Joe Cribb
Adjunct Professor of Numismatics, School of History and Culture, Hebei Normal University, Former Keeper of Coins and Medals, British Museum. Honorary Research Associate, Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum, Trustee of the Ancient India and Iran Trust, Cambridge.
Deputy Secretary General, Oriental Numismatic Society; Honorary Vice-President, Royal Numismatic Society.
Specialist in Asian coinage, numismatic theory and practice.
Main research focus Kushan coinage and history.
Deputy Secretary General, Oriental Numismatic Society; Honorary Vice-President, Royal Numismatic Society.
Specialist in Asian coinage, numismatic theory and practice.
Main research focus Kushan coinage and history.
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Papers by Joe Cribb
interview by Wan Xiang
古代文明 2019年10月 第13卷 第4期
The Journal of Ancient Civilizations October 2019 Vol.13 No.4
【跨文明研究】
专访英国著名钱币学家乔·克力勃 万翔 韩雪飞
Drafts by Joe Cribb
Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian and Kidarite coins by Joe Cribb
Accessible on line from:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/rec/WN_aDxiMRriTFuoOgZ_WM09ug?meetingId=IPG1GpAT-dxWRMXIj8ZX2VSed1yU2ECe6SHLv4I4JIOXw8XM1T-FJ5cO7LAXRlR2.7iB94Plmtqzdmh1f&playId=&action=play&_x_zm_rtaid=hCfsvtUJTguECvjfh4mz1A.1627128217974.8df0d4862290b7d4758230239bb5646f&_x_zm_rhtaid=358
The Kushan Empire was a vast inland empire that stretched across Central and South Asia during the first to fourth centuries AD. The origins of Kushan dynasty continue to be debated, and precise dates, especially for the late Kushan kings, remain elusive, but the coinage reveals the Kushan dynasty as a major force in the cultural and political history of the ancient Silk Road.
Kushan coinage began c. AD 50 with issues of the first Kushan king, Kujula Kadphises
(c. AD 50–90). The first Kushan coins were based on Greek, Scythian and Parthian coin designs already current in the territory of present day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Under Kujula Kadphises’ son Wima Takto
(c. AD 91–113) and grandson Wima Kadphises
(c. AD 113–127) the coinage system was gradually centralized to serve the entire Kushan empire, stretching from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to northern India. Gold and copper denominations were established during the reign of Wima Kadphises which were maintained through the reigns of ten more kings until the demise of the Kushan empire in the mid-fourth century AD.
This catalogue presents all the Kushan coins
in the American Numismatic Society, with selected illustrations, detailed descriptions and commentary. The production system of Kushan coinage is presented with major revisions of chronology and organization compared with previous publications. This presentation has been based on the latest coin-based research, including die studies and site find analysis.
The coins are classified by ruler, metal, mint, production phase, denomination, type and variety. Introductory essays present the historical and cultural contexts of the kings and their coins. All the ANS gold coins and a selection of copper coins are illustrated. This catalogue also features two series of coins issued by the Kushano- Sasanian and the Kidarite Hun rulers of former Kushan territory because they followed and adapted the Kushan coinage system.
The authors intend this catalogue to be a tool for scholars and collectors alike for understanding, identifying ,and attributing these fascinating coins that represent four centuries of Central and South Asian ancient history.
Although arguments have been presented by Nicholas Schindel criticising the chronology presented here, he offers nothing of sufficient substance to contradict the basic framework presented here and the Kidarite article.
The anonymous Soter Megas coins of the Kushan period have posed the problem of their attribution since they were first discovered in the early 19th century. This study, based on an examination of over a thousand examples, shows that their issue probably began in the final years of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises (c. AD 50 – 90) and continued through the reign of his son and successor Wima Takto (c. AD 90 – 110). All the former attributions are examined and analysed in the light of a new classification based on a re-examination of the coins.
The coins issued without a king’s name after those with the name of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises have for long presented a problem for Kushan studies, because, although it is widely agreed that they are Kushan issues, they mostly lack the name of the ruler issuing them. These anonymous coins, referred to in earlier numismatic literature as issues of the ‘nameless king’, are also known as ‘Soter Megas’ coins because of the Greek titles ΣΩΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑΣ (meaning the Great Saviour, or the Saviour, the Great) which appear on them. These epithets follow the imperial title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ (Basileus basileuōn), which literally translates as ‘ruling king’, but is probably meant to represent ‘king of kings’, as it is so translated on bilingual Greek-Prakrit (Kharoshthi) coins of this series (Konow 1929: lxix). This ‘vast and mysterious coinage’ (Rosenfield 1967: 18) has been found in large numbers over an area stretching from north of the Oxus River in current day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan and into northern India.
