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!
Tetradrachm - Agathokles Diodotus Pedigree Issue
| Issuer | Kings of Baktria |
|---|---|
| Year | 190 BC - 170 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Attic drachm |
| 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 | ΔΙΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ |
| Reverse description | Zeus striding left, his figure nude save for the aegis draped over his extended left arm, hurling a thunderbolt with his raised right hand in the canonical Baktrian Zeus type. An eagle with wings raised stands left at his feet to the lower left. A wreath occupies the inner left field, while the ΦΩ monogram is positioned in the inner right field. The reverse legend BAΣIΛEΥONTOΣ AΓAΘOKΛEOYΣ ΔIKAIOY, identifying the reigning king Agathokles with his epithet Dikaios (the Just), is arranged around the outer field, establishing this as a pedigree issue struck in honour of his predecessor Diodotus. |
| 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 |
Agathokles issued a remarkable series of commemorative coins honoring his Baktrian predecessors — Diodotus among them — a politically calculated act almost without parallel in Hellenistic numismatics. By invoking the dynasty's founder, Agathokles was manufacturing dynastic legitimacy at a moment when his own claim to the throne was contested. The series also includes issues naming Euthydemos I and Antiochos Nikator, suggesting a deliberate program rather than a single opportunistic strike.
These "pedigree" tetradrachms were almost certainly not intended for ordinary commerce. The archaic style consciously imitates earlier Baktrian coinage.