Item number: A3620／A3621／A3623

Year: circa AD 400-509

Material: Silver

Size: 10.3 x 10.7 x 0.7 mm (A3520)／9.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 mm (A3521)／9.4 x 9.6 x 0.3 mm (A3523)

Weight: 0.5 g (A3520)／0.35 g (A3521)／0.25 g (A3523)

Manufactured by: Samarkand Mint

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

This coin was likely minted in the city-states of Sogdiana, located in the Transoxiana region. It was probably not produced by a single ruler, place, or time. Some scholars have proposed that its minting may have begun when Euthydemus I served as the local governor under the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.

The coin follows the drachma form that spread throughout the Hellenistic world and was modelled on the Seleucid coinage of Antiochus I, which depicted a horse’s head. The obverse shows a left-facing portrait. As several first-series “archer” coins bear on the reverse a cursive Sogdian inscription, “𐼀𐼙𐼚𐼀𐼍” (ʾštʾm), it is possible that the figure portrayed was named Ashtama. On some early specimens, the legend “ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ” (“of King Antiochus”) appears in Greek, confirming that the prototype was derived from Seleucid coinage issued under Antiochus I. The reverse depicts a standing archer holding a bow in his left hand and resting his right hand on his waist, probably representing the issuer himself. By the fourth phase, the image had become increasingly abstract, and the surrounding inscriptions had disappeared. At the same time, the weight of the coins gradually decreased from approximately 4 grams at the time of their initial issue to 0.3 grams, and in some cases even to 0.2 grams.

Coins of this type have been unearthed mainly in the region centred on Samarkand (ancient Sāmōqian, i.e. Sogdian Maracanda), extending eastwards to Panjikent (ancient Panchikant). The period of minting lasted roughly until the early sixth century AD, while actual circulation may have continued until the mid-seventh century.

At the end of the fourth century BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid Empire, crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains, and conquered Bactria and Sogdiana. After his death in 323 BC, his empire was divided among his successors. His general Seleucus I Nicator established the Seleucid Empire, inheriting much of the eastern territories, including Mesopotamia, Persia, and Bactria. In 294 BC, Seleucus’s son Antiochus I succeeded to the throne and gained the title Soter (“the Saviour”) for defeating the Celtic invaders of Asia Minor. By the mid-third century BC, the Seleucid Empire declined due to civil wars and revolts in Parthia. Around 250 BC, the Bactrian satrap Diodotus declared independence from the Seleucids and founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, generally identified by modern scholars with the “Daxia” mentioned in Chinese historical sources.

In the late third century BC, the Bactrian general Euthydemus I overthrew the Diodotid dynasty and established the Euthydemid dynasty. Although he lost control over much of Transoxiana, he successfully resisted Seleucid attempts to reconquer the eastern frontier. By the mid-second century BC, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom collapsed rapidly under internal strife and pressure from nomadic tribes. Around 145 BC, the Yuezhi and the Saka invaded Bactria from the north, forcing the Greeks to retreat south of the Amu Darya. The Hellenistic regimes were subsequently replaced by the Yuezhi and, later, the Kushan Empire.

The Sogdians may have descended in part from remnants of the Yuezhi destroyed by the Xiongnu, gradually intermingling with the Xiongnu, Rouran, and Turkic tribes in the region. From the third century AD, under Shapur I, the Sasanian Empire extended its influence northwards to the upper Amu Darya and established a suzerain relationship with the Sogdian aristocracy. The major city-states of Transoxiana nominally recognised Sasanian overlordship while maintaining internal autonomy through aristocratic councils and local militias.

From the late fourth century AD, however, following the reigns of Bahram IV and Yazdegerd I, continuous frontier conflicts and domestic instability weakened Sasanian control over Sogdiana. The city-states increasingly fell under the loose authority of Xiongnu-descended confederations—possibly of the Kidarite dynasty—and in practice became semi-independent polities. During this period, Sogdiana flourished. Cities such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Shahrisabz, and Panjikent formed interconnected commercial and cultural centres that dominated trade along the middle Silk Road. Sogdian merchants traded extensively, reaching as far as the Northern Wei frontier in China, Tokharistan, and even the Indus Valley, creating an early trans-regional commercial network.

