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 - Philoxenus
| Issuer | Indo-Greek Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 95 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Copper |
| 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 | Standing figure of a city goddess (Tyche) facing left, robed and holding a cornucopia in her left arm while extending her right hand in a gesture of benediction. A monogram appears in the lower left field. The circular Greek legend surrounds the central device, reading BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANIKHTOY ΦIΛOΞENOY, identifying the issuer as the invincible king Philoxenus. The design is rendered in the provincial Indo-Greek style characteristic of late Bactrian coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A zebu (humped bull) stands facing right in the central field, rendered with characteristic Indo-Greek naturalism. The Kharoshthi syllable 'va' appears below the bull. The surrounding Kharoshthi legend reads maharajasa apadihatasa philasinasa, the Prakrit translation of the Greek obverse legend proclaiming Philoxenus as the unconquered great king. The square flan is typical of the copper coinage issued by the late Indo-Greek rulers. |
| 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 |
Philoxenus ruled a shrinking remnant of Bactrian Greek power in the late first century BC, squeezed between Scythian incursions from the north and the expanding Indo-Scythian presence to the south. His copper issues, including this tetradrachm, reflect a kingdom operating with degraded resources — silver had largely disappeared from the monetary supply by this point, replaced by copper denominations that retained the tetradrachm name as a nominal rather than a weight-class designation.
MIG 344 is among the later attributions in Osmund Bopearachchi's sequence for Philoxenus, placing it toward the final phase of his reign.