1840.] Note on the Bameean Coins. 71 



corresponds witli the early, and pure Greek types." He goes on to sug- 

 gest that could " May us," be read with the third letter as a gamma it 

 might denote the union of the office of chief priest with that of king, 

 and identify the holder of the title with Menander, or Demetrius, on the 

 authority of the elephant's head found on the coins of both those 

 monarchs, and prominently exhibited on the one under consideration. 

 The exact similarity of the upper Demetrius in the possession of Capt. 

 Hay to this coin of a supposed, " Mayus," in all except the name of 

 the monarch, inclines me strongly to believe that MAYOY, which 

 in the first-found coin holds the place of the AEMHTPIOY of 

 Capt. Hay's, is merely a synonym, a title, or attributive epithet, 

 whereby the prince was so particularly distinguished as to induce his con- 

 temporaries to mention him, and even allow his coin to be struck, under 

 that appellation alone. 



Under the strong impression of this idea, I turned to examine the 

 opinion of critics of more authority, and found (Journal des Savans, 

 Mai, 1836,) that my own conception had been anticipated in favour of 

 another Bactrian prince, Apollodotus, by Mons. de Raoul Rochette, in a 

 singularly ingenious paper on this " Mayus" coin. 



"All," says this able critic, "is extraordinary, and all new as regards 

 this medal; another specimen of which I know not the existence of, 

 nor at least do I know that it has been noted, described, or published. 

 The workmanship is quite peculiar, and belongs to a Greek sera of some 

 remoteness : the form and proportion of the letters indeed unite in 

 assigning to it a manufacture at least contemporary with the reign of 

 Apollodotus. The elephant's head, being a symbol used on the coin of 

 Menander and Apollodotus, suits the assumption well enough, and in 

 this instance, I observe that the bell, which may be seen suspended from 

 the elephant's head is a peculiarity presented to us also by the little 

 bronze of Menander, published by me, but (which peculiarity) I omitted 

 observing on it. In making up for this omission, I would say, that the 

 bell is always seen, even on Roman denarii, hung to the elephant's head, 

 which forms one of the symbols of the Caecilia family, nor need I except 

 the similar head, serving as ornament to the Macedonian buckler-symbol 

 on the coins of Metallus Macedonicus. This peculiarity which escaped 

 Eckhel, has been carefully brought to notice by M. Cavedoni. 



" But the circumstance of most importance offered by our medal, one 

 which makes it a sort of numismatic problem, is the legend, the name 

 of the kiny Mayus, of a form so foreign to the Grecian language in- 

 scribed on so purely Greek a relic,— a name elsewhere so completely 

 unknown, the place of which wc know not how to establish by the aid of 



