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Hemichalkous - Menander I
| Issuer | Indo-Greek Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 160 BC - 145 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.42 g |
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| Obverse description | Central device depicts the goddess Athena Alkidemos in dynamic striding pose, advancing to the right, wearing a crested Corinthian helmet and draped in a chiton, her right arm raised and hurling a thunderbolt. A Greek legend in three lines frames the central type on three sides of the square flan: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ MENANΔPOY, reading 'Of King Menander the Saviour'. The style reflects the Hellenistic artistic tradition adapted to the Indo-Greek coinage workshop, with bold if somewhat crude relief characteristic of hammered copper issues. |
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| Reverse script | Kharoshthi |
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| Additional information |
Menander I remains the best-documented of the Indo-Greek kings largely because he appears in Buddhist literature as "Milinda" — the philosopher-king whose dialogues with the monk Nagasena were preserved in the Pali text Milindapañha. Whether his apparent sympathy toward Buddhism was genuine conviction or political calculation in a predominantly Buddhist realm is a question numismatists and historians have debated for over a century. His coins circulated across a territory stretching from the Punjab into Arachosia, and copper fractions like this hemichalkous served the everyday transactions that silver would have been too valuable to handle.