Catalog
Tetradrachm - Kujula Kadphises
| Issuer | Kushan Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 15-50 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 9 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Bactrian camel striding to right, depicted in profile with its characteristic double hump, rendered in the schematic artistic style typical of early Kushan copper coinage under Kujula Kadphises. A legend in Kharoshthi script appears around the periphery of the coin, though heavily worn on this example. The flan is irregular, consistent with the hand-struck fabric of the period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Kujula Kadphises founded the Kushan Empire by unifying the five Yuezhi tribes of Bactria, a consolidation that had been underway since roughly the mid-1st century BCE. His coinage is notably imitative — early issues copied Indo-Greek and later Hermaeus types so closely that attribution remained contested among scholars for decades. This piece belongs to his mature independent issues, where the weight standard begins drifting away from its Hellenistic origins toward the heavier norms that would define later Kushan monetary practice.