1835.] Gen. Ventura, Dr. Gerard, and Syed Kerdmat Alt. 343 



Figs. 12, 13, 14, — belong to a series of coins sui generis : the two first are of the 

 Ventura collection, the third from Masson's plates. The head fills the obverse, 

 while the title in corrupt Greek surrounds a well executed horse on the reverse. 

 It is probable that all the horse coins belong to one locality : Bactria was famous 

 for its fine breed of this noble animal ; but he is generally represented mouated by 

 a warrior. This coin, and No. 8, are the only ones on which ne appears naked. 

 The extended arm of the prince on the obverse is a point of agreement with 

 the common coin, fig. 25 of PI. XXI II. 



Plates XXII., XXIII. Azos. 



We now come to a series of coins exceedingly numerous, and of 

 various device, bearing the name of a prince altogether unknown to 

 history. It was from a coin presented by Munshi Mohan Lal, (Dr. 

 Gerard's companion de voyage,) to Dr. J. Grant, that I first recog- 

 nized the name of this sovereign, many of whose coins had passed 

 through my hands before in Lieutenant Burnes' collection, and in 

 Masson's plates, without presenting a legend sufficiently distinct to be 

 decyphered. General Ventura's collection also possessed many very 

 distinct coins of Azos, and his name either in Greek or in Pehlevi was 

 thence traced through a series of coins that had been given to other 

 monarchs. 



The title of Azos is always BA2IAEH2 BASlAEfiN MErAAOr AzOr. i a 

 Pehlevi Va9 T^lu Timlin. Tlllu malakdo, kakkdo, maldko, Ajo t 

 or Ayo. The name is generally set upright under the device both in 

 Greek and Pehlevi ; but an occasional exception occurs, as in fig. 12, 

 where it runs continuously with the rest of the marginal legend. None 

 of the coins of Azos bear his head, nor in general have they his 

 effigy, unless the seated figure in figs. 12 and 13, represent him, as is 

 probahly the case, seated on a cushioned throne, with a sceptre on his 

 lap. The mode of sitting, it should be remarked, is entirely oriental, 

 and the animals depicted are such as belong peculiarly to the East, the 

 elephant, the Brahmany bull, the lion, and the Bactrian camel. The 

 cyphers or symbols on the reverse of these coins seem evidently 

 compounded of Pehlevi letters, on the same principle as those of the 

 more genuine Greek coins, from Greek letters ; they may probably 

 denote dates, but it will require much labour to establish this point, 

 and the same symbol appearing on coins of very different devices, as 

 on figs. 2 and 11, rather militates against the supposition. 



It is a peculiarity of the coinage of this period, that the pieces were 

 of a very debased metal, washed over with silver somewhat in the 

 manner of the coins of the Roman Emperor Gallienus and his 

 successors, and denominated " billion" by numismatologists. Is it 

 possible that the scarcity of silver to which the origin of this species of 

 coin has been attributed in the West, had extended even to India ? 



