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Among Kushan coin finds, there was a series of enigmatic coins that bore no name on their legends. Rather, they simply bore a Greek legend that read: BACIΛEYC BACIΛEWN CWThP MEΓAC (King of Kings, the Great Saviour). Until the early 1990's, we did not know who exactly issued these coins. Indeed it is a triumph of numismatics that most researchers believed they were the issues of some unknown ruler who ruled between Kujula Kadphises and Vima Kadphises, although some authors thought they were issued by Kujula and others thought that Vima Kadphises may have been the issuer. However, with the discovery of the Rabatak inscription, we now know that there was a ruler in between Kujula and Vima Kadphises, a ruler who was the grandfather of the great Kanishka I. There is still some dispute as to the name of this ruler, whose name has been variously read as Vima Takto and Vima Takha. Around the same time as the Rabatak inscription was discovered, a small hoard of bull and camel types was discovered which also bore the name of this ruler. We illustrate one of these coins below as the first of our list.
Vima Takha seems to have recovered at least some of Kujula's Indian territory from the Indo-Parthians. He took the Kabul valley and then expanded into northern Pakistan.
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| AE dichalkon
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:5.12 gm., Diam:16 mm., Die axis: 9h
Bull standing right, illegible Greek legend around /
Bactrian camel standing right
Kharoshti legend: Maharajaasa Rajadirajasa Devaputrasa Vima Takha
Ref: MAC 2896var |
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This rare coin shows Vima Takha's name from about 4 o'clock to about 2 o'clock on the reverse. Mitchiner assigned the coins of this type issued by Kujula to Southern Chach. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:9.99 gm., Diam:21 mm., Die axis: 12h
King mounted on horse right, holding raised whip,
3-pronged tamgha before
Greek legend around: BACIΛEWC BACIΛEWN CWTHP MEΓAC /
Zeus standing right, holding sceptre
Kharoshti legend around, Vase (or altar?) before, control vi behind
Ref: MAC 2915. |
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Mitchiner says the object before Zeus is a vase or flower pot. I can't help wonder if it is a fire altar. We see in later Kushan coins the image of the king sacrificing at a fire altar, and perhaps this is a precursor to that type. The Kharoshti control vi may well have stood for Vima (Takha). Of course the basic type, King mounted with whip, follows closely from the coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes. Mitchiner assigns this type to a mint in Taxila. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:12.52 gm., Diam:22-24 mm., Die axis: 12h
Helmeted bust left, holding spear
3-pronged tamgha behind, Kharoshti vi before,
Bead and reel border around /
Kiing mounted on horse right, holding dagger or spear
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTHP MEΓAC
Ref: MAC 2923. |
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The object in the king's hand is normally described as a spear, but here it looks too short to be a spear ... perhaps it is a dagger. Mitchiner assigns this coin to Qunduz in northeastern Afghanistan. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:8.97 gm., Diam:21 mm., Die axis: 12h
Diademed bust right, holding sceptre, 7 rays
Tamgha behind, all within dotted border /
King mounted on horse right, holding whip or dagger
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTHP MEΓAC
Ref: MAC 2947. |
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The bulk of the Soter Megas coinage consists of this type, with the diademed, radiate bust of the king right on the obverse and the mounted king right on the reverse. The coins vary somewhat in the number of rays emanating above the king's bust (this speciman has 7 rays) and by the Greek letter forms used. This coin has the "rounded" letter forms, but others have "square" letter forms. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:8.32 gm., Diam:20 mm., Die axis: 12-1h
Diademed bust right, holding sceptre, 9 rays
Tamgha behind, all within dotted border /
King mounted on horse right, holding whip or dagger
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTH (missing P MEΓAC)
Ref: MAC 2971. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:8.34 gm., Diam:22 mm., Die axis: 1h
Diademed bust right, holding sceptre, 12 rays
Tamgha behind, all within dotted border /
King mounted on horse right, holding whip or dagger
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTHP MEΓAC
Ref: MAC 2978. |
| AE tetradrachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:8.19 gm., Diam:22 mm., Die axis: 1h
Diademed bust right, holding sceptre, 12 rays
Tamgha behind, all within dotted border /
King mounted on horse right, holding whip or dagger
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTHP MEΓAC
Ref: MAC 2979. |
| AE drachm
c. second half of 1st. Century
Weight:2.20 gm., Diam:14 mm., Die axis: 5h
Diademed bust right, holding sceptre, 7 rays
Tamgha behind, all within dotted border /
King mounted on horse right, holding whip or dagger
Greek legend around: BACIΛEV BACIΛEVWN CWTHP MEΓAC
Ref: MAC 2990. |
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