Sunday, November 1, 2009

INDO BACTRIAN COIN WITH PILLAR


INDIAN BANKNOTES ANCIENT COINS,STAMPS,POSTAL HISTORY,,,
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THE INDO BACTRIAN COIN OF ANCIENT INDIA WITH PILLAR RARE IN THIS CONDITION
The Bactrian king Euthydemus and his son Demetrius crossed the Hindu Kush and began the conquest of Northern Afghanistan and the Indus valley. For a short time, they wielded great power: a great Greek empire seemed to have arisen far in the East. But this empire was torn by internal dissensions and continual usurpations. When Demetrius advanced far into India one of his generals, Eucratides, made himself king of Bactria, and soon in every province there arose new usurpers, who proclaimed themselves kings and fought one against the other.

Most of them we know only by their coins, a great many of which are found in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. By these wars, the dominant position of the Greeks was undermined even more quickly than would otherwise have been the case. After Demetrius and Eucratides, the kings abandoned the Attic standard of coinage and introduced a native standard, no doubt to gain support from outside the Greek minority.

In India, this went even further. The Indo-Greek king Menander I (known as Milinda in India), recognized as a great conqueror, converted to Buddhism. His successors managed to cling to power until the last known Indo-Greek ruler, a king named Strato II, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 55 BCE. Other sources, however, place the end of Strato II's reign as late as 10 CE.

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