History of the Indo-Greek Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The History of the Indo-Greek Kingdom covers a period from the 2nd century BCE to the beginning of the 1st century CE in northern and northwestern India. There were over 30 Indo-Greek
kings, often in competition on different territories. Many of them are only known through their coins.
Many of the dates, territories, and relationships between Indo-Greek kings are tentative and essentially based on numismatic analysis (find places, overstrikes, monograms, metallurgy, styles), a few Classical
writings, and Indian writings and epigraphic evidence. The following list of kings, dates and territories after the reign of Demetrius is derived from the latest and most extensive analysis on the subject, by Osmund Bopearachchi
and R.C. Senior.
The invasion of northern India, and the establishment of what would be known as the "Indo-Greek kingdom", started around 200 BCE when Demetrius
, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I
, led his troops across the Hindu Kush
. Apollodotus
, may have made advances in the south, while Menander
, led later invasions further east. Following his conquests, Demetrius received the title ανικητος ("Anicetus", lit. invincible), a title never given to any king before.
Written evidence of the initial Greek invasion survives in the Greek writings of Strabo
and Justin
, and in Sanskrit
in the records of Patanjali
, Kālidāsa
, and in the Yuga Purana
, among others. Coins and architectural evidence also attest to the extent of the initial Greek campaign.
and also started to re-occupy the area of Arachosia
, where Greek populations had been living since before the acquisition of the territory by Chandragupta
from Seleucus. Isidore of Charax
describes Greek cities there, one of them called Demetrias, probably in honour of the conqueror Demetrius
.
According to Strabo
, Greek advances temporarily went as far as the Sunga capital Pataliputra (today Patna) in eastern India:
The 1st century BCE Greek historian Apollodorus
, quoted by Strabo, affirms that the Bactrian Greeks, led by Demetrius I
and Menander
, conquered India and occupied a larger territory than the Greeks under Alexander the Great, going beyond the Hypanis
towards the Himalayas
:
The Roman historian Justin
also mentioned the Indo-Greek kingdom, describing a "Demetrius,King of the Indians" ("Regis Indorum"), and explaining that after vanquishing him Eucratides in turn "put India under his rule" ("Indiam in potestatem redegit") (since the time of the embassies of Megasthenes
in the 3rd century BCE "India" was understood as the entire subcontinent, and was cartographed by geographers such as Eratosthenes
). Justin also mentions Apollodotus and Menander as kings of the Indians.
Greek and Indian sources tend to indicate that the Greeks campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat. This advance probably took place under the reign of Menander, the most important Indo-Greek king (A.K. Narain and Keay 2000) and was likely only of a military advance of temporary nature, perhaps in alliance with native Indian states. The permanent Indo-Greek dominions extended only from the Kabul
Valley to the eastern Punjab
or slightly further east.
To the south, the Greeks occupied the areas of the Sindh
and Gujarat down to the region of Surat
(Greek: Saraostus
) near Mumbai
(Bombay), including the strategic harbour of Barigaza (Bharuch
), as attested by several writers (Strabo 11; Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Chap. 41/47) and as evidenced by coins dating from the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I:
The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
describes numerous Greek buildings and fortifications in Barigaza
, although mistakenly attributing them to Alexander, and testifies to the circulation of Indo-Greek coinage in the region:
From ancient authors (Pliny, Arrian, Ptolemy and Strabo), a list of provinces, satrapies, or simple regional designations, and Greek cities from within the Indo-Greek Kingdom can be discerned (though others have been lost), ranging from the Indus basin to the upper valley of the Ganges.
, Saketa, and Pataliputra. The term Yavana is thought to be a transliteration of "Ionians" and is known to have designated Hellenistic Greeks (starting with the Edicts of Ashoka
, where Ashoka
writes about "the Yavana king Antiochus
"), but may have sometimes referred to other foreigners as well, especially in later centuries.
