Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXV 11-12 Jan 2022
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BAKTRIA, Local issues. Sophytes. Circa 280/78-270 BC. AR Drachm (15.5mm, 3.72 g, 6h). Attic standard. Uncertain mint in the Oxus Regios. Male head right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with laurel wreath and wing on cheek piece; MNA on truncation of neck / ΣΩΦΥΤΟΥ to right, cock standing right; kerykeion to left. Cf. Bopearachchi, Sophytes 3 (hemidrachm); Bopearachchi & Rahman –; SMAK pl. 30 = Triton XV, lot 1343; SNG ANS 21-24; cf. MIG Type 29b; HGC 12, 14. Find patina, traces of deposits, light scratches and minor smoothing. EF.
From the Melinda Collection.
Alexander the Great's conquests in Baktria and Northern India resulted in more than three centuries of Greek rule in those far-flung enclaves, producing some of the best coin portraiture ever found in any era of numismatics. In many cases, coins are the only evidence for a ruler's existence, and yet the excellence of portraiture and workmanship is such that, if one of them was time-transported to the present and walked into a room, you would recognize him immediately from his coin effigy. The following section includes coins from the Melinda Collection (and selections from other holdings as well), which focuses on the coinages of the Greek-ruled east, includes several spectacular and seldom-seen examples of portraits, in some cases unseen in commerce for more than a century.
Apart from the substantial coinage struck on his behalf, little is known about the local Baktrian dynast Sophytes. An attempt has been made to associate him with the Sopeithes of Diodorus Siculus (17.91-94), a northern Indian king who, as a young man, fought against Alexander during the Indian campaign of circa 325 BC. The Sophytes coinage, however, is much later, struck circa 280-270 BC, and inter-connected with two earlier groups: the Athenian imitations of tetradrachms, drachms and hemidrachms, and the Eagle group, both of which were published by Nicolet-Pierre and Amandry. Like the trophy issue of Seleukos I, minted two decades earlier, the Sophytes coins, with his name on the reverse, show a helmeted portrait, in this case an elaborately decorated Attic-Macedonian type. The obvious differences between the two nevertheless belies the similarity in the images they project, suggesting that Sophytes was consciously modeling his own portrait after that of Seleukos I, making it the first Baktrian portrait coin type. For a detailed discussion of the coinage of Sophytes, see SMAK chapter 3 – "The Chronology of Sophytes."
From the Melinda Collection.
Alexander the Great's conquests in Baktria and Northern India resulted in more than three centuries of Greek rule in those far-flung enclaves, producing some of the best coin portraiture ever found in any era of numismatics. In many cases, coins are the only evidence for a ruler's existence, and yet the excellence of portraiture and workmanship is such that, if one of them was time-transported to the present and walked into a room, you would recognize him immediately from his coin effigy. The following section includes coins from the Melinda Collection (and selections from other holdings as well), which focuses on the coinages of the Greek-ruled east, includes several spectacular and seldom-seen examples of portraits, in some cases unseen in commerce for more than a century.
Apart from the substantial coinage struck on his behalf, little is known about the local Baktrian dynast Sophytes. An attempt has been made to associate him with the Sopeithes of Diodorus Siculus (17.91-94), a northern Indian king who, as a young man, fought against Alexander during the Indian campaign of circa 325 BC. The Sophytes coinage, however, is much later, struck circa 280-270 BC, and inter-connected with two earlier groups: the Athenian imitations of tetradrachms, drachms and hemidrachms, and the Eagle group, both of which were published by Nicolet-Pierre and Amandry. Like the trophy issue of Seleukos I, minted two decades earlier, the Sophytes coins, with his name on the reverse, show a helmeted portrait, in this case an elaborately decorated Attic-Macedonian type. The obvious differences between the two nevertheless belies the similarity in the images they project, suggesting that Sophytes was consciously modeling his own portrait after that of Seleukos I, making it the first Baktrian portrait coin type. For a detailed discussion of the coinage of Sophytes, see SMAK chapter 3 – "The Chronology of Sophytes."