There has been frequent debate in academic research about the origins of the title, with two widely held positions predominating, one identifying it as a Chinese title, the other as a Central Asian title transcribed into Chinese. Recent publications have outlined the debate, especially the entry for the term jabguya in Encyclopedia Iranica (Sims-Williams and de la Vaissière 2012), which presents the main arguments on both sides and concludes that the term is a Chinese transcription of a title used by the Wusun and Yuezhi peoples of Inner Asia. One of the authors of this note had previously proposed that the term was a Chinese title meaning “allied prince” (Sims-Williams 2002, pp. 229–230). The same position is proposed in his commentary on the Western Regions section of the Hou Han Shu by John Hill (Hill 2009, p. 588).
This paper sets out to examine the use of the term in the Chinese chronicles of the period of the Kushan xihou and in coin and stone inscriptions of Kujula Kadphises to illustrate the function of this title for him (Hou Han Shu 118, 13; Hill 2009, pp. 28–29) and interrogate the contextual evidence from these sources for the meaning of this title and its likely origins.
interview by Wan Xiang
古代文明 2019年10月 第13卷 第4期
The Journal of Ancient Civilizations October 2019 Vol.13 No.4
【跨文明研究】
专访英国著名钱币学家乔·克力勃 万翔 韩雪飞
Accessible on line from:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/rec/WN_aDxiMRriTFuoOgZ_WM09ug?meetingId=IPG1GpAT-dxWRMXIj8ZX2VSed1yU2ECe6SHLv4I4JIOXw8XM1T-FJ5cO7LAXRlR2.7iB94Plmtqzdmh1f&playId=&action=play&_x_zm_rtaid=hCfsvtUJTguECvjfh4mz1A.1627128217974.8df0d4862290b7d4758230239bb5646f&_x_zm_rhtaid=358
The Kushan Empire was a vast inland empire that stretched across Central and South Asia during the first to fourth centuries AD. The origins of Kushan dynasty continue to be debated, and precise dates, especially for the late Kushan kings, remain elusive, but the coinage reveals the Kushan dynasty as a major force in the cultural and political history of the ancient Silk Road.
Kushan coinage began c. AD 50 with issues of the first Kushan king, Kujula Kadphises
(c. AD 50–90). The first Kushan coins were based on Greek, Scythian and Parthian coin designs already current in the territory of present day Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Under Kujula Kadphises’ son Wima Takto
(c. AD 91–113) and grandson Wima Kadphises
(c. AD 113–127) the coinage system was gradually centralized to serve the entire Kushan empire, stretching from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to northern India. Gold and copper denominations were established during the reign of Wima Kadphises which were maintained through the reigns of ten more kings until the demise of the Kushan empire in the mid-fourth century AD.
This catalogue presents all the Kushan coins
in the American Numismatic Society, with selected illustrations, detailed descriptions and commentary. The production system of Kushan coinage is presented with major revisions of chronology and organization compared with previous publications. This presentation has been based on the latest coin-based research, including die studies and site find analysis.
The coins are classified by ruler, metal, mint, production phase, denomination, type and variety. Introductory essays present the historical and cultural contexts of the kings and their coins. All the ANS gold coins and a selection of copper coins are illustrated. This catalogue also features two series of coins issued by the Kushano- Sasanian and the Kidarite Hun rulers of former Kushan territory because they followed and adapted the Kushan coinage system.
The authors intend this catalogue to be a tool for scholars and collectors alike for understanding, identifying ,and attributing these fascinating coins that represent four centuries of Central and South Asian ancient history.
Although arguments have been presented by Nicholas Schindel criticising the chronology presented here, he offers nothing of sufficient substance to contradict the basic framework presented here and the Kidarite article.
The anonymous Soter Megas coins of the Kushan period have posed the problem of their attribution since they were first discovered in the early 19th century. This study, based on an examination of over a thousand examples, shows that their issue probably began in the final years of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises (c. AD 50 – 90) and continued through the reign of his son and successor Wima Takto (c. AD 90 – 110). All the former attributions are examined and analysed in the light of a new classification based on a re-examination of the coins.
