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 - Heliokles II
| Issuer | Kings of Baktria |
|---|---|
| Year | 90 BC - 75 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Hammered |
| 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 | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΗΛΙΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ |
| Reverse description | Standing figure of Zeus facing, nude, with radiate or wreathed head, holding a long sceptre or thunderbolt in his right hand and a palm branch or similar foliage in his left hand. A square monogram or control mark is placed in the lower central field beneath the deity's feet. The Kharosthi legend surrounds the central figure, reading the Prakrit equivalent of the Greek royal titulature, distributed across the field in individual characters. |
| 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 |
Heliokles II ruled a shrinking Baktrian kingdom under sustained pressure from the Yuezhi migrations pushing south from the Oxus region. He is sometimes conflated with Heliokles I, but the two are now treated as distinct rulers separated by roughly a generation — a distinction partly resolved through die studies and the geographic distribution of hoards. His coinage turns up predominantly in finds from the eastern territories, suggesting his actual control rarely extended far west of the Hindu Kush.
The Bop 5B classification places this among the later issues of his reign, when the administrative apparatus for coordinating mint output was clearly under strain.