1852.] Note on some Sculptures found in Peshawar, 613 



Now whether the Diodotus mentioned on the coin be the first or 

 second of the name (if there was a second) still this coin proves that 

 Agathocles must have been anterior to Euthydemus, for Polybius makes 

 the latter found his claim to the favourable consideration of Antiochus 

 on the fact that he had expelled the descendants of the original leaders 

 of the Bactrian revolt. Bat Euthydemus was found by Antiochus 

 firmly seated on the Bactrian throne, at a date not later than 210 

 B. C. and as from the tolerably frequent occurrence of the coins of 

 Agathocles, there is reason to suppose he had a reign of some duration, 

 and as the reign of Pantaleon, though probably a short one, must have 

 also preceded that of Euthydemus, it seems likely that the reign of 

 Agathocles and his dynasty commenced not later than 225 B. C. 



I now proceed to shew that there is reason to believe that it was 

 this dynasty of Agathocles which completed the expulsion of the 

 Maurya dynasty from their Trans-Indus provinces. 



As Demetrius is the first king mentioned as having dominions in 

 India proper, it is fair to suppose that Agathocles, now known to be 

 his predecessor, can only have reigned north of the Indus. 



The use However of the square " lath" character on the coins of 

 this latter king and Pantaleon, is evidence that he must have reigned 

 where it was in familiar use. 



Now there is abundant evidence to shew that this character was 

 not the indigenous alphabet of the countries Trans-Indus. 



It is never used on the coins of any other of the earlier Greek kings 

 of Bactria, many of whom reigned not only north of the Indus, but 

 far to the southward of that river. 



Again while the edicts of Allahabad, Dehli, &c. are published in 

 the " lath" character, the contemporary edict of Kapur di Giri is pub- 

 lished in the Bactrian Pali. 



Other evidence might be adduced, but it is, I think, a proposition 

 hardly likely to be gainsaid, that the Bactro-Pali alphabet was indigenous 

 north of the Indus, while the square " lath" character was the charac- 

 ter universally in use in central India, and that both were contemporane- 

 ously flourishing from a period of at least 300 B. C. to about 100 B. C. 



To account therefore for the use of the "lath" alphabet on the coins 

 of kings who reigned where it was not indigenous, it is necessary to 

 seek for some extraordinary reason. 



4 i 2 



