________________
218
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
-
II. Didrachmæ, circular
Var. 1. Obv.
Var. 2. Obv. Legends and
reverse device as on hemidrachmæ. (Gardner, p. 44.) These didrachme are very rare. I secured a specimen of the bare-headed variety, which is now, with all the choice coins of my small collection, in Paris.
Bust of king, helmeted. 1 specimen. Bust of king, bare-headed. 8 specimens.
Antimachos Nikephoros.
[SEPTEMBER, 1904.
Hemidrachmæ, circular. 20 specimens -
Obr. Nike to 1.; holds palm and wreath, BAZIAEO NIKH@OPOY ANTIMAXOY.
Rev. King, helmeted, on horseback, to r. Kharōshthi legend, Mahārajasa jayadharasa Antimakhasa. (Gardner, p. 55, pl. xiii., 3.)
Summary.
1. Eukratides
2. Apollodotos Sōtēr
3. Menander
4. Antimachos Nikephoros ...
...
...
3
33 (34)
40
204 (21)
Total
It is, of course, possible that the number of coins found may have been larger than the number recovered. The hoard was divided, under orders of Government, among the cabinets of various public institutions and private collectors.
...
98
Eukratides was undoubtedly the earliest of the four kings whose coins are represented, and, in my opinion, the date of his accession may be assumed as B. C. 175. He reigned about twenty years, when he was murdered by one of his sons, while returning from a successful struggle with Demetrios, "king of the Indians." I agree with the view ably supported by Cunninghaft (Num. Chron. 1869, pp. 241-243) that Apollodotos was the parricide, and further agree with him in regarding Apollodotos Sōter and Apollodotos Philopator as one person. The British Museum Catalogue distinguishes them as two separate kings, although many of the coin legends include both titles. The murder of Eukratides, and the accession of Apollodotos to independent power in the Indian borderland, may be dated in B. C. 156.
Menander was king of Kabul. His invasion of India may be dated with a near approach to accuracy in the years B. C. 155-153, during the reign of Pushyamitra Bunga.
The position of Antimachos Nikephoros is uncertain, and there is nothing definite to show whether he lived earlier or later than Menander.
Sufficiently good evidence warrants the belief that in the eourse of his invasion Menander besieged both Madhyamika (now Nagari) in Rajputana and Saketa in Southern Qudh, and that he threatened Pataliputra. If Antimachos Nikephoros was earlier in date than Menander, it is possible that the Pachkhura hoard may have been brought into the interior by some member of Menander's army. Bactrian coins have never been discovered to the south of the Jamna on any other occasion. The coins of all the four kings were in good condition, and many of the specimens were fine.
1 The authorities for the invasion of Menander will be discussed in my forthcoming work, The Early History of India, which will be published by the Clarendon Press in October.
