J. G. Bartholomew

“ We possess coins of his son Demetrius, of the square Indian form with an Indian legend on the reverse, showing a compromise between the Greek and Indian methods of coinage. Henceforth the coins of his successors, many of whom are otherwise unknown to history, are bilingual (Plate V. 2, hemidrachm of Apollodotos I., c. 150 B.C.) . Towards the end of the second century B.C. the Scythians invaded Bactria and India; their coins are imitated from those of their Greek predecessors, but are much inferior as works of art (Plate V. 4, silver coin of Azes I., c. 90 B.C.) . ”

“ Of the Department of Coins, British Museum
The coins of Asia from the earliest times may be conveniently reviewed in the following geographical and chronological sections: I. Ancient coins of Western and Central Asia (to the rise of Islam, excluding the majority of Greek and Roman coins which have no claim to be Asiatic) ; II. Mohammadan coins of Western and Central Asia; III. Coins of India (Hindu and Mohammadan) ; IV. Coins of the Far East; V. Coins struck by European nations for their Asiatic possessions. ”

“ Huns.—The Gupta empire finally fell before the inroads of barbarous Huns, who swept down through Persia on India about the same time that their kinsmen under Attila were ravaging Europe. They have left numerous coins imitated from Sassanian or Indian types (Plate V. 12, silver coin of Toramana, c. 514-544 A.D., with Sassanian types) . From the Hun imitations of Sassanian coins are descended certain coins of very rude fabric known to the natives as "asses' head" money, which circulated very largely in North India from the sixth to the eighth century (Plate V. 11) . ”

“ The types were the same on each coin, viz., on the obverse, the Persian King in a half-kneeling position holding a bow in his left hand and a spear in his right, while the reverse still had no type but only a rough incuse caused in striking the coins (Plate I. 3, daric) . These two coins remained the official coinage of the Persian empire till its fall. The conquered Greek cities were not allowed to strike gold, but the issue of silver and copper by them was not interfered with; in addition certain Persian satraps were allowed to issue silver coins bearing their own names. ”

“ J. Allan (of the Coins and Medal Department, British Museum) has traced the record from Lydia, six centuries and more B.C., to our own time. His notes on the Phoenician coins—"tetradrachms of Tyre with a dolphin or the god Melkart riding on a sea-horse," or an owl with a crook and a flail (Egyptian royal symbols) ; or the double shekels of Sidon with a galley, sails, or oars, before a walled city on one side, and a king of Persia on the other—show how much of history a set of coins, apparently so secretive, may hide in their silver and gold impressions. ”

“ Sultans of Delhi.—When Mohammad bin Sam (1193-1205 A.D.) defeated the allied Hindu forces on the plain of Thaneswar in 1193 he became master of India and founded the dynasty known as the Sultans of Delhi, which survived till the Moghul conquest. In addition to striking coins of the usual Mohammadan type he copied the coins of his Hindu predecessors (e.g. Plate VI. 10, copper, cf. 2 and 3; VI. 11, gold, cf. 4) . The coins of his successors are the tanka (about 175 grains) in gold and in silver, in addition to smaller coins of copper and billon. ”

“ They were followed about the middle of the first century B.C. by the Kushans who founded a great empire in North-West India. The Kushan kings of whom the greatest was Kanishka, famed in Buddhist legend, have left a great wealth of gold and copper coins remarkable for the variety of deities (Zoroastrian, Greek, Hindu, and Buddha) depicted on their reverses (Plate V. 5, gold coin of Kanishka) .
Andhras and Western Satraps.—During the first three centuries A.D. the Western Satraps, a dynasty of Scythic origin, ruled a powerful kingdom in Western India. ”

