1840. J Notes on Captain Hay's Bactrian coins, 533 



ambitious title, to a second Eucratides; the son, successor, and mur- 

 derer of Eucratides the First — thus giving the first class, with the 

 bare diademed head and the simpler title, to Eucratides the murdered 

 Prince. But that Eucratides the Great, was the murdered prince, 

 and not the murderer, we may infer from the language of Justin 

 (lib. 42, c. 6) who, speaking of Mithridates the Parthian, and of Eucra- 

 tides the murdered prince of Bactria, calls them both "great men" — 

 We have also the testimony afforded by the small square copper 

 coin of Eucratides, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal for November, 1836, which gives the title of " Great" to the 

 bare-headed and diademed prince, and proves that this creation of a 

 second Eucratides is without any foundation. The existence of a 

 second Eucratides is, besides, no where mentioned in ancient history ; 

 but the supposition that there were two princes of this name, first 

 started, I believe by Bayer, has been gradually gaining strength, until 

 by the knowledge of these marked distinctions in the coins bearing the 

 name of Eucratides, it has been almost universally believed. Fortu- 

 nately for the cause of true history, we know from Dr. Lord's beauti- 

 ful coin (published in the Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal for July, 

 1838) that Eucratides the Great king with the helmed head was the 

 son of Heliocles and Laodice : and therefore it follows almost conclusive- 

 ly, that Eucratides the king, and Eucratides the Great king, were one 

 and the same person. It is however quite in accordance with Grecian 

 custom, that the son of Heliocles should have been called Eucratides, 

 after his grandfather : but that the father of Heliocles, even supposing 

 he had been named Eucratides, was a king of Bactria, is highly im- 

 probable. On the same grounds of different types and epithets exist- 

 ing on coins bearing the same prince's name, we might create two 

 Menanders, double Heliocles and Hermceus, and multiply Azes into 

 at least a dozen princes. 



No. 3. This coin may be at once seen to belong to Azes, and is 

 a very bad specimen of the commonest type of the coins of that 

 prince. I have seen at least one hundred coins of this very type ; 

 and three engravings of the same are to be found in the Bengal 

 Asiatic Society's Journal, vol. 4, pi. 22, figs. 1, 2, 3 ; one of the 

 same type is likewise figured from a miserable specimen in the 

 7th number of the Numismatic Journal of London, pi. 3. fig. 34 ; 



