1899 .] 
Section I.—Goins and Seals. 
23 
III. Scytho-Bactrian. 
With the exception of two doubtful specimens, probably all the 
coins of this class, numbering 36, have come from Western Turkestan 
(Samarkand, Tashkend, etc.). They belong to G. 4, and were briefly 
reported on by me in my letter to the Under-Secretary, Government 
of India, Department of Revenue and Agriculture, dated the 20th 
November, 1897. The two exceptions belonged either to M. 2 or M. 6, 
and come from one of the buried sites lying to the north of Khotan. 
(a) Imitations of Bactrian Coins . 
There are seven of these; all silver tetradrachms. They imitate 
the coins of Euthydemus and Heliocles. The former reigned in Bactria 
about 210-190 B.C,; the latter, who appears to have belonged to a rival 
family, about 160-120 B.C. During the reign of the former, Saka 
tribes occupied the Northern provinces of the Bactrian empire between 
the Oxus and Yaxartes. During the reign of the latter, the Sakas, 
being driven out by Kushan (or Yue-chi) tribes, occupied Bactria 
south of the Oxus. 38 Their chieftains imitated the coins of their con¬ 
temporary Bactrian rulers. These coins can be easily recognized by 
their degradation, both in point of design and of weight. 
The best of the seven coins are two in imitation of Heliocles, of 
his well-known type: Bust of King on obverse, and Standing Zeus on 
reverse, as in the British Museum Catalogue, plate vii, fig. 2. One, which 
weighs 231 grains (full weight 264), measures 1*25", and is fairly good 
in design (with ringlet for omikron), though much worn, may possibly 
be a genuine coin of Heliocles. It has the monogram of Brit. Mus. 
Cat., No. 4 (p. 21). The other weighs only 219 grains (size 1*25"), 
and, as the semi-barbarous reverse shows, is clearly a Saka imitation : 
but the curiosity of it is, that while it has an imitated Heliocles 
reverse, it has retained an apparently genuine Eukratides obverse; 
see Plate III, 10. Eukratides (c. 190-160 B.C.) was the predecessor, 
and perhaps father, of Heliocles. The imitated Heliocles reverse is 
very fairly done, it has the full Greek legend, but with a dot for 
omikron, and a rather rude figure of Zeus. Its monogram is W Both 
this and the first-mentioned coin must be early imitations, and may be 
referred to about 150 B.C. 
The remaining five coins are imitations of Euthydemus, of his 
w 7 ell-known type with Head of King on obverse, and Sitting Heracle 
83 See the outlines of Bactrian history in the Introduction to the British Museum 
Catalogue, pp. xviii, ff. 
