrian elites had not completely adapted to their new environment, with Diodotus II clinging onto a more Greek culture than his syncretic successor. After his short reign, Euthydemus I usurped the throne, founding the Euthydemid dynasty, which marked a shift in the foreign policy of Bactria from one of defending itself from the encroaching Seleucids to one of expansion into India.

Before the Euthydemids began their expansion into Northwestern India, Euthydemus repelled a Seleucid attempt to reconquer Bactria. Euthydemus celebrated his triumph by minting a Greek-style commemorative coin, suggesting the presence of Greek artisans and the preservation and localization of Greek minting techniques in Greco-Bactria.4Euthydemus’ coin started the Greco-Bactrian tradition of minting commemorative coins to celebrate the accomplishments of kings and their predecessors. Coins with differing depictions of the king, varying in levels of realism, suggests Greek coin-makers in the mints may have taken on apprentices to teach coin-artisanry. This cements the process of localization of minting practices and the development of a unique Greco-Bactrian identity.5

Euthydemus’ successor, Demetrius I, conquered Northwest India, after which he depicted himself with “an elephant scalp helmet,” starting a tradition of depicting headgear on Greco-Bactrian coinage.6 This addition demonstrated Demetrius’ new power base, representing his might by wearing a symbol of power from the region. Furthermore, Demetrius began the trend of bilingual Greek/Kharosthi coinage, which weighed less than the Attic standard, in order to integrate the local populations of his new territories, a feature otherwise unattested in Hellenistic coinage.7

Cupro-nickel coins minted by Euthydemus II also provide evidence that he expanded the kingdom into “Chinese Turkestan” as the Europeans did not use nickel until 1700 CE; ergo, Euthydemus localized the currency to the available metals.8 Yet again, the Greek elites localized their coinage and a stronger Greco-Bactrian identity formed. Pantaleon, a successor king in the Indian territories of Bactria, also adapted many Greek traditions by issuing coins on which Hekate holds two torches, whereas the reverse on Alexander the Great’s coins depicts an image of Zeus.9 Pantaleon and subsequent Indo-Greek rulers changed coin’s shape to a rectangle, with Greek on one side and Brahmi script on the obverse together with the foreign god Lakṣmī, highlighting the commitment to cultural syncretism.10 The implementation of rectangular and bilingual currency, the placement of a god from a different pantheon, and the depiction of more elephants to fit with the local culture’s assumptions on power reaffirms this notion.11

After seizing the throne from the Euthydemids in a civil war, Eucratides the Great continued the previous monarchy’s customs of bilingual coinage and depicted himself with an elite headpiece, the Boeotian helmet, and continued and altered the headgear worn to compare his own successes during the civil war to the conquests of Alexander the Great and his Boeotian cavalry detachment.12 Another change introduced by Eucratides was the usage of the uniquely Indian title “rajadirajasa,” a translation of his own title, on his bilingual coins. Through this, Eucratides indicated his commitment to and dominance over his Kharoshti subjects.13 Eucratides perpetuates the trend of gradual changes in Greco-Bactrian coinage started by Diodotus I, maintaining stability while adapting to the local culture.

After the collapse of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, Timarchus, the leader of one of the conquering Nomadic tribes, took Eucratides’ title of Great King and minted coins imitating Eucratides, unintentionally mimicking Diodotus I’s secession methods.14 Although Timarchus may or may not have known who Eucratides was, these post-collapse coins provide proof that Greco-Bactrian culture lived on through the nomads.15 In India, Asoka the Great erected several bilingual Greek and Prakit pillars to display regal messages, suggesting the presence of educated Greeks integrated into the local populations.16 These archaeological discoveries provide a substantial piece of evidence to the survival of a distinctive Greco-Bactrian culture.

The Greco-Bactrians who maintained control of the region respected the indigenous Bactrian culture, allowing the Greek and Bactrian cultures to form one distinctive culture. The coins, which years of archaeological discoveries have yielded, only seem to prove the mixture of these two cultures. Each ruler from Diodotus I to Eucratides the Great made gradual alterations to the coinage, producing a unique coin-making tradition that paralleled the development of the Greco-Bactrian culture, which the successors to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom preserved in their own coin minting techniques.

 

Figure 1. “Silver tetradrachm of Demetrios I, 16.51 g, 34 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Hollis Collection.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 472)

 

Figure 2. “Silver tetradrachm of Eukratides I, 16.67 g, 32 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oman 1947.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 472)

 

Figure 3. “Bronze coin of Pantaleon, 10.93 g, 21 x 22 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oman 1947.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 474)

 

Figure 4. “Bronze coin of Agathokles, 5.33 g, 21 x 14 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Short Bequest 1975.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 474)

 

Figure 5. “Silver ‘tetradrachm’ of Menander I, 9.53 g, 26 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Hollis Collection.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 480)

 

Figure 6. “Silver ‘tetradrachm’ of Menander I, 9.53 g, 26 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Hollis Collection.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 475)

 

Figure 7. “Silver ‘tetradrachm’ of Antialkidas, 9.86 g, 25 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Hollis Collection.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 475)

 

Figure 8. “Cupro-nickel coin of Agathokles, 8.08 g, 24 mm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Hollis Collection.” (Glenn, as cited by Mair 480)

 

Figure 9. “A so-called barbarian imitation of a coin issued by Eucratides.” (Holt, Lost World, 201)

 

Michael Pagano is a student in the Joint Degree Program of William & Mary and University of St. Andrews

 

Endnotes

  1. Sidky, Homayun, The Greek Kingdom of Bactria: From Alexander to Eucratides the Great. (University Press of America, 2000), 144.
  2. Sidky, 147.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Holt, Frank L. Lost World of the Golden King in Search of Ancient Afghanistan (University of California Press, 2012), 24.
  5. Sidky, 163.
  6. See Figure 1; Mairs, Rachel, and Glenn, Simon. “History from Coins.” The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World, (Routledge, London, 2021), 465-486.
  7. Sidky, 189.
  8. See Figures 5 and 8; Sidky, 176.
  9. Hekate does not appear on coinage anywhere else in the Hellenistic world; Glenn, as cited in Mairs “History from Coins.” The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World, 472-473.
  10. Glenn, as cited in Mairs “History from Coins.” The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World, 472-474.
  11. See Figures 6 and 7.
  12. See Figure 2; Glenn, as cited in Mairs “History from Coins.” The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World,  472.
  13. Translates from Kharosthi into King of Kings; Sidky, 220.
  14. Sidky, 225-226.
  15. See Figure 9.
  16. Mauryan king from 268-234 B.C.E.; Holt, 53; Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria the Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia, 102.

 

Works Cited

Holt, Frank Lee. Alexander the Great and Bactria the Formation of a Greek Frontier in Central Asia. Brill, 1995.

—. Lost World of the Golden King in Search of Ancient Afghanistan. University of California Press, 2012.

—. Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. University of California Press, 1999.

Mairs, Rachel, and Simon Glenn. “History from Coins.” The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World, Routledge, London, 2021, pp. 465–486.

Sidky, Homayun. The Greek Kingdom of Bactria: From Alexander to Eucratides the Great. University Press of America, 2000.

Pagano research