Patanjali
, a grammarian and commentator on Pāṇini around 150 BCE, describes in the Mahābhāsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit
, denoting a recent event:
The Anushasanaparava of the Mahabharata
affirms that the country of Mathura, the heartland of India, was under the joint control of the Yavanas and the Kambojas
. The Vayupurana asserts that Mathura was ruled by seven Greek kings over a period of 82 years.
Accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Sunga in Central India are also found in the Mālavikāgnimitram
, a play by Kālidāsa
which describes an encounter between Greek forces and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, during the latter's reign.
Also the Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana
, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy, relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes
, and describes the ultimate destruction of the city's walls:
According to the Yuga Purana a situation of complete social disorder follows, in which the Yavanas rule and mingle with the people, and the position of the Brahmin
s and the Sudra
s is inverted:
, or a frieze in Sanchi
which describes Greek-looking foreigners honouring the Sanchi stupa with gifts, prayers and music (image above). They wear the chlamys
cape over short chiton
tunic
s without trousers, and have high-laced sandal
s. They are beardless with short curly hair and headbands, and two men wear the conical pilos hat. They play various instruments, including two carnyx
es, and one aulos
double-flute. This is near Vidisa, where an Indo-Greek monument, the Heliodorus pillar
, is known.
A pillar discovered in Reh, in the Ganges valley 350 km south-east of Mathura mentions Menander:
Another inscription 17mk from Mathura, the Maghera inscription, contains the phrase "In the 116th year of the Greek kings...", suggesting Greek rule in the area until around 70 BCE, as the "Greek era" is thought to have started around 186 BCE.
, today in northwestern Pakistan near Taxila
, was built according to the "Hippodamian" grid-plan characteristic of Greek cities, and was a Hellenistic fortress of considerable proportions, with a 6,000 meter wall on the circumference, of a height of about 10 meters. The houses of the Indo-Greek level are "the best planned of all the six strata, and the rubble masonry of which its walls are built is also the most solid and compact". It is thought that the city was built by Demetrius.
Several Hellenistic artifacts have been found, in particular coins of Indo-Greek kings, stone palettes representing Greek mythological scenes, and small statuettes. Some of them are purely Hellenistic, others indicate an evolution of the Greco-Bactrian styles found at Ai-Khanoum
towards more indianized styles.
For example, accessories such as Indian ankle bracelets can be found on some representations of Greek mythological figures such as Artemis
.
The excavations of the Greek levels at Sirkap were however very limited and made in peripheral areas, out of respect for the more recent archeological strata (those of the Indo-Scythian and especially Indo-Parthian levels) and the remaining religious buildings, and due to the difficulty of excavating extensively to a depth of about 6 meters. The results, although interesting, are partial and cannot be considered as exhaustive. Beyond this, no extensive archaeological excavation of an Indo-Greek city has ever really been done.
Quantities of Hellenistic artifacts and ceramics can also be found throughout Northern India. Clay seals depicting Greek deities, and the depiction of an Indo-Greek king thought to be Demetrius were found at Benares.
When the Indo-Greeks settled in the area of Taxila, large Buddhist structures were already present, such as the stupa of Dharmarajika
built by Ashoka
in the 3rd century BCE. These structures were reinforced in the following centuries, by building rings of smaller stupas and constructions around the original ones. Numerous coins of the Indo-Greek king Zoilos II
were found under the foundation of a 1st century BCE rectangular chapel near the Dharmarajika stupa.
Also, various Buddhist structures, such as the Butkara Stupa
in the area of Swat
were enlarged and decorated with Hellenistic architectural elements in the 2nd century BCE, especially during the rule of Menander
. Stupas were just round mounds when the Indo-Greeks settled in India, possibly with some top decorations, but soon they added various structural and decorative elements, such as reinforcement belts, niches, architectural decorations such as plinth
es, torus
es and cavettos, plaster painted with decorative scrolls. The niches were probably designed to place statues or friezes, an indication of early Buddhist descriptive art during the time of the Indo-Greeks. Coins of Menander
were found within these constructions dating them to around 150 BCE. By the end of Indo-Greek rule and during the Indo-Scythian period (1st century BCE), stupas were highly decorated with colonnated flights of stairs and Hellenistic scrolls of Acanthus
leaves.
