NOTE ON THE HISTORICAL RESULTS DEDUCIBLE FROM RECENT DISCOVERIES IN AFGHANISTAN

The public are not unacquainted with the fact that discoveries of much interest have recently been made in the regions of Central Asia, which were the seat of Greek dominion for some hundred years after their conquest by Alexander. These discoveries are principally, but not entirely, numismatic, and have revealed the names of sovereigns of Greek race, and of their Scythian, and Parthian successors, of none of whom is any mention to be found in the extant histories of the East or West. There has also been opened to the curious, through these coins, a language, the existence of which was hitherto unknown, and which must have been the vernacular dialect of some of the regions in which the Grecian colonies were established. The coins possess particular value as a key for the cipher of this language through their bilingual legends and superscriptions, and have been extensively and successfully used for that purpose. An examination of coins found in Afghanistan with Greek inscriptions that date back to the time of Alexander the Great. The author?s brother James also lived in India and was a prominent scholar. Upon the latter’s death in 1840, Prinsep found himself in possession of his brother’s coin collection and a notebook, which became the basis of this work, published in 1844. He explains that the coins ? which have inscriptions in both Greek and unknown languages ? are valuable evidence of Alexander the Great’s famous expedition to the east in the fourth century BCE. He also includes extensive illustrations of the coins, offering a fascinating view of an important archaeological discovery.