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| Bactria: Diodotos I
in the name of Antiochos II
Gold stater, c. 250 BCE
Weight:8.15 gm., Diam:17 mm., Die axis:7h
Bust of Diodotos facing right/
Zeus standing left, hurling thunderbolt
Greek legend: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY (of King Antiochos) |
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This coin marks the emergence of the Bactrian kingdom. Diodotos, who was probably the Seleucid king Antiochos II's governor in Bactria, declared his independence by placing his own bust on the coins. Eventually, he even replaced Antiochos's name with his own. | |
| Bactria: Diodotos II, as king
Gold stater, c. 250 BCE
Weight:8.15 gm., Diam:19-20 mm., Die axis:7h
Bust of king facing right/
Zeus standing left, hurling thunderbolt
Greek legend: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΔIOΔOTOY (of King Diodotos) |
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Diodotos I was succeeded by his son Diodotos II. Numismatists have generally been unable to distinguish which coins were of which Diodotos, because they seem to have maintained the same reverse type, the so-called "Thundering Zeus." This coin, previously unpublished, is almost certainly an issue of the younger Diodotos, because of the very youthful portrait and the fact that the coin names Diodotos as king. | |
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