Dr. Moore's Lost Tribes. 



333 



on coins having Nanajah or JSTanaia on them, Professor Wilson, in 

 his " Antiqua Ariana" traces the use of the term in a religious sense 

 to Armenia, but he does not give us its meaning." 



I have turned to the Antiqua Ariana, and will now prove by ex- 

 tracts from its pages what Professor Wilson really does say. At p. 

 14 speaking generally of the coins of the Kanerkes type he ob- 

 serves :— " The legends on these coins, written in a barbarised form 

 of Greek, were completely decyphered by Mr. Prinsep ; on the re- 

 verse occurred Greek or Hellenised native names of the Sun and 

 Moon, as Helios, Mithro, Mao, &c, and frequently the term Na- 

 naia." I need scarcely point out that Prinsep and Wilson did not 

 fail to recognise the familiar effigies of the Sun and Moon, and that 

 they did not consider the word Helios to " have no meaning in 

 Greek." 



At p. 359 of the Antiqua Ariana Professor Wilson says : 



" Upon the reverse of some of the coins we find the legend Helios, 

 HAIOS. It must be granted that the terms Helios and Mithro 

 indicate the relinquishment of all conformity to the Indian system 

 of belief which prevailed under Kadphises, as shown by the types on 

 his coins. The device accompanying this legend is that of a male 

 figure, with the fillet of royalty on the head, which is also surround- 

 ed by a nimbus with rays. It is, no doubt, intended for a personi- 

 fication of the Sun." 



And at p. 362 : —"Another term, and one of which the Persic 

 origin can scarcely be disputed, Nanaia, occurs upon very many 

 coins, both large and small. The title accompanies a female figure, 

 in which we must have either, the goddess Anaitis or Anahid of the 

 Persians, or her priestess, — the Artemis, (Diana) whose worship 

 Artaxerxes Memnon, according to Berosus, endeavoured to spread 

 throughout Persia, and especially in Bactria, and whom Mr. Avdall 

 has successfully identified as Anaia or Nancea the tutelary goddess 

 of Armenia. We find her also mentioned as Nancea in the Apocry- 

 pha, as the goddess of Elymais, in whose temple Antiochus was 

 slain. (Maccabees, B. II, chap. I v. 13.)" 



Dr. Moore does not hesitate to write that Wilson " traces the use 

 of the term in a religious sense to Armenia, but does not give us its 



