1834.] discovered at Beghram in Kdbul. 157 



it is not unlikely that the parricidal act was followed by anarchy and 

 the dismemberment of many of his provinces ; — the absence of his coins 

 at Beghram would seem to countenance such an opinion, and the 

 distracted state of his affairs was probably favorable to the inroads of 

 the Getse, who destroyed his empire. 



The coins of the kings of the regular Bactrian dynasty are of excel- 

 lent workmanship, and have monograms or eras, from which an accu- 

 rate estimation of their reigns may, it is hoped, be adduced. The 

 inscriptions or legends of the reverses are invariably Pehlevi, which 

 proves it to have been the current language of these countries at the 

 period of the Macedonian conquests. The Greeks, as conquerors, inserted 

 on the obverses, their own characters, and by them we recognize their 

 princes, after a lapse of twenty centuries. Under the auspices of the 

 present viceroy of India, the English language seems likely to become 

 generally known throughout the eastern empire ; and should this splen- 

 did purpose be effected, at some remote period, when the natural 

 revolutions of political authority may have placed the natives of India 

 under their own government, or that of other conquerors, they may still 

 retain a fond and grateful remembrance of their former rulers, while 

 they cherish their language and literature. 



Class, Grecian — Series No. 2. Coins of ANTIAAKIAOS ««^AT2I02 

 These coins I have classed as a distinct series, and introduced them 

 here, because independently of the beards, which are not borne by the 

 Bactrian kings, or by the early monarchs of the Nysasan dynasty, it is 

 impossible to allow that the sovereigns were Grecian, both from their 

 names and epithets — wh'de the fine execution of the coins, and the pure 

 Greek characters of the legends, seem to place them at a period syn- 

 chronous or nearly so with the Bactrian monarchs. The conical 

 emblems on the coins of antiaakiaos we fortunately detect by a single 

 specimen to have been also adopted by Eucratides ; and this circum- 

 stance establishes a connection, if merely that of descent or succession. 

 My opinion of these coins is, that they belong to princes of an inferior 

 dynasty, who ruled in the mountainous districts of Caucasus, consequent 

 to the destruction of the Bactrian empire, and until their subjugation 

 by the Nysaean rulers. Their metropolis may have been Alexandria ad 

 Caucasum. In the districts where that city is naturally to be looked 

 after, viz. in the Kohistan of Kabul, we find every indication that a 

 capital has existed, which has varied its position and name, in much the 

 same manner as Babylon. These coins have fortunately monograms, 

 which may contribute to their better explanation. 



Class, Grecian— Series No. 3. Coins of ArAGOKAHS, riANTAAEnN, &c. 



This singular description of coins fortunately presents us with the 



name of the princes, although we are denied the satisfaction of beholding 



