Our knowledge of the various Hunnic tribes is still quite uncertain but is evolving. In his seminal four-volume study of Hunnic coins(Dokumente zur Geschichte der Iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien), Robert Göbl identified four major series of coins and divided them into four separate "tribes" or phases: the Kidarites, the Alchon Huns, the Nezak Huns and the "proper" Hephthalites. Certainly these four major groupings seem logical based on style and typology, so numismatists continue to use them. The earliest coins of the Alchon Huns seem to date from very late in the fourth century, as they actually use dies of the Sasanian emperor Shapur II (ruled 309-379), recut to reflect their name(Alchono) and their symbol: the so-called "bull" tamgha. Subsequently, they cut fresh dies of this type and the first coin shown below is one of these, with the bull tamgha in the right field of the obverse. What followed is a matter of some dispute, and I will discuss the issues as I present the coins. A key development in our knowledge of these coins came in 2006. In his study, Göbl had not made much progress in creating a sequence for the coins, as they just didn't seem to follow a pattern. In 2006, Gudrun Melzer published a reading and translation of a copper scroll inscription from the Schøyen collection that fundamentally changed the outlook. In this inscription, four separate kings who we know from the coins are named as donors in the establishment of a Buddhist stupa. So we now realize that these four kings: Khingila, Toramana, Javukha and Mehama, were all ruling at the same time and therefore were issuing coinsin parallel. No wonder the coins didn't seem to follow a logical sequence! More details will emerge in the ensuing discussion. This page presents the anonymous coins of the early Alchons, and then, on succeeding pages, I will present what seem to me to be the logical four series that might have followed these coins, centering on the four kings mentioned in the Schøyen copper scroll inscription published by Melzer. To see the whole discussion, simply click on the Next button at the end of each of these pages. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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