Hermaios Soter AR Tetradrachm, Indo-Greek, Bilingual, Rare Transposed Types

Hermaios Soter. Tetradrachm, silver, c. 120–90 BC, 9.45 g. Greek-Indian bilingual issue, Paropamisadai or Gandhara. Obverse: BASILEOS SOTEROS HERMAIOU; Hermaios, diademed, on prancing horse right. Reverse: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA HERMAYASA; Zeus, draped and radiate, enthroned facing slightly left, holding sceptre in right hand, left resting on throne; monogram in inner right field. Struck with the types transposed relative to the normal arrangement (horseman paired with the Greek legend; Zeus with the Kharosthi legend); a variety missing from most standard catalogues. Reference: Bopearachchi 8A corr. (monogram). Hermaios ruled the Indo‑Greek borderlands around the Kabul–Paropamisadai region during the late second to early first century BC, a period of pressure from steppe groups that soon produced Yuezhi/Kushan control. His bilingual silver coinage, showing Greek types with Greek and Kharosthi legends, documents the administrative and cultural interface between Hellenistic and Indian traditions and later became the prototype for early Kushan imitations, notably under Kujula Kadphises.