872 Lieut. Cunningham on Bactrian coins. [No. 105. 



true coins and counterfeits;" hence we may easily discern that this 

 coin is a forgery, although an ancient one, for it was found amongst 

 a heap of rusty pieces of copper, completely covered with indurated 

 clay, and as no price was given for it, it is certain that it is not 

 a forgery of modern manufacture ; for where no money return was 

 expected, there could be no inducement to go to the expence and trouble 

 of making a false coin. The plating of the edges and of the letters is 

 now worn off, and the letters appear sunk in the copper, amid the silver 

 plating. The piece is of good Grecian workmanship, and is similar in 

 all respects to the tetradrachms of Antimachus, already known. 



Obverse. Head of the king in the Macedonian helmet to the right, 

 the ends of the diadem floating behind the head. 



Reverse. The figure of Neptune standing to the front, holding 

 in his right hand a trident, and in his left a palm branch. Legend 

 in two lines /Sao-iXeQS Qi^ov ANTIMA)(^ov ; " (coin of the king) 

 Antimachus (theus).'* Monogram in the field composed probably of the 

 same letters XO, which appear on the tetradrachm belonging to 

 Colonel Taylor, the British Resident at Bagdad. The same monogram 

 with a square □ occurs frequently on the coins of Azes. M. Raoul- 

 Rochette remarks upon the coins of this prince, that the titles 

 of Theus and of Nicephorus, were both borne by Antiochus, 4th 

 Epiphanes, and also that the figure of Victory found on the com- 

 mon drachmas of Antimachus was a type known on the coins of 

 the same Syrian prince, from which remarkable coincidences, he justly 

 concludes that the Bactrian prince Antimachus must have flourished at 

 the same time as the Syrian king Antiochus, 4th Epiphanes, or about 

 170 B. c, and from the total absence of his coins in the classic ruins 

 of Beghram, he deduces that Antimachus must have reigned north 

 of the Caucasus. In all these observations, which are as just as they 

 are acute, I most willingly concur ; but I cannot say that I perceive 

 even the faintest resemblance between the tetradrachms of Antimachus 

 and those of Heliocles, although the same able numismatist has observed 

 a strong likeness. M. Raoul-Rochette likewise supposes that the type of 

 Neptune on the reverse, probably alludes to some naval victory, where 

 Antimachus may have assisted Antiochus of Syria; which event he 

 thinks is still further declared by the type of Victory found on the 

 common drachmas of this prince. 



