{"title":"Kujūla Kadphises’ “Roman” Coin: an Issue for Merchants","authors":"Alessandro Magnani ","doi":"10.1163/15700577-20232919","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The paper studies a copper coin type issued during the reign of the Kuṣāṇ king Kujūla Kadphises (<em>ca</em>. 40/50–90 <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">AD</span>) called “Roman Emperor Type”. These coins, dated towards the end of the first century <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">AD</span>, present on the obverse the image of a ruler recalling the imperial iconography of the Julio-Claudian period, and on the reverse Kujūla himself seated. The coin is a real innovation in the history of ancient Indian numismatics and can be the starting point to understand the political choices of Kujūla in a context still embryonic for the Kuṣāṇs. This paper, through the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources at our disposal, aims to demonstrate that the issuing was influenced not only by the halo of authority that the Romans had in India, but mainly by the economic and religious context of the city, which the sovereign used as a place of experimentation for this particular hybrid type of coin.</p>","PeriodicalId":41854,"journal":{"name":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700577-20232919","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The paper studies a copper coin type issued during the reign of the Kuṣāṇ king Kujūla Kadphises (ca. 40/50–90 AD) called “Roman Emperor Type”. These coins, dated towards the end of the first century AD, present on the obverse the image of a ruler recalling the imperial iconography of the Julio-Claudian period, and on the reverse Kujūla himself seated. The coin is a real innovation in the history of ancient Indian numismatics and can be the starting point to understand the political choices of Kujūla in a context still embryonic for the Kuṣāṇs. This paper, through the literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources at our disposal, aims to demonstrate that the issuing was influenced not only by the halo of authority that the Romans had in India, but mainly by the economic and religious context of the city, which the sovereign used as a place of experimentation for this particular hybrid type of coin.
期刊介绍:
Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia is an international journal covering such topics as history, archaeology, numismatics, epigraphy, papyrology and the history of material culture. It discusses art and the history of science and technology, as applied to the Ancient World and relating to the territory of the former Soviet Union, to research undertaken by scholars of the former Soviet Union abroad and to materials in collections in the former Soviet Union. Particular emphasis is given to the Black Sea area, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Siberia and Central Asia, and the littoral of the Indian Ocean.