868 Lieut, Cunningham on Bactrian coins, [No. 105. 



king Apollodotus, the saviour." I have ventured to render the Bac- 

 trian Pali equivalent of Soteros, in a new way, which appears to me 

 to give the exact meaning of the Greek word. It will be seen that 

 at the foot of the initial letter, there is a stroke backwards, which, from 

 its occurrence in the name of Eucratidas, and in the word jOM<r«s«, 

 for the Sanskrit J'W^^, must be the letter R in composition, thus 

 making the word trd-datasa, or " of the giver of trdn (S. "^^f) safety," 

 i. e, " the saviour." In the field are two Bactrian Pali characters, 

 which I read as i and t ; the former of these is found only on this coin, 

 and on No. 2 of Colonel Stacy's new coins (see J. A. S. of Bengal 

 for April, 1839, p. 344,) which I will hereafter show to belong to the 

 family of Undopherras. 



This piece is of the same type as the well known round coins of Apol- 

 lodotus ; but it differs from them in being of inferior execution, in hav- 

 ing its legend disposed in three straight lines, instead of around the 

 piece, and in its monogramatic characters, the principal of which, 

 by its after occurrence on an undoubted Parthian coin of the fa- 

 mily of Undopherras, leads me to assign the mintage of this piece to 

 some place in Ariana, south of Bactria Proper and of the Indian 

 Caucasus, and to extend the rule of Apollodotus from the Paropamisus 

 to Patalene, and perhaps even to Barugaza, where we know that 

 his drachmas were current more than two hundred years afterwards. 



Various places have been assigned to Apollodotus in the list of 

 Bactrian princes, none of which have received any general assent ; and 

 as the only passages in which he is mentioned by ancient authors, give 

 no clue for fixing his proper rank amongst the kings of Bactria, we 

 must be content to see our way by the light glimmering 



" On narrow coins through dim cerulean rust," 

 which has led me to the conclusion, that Apollodotus was the son of 

 Eucratidas the great king ; this opinion, which I offer with much diffi- 

 dence, is founded upon the following facts : — 



First. — The common round drachmas of Apollodotus bear the title 

 of Philopater, which title M. Jacquet conjectured would declare his fa- 

 ther to have been of royal origin, for had he been in a private station, his 

 son would not have paid him so striking an honor. M. Raoul-Rochette 

 says, that this conjecture appears very plausible, and he adds, *' but there 

 is something more to be remarked here, which is, that on the coins of the 