There may also have been setbacks in the east. The Hathigumpha inscription
, written by the king of Kalinga
, Kharavela
, also describes the presence of the Yavana king whose name has been identified as "Demetrius" with his army in eastern India, apparently as far as the city of Rajagriha
about 70 km southeast of Pataliputra and one of the foremost Buddhist sacred cities, but claims that this Demetrius ultimately retreated to Mathura on hearing of Kharavela's military successes further south:
The interpretation has been challenged, and a presence this far east seems difficult to attest to Demetrius I, who issued no Indian coins whatsoever.
In any case, Eucratides seems to have occupied territory as far as the Indus
, between ca 170 BCE and 150 BCE. His advances were ultimately checked by the Indo-Greek king Menander I
who asserted himself in the Indian part of the empire, and began the last expansions eastwards.
Menander is considered as probably the most successful Indo-Greek king, and the conqueror of the vastest territory. The finds of his coins are the most numerous and the most widespread of all the Indo-Greek kings. In Antiquity, from at least the 1st century CE, the "Menander Mons", or "Mountains of Menander", came to designate the mountain chain at the extreme east of the Indian subcontinent, today's Naga hills
and Arakan
, as indicated in Ptolemy's world map
of the 1st century CE geographer Ptolemy
. Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature, where he called Milinda, and is described in the Milinda Panha
as a convert to Buddhism
: he became an arhat
whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha. He also introduced numismatic reforms, such as issuing coins with portraits, which had hitherto been unknown in India. His most common coin reverse Athena
Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") became a common type for his successors in the East.
Conquests east of the Punjab region
were most likely made during the second half of the century by the king Menander I
, but his eastern conquests were brief. The following passage may allude to the return of Menander to his home territories, perhaps due to a civil war with the competing king Zoilos I
, or the nomad invasion of Bactria:
Following Menander's reign, about twenty Indo-Greek kings are known to have ruled in succession in the eastern parts of the Indo-Greek territory. Upon his death, Menander was succeeded by his infant son Thraso
, but he was apparently murdered and further civil wars ensued. Judging from their coins, many of the later kings claimed descendance from either the Euthydemids or Menander, but the details remain uncertain due to the lack of sources.
and then the Yuezhi
, following a long migration from the border of China, started to invade Bactria from the north. Around 125 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, was probably killed during the invasion and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom proper ceased to exist. The Indo-Greek kingdom, now entirely isolated from the Hellenistic world, did nevertheless maintain itself, if we can judge from the vast number of coins issued from the following kings, such as Lysias
and Antialcidas
.
During this time, the Indo-Greek territory seems to have extended from the Paropamisadae
and Arachosia
in the west, to eastern Punjab, perhaps even with further eastern strongholds such as Mathura (see below). It is uncertain when the coastal provinces along the mouth of the Indus and further east were lost, or how tightly they were ever integrated with the kingdom.
, and the Parthians in the West. About 20 Indo-Greek king are known during this period, down to the last known Indo-Greek king Strato II
, who ruled in the Punjab region
until around 10 CE.
The Indo-Greeks may have ruled as far as the area of Mathura until sometime in the 1st century BCE: the Maghera inscription, from a village near Mathura, records the dedication of a well "in the one hundred and sixteenth year of the reign of the Yavanas", which could be as late as 70 BCE. Soon however Indian kings recovered the area of Mathura and south-eastern Punjab, west of the Yamuna River, and started to mint their own coins. The Arjunayanas (area of Mathura) and Yaudheya
s mention military victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas", "Victory of the Yaudheyas"). During the 1st century BCE, the Trigartas, Audumbaras
and finally the Kunindas (closest to Punjab) also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo-Greek coinage.
