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Tetradrachm - Telephos
| Issuer | Kings of Baktria |
|---|---|
| Year | 75 BC - 70 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Bopearachchi Série 10 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | BAΣIΛEΩΣ EYEPΓETΟΥ THΛEΦΟΥ |
| Reverse description | Two standing figures occupy the central field: on the left, a striding deity or royal figure wearing a kausia or helmet with attributes, and on the right, a second standing figure, likely a goddess or personification, holding an object. The two figures appear to be facing one another in a scene of investiture or divine encounter. A star or floral symbol appears in the upper field between the figures. The Kharosthi legend encircles the entire design, providing the Prakrit equivalent of the Greek obverse inscription, consistent with the bilingual coinage tradition of the Indo-Greek kings. |
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| Additional information |
Telephos is among the most obscure rulers in the Baktrian sequence — known almost exclusively from his coins, with no surviving literary source naming him. His reign falls in the terminal phase of Indo-Greek kingship east of the Hindu Kush, when dynastic fragmentation had produced a succession of short-lived rulers striking increasingly localized issues. Bopearachchi's Série 10 places him in the closing decades of the first century BC, contemporaneous with intensifying Scythian pressure from the northwest.
Tetradrachms attributed to Telephos are rare in all conditions, the small surviving corpus suggesting either a brief reign or a severely restricted mint output.