MEGAS

161

Metal
No.

97

100
101

Obverse

As on No. 96.
W, 148.
S. -8.

S. -8,

W. 30.

8. '5.

Beverse

As on No. 96, but Kh. legend
is completed by the word tratarasa.

G.B.

(y) Type: diademed bust of king and horseman, with Greek
legend only; copper, round

Within dotted border, diademed
bust of king to r., radiate, holding
long filleted sceptre or lance.

Tol.M. 9.

S.-8.

BAC!A€YC BACIACYCON
CCOTHP M€fAC

King on horseback to r.3 hold-
ing ankus.

To r. M. 9,

G. B. PL XVI.

are much in favour of the supposition that we must look for Soter Megas amongst the most
important of the kings and satraps known to us, as it is very improbable that such a great
potentate would be nameless and unknown except from these coins. The style of the coins,
which are in copper only, and the absence of square forms, point to a period about the Kushan
conquest, so that Soter Megas was probably a contemporary of one of the two K ad phases.

As far as their inscriptions are concerned, the coins fall into three groups:—(i) with
Greek legend only, translated as l Of the King of Kings, the Great Saviour* j (ii) with the
same Greek legend accompanied by its literal translation into Kharosthi; and (iii) without
any inscription. All are distinguished by the presence of a three-pronged symbol 5
peculiar to the striker, which may be called the symbol of Soter Megas, while certain types
almost invariably exhibit in the field the Kharosthi aJcsara vi* Cunningham suggested that
this may possibly be the initial of the king's name, but there is no ground for such a
hypothesis. He remarked that the want of monograms distinguishes the coins of the
Nameless King from those of the Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian dynasties, and would
seem to connect him with the Kushans. On the other hand, the horseman is the favourite
type of the Saka kings—Sir A. Cunningham's Coins of the Sakas.

It is possible that these coins were struck by more than, one ruler, and that the differing
types issued from distinct localities. Such rulers might have been subordinate to a single
suzerain.

Cunningham says that not one of the types gives even a single letter of any name.
Coin No. 96 of this Collection, which was No. 2 on p. 52 of the Kodgers Lahore Mvseum
Catalogue, exhibits three extra alcsaras, which must signify either a name, an epithet, or
a monetary denomination. This fact did not escape Mr. Bodgers' notice, as he remarked on
it, but made no suggestion as to what the name might be. The word is unfortunately slightly
off the coin. The first aJtsara is probably ra, and the last looks like fa* All that one can see
of th& second aJcsara is the lower part of a down-stroke terminating in a slight hook to the
left, possibly a letter with the u termination.

When I came to examine the British Museum coins, I found another similar specimen,
but nothing more of the extra word was legible than the probable aksaras la and $a. Both
coins have been published in my paper 4Two Coins of Soter Megas', J.R.A.S., July, 1913.