The Western king Philoxenus briefly occupied most of the remaining Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab c. 100 BCE, after which the territories fragmented again. The following decades saw fierce internal fighting between several kings, such as Heliokles II, Strato I
and Hermaeus, which contributed to the downfall in a manner perhaps reminiscent of how the Seleucid and Ptolemaic
states were torn apart by dynastic wars at the same period.
Philoxenus was succeeded by Diomedes
, probably his son or younger brother, in the west, but his reign was short and he was succeeded by
Hermaeus, a king married to the princess Calliope who was likely a daughter of Philoxenus. After a reign of at least one decade, Hermaeus was overthrown by nomad tribes, either the Yuezhi
or Sakas When Hermaeus is depicted on his coins riding a horse, he is equipped with the recurve bow
and bow-case of the steppes.
In any case, these nomads became the new rulers of the Paropamisadae, and minted vast quantities of posthumous issues of Hermaeus up to around 40 CE, when they blend with the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises
. The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapalbizes
, ruled around 20 BCE, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and celators.
Around 80 BCE, an Indo-Scythian king named Maues
, possibly an ally of some of the Indo-Greeks kings, captured Taxila and ruled Gandhara for a few years. The king he dethroned was probably Archebius. After Maues' death, the Indo-Greeks were able to regain control of Taxila, but at this time, the line between Greeks and Sakas may not have been that clear. Among the kings who emerged in Gandhara after Maues' death, Artemidoros
who was seemingly a regular Indo-Greek king, presents himself as "son of Maues" on a bronze. This discovery caused a small sensation and has lead scholars such as Senior to assume that also Hermaeus may have been of partly Saka origin.
Another important king during this period was Amyntas, who issued the last Attic coins found in Bactria and may have attempted to reunite the Indo-Greek territories. It was however the king Apollodotus II
, seemingly a descendant of Menander, who managed to regain Gandhara from remaining Greek strongholds in eastern Punjab. After the death of Apollodotus II the kingdom fragmented once more.
In the west, he was succeeded by Hippostratos
who was initially a successful ruler, but he was the last western ruler: around 55-50 BCE he was defeated by the Indo-Scythian Azes I
, who established his own Indo-Scythian dynasty.
Although the Indo-Scythians clearly ruled militarily and politically, they remained respectful of Greek and Indian cultures. Their coins were minted in Greek mints, continued using proper Greek and Kharoshthi legends, and incorporated depictions of Greek deities, particularly Zeus. The Mathura lion capital
inscription attests that they adopted the Buddhist faith, as do the depictions of deities forming the vitarka mudra on their coins. Greek communities, far from being exterminated, probably persisted under Indo-Scythian rule. The Buner reliefs
show Indo-Greeks and Indo-Scythians reveling in a Buddhist context.
was taken over by the Indo-Scythian ruler Rajuvula
around 10 CE. The coins of these Indo-Greek rulers deteriorated constantly, both in terms of artistic quality (due to the long isolation) and in silver content. Still, the last Strato had the honour of ruling the last pocket of an independent Hellenistic state; when he disappeared, Cleopatra, usually seen as the last of the rulers who followed Alexander the Great, was already gone.
The Parthians, represented by the Suren, a noble Parthian family of Arsacid descent, started to make inroads into the territories which had been occupied by the Indo-Scythians
and the Yuezhi
, until the demise of the last Indo-Scythian emperor Azes II
around 12 BCE. The Parthians ended up controlling all of Bactria
and extensive territories in Northern India, after fighting many local rulers such as the Kushan Empire
ruler Kujula Kadphises
, in the Gandhara
region. Around 20, Gondophares
, one of the Parthian conquerors, declared his independence from the Parthian empire and established the Indo-Parthian kingdom
in the conquered territories, with his capital in Taxila
.
