The Bactrian Treasure has traveled the world over the years, but more recently the collection has been much less public facing. However, the treasure also includes daggers, gold belts, Roman coins, and a medallion bearing a depiction of Buddha. The primary object amongst the Bactrian treasure is a 5 inch tall crown made of gold leaf and which, in an ingenious flourish of design, folds in order to be transported more easily. Additionally, since the Taliban successfully usurped the existing Afghanistan government and assumed control of the country, many questions have arisen regarding the future of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, museums and other antiquities that communicate narratives essential to the country’s national identity. Although the Bactrian treasure was reportedly last put on display in Afghanistan’s presidential palace in February 2021, its present location is unknown. Bactrian coinage series#New reports indicate that the Taliban’s leaders are actively searching for a cache of “ Bactrian Treasure,” a series of largely gold artifacts which were discovered at a site called Tillya Tepe in northern Afghanistan in 1978. Evaluating coin policy helps to explain Demetrius’ role as a power-player in the international system of the eastern Hellenistic world.A folding gold crown from Tillya Tepe at the British Museum on March 1, 2011. They also assert a governmental ideology that serves the interests of imperial hegemony. They suggest a level of military investment greater than that of his predecessors and competitive with his large Seleucid neighbors. His coins indicate a strong centralized government, a complex bureaucracy, and direct rule. He shifted the center of power to the Indian territories, and laid the groundwork for a significant Greek presence there for almost two centuries. From the seat of power in ancient Afghanistan, Demetrius conquered and expanded south, across the Hindu Kush mountains, and established rule in ancient northwest India. Demetrius is crucial to the history of Hellenistic Central and South Asia. I apply this methodology to King Demetrius I of Bactria. Combined, these policy aspects illuminate the power of their issuing monarchs. Viewing royal coins in this way reveals a monarch’s administrative sophistication, military investment, and legitimization efforts. Secondly, coins contain “assertion policies,” or deliberately designed packages of information with which a monarch could assert his or her rule. Firstly, they are physical pieces of policy, as they establish, legalize, and standardize a money economy. Coins can function as policy in two ways. This involves treating and analyzing coins as pieces of government policy. I developed a methodology that I term “power policy numismatics” for using ancient coins to measure political power. Therefore, political power is a valuable factor through which to assess the Bactrian kings. In general, the political strategy of Hellenistic monarchs was directed toward the maintenance and expansion of one’s power. Innovative methodologies are required to extract information from these coins and better understand the mysterious monarchs who ruled a series of small kingdoms in Central and South Asia. BACTRIA - BACTRIAN KINGDOM - MENANDER I SOTER Atelier incertain c. Literary and archaeological evidence for the Hellenistic Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms is extremely sparse, and scholarship relies heavily on extant royal coins. ARS Coin Wien (Italy) Hellenistic 2 (188 BC to 30 BC) Drachme c.
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