Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
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Indo-Greek Kingdom, Lysias Aniketos AR Tetradrachm. Uncertain mint, circa 130-125 BC. Diademed and draped bust to right, wearing crested helmet adorned with bull's horn and ear; all within bead-and-reel border / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΙΚΗΤΟΥ ΛΥΣΙΟΥ, Herakles standing facing, crowning himself and holding club, palm, and lion's skin; monogram to left. Unpublished in the standard references. 14.79g, 35mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine. Unique, unpublished and of considerable numismatic and historical importance.
From a private UK collection.
The only surviving evidence for the reign of Lysias, indeed for his very existence, are the extraordinarily rare coins that have been discovered bearing his name. Bopearachchi places Lysias as a close successor to Menander and Zoilos I, a dating which is supported by R. C. Senior. On the numismatic evidence we may suppose that Lysias was of a competing dynasty to Menander, as their coinage shares little similarity, but on the other hand there are distinct similarities between that of Lysias and Zoilos I. Lysias may potentially have claimed Demetrios I as an ancestor, as inferred from the reuse of the Herakles reverse type and whose epithet 'Aniketos', meaning 'Invincible', he took. The reverse type of the athletic Herakles crowning himself in a striking facing contrapposto pose closely resembles that used by the earlier king, who ruled in the first half of the second century BC.
Lysias is believed to have held territory covering the areas of the Paropamisade and Arachosia, but his coins have been found in the Punjab and it is possible that his rule extended over most of the Indo-Greek territory at some point, possibly in cooperation with Antialkidas, whose issues bear the same monograms. The numismatic evidence now strongly supports this: apart from the concurrent use of the same monograms, rare bronze coins have been found which bear an obverse of Lysias and a reverse of Antialkidas, and vice versa. Although W. W. Tarn (The Greeks in Bactria and India, 2010) considered this to be evidence of an alliance, other numismatist have dismissed them as mules made in error; Senior however supports the view that the two ruled in tandem, and the present coin confirms this. Although the helmeted obverse type is generally characteristic of Indo-Greek and Greco-Baktrian kings, this issue, hitherto unknown, is unmistakeably of the same hand as the obverse die of a corresponding tetradrachm in the name of Antialkidas: when considering the composition of the facial features and treatment of the crest and drapery, the two portraits are similar to such an extent that on first inspection one could be forgiven for thinking them the very same die (cf. Bopearachchi série 3, 2, pl. 39). What becomes clear now is that the 'mules', along with the sharing of monograms and die engravers, are evidence for the two rulers sharing the same mint facility. While it remains unclear whether they were joint colleagues or independent contemporary rulers who reached a modus vivendi with regard to their respective territories, we may tentatively rule out one being a close successor thanks to the existence of the 'mules'.
Extremely Fine. Unique, unpublished and of considerable numismatic and historical importance.
From a private UK collection.
The only surviving evidence for the reign of Lysias, indeed for his very existence, are the extraordinarily rare coins that have been discovered bearing his name. Bopearachchi places Lysias as a close successor to Menander and Zoilos I, a dating which is supported by R. C. Senior. On the numismatic evidence we may suppose that Lysias was of a competing dynasty to Menander, as their coinage shares little similarity, but on the other hand there are distinct similarities between that of Lysias and Zoilos I. Lysias may potentially have claimed Demetrios I as an ancestor, as inferred from the reuse of the Herakles reverse type and whose epithet 'Aniketos', meaning 'Invincible', he took. The reverse type of the athletic Herakles crowning himself in a striking facing contrapposto pose closely resembles that used by the earlier king, who ruled in the first half of the second century BC.
Lysias is believed to have held territory covering the areas of the Paropamisade and Arachosia, but his coins have been found in the Punjab and it is possible that his rule extended over most of the Indo-Greek territory at some point, possibly in cooperation with Antialkidas, whose issues bear the same monograms. The numismatic evidence now strongly supports this: apart from the concurrent use of the same monograms, rare bronze coins have been found which bear an obverse of Lysias and a reverse of Antialkidas, and vice versa. Although W. W. Tarn (The Greeks in Bactria and India, 2010) considered this to be evidence of an alliance, other numismatist have dismissed them as mules made in error; Senior however supports the view that the two ruled in tandem, and the present coin confirms this. Although the helmeted obverse type is generally characteristic of Indo-Greek and Greco-Baktrian kings, this issue, hitherto unknown, is unmistakeably of the same hand as the obverse die of a corresponding tetradrachm in the name of Antialkidas: when considering the composition of the facial features and treatment of the crest and drapery, the two portraits are similar to such an extent that on first inspection one could be forgiven for thinking them the very same die (cf. Bopearachchi série 3, 2, pl. 39). What becomes clear now is that the 'mules', along with the sharing of monograms and die engravers, are evidence for the two rulers sharing the same mint facility. While it remains unclear whether they were joint colleagues or independent contemporary rulers who reached a modus vivendi with regard to their respective territories, we may tentatively rule out one being a close successor thanks to the existence of the 'mules'.