The Yuezhi expanded to the east during the 1st century CE, to found the Kushan Empire
. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises
ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus
on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy. The Yuezhi (future Kushans) were in many ways the cultural and political heirs to the Indo-Greeks, as suggested by their adoption of the Greek culture (writing system, Greco-Buddhist art
) and their claim to a lineage with the last western Indo-Greek king Hermaeus.
The last known mention of an Indo-Greek ruler is suggested by an inscription on a signet ring of the 1st century CE in the name of a king Theodamas
, from the Bajaur
area of Gandhara
, in modern Pakistan. No coins of him are known, but the signet bears in kharoshthi script the inscription "Su Theodamasa", "Su" being explained as the Greek transliteration of the ubiquitous Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah
", "King").
Euthydemus I
and Demetrius I
(c. 200-175 BCE) Coins. Demetrius was the first Indo-Greek king to gain territories in India. It is possible that he made his first conquests as general for his father, a view supported by the Heliodorus inscription.
Territories of Paropamisadae, Gandhara
Territories of Gandhara, western Punjab
Territories of Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
Territories of Arachosia, Paropamisadae, Gandhara
A smaller kingdom seems to have emerged in the Kabul valley, between c. 130-115/110 BCE.
Territories of Arachosia, Paropamisadae, Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
Territories of Arachosia and the Paropamisadae
Territories of Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
A number of kings fought for hegemony during the period after Philoxenus' death to the advent of Maues.
The territory of Mathura and eastern Punjab may have been lost after Strato's death.
The following minor kings ruled parts of the kingdom:
Territories of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara
During the 1st century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground against the invasion of the Indo-Scythians. After the invasion of (Maues
),, the following kings maintained themselves in the Paropamisadae or Gandhara:
Despite his Greek name, Artemidoros was the son of Maues and therefore formally a Scythian king, and the ethnicity of Telephus is unknown as well.
Territories of Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
Apollodotus II temporarily united most of the Indo-Greek kingdom, but after his death it fragmented again.
Territories of Gandhara and western Punjab
The last Indo-Greek kings ruled in eastern Punjab during from around 55 BCE-10 CE
The Indo-Greeks may have kept a significant military role towards the 2nd century CE as suggested by the inscriptions of the Satavahana
kings.
Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest regions of the Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries BC, and was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other...
kings, often in competition on different territories. Many of them are only known through their coins.
Many of the dates, territories, and relationships between Indo-Greek kings are tentative and essentially based on numismatic analysis (find places, overstrikes, monograms, metallurgy, styles), a few Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
writings, and Indian writings and epigraphic evidence. The following list of kings, dates and territories after the reign of Demetrius is derived from the latest and most extensive analysis on the subject, by Osmund Bopearachchi
Osmund Bopearachchi
Osmund Bopearachchi is an historian and numismatist who has been specializing in the coinage of the Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms.Originally from Sri Lanka, he finished his studies in France. In 1983 he joined a team of the CNRS at the Ecole Normale Supérieure to further his studies...
and R.C. Senior.
The invasion of northern India, and the establishment of what would be known as the "Indo-Greek kingdom", started around 200 BCE when Demetrius
Demetrius I of Bactria
Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...
, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I
Euthydemus I
Euthydemus I , Greco-Bactrian king in about 230 or 223 BCE according to Polybius., he is thought to have originally been a Satrap of Sogdiana, who overturned the dynasty of Diodotus of Bactria and became a Greco-Bactrian king. Strabo, on the other hand, correlates his accession with internal...
, led his troops across the Hindu Kush
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a...
. Apollodotus
Apollodotus I
Apollodotus I Soter was an Indo-Greek king between 180 and 160 BCE or between 174 and 165 BCE who ruled the western and southern parts of the Indo-Greek kingdom, from Taxila in Punjab to the areas of Sindh and possibly Gujarat.-Ruler of the Indo-Greek...
