Vol. X, No. 11.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXIV. 487 



[N.S.] 



the billon coins (a mixture of silver and copper) of the 

 Pathan Sultans of Dehll were current. 



(2) They form the first State coinage, if they are really 

 what they are taken to be, viz., Staters of Croesus. The 

 wealth of Croesus was well known and the power of Lydia 

 before its overthrow in 546 B.C., would be such as to win 

 general respect for its coinage. In addition to this, they were 

 a great improvement on the former electrum coins. 



On the fall of the Lydian kingdom the Persian Darics (or 

 Staters) and Sigloi (or Drachms) took the place of the Lydian 

 coins in Asiatic commerce. The Persian Daric was a few 

 grains heavier than the Babylonian Stater of Croesus. The 

 device on my coin, the lion in opposition to the bull, is sup- 

 posed by G. F. Hill to be connected with the cult of the Ana- 

 tolian Mother Goddess. This motive is common in the art of 



the Near East. 



It is perhaps rash to conjecture how such a coin reached 

 India, but the find-place, Mari on the Indus, is suggestive. 

 Mari is situated on the left bank of the river, a few miles 

 south of Kalabagh (which is on the right bank), where the 

 road from JhTlam and Rawal Pindi crosses the river. About 

 forty miles south of this place is Isakhel, where the Kurram 

 and Tochi Rivers join the Indus, each descending from passes, 

 which are very little known. 1 These rivers connect India with 

 Afghanistan, the former leading to Kabul and the latter to 

 Ghazni. They are very difficult and little known, but may 

 have served as trade routes in earlier times. More significant 

 is the fact the Kalabagh is conjectured to be the northern 

 boundary of the old Persian satrapy in India, which stretched 



thence southwards the sea. a 



As the coin appears to be in good condition, there is no 

 reason whv it should not have been brought into India previ- 



ous to Alexan 



sand 



until recent times. It may be that one of the first gold coins 

 ever issued had passed into the hands of an Indian and was 

 hoarded, to be re-discovered within the boundaries of the old 

 Indian satrapy after !'500 years, as the craze for hoarding 

 gold in India is one of remote antiquity. ; 



Croesus was the son and successor of Allyatte3, ^during 

 whose reign Lydia was at the apogee of her power. Croesus 

 attaoked the Greek cities of Ionia and Aetolia and subdued 

 all of them except Miletus. The Dorian cities of Caria were 

 also forced to submit and the empire of Croesus extended from 

 the Halys to the Aegean. The fall of the Lydian dynasty was 

 due to the rise of the Achaemenidae of Persia. Cyrus, the 

 Persian, overthrew Astyages, King of Media, who had 



tomas Holditch, " Gates of India," p. ^12. 



Smith, "Early History of India." 2nd edition, p. 34. 



