1 Hemidrachm Antiochos imitation, Samarqand

These Samarqand imitations of Seleukid hemidrachms circulated in the Zerafshan valley long after Antiochene political authority had dissolved in the region, minted by local authorities who retained the Hellenistic monetary form as a convenience of trade rather than any acknowledgment of distant Greek kingship. The precise issuing hand remains debated — Sogdian dynasts, mercantile communities, and nomadic confederacies have all been proposed. The three-century attribution window reflects that uncertainty honestly.