Monetary policies during the early Graeco-Bactrian kingdom (250–190 BCE)

Abstract

Following the crossing of Alexander the Great into Central Asia, there does not seem to have been a strong policy on his part to monetize the Upper Satrapies, while as early as 333 BCE the striking of tetradrachms bearing Alexander’s name and types began in Tarsus. The analysis of any monetary corpus can be based on various criteria, whether they are intrinsic, like monograms, or extrinsic, like the archaeological context. Die-studies focus on the intrinsic qualities of the coins, while the historical or archaeological background does not influence the study itself. One must remember that, given the near-lack of written sources, the history of Central Asia is mainly a numismatic one: we know from the coins that there existed forty-five Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, while only eight are named by the sources. This particular time period in the history of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom has been the subject of a noteworthy number of studies from the 1990s until the present day.