“ The earliest Lydian coins are believed to have been issued in the time of Gyges, king of Lydia (687-652 B.C.) . These are rude oval pieces 100 of electrum, a natural mixture of gold and silver found locally, and are stamped on one side only (Plate I. 1) . The uncertain value of this metal was found an embarrassment to commerce, and Croesus (561-546 B.C.) , under whose rule Lydia became a great and wealthy power, introduced a coinage of pure gold and of pure silver, ten staters of silver being equal to one of gold (Plate I. 2, gold stater) . ”

“ II.—MOHAMMADAN COINAGES
(Exclusive of India)
Beginnings of Arab Coinage.—The Arabs were unacquainted with the art of coinage till they learned it on their campaigns of conquest in Syria (Byzantine) and Persia (Sassanian) . At first they were content to issue gold and copper pieces imitated from contemporary Byzantine coins (Plate II. 9, early copper coin of Abd-al-Malik; obverse, figure of the Caliph; reverse, modified Byzantine cross) , while their silver pieces were copies of late Sassanian coins (like Plate II. 7) , with the addition of bismillah (in the name of God) on the margin. ”

“ Plate X. 4 is the later pagoda of European fabric issued at the end of the eighteenth century) . It was not till 1835 that the name of an English king again appeared on the coins of the East India Company, when a uniform coinage of English style was adopted for India (Plate X. 6, quarter-rupee of William IV.) . There has since been little change in the type then adopted. In 1858 the name of the East India Company disappears from the reverse, and in 1877 the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India necessitated a change of title on the obverse (Plate X. 7, quarter-rupee of Victoria) . ”

“ From the time of Albuquerque the Portuguese have issued coins here, always with European types. Plate X. 11 is a pardao or half-rupee of Maria struck at Goa in 1808, and is typical of the coinage for nearly three centuries previous. Since 1881 the coins for Goa, which is now all that is left of the Portuguese possessions in the East, have been struck at the Bombay mint, and are uniform with those of British India (Plate X. 12, quarter-rupee, 1885) . ”

“ After the reign of Phraates IV. the coins are dated in the Seleucid era, while the later coins bear a Pehlevi legend in addition to the Greek inscription which is by this time almost unintelligible.
Sassanian Empire.—Early in the third century A.D. the last remnants of Parthian power were destroyed by Ardashir, a Persian prince, who founded the Sassanian empire, which after successfully disputing the supremacy of Asia with the Romans for four centuries finally fell before the conquering hosts of Islam. ”

“ In 1869 a mint with European machinery was established in Tokio, and a coinage of gold, silver (yen or dollar) , and copper (sen, 100 = 1 dollar) on the European model adopted (Plate IX. 5, 50 sen of the sixth year of Meiji, 1873) .
Corea, Annam, and Siam.—Corea issued bronze coins in the Chinese style in its various intervals of independence. The commonest is the Shang Ping cash issued at various mints from 1790 to 1881 (Plate VIII. 11) . Plate IX. 2 is a piece of one yang (silver) issued by the new mint in 1898. ”

“ In the nineties of last century, mints with European machinery were instituted in each province, and struck silver and copper coins of European fabric (Plate IX. 1, half-dollar of the late Emperor Kuang Hsü, 1875-1910) for Sze-Chuan. During the last thirty years bilingual silver coins have been issued for the Mohammadan population of Chinese Turkestan (Plate IX. 6, reverse of a five mithkal piece of Kashgar) . ”

“ Although Parthian drachms are at the present day one of the most extensive of ancient coinages, their classification is exceedingly difficult on account of our ignorance of Parthian history, and the fact that the coins do not bear the name of the issuer but of Arsakes, the founder of the dynasty. ”

“ Plate IV. 3 is a dirhem struck by him at Damascus, his Syrian capital, in 582 A.H. (1186 A.D.) .
Mongols.—In the thirteenth century the Mongols, led by the Chingiz Khan (1206-1227 A.D.) , one of the greatest conquerors the world has known, subjugated practically all Asia with the exception of India. Plate IV. 4 is one of the rare coins attributed to Chingiz Khan, while Plate IV. 5 is a handsome dinar struck by Arghun, one of the earliest (1284-1295 A.D.) of the Persian line of Mongols (obverse, Mohammadan (Shia) creed and date, etc.; reverse, the Khan's titles, etc., in Mongol) . ”

