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After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam
Monetary circulation in ancient Tokharistan
E. Rtveladze
The toponym Tokharistan first appears in the Chinese
text - Vibhasa – sastra.
However, Tokharistan appeared in Bactria (the north of Afganistan,
Southern Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan) five centuries earlier, according
to Strabo. The Tokharians, together with the Assianis, Passianis
and Sakaravlis, took part in the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian
kingdom in the beginning of the second half of the 2nd century B.C.
Ptolemy (2nd century AD) distinguishes a big Tokharian tribe in
Bactria, emphasizing the predominant role of the Tokharians among
the other tribes of Bactria. Thus, we can suppose that the toponym
Tokharistan appears considerably earlier than the 4th century AD.
This paper discusses the period from the second half of the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD. We can distinguish three periods of money circulation in ancient Tokharistan:
- The Post-Hellenistic period – the second half of the 2nd century BC to the mid-1st century AD – the time of the Kushan conquest of Bactria during the reign of Peroz.
- The Kushan period– the mid-1st century to the second half of the 3rd century AD.
- The Post-Kushan or Kushano-Sasanian period - the second half of the 3rd century to the end of the 4th century AD.
1. The Post-Hellenistic period. The absence of a common coinage in the region and the variety of coins struck by Yuechi (Tokharian) rulers in different areas of Bactria-Tokharistan is typical. In such a way, the imitations of drachms and tetradrachms of Helioclus, which had two types with Zeus and a horse on the reverse site, circulated in N and NW Bactria. Later, the territory of circulation of these coins included all of Bactria. Probably, it was the coinage of the supreme rulers of the Great Yuechis, the imitations of obols of Eucratides, that circulated in NE Bactria.
Western Bactria, the Bactra-Balkh region, was the area where silver
and bronze coins of the Sapadbizes Dynasty circulated. The imitations
of Parthian coins of Fraat 4 and the same coins with the mintages
of the rulers of Sapadbizes Dynasty also circulated. In the Amu
Darya valley, almost up to Termez, bronze and silver Parthian coins
from Orodes II reign (57-39 BC) to the time of the Kushan conquest
of Bactria circulated.
The results of the excavations of Kampyr-tepe suggest that the Parthians
conquered the Amu Darya valley at the time of Orodes II and that
they controlled an important trade route from India to the West.
Furthermore Kampyr-tepe was the Parthian outpost in the East.
The tetradrachms and obols of Kushan (“Heraus”) and his successors circulated in NE Bactria, a zone adjacent to the Amu Darya, and, probably, in the SE part of this region. Silver coins of Tanlismaidates, the Fseigaharis ruler circulated in one region of S Bactria and Parthia.
The second period is characterized by the circulation of gold and bronze coins of a common coinage of Kushan rulers in the territory of Bactria – Tokharistan, beginning from the reign of Soter Megas (Vima Tokto) to Kanishka III inclusive. The finds of Kushan coins in Bactria – Tokharistan are numerous. For instance, in Kampyr-tepe, which is comparatively small, more than 500 Kushan coins, of Soter Megas, Kadphises II and Kanishka, have been found. At the same time, in sites and settlements of N and W Bactria there is absence of Kudjula Kadphises’s coins, although finds are numerous in Taksila. This fact suggests that Bactria – Tokharistan did not belong to the Kushans in the days of Kadphises’s II.
The third period divides into two. From the time of the rule of Shapur I (241-262 A.D) imitation coins of Vasudeva I and Kanishka III circulated. These are well illustrated, thanks to the hoard from Dalverzin tepe, which consisted of imitations of Kushan coins and drachms of Shapur I.
The circulation of imitations and gold and bronze Kushano-Sasanian,
Sasanian-Kushan coins of all Kushan-Shahs is typical of the second
stage of this period. The coin finds of both types are numerous.
The hoard from Alibaytepa in the Surkhandarya valley is particularly
significant and includes more than 1000 coins (imitations of Kushan
coins of Vasudeva I, Kanisha III and Sasanian – Kushan coins
of differrent types).