The most important of the later Pahlava kings was Gondophares, or
Gondopharnes, famous as the King of India mentioned in the traditional
stories connected with the Apostle St. Thomas. In the British Museum
there is a silver coin of his struck in the pure Parthian style, but
the rest of his didrachms—no smaller coins are known—are of billon (Pl.
III, 8). Several types of these are known, but all have the usual “king
on horseback” obverse. On the reverse of one type the god Śiva appears.
His copper coins, all of them round, have a bust of the king in the
Parthian style, with either a figure of Nike or Pallas on the reverse.
The coins of his successors or contemporaries, Abdagases, Orthagnes and
Pakores, closely follow in type those of Gondopharnes.
Connected with these later Pahlavas are a few princes who call
themselves “Satrap”—among these the most prominent is Zeionises, who
minted some rather striking didrachms in pure silver. His not uncommon
copper coins imitate the bull and lion type of Azes. Lastly, there are
a number of miscellaneous rulers, such as Miaos and Hyrcordes, whose
coins present features so heterogeneous that it has been impossible
hitherto to assign them ancestry, nationality or even an approximate
date. The most important of these is the “nameless king,” whose
superscription consists of the titles, “_King of Kings, the great
Saviour_,” written in Greek only. His coins, all of copper, are well
struck, especially the commonest type, which shows a diademed head of
the king on the obverse and a horseman on the reverse (Pl. III, 6). On
all appears his special symbol, a three-pronged fork (Fig. 3, v).[19]
[19] It has been suggested with great probability that the title _Sotēr
Megas_ (Great Saviour) was that of the military governor (_stratēgos_)
of Taxila under the Kushāṇas, and that these coins were the anonymous
issues of successive _stratēgoi_. Cf. _Camb. History of India_, Vol. I,
p. 581.
KEY TO PLATE III
1. Andhra: Gotamīputra Śrī Yajña Sātakarṇī, AR. Hemidrachm.
Wt. 34 grs.
Obv., head of king to right. In Brāhmī, _Raño Gotamiputasa
Siri Yaña Sātakaṇisa_.
Rev., Ujjain symbol and chaitya. In Southern Brāhmī,
_Gotam (a) putasha Hiru Yaña Hātakaṇisha_ (Hiru = Śrī).
2. Western Kshatrapa: Dāmasena. AR. Wt. 34 grs.
Obv., head of Satrap to right. Corrupt Greek inscription.
Date 100 + 50 + 3 to left.
Rev., chaitya, star and crescent. In Brāhmī,
_Raño Mahākshatrapasa Rudrasīhasa putrasa raño
Mahākshatrapasa Dāmasenasa_
“(Coin) of king Dāmasena, the great satrap, son of king
Rudrasiṁha, the great satrap.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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