Known Only From The Coins. Arseiles C.bc 20.

I have had this coin in my collection for sometime now misattributed. I am part of a Facebook ancient coin discussion group and a gentleman who is published expert in Central Asian and Indian coins informed me that my coin was incorrectly attributed. He informed me based on the Greek legend the coin is not the rare tribal ruler Sapalbizes but rather the even rarer king Arseiles. So the reattribution is as follows.

Yue-Zhi, Yue-Chi Tribal Confederacy
Arseiles
AR hemidrachm c. 20 BCE
14.6 mm x 1.41g
Obverse: Helmeted bust right, Blundered Greek legend: AΡCEIΛHC
Reverse: Lion standing right, tamgha of hill & crescent above
Greek legend right and left: NANAIA
Reference: MAC 2831-32, Senior A4.1.

see wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agesiles

see COININDIA
http://coinindia.com/galleries-arseiles.html


I thought it was appropriate to add just a bit of a historical recap to the thread. 月� or the Yuezhi, but better known to us as the Kushan. A once destitute and subjugated nomadic people from a land deep in western China. They moved into Central Asia in the latter half of the 1st cent. BC. They destroyed the Greco-Bactrian kingdom that stood for nearly two centuries. They founded the Kushan Empire a super power that would last for the next two centuries, Greek art, language and numismatic themes remained popular culture in the era of the Kushan.