696 Coins of Indian Buddhist Satraps. [No. 7. 



near that which may be assigned on numismatic evidence to the 

 coins ; viz. B. C. 90 to 60, that I should have no hesitation in iden- 

 tifying the elder Phraotes of Philostratu3 with, the Brahata of the 

 coins, if I felt as certain of the correctness of my readings, and as 

 sure of the authenticity of the Greek sophist's travels. But until 

 some better preserved specimens of these rare coins shall be found, 

 we must perhaps rest satisfied with the conjectural reading which I 

 have given. I will only add another guess that the name of the 

 satrap's father which certainly appears to begin with the two letters 

 O and ph may perhaps be Omphis which we know to have been the 

 name of the king of Taxila at the time of Alexander's invasion 

 of India.* 



Fig. 20. Eound copper coin of middle size, weighing 156 grains. 

 Common in Hazara and the Eawul Pindi district. 



Obverse. Horseman. Greek legend in tolerably good characters, 

 BA2IAE02 BA2IAEQN MErAAOY AZOY. 



" (Coin) of the king of kings, the great Azas." 



Monogram before the horse formed of the two native letters a 

 and gam. 



Beverse. Minerva Promachos to the right. In the field a Greek 

 monogram forming the syllable MIP, or MITP, and the Buddhist 

 monogram of Dharma surmounted by a star or sun, the symbol of 

 Buddha. Ariano Pali legend in bold and well formed characters. 

 Indravarma-putrasa Aspavarmasa strategasa jayantasa. 



" (Coin) of Indravarma's son, Aswayarma the victorious ge- 

 neral." t 



These coins are amongst the most important of the long and 

 interesting series of Indo- Grecian numismatics. The sovereign in 

 whose reign, they were issued, is the great Scythian Azas : but the 

 coins themselves were actually struck by a Hindu general, who, by 

 his use of the monogram of Dharma, declares that he was a Bud- 

 dhist, and by his assumption of the Greek title of Strategasa, 



* Ktesias (Persica-Fragm.) has a similar name amongst the Persians, which he 

 writes 'Ov6<paas. 



f My authority for assigning the value of rm to the compound letter which 

 occurs in both of these names, will be fully stated when I come to speak of the 

 coins of Kozala Kadaphes. 



