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Kushan Tetradrachm
bronzemat
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I know these are fairly common but for some reason I liked this one and it was priced right.
Kushans, Vima Taktu ("Soter Megas”) (80 - 100 A.D.)
Æ Tetradrachm
O: No legend. Diademed, radiate bust right, holding scepter; behind, tamgha; 12 rays above head.
R: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWNCWTHP MEΓAC ("King of Kings, the Great Savior"). Horseman right, holding whip; before, tamgha.
20mm
9.09g
MACW 2935 ("Taxila series").
The actual name of the Kushan king called by the epithet "Soter Megas"("Great Savior") on his coins was unknown until the 1993 discovery of an inscription at Rabatak in Afghanistan, written by the Kushan king Kanishka. The Rabatak inscription lists the lineage of Kushan kings who had ruled up to that time: his great-grandfather Kujula Kadphises; his grandfather, Vima Taktu, his father, Vima Kadphises; and himself, Kanishka. Mention is seemingly also made of Vima Taktu in the Chinese chronicle Hou Hanshu, in relation to his father, Kujula Kadphises:
“Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [apparently Vima Taktu] became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [northwestern India] and installed generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang[Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi”.
Sequential (annual?) issues have been defined in the literature by counting the number of rays around the king's head, more rays being earlier and fewer rays being later.
Kushans, Vima Taktu ("Soter Megas”) (80 - 100 A.D.)
Æ Tetradrachm
O: No legend. Diademed, radiate bust right, holding scepter; behind, tamgha; 12 rays above head.
R: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWNCWTHP MEΓAC ("King of Kings, the Great Savior"). Horseman right, holding whip; before, tamgha.
20mm
9.09g
MACW 2935 ("Taxila series").
The actual name of the Kushan king called by the epithet "Soter Megas"("Great Savior") on his coins was unknown until the 1993 discovery of an inscription at Rabatak in Afghanistan, written by the Kushan king Kanishka. The Rabatak inscription lists the lineage of Kushan kings who had ruled up to that time: his great-grandfather Kujula Kadphises; his grandfather, Vima Taktu, his father, Vima Kadphises; and himself, Kanishka. Mention is seemingly also made of Vima Taktu in the Chinese chronicle Hou Hanshu, in relation to his father, Kujula Kadphises:
“Qiujiuque [Kujula Kadphises] was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yangaozhen [apparently Vima Taktu] became king in his place. He defeated Tianzhu [northwestern India] and installed generals to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang[Kushan] king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi”.
Sequential (annual?) issues have been defined in the literature by counting the number of rays around the king's head, more rays being earlier and fewer rays being later.
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EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
<< <i>Bronzemat - do you have a link to the original Chinese text? The anglicized spelling of some of these proper nouns is throwing me. (I have access to an entire family of well educated Chinese people. And, Mandarin is my birth language so oftentimes it is easier for me to hear the words in their original than to have it translated even into English.)
EVP >>
Honestly, no, this type of coin is out of my comfort zone of roman and greek ancients so I know very little other then what dealers and wiki tells me.
I have been trying to make 2015 a year "broaden my horizons" so to speak.
NiceCurrency: I think that is a spot on observation. The reverse with the horse and circular inscription definitely has a Bactrian look to it while the obverse looks almost like Roman Provincial Greek.
Neat.