“ He begets not and is not begotten" (the dinar ends here, but the dirhem continues) "nor is there any one like unto Him" (Koran, cxii.) . Around the obverse of the dinar and reverse of the dirhem is, "Mohammad is the prophet of God, sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all other religions" (dinar stops here) , "averse though the idolaters may be" (Koran ix. 33) . ”

“ The Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1278 A.D.) dated their coins on the reverse in regnal years. The Mongols (1260-1341 A.D.) issued but little copper money. An account of their extensive paper currency in the reign of Kublai Khan (1260-1295 A.D.) is given by Marco Polo. The Ming dynasty (1368-1628 A.D.) placed the mint-name on the reverse, while the Ching dynasty (1628-1911) placed the mint-name in Manchu on the reverse (Plate VIII. 7, Shun-che period, 1644-1662 A.D.; Pekin mint) .
It is only recently that a serious attempt to institute a silver coinage in China has been made. ”

“ In the ninth century a second marginal inscription, "To God belongs the order before and after, and in that day the believers shall rejoice in the help of God" (Koran, xxx. 3, 4) was added on the obverse, while the Caliph's name begins to appear regularly on the reverse area.
Contemporaries of the Caliphs.—Coins with similar legends were struck by the various dynasties which arose on the weakening 106 of the authority of the Caliph in the ninth and tenth centuries. In addition to the ruler's name they usually bear the name of the reigning Caliph, whose spiritual authority was still recognised ”

“ One of the coins struck by him, with the name of his nominal sovereign, Suyurghatmish, is figured on Plate IV. 6. Plate IV. 7 is a dirhem of his son and ultimate successor, Shah Rukh (1404-1447 A.D.) , of a type (obverse, Mohammadan creed, with the names of the four orthodox Caliphs around the margin; reverse, titles) which was very popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Plate IV. 8 is an early Ottoman coin struck by Mohammad I. (1402-1421 A.D.) at Brusa in 822 A.H. (1419 A.D.) , of a type which served the Turks for some centuries. ”

“ Phoenicia.—In spite of their commercial activity, the Phoenician cities of the Mediterranean coast did not begin to strike coins until comparatively late times, the end of the fifth and beginning of the fourth centuries B.C. We possess extensive silver coinages of the fourth century for most of these cities, those of Tyre and Sidon being particularly important. ”

“ Ayuthia, Siam. 14N. 101E. Founded in 1351; capital of Siam until nearly destroyed by Burmese, 1767. Chief ruin is a Buddhist temple, the 'Golden Mount.' (See Little's 'Far East.')
Baalbek ('city of Baal') , Syria. 34N. 36E. Contains Temple of the Sun, built by Antoninus Pius. Taken by Arabs, 748; by Tamerlane, 1400. Destroyed by earthquake, 1170, 1750. (See Twain's 'New Pilgrim's Progress,' Lamartine's 'Voyage en Orient,' Moore's 'Lalla Rookh,' Volney's 'Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte,' Burckhardt's 'Travels in Syria and the Holy Land.')
Babylon ('the gate of the god') , Asiatic Turkey. ”

“ Luke, and Chrysostom. (See Volney's 'Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte.')
An-tung, Manchuria. 40N. 125E. General Kuroki established here during Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. (See McKenzie's 'From Tokyo to Tiflis.')
Anupshahr, United Provs. 28N. 78E. Occupied by Ahmad Shah Durrani, 1757; by British, 1773.
Arafat ('the mountain of mercy') , Arabia. 21N. 40E. Mountain on which Adam and Eve are alleged to have met after the fall. Scene of many Mohammedan pilgrimages. (See Burton's 'Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah,' Burckhardt's 'Travels in Arabia.')
Arantangi, Madras. ”