1836.] Memoir on the Ancient Coins of Beg hr dm. 17 



tides of twenty-four years, if our calculation thereof be conceded; but 

 when we find the principal scenes of the military operations of these 

 princes were in India, joined with other circumstances, as well as the dis- 

 covery of the coins of Antimachus, the probability appears to be that 

 they ruled originally, as before advanced, in the regions immediately north 

 and south of the Indian Caucasus. Euthydemus, a monarch of great 

 capacity, would appear to have been fortunate in his sons, (possibly by 

 various mothers, for polygamy was a vice, according to Curtius, that 

 the Greeks adopted from the barbarians,) by whose means he extended 

 his territories, and greatly increased the dignity of the Bactrian empire. 

 It may be supposed that he apportioned his empire amongst his sons, 

 allowing them to retain the countries they had individually subjected: 

 thus we may account for the kingdom of Demetrius in Arachosia ; for 

 that of Apollodotus and Menander in Bactriana Latior and the regions 

 south of the Caucasus ; and we may perhaps be allowed to consider Anti- 

 machus as the eldest son and successor of his father in Bactriana 

 proper. . That this distribution of power was agreeable to the parties 

 concerned, we may conjecture, when, in absence of direct information, 

 there are grounds for belief that no war originated between them. The 

 epoch of Antimachus cannot, we suspect, were only the excellence of 

 his coins adduced, be dated posterior to that of Eucratides; after whose 

 death, the knowledge of Grecian arts and sciences may naturally be 

 supposed to have declined: indeed the copper coins of Eucratides 

 himself, although a powerful monarch, exhibit a striking inferiority of 

 execution, compared with those of Euthydemus, which the coins of 

 Antimachus rival. We may suppose the reign of Euthydemus to 

 have been the most brilliant of the Bactrian monarchy, or that in which 

 the Grecian arts were most cultivated and flourishing. 



1 amnotallowed to place Antimachus prior to Apollodotus ; fori have 

 shewn how strong are the latter prince's claims to be considered the foun- 

 der of Euthydemia, which, if admitted, decide him to have been the son 

 of Euthydemus. Neither can we place him subsequent to Menander, 

 because we have indubitable proof that Eucratides, by some means or 

 other, succeeded Menander, in the rule of the countries dependent on 

 Bactria ad Caucasum : had Antimachus governed there, his coins would 

 certainly have been found at Beghrdm, with those of Euthydemus, who 

 must have preceded him, and of Eucratides, who must have followed 

 him, and in common with those of Apollodotus and Menander. Nei- 

 ther did he succeed Menander in the sovereignty of his Indian con- 

 quests ; for then, his coins would have exhibited Indian characters on 

 the reverses, rather than Bactrian ones: there can be no doubt but that 

 the coins of Antimachus are genuine Bactrians. Convinced that 



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