id: 161221 accession number: 1999.318.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.318.b updated: 2023-08-23 23:48:52.193000 Coin of Demetrios, I (reverse), 200–190 BC. Afghanistan, Bactria, Bactrian period (3rd-2nd century BC), Demetrios I. Silver; diameter: 3.3 cm (1 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1999.318.b title: Coin of Demetrios, I (reverse) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 200–190 BC creation date earliest: -200 creation date latest: -190 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Afghanistan, Bactria, Bactrian period (3rd-2nd century BC), Demetrios I technique: silver department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Gandhara type: Coins find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Diameter: 3.3 cm (1 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: Demetrios I (222–180 BC) ruled the Indo-Greek kingdom of Bactria from 200 to 180 BC and minted this coin to commemorate his conquests over territories to the south, in present-day Pakistan. He linked his image on his coin to Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BC), who depicted himself with a lion scalp after his conquest of India; Demetrios substituted an elephant for the lion. On the reverse is Hercules, also identified with Alexander. wall description: After Alexander of Macedon conquered Egypt and Persia in 331 BC, his ambition to rule the known world led him further east across Bactria in Afghanistan, through the Hindu Kush mountain pass, and into India. There he defeated all the local kings of the region until his men, on the brink of mutiny, insisted that they return to Greece. Alexander left governors in charge of his territories, and after his death in 323 BC they became independent kings, establishing Hellenistic cities and a Greek cultural base in the region lasting almost 200 years. After his death, Alexander's vast empire—stretching from Macedon across Egypt and Persia all the way to the Indus River—was divided among his military leaders.

The inscription on the reverse identifies this coin as an issue of King Demetrios (about 205–170 BC), who ruled the Bactria region in present-day Afghanistan. To commemorate his military victories that expanded his territories to the Kabul Valley and into present-day Pakistan, he depicted himself crowned with the scalp of an elephant, the symbol for India. This motif, along with the image of Hercules on the reverse, visually link him to Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BC), who identified himself with Hercules and depicted himself with the lion scalp after his conquest of the Indus River region in Pakistan in 326 BC.

The quality of portraiture on the coins of the Hellenistic kings of Bactria is as naturalistic and refined as the coinage from any part of the Greek world. They followed the same weight standard as the Athenian Greeks, based on the drachma being 4.2 grams of silver. This coin is a tetradrachm, which is four times the weight of a drachma. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.318.b/1999.318.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.318.b/1999.318.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.318.b/1999.318.b_full.tif