Oxford, 17th May, 1834.
MR. JAMES PRINSEP’S NOTES.
Considering the short space of time allowed to a traveller, in his rapid passage through a foreign country, for the pursuit of objects not immediately connected with his errand, and the disadvantages which his own disguise and the suspicions of the natives oppose to his search after the very rare relics of antiquity, which may have escaped destruction for twenty centuries in their country; considering, too, that the inhabitants are unable to appreciate the value of such objects, and mostly ignorant of the demand for them among inquisitive natives of the West, Lieut. Burnes may be deemed very successful in the store of coins he has brought back from the Punjab, and from the valley of the Oxus.
Of pure Bactrian coins he will be able to add at least three to the cabinets of Europe, upon one of which the name of Euthydemus is quite distinct; while of the Indo-Scythic, or subsequent dynasties, his store is so ample as to afford ten to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, besides those he takes to Europe; and among the latter is one coin of the dynasty which supplanted the Macedonian princes of Bactria, calculated to excite much curiosity among antiquarians.
I shall note the observations that occur to me regarding the whole of this collection of coins.
Plate III. Figs. 1. to 6.—These silver coins, tetradrachms, are known at once to be of Bactrian origin from the sitting figure of Hercules holding his club, on the reverse, much in the same posture as that of Jupiter on the Syro-Macedonian coins. The epigraphe on fig. 1., a valuable coin and in fine preservation, is ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΘΥΔΗΜ, or, “of king Euthydemus,” the third king of Bactria. The only coin of this monarch hitherto known in Europe, is described in Mionnet’s Description de Medailles Antiques. Pinkerton says it is a gold coin, having “two horsemen with Bactrian tiaras, palms, and long spears,” on the reverse; it is therefore quite different from the unique specimen before us.
Fig. 2. has the features of a different prince; the reverse is, however, similar to the last, and the three final letters of ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ are visible; as are ΗΜ, which can only form part either of ΕυθυδΗΜος, or of δΗΜητριος, his son.
Fig. 3., of which there is a duplicate, is of a similar nature; the features corresponding with No. 1. or Euthydemus. There are two others of still ruder fabrication, distinguished by a more projecting forehead, (Nos. 4. and 5.); they are illegible on the reverse.
Fig. 6. One of two silver tetradrachms. These are more like Arsacidan coins, the stool on which the figure on the reverse sits having the form of those depicted in Vaillant: although the connection with the foregoing coins is very strong, the headdress and formal curls appertain to the Persian monarchs. The inscription is in the Pehlevi character, some of the letters resembling badly executed Greek.
Fig. 8. This is a coin of Antiochus, probably struck in Parthia, from the figure of the javelin-thrower.