Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ Unit - Nahapana
| Issuer | Western Satraps (Indo-Scythian Kingdom) |
|---|---|
| Year | 50-100 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm (35-405) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | A thunderbolt symbol is depicted upright above a rightward-facing elephant in the central field, with an arrow placed in front of the elephant. A Brahmi legend encircles the design, reading rajno ksatrapasa Nahapanasa, identifying the issuer as the Kshatrapa (Satrap) king Nahapana. The devices are rendered in the characteristic flat, schematic style typical of early Western Satrap copper coinage. The flan is irregularly square and shows the rough surface texture consistent with hand-struck hammered production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | 𝑟𝑎𝑗𝑛𝑜 𝑘𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑎 𝑁𝑎𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑠𝑎 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Nahapana ruled the Western Satraps in the late 1st to early 2nd century AD and is among the best-documented rulers of the dynasty through both numismatic and literary sources — the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea names him directly, placing his territory along the northwestern Indian coast and inland trade routes. His reign ended badly: the Satavahana king Gautamiputra Satakarni defeated him and, according to the Nashik cave inscriptions, deliberately restruck enormous quantities of Nahapana's silver coins as a political act of erasure.
Copper units of this type circulated at the local level where silver didn't reach.