The coins issued without a king’s name after those with the name of the first Kushan king Kujula Kadphises have for long presented a problem for Kushan studies, because, although it is widely agreed that they are Kushan issues, they mostly lack the name of the ruler issuing them. These anonymous coins, referred to in earlier numismatic literature as issues of the ‘nameless king’, are also known as ‘Soter Megas’ coins because of the Greek titles ΣΩΤΗΡ ΜΕΓΑΣ (meaning the Great Saviour, or the Saviour, the Great) which appear on them. These epithets follow the imperial title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΩΝ (Basileus basileuōn), which literally translates as ‘ruling king’, but is probably meant to represent ‘king of kings’, as it is so translated on bilingual Greek-Prakrit (Kharoshthi) coins of this series (Konow 1929: lxix). This ‘vast and mysterious coinage’ (Rosenfield 1967: 18) has been found in large numbers over an area stretching from north of the Oxus River in current day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan and into northern India.
There has been frequent debate in academic research about the origins of the title, with two widely held positions predominating, one identifying it as a Chinese title, the other as a Central Asian title transcribed into Chinese. Recent publications have outlined the debate, especially the entry for the term jabguya in Encyclopedia Iranica (Sims-Williams and de la Vaissière 2012), which presents the main arguments on both sides and concludes that the term is a Chinese transcription of a title used by the Wusun and Yuezhi peoples of Inner Asia. One of the authors of this note had previously proposed that the term was a Chinese title meaning “allied prince” (Sims-Williams 2002, pp. 229–230). The same position is proposed in his commentary on the Western Regions section of the Hou Han Shu by John Hill (Hill 2009, p. 588).
This paper sets out to examine the use of the term in the Chinese chronicles of the period of the Kushan xihou and in coin and stone inscriptions of Kujula Kadphises to illustrate the function of this title for him (Hou Han Shu 118, 13; Hill 2009, pp. 28–29) and interrogate the contextual evidence from these sources for the meaning of this title and its likely origins.
This article was written at a time when the date of Kanishka I and Azes I were still debated. In the light of more recent research the date of Kujula Kadphises should be later, c. AD 50-90.
The gold reliquary with images of the Buddha and associated gods found by Charles Masson in 1834 in Bimaran Stupa no. 2, in Darunta district, west of Jalalabad, has since been used by scholars as a tool for understanding the chronology and influences of Gandharan art and the origins of the Buddha image. The scholarly discussion of the significance of the Bimaran gold reliquary is reviewed in this chapter as a historical process and as a discourse on the relative values of archaeological, numismatic and art- historical evidence. The transformation of application of this evidence since 1992 has created a new understanding of the value of the reliquary in addressing the key questions concerning the early history of the Buddha image, and has moved towards clarification of the significance of the reliquary itself.
This reappraisal of the coins of the satraps Kharahostes, son of Arta[sa], and Mujatria, son of Kharahostes, shows that their domain was in the region of Jalalabad in Afghanistan and that they were ruling during the period of the first Kushan king, Kujula Kadphises, and their satrapy ceased issuing coins in the period of the second Kushan king, Wima Takto. The Kharahostes who appears in the Mathura lion capital appears to have been a separate person with no clear connection with the son of Arta[sa]. This interpretation has been reinforced by the recent discovery of a coin of Kharahostes reigning as satrap at Mathura. Both Kharahostes can now be dated in the late first century AD, ruling just before the Kushan conquest of
their domains.
Using serial numbers and archives to assess
number of notes printed and issued.
Observations on the sequence of printing plates created
using the plate to roller to plate transfer system,
with variations in use of geometric lathe.
This paper was originally prepared for the international workshop 'Chinese Civilization on the Silk Road' hosted by Professor Rong Xinjiang at Peking University, 9-10 November 2019. The proceedings were published in Rong Xinjiang (ed.-in-chief), Sichou zhi lu shang de Zhonghua wenming (Chinese Civilization on the Silk Road), Beijing, The Commercial Press, 2022. As this volume is not easily available in the UK, we requested and were granted permission to republish it in JONS. The main body and footnotes of the article remain unchanged and the style of the original has been retained, but the bibliography has been updated, and a postscript has been added at the end to include work since 2019.
Helen Wang, Joe Cribb, Elizabeth Errington, Vesta Curtis and Robert Bracey, 'Money on the Silk Road - Research at the British Museum', in Rong Xinjiang (ed.-in-chief), Sichou zhi lu shang de Zhonghua wenming [Chinese Civilization on the Silk Road], pp. 421-452. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 2022. ISBN 978-7-100-20826-0
https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/DMS/DB241ED9752B4970A8AEEFA239E6DB87/9781803276106-sample.pdf