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Di-Chalkon - Kujula Kadphises
| Issuer | Kushan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 30-80 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.6 g |
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| Obverse description | Central field features a humped bull (zebu) advancing to the right, rendered in low relief in a crude but vigorous style characteristic of early Kushan coinage. A nandipada symbol appears above the bull. A Greek legend runs around the periphery of the flan, partially visible due to the irregular striking typical of hammered issues of this period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | nandipada |
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| Additional information |
Kujula Kadphises founded the Kushan Empire by unifying the five Yuezhi tribes of Bactria, and his coinage reflects a ruler still working out what his dynasty would become. These early copper issues borrow heavily from the Indo-Greek and Indo-Parthian visual vocabulary of the region — a deliberate political choice by a conqueror trying to establish legitimacy among populations accustomed to those traditions. The result is a numismatic record of an empire in the act of inventing itself.
Kujula lived, by ancient sources, to over eighty years old — an extraordinary claim, but the sheer span of datable coinage attributed to his reign does nothing to contradict it.