As the political balance of the Central Asian steppe shifted, Sogdiana once again came under threat from northern nomadic powers. From the mid-fifth century AD, the Ephthalites (also known as the White Huns) rose to prominence in the northern steppes and advanced westward across the Altai Mountains. They established a stronghold in Tokharistan and began to intervene in the affairs of Transoxiana. In the ensuing struggle between the Sasanian Empire and the Ephthalites, the Sogdian city-states pursued a flexible diplomatic policy, at times paying tribute to the Ephthalites and at other times recognising Sasanian suzerainty, thereby surviving precariously between the two powers.

Around AD 470, the Ephthalites launched a major western campaign, crossing the Amu Darya and penetrating deep into Sogdiana. In AD 509, they captured Samarkand, bringing the entire Transoxiana region under their control.

During the Tang dynasty, the Sogdian states were collectively known as the “Nine Surnames of Zhaowu” (Jiu xing Hu). When Sogdians travelled within the Tang realm, they often adopted the name of their homeland as their surname—for instance, the rebel general An Lushan derived his surname “An” from An Guo (Bukhara). Despite the title “Nine Surnames,” the confederation was neither limited to nine polities nor ethnically homogeneous; it represented a cultural-political network of multiple city-states, with Kang Guo (Samarkand) as the most powerful.

From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui period, the king of Kang appointed his son as the ruler of Cao Guo. By the Tang dynasty, the Cao Kingdom had split into three branches—Western, Central, and Eastern Cao Guo—with Eastern Cao Guo centred at Panjikent.

In the eighth century AD, the Tang dynasty and the Umayyad Caliphate competed for supremacy in Transoxiana. The outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in AD 755 severed the Silk Road and destroyed Tang frontier defences, resulting in the permanent loss of Chinese influence in the Western Regions. Thereafter, Transoxiana underwent gradual Islamisation. In AD 892, during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (Jingfu 1), the Sunni Samanid dynasty annexed Eastern Cao Guo, bringing about its extinction.

物件編號: A3620／A3621／A3623

年代: 約公元 400-509 年

材料: 銀

尺寸: 10.3 x 10.7 x 0.7 mm (A3520)／9.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 mm (A3521)／9.4 x 9.6 x 0.3 mm (A3523)

重量: 0.5 g (A3520)／0.35 g (A3521)／0.25 g (A3523)

製造地: 撒馬爾罕

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一些應為河中地區粟特城邦(Sogdiana)所鑄之錢，可能非一時一地一人所鑄。也有學者認為是為希臘－巴克特里亞王國(Bactria)之歐西德莫斯一世任粟特總督時所始鑄。

錢幣形制為希臘化時代傳播而來之德拉克馬，原型應為塞琉古帝國安條克一世之馬首像鑄幣。正面為左側肖像，因少數第一期弓箭手幣之背面有粟特字母草書「𐼀𐼙𐼚𐼀𐼍 」(ʾštʾm)，是故所描繪者可能名「阿什塔瑪」(Ashtama)。少數第一期弓箭手幣之正面王像一側有「ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ」之希臘文(意為安條克王)。背面為一弓箭手之立像，左手執弓，右手扶腰。可能描繪的是鑄主，至第四期時幣圖愈趨抽象，同時立像兩側已無幣銘。同時，幣重也由第一期初鑄時的約4克，逐漸降低至0.3，甚至是0.2克。

該類錢幣之發掘出土以撒馬爾罕(Samarkand，古譯颯秣建)為中心，潘吉肯特(Panjikent，古譯噴赤干)為東界。鑄行時期大約至公元六世紀初為止，實際流通可能達七世紀中葉。

