_Bactria._--About the middle of the third century B.C. the empire founded by Seleucus began to break up. A line of kings was founded in Bactria by Diodotos, a revolted satrap, whose independence Antiochus II. had to acknowledge. The earlier coins of these kings, who afterwards crossed into India and gradually lost their Hellenism, present some of the finest examples of portraiture on Greek coins (Plate I. 9, gold stater of Diodotos I., _c._ 250 B.C.). _Judaea._--Among the smaller kingdoms who became independent of the Seleucids in the second century B.C. may be mentioned that of the Jews. Certain shekels, bearing on the obverse a chalice with the legend "shekel of Israel," and on the reverse a branch with three buds and the legend "Jerusalem the Holy" (Plate II. 1), have been attributed to Simon Maccabaeus (143-135 B.C.), but they may belong to the First Revolt (66-70 A.D.). _Parthia._--About the same period, the great Parthian kingdom was founded in Central Asia and lasted till 220 A.D. The Parthian coinage is of silver (drachms and tetradrachms) and bronze. Although Parthian drachms are at the present day one of the most extensive of ancient coinages, their classification is exceedingly difficult on account of our ignorance of Parthian history, and the fact that the coins do not bear the name of the issuer but of Arsakes, the founder of the dynasty. The silver drachms bear on the obverse the portrait of the reigning king, and on the reverse the first king Arsakes seated holding a bow, with a legend in Greek characters which is at first simply (coin of) "the king Arsakes" (Plate II. 2, drachm of Mithridates I. the Great, 171-138 B.C.), but gradually increases in length till a century later it assumes the form (coin of) "the king of kings Arsakes, the just, the illustrious, the beneficent, the friend of the Greeks," which remains the usual legend. Tetradrachms with similar legends were also struck in large numbers; their usual reverse type is the Parthian king seated, receiving a wreath from the goddess of Victory or from a City goddess (Plate II. 3, tetradrachm of Phraates IV., 38-3 B.C.). After the reign of Phraates IV. the coins are dated in the Seleucid era, while the later coins bear a Pehlevi legend in addition to the Greek inscription which is by this time almost unintelligible.