A Literary and Historical Atlas of Asia. J. G. Bartholomew
TIMES (700 B.C.) TO THE PRESENT DAY
By J. ALLAN, M.A., M.R.A.S.
Of the Department of Coins, British Museum
The coins of Asia from the earliest times may be conveniently reviewed in the following geographical and chronological sections: I. Ancient coins of Western and Central Asia (to the rise of Islam, excluding the majority of Greek and Roman coins which have no claim to be Asiatic); II. Mohammadan coins of Western and Central Asia; III. Coins of India (Hindu and Mohammadan); IV. Coins of the Far East; V. Coins struck by European nations for their Asiatic possessions.
I.—ANCIENT COINS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIA
Origin of Coinage in Lydia.—According to Herodotus (I. 94) the Lydians were the first people to strike coins of gold and silver, while other writers attribute the invention of coinage to Pheidon, king of Argos, who struck coins in Aegina. The truth appears to be that gold, or rather electrum, was first coined in Lydia in the seventh century B.C., while silver was first minted in Aegina about the same time. The earliest Lydian coins are believed to have been issued in the time of Gyges, king of Lydia (687–652 B.C.). These are rude oval pieces of electrum, a natural mixture of gold and silver found locally, and are stamped on one side only (Plate I. 1). The uncertain value of this metal was found an embarrassment to commerce, and Croesus (561–546 B.C.), under whose rule Lydia became a great and wealthy power, introduced a coinage of pure gold and of pure silver, ten staters of silver being equal to one of gold (Plate I. 2, gold stater).
Persia.—When Cyrus conquered Lydia in 546 B.C., the Persians, who, like the Assyrians, had no coined money, became acquainted with the art of coinage. It is not certain when the Persians began to issue coins, but from the statement of Herodotus that Darius Hystaspis (521–486 B.C.) coined gold of the finest quality, and the probable etymology of "daric" from Darius, the beginning of the Achaemenid coinage is placed in his reign; it is most probable that it was at Sardes in Lydia that Darius first struck his coins, as there he would be most likely to find skilled artificers. The coins of the Persian empire were the daric of gold about equal in value to the stater of Croesus (or rather more than an English sovereign in metal value) and the siglos (shekel) of which twenty were the equivalent of a daric. The types were the same on each coin, viz., on the obverse, the Persian King in a half-kneeling position holding a bow in his left hand and a spear in his right, while the reverse still had no type but only a rough incuse caused in striking the coins (Plate I. 3, daric). These two coins remained the official coinage of the Persian empire till its fall. The conquered Greek cities were not allowed to strike gold, but the issue of silver and copper by them was not interfered with; in addition certain Persian satraps were allowed to issue silver coins bearing their own names.
Phoenicia.—In spite of their commercial activity, the Phoenician cities of the Mediterranean coast did not begin to strike coins until comparatively late times, the end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth centuries B.C. We possess extensive silver coinages of the fourth century for most of these cities, those of Tyre and Sidon being particularly important. The tetradrachms of Tyre have as types, a dolphin or the god Melkart riding on a sea-horse and an owl with crook and flail, Egyptian symbols of royalty (Plate I. 4, c. 410–332 B.C.). The double shekels of Sidon bear on the obverse a galley with sails or rowers often before a walled city, and on the reverse the suzerain king of Persia in a chariot (Plate I. 5, c. 400–384 B.C.).
Imitations of Athenian coins.—The coins of Athens circulated very widely in the ancient world, particularly in Central Asia, where imitations of them were made when the Athenian mint could no longer supply the demand (Plate I. 6, imitation of Athenian tetradrachm). On some of these imitations the owl was replaced by an eagle, while Athenian influence can still be traced in the remarkably neat coins of Sophytes (Plate I. 11, reverse, cock), whom Alexander found reigning on the North-West Indian frontier on his march across it in 326 B.C.
Alexander III., the Great.—When the Persian empire fell before Alexander the Great his coins became current throughout Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Indus, and profoundly influenced all later coinages. His gold coins (the stater, with its multiple the distater and its sub-divisions) have on the obverse a head of Athena, and on the reverse a winged Victory with the king's name; the silver (drachm, with multiples and subdivisions) has on the obverse a head of the young Herakles in lion-skin, and reverse, Zeus seated on throne holding eagle and sceptre (Plate I. 7). Tetradrachms bearing Alexander's name and types continued to be struck for a century and a half after his death, and they are at the present day the commonest of ancient coins.
Seleucid Kings of Syria.—We possess an extensive series of coins of the Seleucid kings of Syria, the dynasty founded by Seleucus Nikator (312–280 B.C.), the general of Alexander who succeeded to his Asiatic heritage. The earliest Seleucid coins (before 306 B.C.) retained the name and types of Alexander, but soon a greater variety of types was adopted, while the king's head began to appear regularly on the obverse. The Seleucid coins are remarkable for the unique series of portraits they give us. One of the commonest types of the Seleucid series has the king's head on the obverse, and a seated Apollo with bow and arrow on the reverse (Plate I. 8, gold stater of Antiochus I., 280–266 B.C.; Plate I. 10, silver tetradrachm of Antiochus IV., 175–166 B.C.).
Bactria.—About the middle of the third century B.C. the empire founded by Seleucus began to break up. A line of kings was founded in Bactria by Diodotos, a revolted satrap, whose independence Antiochus II. had to acknowledge. The earlier coins of these kings, who afterwards crossed into India and gradually lost their Hellenism, present some of the finest examples of portraiture on Greek coins (Plate I. 9, gold stater of Diodotos I., c. 250 B.C.).
Judaea.—Among the smaller kingdoms who became independent of the Seleucids in the second century B.C. may be mentioned that of the Jews. Certain shekels, bearing on the obverse a chalice with the legend "shekel of Israel," and on the reverse a branch with three buds and the legend "Jerusalem the Holy" (Plate II. 1), have been attributed to Simon Maccabaeus (143–135 B.C.), but they may belong to the First Revolt (66–70 A.D.).
Parthia.—About the same period, the great Parthian kingdom was founded in Central Asia and lasted till 220 A.D. The Parthian coinage is of silver (drachms and tetradrachms) and bronze. Although Parthian drachms are at the present day one of the most extensive of ancient coinages, their classification is exceedingly difficult on account of our ignorance of Parthian history, and the fact that the coins do not bear the name of the issuer but of Arsakes, the founder of the dynasty. The silver drachms bear on the obverse the portrait of the reigning king, and on the reverse the first king Arsakes seated holding a bow, with a legend in Greek characters which is at first simply (coin of) "the king Arsakes" (Plate II. 2, drachm of Mithridates I. the Great, 171–138 B.C.), but gradually increases in length till a century later it assumes the form (coin of) "the king of kings Arsakes, the just, the illustrious, the beneficent, the friend of the Greeks," which remains the usual legend. Tetradrachms with similar legends were also struck in large numbers; their usual reverse type is the Parthian king seated, receiving a wreath from the goddess of Victory or from a City goddess (Plate II. 3, tetradrachm of Phraates IV., 38–3 B.C.). After the reign of Phraates IV. the coins are dated