公元前4世紀末，亞歷山大大帝東征波斯帝國，越過興都庫什山脈，征服了巴克特里亞與粟特等地，亞歷山大死後(前323年)，其帝國被分裂為數個繼業者王國，其中由將領塞琉古一世·尼卡托爾(Seleucus I Nicator)建立的塞琉古帝國，繼承了東方的大部分領土，包括美索不達米亞、波斯、巴克特里亞等地。公元前294年，塞琉古一世之子安條克一世(Antiochus I)繼其父位，因擊敗入侵小亞細亞的凱爾特人而有「救主」(Soter)之稱號。公元前3世紀中期，塞琉古帝國因內戰與帕提亞地區叛亂而勢力衰退。約在前250年左右，巴克特里亞總督狄奧多特(Diodotus)宣布脫離塞琉古王朝獨立，建立希臘－巴克特里亞王國(Greco-Bactrian Kingdom)，今學者多認為即史籍中之「大夏」。巴克特里亞將領歐西德莫斯於公元前三世紀末推翻狄奧多特王朝，建立歐希德莫斯王朝，是為歐西德莫斯一世(Euthydemus I)。雖然喪失對河中大部分地區的控制，但成功抵禦了塞琉古帝國收復東疆的意圖。公元前2世紀中葉，希臘－巴克特里亞王國在內亂與遊牧民族壓力下迅速瓦解。約公元前145年，大月氏與塞人(Saka)南下攻入巴克特里亞，迫使希臘勢力退出阿姆河以北地區。希臘化政權隨後被月氏以及貴霜帝國所取代。

粟特人源流可能可以上溯至大月氏被匈奴擊滅後的殘部，於當地逐漸與匈奴、柔然、突厥等民族相融。公元三世紀起，在沙普爾一世治下，薩珊王朝的勢力一度北推至阿姆河上游地區，並與粟特地方貴族建立宗藩關係。河中地區的主要城邦，多在名義上承認薩珊的宗主權，同時仍保有自治的貴族議會制度與地方軍事力量。然而，自公元四世紀末，巴赫拉姆四世與伊嗣侯一世時期之後，薩珊朝因東方邊境的持續衝突及內部動盪，對粟特的實際控制逐漸削弱。這一時期的粟特諸城邦逐漸被匈奴化部落(可能屬於寄多羅王朝)鬆散地控制，實際上為半獨立的政治體。此時粟特城邦大為繁榮。撒馬爾罕、布哈拉、沙赫里薩布茲、潘吉肯特等地形成了一系列互相聯結的商業—文化中心，主導著絲綢之路中段的交通與貿易。粟特商人活動範圍廣達中國北朝邊境、吐火羅、甚至南下至印度河流域，形成了早期的跨地域商業網絡。

隨著中亞草原局勢變動，粟特再次受到北方遊牧政權的威脅。五世紀中葉後，嚈噠帝國(Ephthalites，亦稱白匈奴)崛起於塞北，越過阿爾泰山逐步向西推進。嚈噠人在吐火羅地區建立根據地，並開始干預河中地區的政治事務。在薩珊帝國與嚈噠之間的對峙中，粟特諸城邦採取靈活的外交策略，有時向薩珊稱臣，有時向嚈噠納貢，於夾縫中求存。這一脆弱的約在西元470年，嚈噠(白匈奴)發動大規模西征，越過阿姆河攻入粟特腹地，並於公元509年攻陷撒馬爾罕，整個河中地區遂被納入嚈噠的勢力範圍。

唐代時人稱粟特諸邦為「昭武九姓」或「九姓胡」，其國人於漢境行走時常以國名為姓，著名者如安祿山，便以｢安國｣為姓。雖名「九姓」，但並非僅有九個政權，也大概並非單一民族組成。其中以康國最盛，諸國也大多以康國為首。

大約於南北朝至隋代時，康國王分封其子為曹國王，至唐時曹國分西曹國、中曹國、東曹國三部。東曹國以噴赤干為都。公元八世紀，唐朝與大食於河中地區彼此爭鋒，直至天寶十四年(公元755年)，安史之亂爆發，絲路隔斷，邊防崩潰，唐帝國徹底喪失對西域的影響力，河中地區至此逐漸伊斯蘭化。唐哀帝景福元年(公元892年)，遜尼派穆斯林主導的薩曼王朝徹底吞併東曹國，東曹國滅亡。