I was correcting proofs for a chapter in an edited volume and found a reference to a coin type I couldn’t perfectly remember. So I thought I’d remind myself why I thought it so relevant. I stuck in the key words ‘Agathocles’ and ‘lion’ into the ANS database, meaning to return coins from Syracuse, but in my search up pops this Greco-Bactrian specimen. Much of this king’s coinage looks very much like that of any of Alexander’s successors, but some of it, like this piece borrows from Indian traditions, both Buddhist and Hindu. I’ve not fact checked the Wikipedia entry, but it gives some idea of how rich the cultural connections may be. A quick look at the academic material reveals how complex Greco-Bactrian Numismatics is. It’s interesting to think that it dates within a decade or so of other coins reflecting (perhaps less drastic) cultural intersections brought about by the rise of previous peripheral states in the Hellenistic world:
