Catalog
1 Tetradrachm Euthydemus imitation, Yuezhi
| Issuer | Yuezhi, Tribal confederation of |
|---|---|
| Year | 130 BC - 1 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Tetradrachm (4) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Nude Heracles seated left upon a rock, his muscular figure rendered in a simplified Hellenistic style. He rests his right hand on a club planted on the ground beside him, echoing the reverse type of Euthydemus I tetradrachms. The figure is encircled by a Sogdian Aramaic inscription, the whole composition occupying a broad, flat field typical of hammered coinage from this tribal series. |
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| Reverse lettering | m`lht y`vg (Translation: Great Yabgh) |
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| Additional information |
The Yuezhi were driven from their grazing territories in the Gansu corridor by the Xiongnu around 176–160 BC, setting off a chain migration that ultimately displaced the Sakas and destabilized the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. These imitative tetradrachms were struck as the confederation moved through and eventually settled in Bactria, adopting the monetary conventions of the very kingdom they had helped dismantle. The prototypes are Euthydemus I issues — a king who had himself usurped the Bactrian throne — lending the whole sequence a certain dynastic irony.
The type spans well over a century of production, during which the silver content degraded and the die work drifted progressively further from the Greek originals.