The first Greek coins minted in India, those of Menander I and Appolodotus I bear the inscription "of King Saviour" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), a highly prestigious title in the Greek world. Ptolemy I was called Soter (Saviour) because he had helped in saving the island of Rhodes from Demetrius the Besieger, and Antiochus I was also called Soter, because he had saved Asia Minor from the Gauls. The title was also inscribed in Pali (the Kharoṣṭhī script) as Tratarasa on the reverse of their coins.
Most of the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in Pali on the back, a superb concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world. From the reign of Apollodotus II, around 80 BCE, Kharoshthi letters started to be used as mintmarks on coins, in combination with Greek monograms and mintmarks.Local craftsmen probably participated in the minting process. These bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were the key for the deciphering of the Kharoṣṭhī script by James Prinsep (1799 –1840 CE).
The Kharoṣṭhī script, is an ancient abugida (or "alphasyllabary") used by the Gandhara culture, nestled in the historic northwest South Asia to write the Gāndhārī and Sanskrit languages. It was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. It was also in use in Kushan, Sogdiana and along the Silk Road, where there is some evidence it may have survived until the 7th century CE in the remote way stations of Khotan and Niya.
The coinage of the Indo-Greeks remained influential throughout the Indian subcontinent for many centuries.
The portraits on all Indo-Greek coins are very realistic,with powerful features and minute details. This indicates that all the engravers were from the same school of art and were obviously very familiar with Hellenstic art. Indian coinage is greatly influenced by the coinage of Indo-Greeks. The policy of rulers to show their face to their subjects was totally unknown in the Indian subcontinent. The first Indian King who issued coins with his portrait and his name was Saubhuti (Sophytes or Sopeithes according to Greek historians). He ruled in Bactria or Punjab in 315-305 BCE and minted Greek- style coins, which were greatly influenced by his contemporary Bactrian Greek ruler Seleucus Nictator. The reverse of Saubhuti's coins shows a rooster standing right.
The Indo-Greek weight and size standard for silver drachms was adopted by the contemporary Buddhist kingdom of the Kunindas in Punjab; this was the first attempt by an Indian kingdom to produce coins that could compare with those of the Indo-Greeks.
In central India, the Satavahanas (2nd century BCE- 2nd century CE) adopted the practice of representing their kings in profile, within circular legends.
The direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in the northwest, the Indo-Scythians and Indo-Parthians continued displaying their kings within a legend in Greek, and Greek deities on the obverse.
To the south, the Western Kshatrapas (1st-4th century CE) represented their kings in profile with circular legends in corrupted Greek.
The Kushans (1st-4th century CE) used the Greek language on their coinage until the first few years of the reign of Kanishka, when they adopted the Bactrian language, written with the Greek script.
The Guptas (4th-6th century CE), imitating the Western Kshatrapas, also showed their rulers in profile, within a legend in corrupted Greek, in the coinage of their western territories.
The last recorded use of the Greek script on coins is recorded during the rule of the Shahi of Kabul, around 850 CE.
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