page_title: Tillya Tepe
section_title: Dates and context
hierarchical_section_title: Tillya Tepe / Dates and context
caption_attribution_description: English: Tilia Tepe (Tillya Tepe) gold token. Kabul Museum. Bibl&#160;: Gérard Fussman et Anna Maria Quagliotti, The early iconography of Avalokitesvara L'iconographie ancienne d'Avalokitesvara, Collège de France, Publications de l'Institut de Civilisation indienne. Paris, Diffusion De Boccard, 2012. ISBN 978-2-86803-080-1. Quotation / Gérard Fussman, p.28&#160;: "The first experiment (in the representation of the Buddha's image) is attested in this gold token from a monastery. (Found) from a grave in Northern Afghanistan, most probably coined in Gandhara since the legends are written in Kharosthi script. (on one side) A greek god, Zeus (or Herakles, according to professor Tanabe) [...] (legend&#160;: «&#160;he who sets in motion the Wheel of the Law&#160;». [...]a lion walking to the left (legend&#160;:«&#160;the lion who chased away fear&#160;». [...] (date:)c. B.C. 50 - c.A.D. 30, at the latest before A.D. 50." The photograph is not a scan taken from the book. See also&#160;: in Commons&#160;: File:Met, gandhara, hercules and the nemean lion, 1st century.JPG
context_page_description: Tillya tepe, Tillia tepe or Tillā tapa is an archaeological site in the northern Afghanistan province of Jowzjan near Sheberghan, excavated in 1978 by a Soviet-Afghan team led by the Greek-Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi, a year before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The hoard is often known as the Bactrian gold.
  The hoard is a collection of about 20,600 ornaments, coins and other kinds of artifacts, made of gold, silver, ivory etc., that were found in six burial mounds with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the 1st century BCE-1st century CE. The ornaments include necklaces set with semi-precious stones, belts, medallions and a crown. After its discovery, the hoard went missing during the wars in Afghanistan, until it was "rediscovered" and first brought to public attention again in 2003. A new museum in Kabul is being planned where the Bactrian gold will eventually be kept.
  The heavily fortified town of Yemshi-tepe, just five kilometres to the northeast of modern Sheberghan on the road to Akcha, is only half a kilometre from the now-famous necropolis of Tillia-tepe.
context_section_description: Several coins dated up to the early 1st century CE, with none dated later, suggest a 1st-century CE date for the burial. The burial could correspond to Scythian or Parthian tribes dwelling in the area, or may correspond to the extinction of the local Yuezhi royal dynasty after the conquests of all the other xihou  or 'princes' in Daxia by Kujula Kadphises. (See Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan.)
  A silver coin was found in one of the tombs from the reigns of the Parthian king Mithridates II, who ruled c. 123–88 BCE. The coin was found in tomb III, and was apparently held in the hand of the buried woman.
  An imitation gold coin of Parthian King Gotarzes I (95-90 BCE) was found in the left hand of the defunct woman in tomb 6. The fact that this coin is in gold, and not silver or bronze as is usually the case for Parthian coinage, suggest that this imitation was made for prestige purposes. The coin is counterstamped with the frontal depiction of what might have been a local chieftain. The counterstamp was added so as to not damage the portrait of the Parthian king, perhaps indicating some degree of dependency on the Parthians.
  A gold coin was also found in tomb III showing the bust in profile of the wreath-crowned Roman Emperor Tiberius. On the reverse is an enthroned, sumptuously draped female figure holding a spray and scepter. Coins of this type were minted in the city of Lugdunum in Gaul, between 16 and 21 CE.
  A Buddhist gold coin from India was also found in tomb IV (the male warrior). On the reverse, it depicts a lion with a nandipada, with the Kharoshthi legend "Sih[o] vigatabhay[o]" ("The lion who dispelled fear"). On the obverse, an almost naked man only wearing an Hellenistic chlamys and a petasus hat (an iconography similar to that of Hermes/ Mercury) rolls a wheel. The legend in Kharoshthi reads "Dharmacakrapravata[ko]" ("The one who turned the Wheel of the Law"). It has been suggested that this may be an early representation of the Buddha.
  Finally, a very worn coin has been identified as belonging to the Yuezhi chieftain Heraios.
  It is thought that the site belonged to Sakas (Asian Scythians, who were later to migrate to India, where they are known as Indo-Scythians), although some suggest the Yuezhi (future Kushans) or eastern Parthians as an alternative. Several of the artifacts are highly consistent with a Scythian origin, such as the royal crown or the polylobed decorated daggers discovered in the tombs. Several of the defuncts exhibited ritual deformation of the skull, a practice which is well documented among Central Asian nomads of the period.
caption: The Tillya Tepe Buddhist coin, with naked deity wearing chlamys cape and petasus hat pushing the Wheel of the Law. Kabul Museum.
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