The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 48, November 28, 2004, Article 5

AFGHAN GOLD PORTRAIT COIN COUNT DISPUTED

  William Bischoff writes: "Not to nitpick , but it seems
  highly unlikely that there were "2,000 gold and silver
  coins depicting Afghan royalty as early as 500 BC" in the
  recently (and miraculously!) recovered Kabul Museum
  holdings.  Until its conquest by Alexander the Great,
  and his death in 323 BCE, Baktria (as it was then known)
  was a Persian satrapy far off the beaten track for coinage.

  Coins struck by Alexander's successors are a subject for
  scholarly debate, but until now no one has claimed that
  coins with portraits of Afghan rulers were struck before
  the terminus ad quem at issue here.  To clinch the
  argument, consider the fact that even the portraits of
  Alexander were initially understood (if that is the right
  word) as pictures of a god in his [Alexander's] image: up
  to that time the Greeks had not pictured mortals on
  their coinage.  Roman republican coinage down to the
  imperators traced a similar trajectory.

  P.S. I hope the preservation of these treasures, against
  all expectations, will somewhat cool the ardor of those
  who relentlessly press to sell off numismatic collections
  held by museums.  Hail to the professional dedication of
  those unknown, underpaid, conscientious curators in Kabul!"

  [If our readers didn't pick nits, I'd have a lot less to
   publish each week.  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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