INDIA, Post-Mauryan (Punjab)
Taxila City-State
AE Square Unit. 10.48g, 18.8mm x 18.4mm
MINTED: Taxila (Pushkalavati) mint, circa 2nd century BC
REF: HGC 12, 772
OBVERSE: Elephant walking right; three-arched hill surmounted by crescent above.
REVERSE: Lion standing right; swastika above, three-arched hill surmounted by crescent to left; all within incuse square.
 
Provenance:
Ex Dr. D. Löer Collection
 
Notes:
Black and tan surfaces.   A thick, pleasingly chunky square bronze.  

Historical Notes:
Taxila is an ancient city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It was founded around 1000 BC and was one of the most important cities in the region for over a thousand years. Taxila was located on a strategic trade route between India and Central Asia, and it was a major center of learning and culture.
 
It was part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the 6th century BC until it surrendered to Alexander the Great in 326 BC.  It later came under the control of the Mauryan Empire until the 2nd century BC.  The great Mauryan emperor Ashoka built several Buddhist monasteries in the city, and as a renowned center of learning, Taxila attracted scholars from across Asia to its acclaimed universities.  After the fall of the Mauryan Empire, Taxila came under the control of Indo-Greeks, then the Indo-Scythians, and finally the Kushan Empire from the 1st to 5th century.  Around AD 470, the city was sacked by the Huns, was never fully rebuilt, and went into decline thereafter.