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!
Obol - Sophytes
| Issuer | Sophytes's Satrapy (Bactria and Arachosia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 305 BC - 294 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Obol (⅙) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A cock standing to the right within a dotted border, depicted in profile with detailed feathering on the wings and tail. The cock, a personal badge of Sophytes, is rendered in a confident Hellenistic engraving style. The Greek legend ΣΩΦΥΤΟΥ appears in the field, identifying the issuing satrap. The overall composition is compact and well-centered within the irregular flan. |
| 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 | ND (305 BC - 294 BC) |
| Additional information |
Sophytes governed territories in the Indus valley region during the turbulent years following Alexander's eastern campaign, and his coinage occupies an unusual position — neither fully Macedonian nor indigenous, but a deliberate hybrid issued by a local dynast who had submitted to Alexander and retained his position under the Diadochi. The obol denomination places this squarely in Greek metrological tradition, adopted wholesale by a ruler whose power base was anything but Greek.
His coinage is exceptionally rare. The political window that produced it closed when Chandragupta Maurya's westward expansion absorbed these territories around 303 BC under the terms of the Seleucid-Mauryan treaty.