Indo-Scythian Kingdom, Azes I, Silver tetradrachm, c. 1st century BCE

Indo-Scythian Kingdom, Azes I, Silver tetradrachm, c. 1st century BCE

Indo-Scythian Kingdom, Azes I, Silver tetradrachm, c. 1st century BCE

Weight: 9.52 gm., Diam: 26 mm.

King mounted on horse right, holding spear, Greek legend around:

BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY // AZOY

Zeus standing facing, holding thunderbolt and spear, Kharoshthi legend around:Maharajasa rajarajasa mahatasa // Ayasa In the north-west, the Indo-Greek kingdom was also crumbling in the face of a powerful new military presence: the Indo-Scythians. These were tribes that had entered India from a nomadic existence in Central Asia. One of the earliest forays of Scythians seems to have occurred around 150 BCE, when they laid waste to the northern Greek city of Ai-Khanoum (in the northern part of modern Afghanistan). They seem to have slowly given up their nomadic ways and began to challenge the Indo-Greeks for supremacy in the area. There is also some evidence that they intermarried with Indo-Greek royalty.

The greatest expansion of the Indo-Scythian realm was made by Azes I. Coin 10 is a silver tetradrachm of this ruler, issued probably in the middle of the 1st century BCE. The overall design of the coin clearly borrows from the standard Indo-Greek types. There is a portrait of the king on the obverse, circled by a Greek legend, and there is a chosen deity on the reverse, circled by a Kharoshthi legend. What is different, however, is that the king's portrait is not a bust, but rather a representation of the king mounted on a horse, dressed in full armor, carrying a spear. The horse must have been an important and potent symbol for a nomadic people and this equestrian portrait recalls the past, even though the Scythians were now living a settled life. The deity on the reverse is Zeus, holding a large fulmen (or thunderbolt) in his right hand and a scepter in his left; it is interesting that the Scythian nomads quickly adopted the worship of Greek gods.