A Literary and Historical Atlas of Asia

by J. G. Bartholomew

Mongols.—In the thirteenth century the Mongols, led by the Chingiz Khan (1206-1227 A.D.), one of the greatest conquerors the world has known, subjugated practically all Asia with the exception of India. [Plate IV.] 4 is one of the rare coins attributed to Chingiz Khan, while [Plate IV.] 5 is a handsome dinar struck by Arghun, one of the earliest (1284-1295 A.D.) of the Persian line of Mongols (obverse, Mohammadan (Shia) creed and date, etc.; reverse, the Khan's titles, etc., in Mongol). Tamerlane (1369-1404 A.D.) (Timur Lang, Timur the Lame), a distant descendant of Chingiz Khan, is another great conqueror familiar to English readers through Marlowe and Gibbon. One of the coins struck by him, with the name of his nominal sovereign, Suyurghatmish, is figured on [Plate IV.] 6. [Plate IV.] 7 is a dirhem of his son and ultimate successor, Shah Rukh (1404-1447 A.D.), of a type (obverse, Mohammadan creed, with the names of the four orthodox Caliphs around the margin; reverse, titles) which was very popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. [Plate IV.] 8 is an early Ottoman coin struck by Mohammad I. (1402-1421 A.D.) at Brusa in 822 A.H. (1419 A.D.), of a type which served the Turks for some centuries.

Persia.—The earliest coins of the Shahs of Persia (e.g. [Plate IV.] 10, reverse of a silver coin of Ismail I. (1502-1524 A.D.) struck at Meshhed in 924 A.H. (1518 A.D.)) are of the type instituted by Shah Rukh to which they may be traced through the Shaibanid coinage; the later Persian coins are smaller and thicker ([Plate IV.] 12, mohur of the great conqueror Nadir Shah (1736-1747 A.D.)). [Plate IV.] 11, a gold tuman of Fath-Ali Shah (1797-1834 A.D.), the first Shah with whom England entered into diplomatic relations, is a remarkable fine product of the Persian mint. Nasir-al-Din (1848-1896 A.D.) instituted a mint on the European model in Teheran, and struck coins with his portrait (e.g. [Plate IV.] 13, a gold tuman), or the Lion and Sun, on the obverse and his titles on the reverse.

Bukhara.—The coins of the Emirs of Bukhara, now under Russian suzerainty, are mainly of gold (e.g. [Plate IV.] 9, a gold tila of the fanatical Haidar Tora, 1800-1826 A.D.).

Afghanistan.—The Emirs (Durrani and Barakzai) of Afghanistan, who became independent of Persia in the eighteenth century, adopted the standards and types of their Moghul contemporaries. A mint on the European model has recently been established in Kabul, and its coins are rapidly replacing older issues.

Bibliography.—O. Codrington, Musulman Numismatics (London, 1904); S. Lane-Poole, Mohammadan Dynasties (London, 1894); British Museum Catalogue of Oriental Coins, vols, i.-x.; British Museum Catalogue of Persian Coins, Shahs of Persia (1887); W. H. Valentine, Copper Coins of Modern Muhammadan States (London, 1911); M. Longworth Dames, Coins of the Durranis (Numismatic Chronicle, 1888); L. White King, Coins of the Barakzais (Numismatic Chronicle, 1896).

III.—COINS OF INDIA

Early Hindu Coins.—The earliest coins of India are square or oblong pieces of silver or copper punched with various symbols, the exact significance of which is not exactly known. They were probably made by money-changers or by the authority responsible for the purity of the coin. These pieces date from as early as the fourth century B.C. and circulated all over India ([Plate V.] 1). To a somewhat later date belong the coins of various native states in North India; these soon became profoundly influenced by the coinages of foreign invaders, and indeed it is only lately that the independent origin of coinage in India has been generally recognised ([Plate V.] 3, silver coin of the Kuninda king, Amoghabhuti, second century B.C.).

Foreign Invaders.—Early in the second century B.C., in the reign of Euthydemus, the Greeks of Bactria began to invade India. We possess coins of his son Demetrius, of the square Indian form with an Indian legend on the reverse, showing a compromise between the Greek and Indian methods of coinage. Henceforth the coins of his successors, many of whom are otherwise unknown to history, are bilingual ([Plate V.] 2, hemidrachm of Apollodotos I., c. 150 B.C.). Towards the end of the second century B.C. the Scythians invaded Bactria and India; their coins are imitated from those of their Greek predecessors, but are much inferior as works of art ([Plate V.] 4, silver coin of Azes I., c. 90 B.C.).

They were followed about the middle of the first century B.C. by the Kushans who founded a great empire in North-West India. The Kushan kings of whom the greatest was Kanishka, famed in Buddhist legend, have left a great wealth of gold and copper coins remarkable for the variety of deities (Zoroastrian, Greek, Hindu, and Buddha) depicted on their reverses ([Plate V.] 5, gold coin of Kanishka).

Andhras and Western Satraps.—During the first three centuries A.D. the Western Satraps, a dynasty of Scythic origin, ruled a powerful kingdom in Western India. Their coinage of silver, forming a long dated series, appears to be derived from hemidrachms of the Greek kings possibly influenced by Roman denarii ([Plate V.] 8, Damaghsada, c. 180 A.D.). Unique among India coinages is the lead coinage of the Andhras who ruled in Central and Southern India from the third century B.C. till they fell before the Satraps ([Plate V.] 7, Vilivayakura, c. 100 A.D.; reverse only).