, may have made advances in the south, while Menander
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
, led later invasions further east. Following his conquests, Demetrius received the title ανικητος ("Anicetus", lit. invincible), a title never given to any king before.
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
and Justin
Junianus Justinus
Justin was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M. Juniani Justini no matter which nomen he bore.Of his personal history nothing is known...
, and in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
in the records of Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
, Kālidāsa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
, and in the Yuga Purana
Yuga Purana
The Yuga Purana is an ancient Indian text, part of the larger Puranic literature. It is considered as one of the oldest Purana, written around 250 CE. The Yuga Purana consists two chapters, within the larger text of the Gargi Samhita, also called Vriddha Gargiya Jyotisha...
, among others. Coins and architectural evidence also attest to the extent of the initial Greek campaign.
Greco-Roman sources
The Greco-Bactrians went over the Hindu KushHindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir in the Chitral region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a...
and also started to re-occupy the area of Arachosia
Arachosia
Arachosia is the Latinized form of the Greek name of an Achaemenid and Seleucid governorate in the eastern part of their respective empires, around modern-day southern Afghanistan. The Greek term "Arachosia" corresponds to the Iranian land of Harauti which was between Kandahar in Afghanistan and...
, where Greek populations had been living since before the acquisition of the territory by Chandragupta
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
from Seleucus. Isidore of Charax
Isidore of Charax
Isidorus Characenus , commonly translated Isidore of Charax, was a geographer of the 1st century BC/1st century AD about whom nothing is known but his name and that he wrote at least one work....
describes Greek cities there, one of them called Demetrias, probably in honour of the conqueror Demetrius
Demetrius I of Bactria
Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...
.
According to Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
, Greek advances temporarily went as far as the Sunga capital Pataliputra (today Patna) in eastern India:
Apollodorus of Artemita
Apollodorus of Artemita was a Greek writer of the 1st century BCE.Apollodorus wrote a history of the Parthian Empire, the Parthika , in at least four books. He is quoted by Strabo and Athenaeus. Strabo stated that he was very reliable. Apollodorus seems to have used the archives of Artemita and...
, quoted by Strabo, affirms that the Bactrian Greeks, led by Demetrius I
Demetrius I of Bactria
Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...
and Menander
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
, conquered India and occupied a larger territory than the Greeks under Alexander the Great, going beyond the Hypanis
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
towards the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
:
The Roman historian Justin
Junianus Justinus
Justin was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M. Juniani Justini no matter which nomen he bore.Of his personal history nothing is known...
also mentioned the Indo-Greek kingdom, describing a "Demetrius,King of the Indians" ("Regis Indorum"), and explaining that after vanquishing him Eucratides in turn "put India under his rule" ("Indiam in potestatem redegit") (since the time of the embassies of Megasthenes
Megasthenes
Megasthenes was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica.He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain...
in the 3rd century BCE "India" was understood as the entire subcontinent, and was cartographed by geographers such as Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it...
). Justin also mentions Apollodotus and Menander as kings of the Indians.
Greek and Indian sources tend to indicate that the Greeks campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat. This advance probably took place under the reign of Menander, the most important Indo-Greek king (A.K. Narain and Keay 2000) and was likely only of a military advance of temporary nature, perhaps in alliance with native Indian states. The permanent Indo-Greek dominions extended only from the Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
Valley to the eastern Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
or slightly further east.
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
and Gujarat down to the region of Surat
Surat district
Surat is a district in the state of Gujarat India with Surat city as the administrative headquarters of this district. It is surrounded by Bharuch, Narmada , Navsari and Dang districts. To the west is the Gulf of Cambay. It is the second-most advanced district in Gujarat...
(Greek: Saraostus
Saraostus
Saraostus was the name given by the Greeks to the area of Saurashtra and parts of south-western Gujarat....
) near Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(Bombay), including the strategic harbour of Barigaza (Bharuch
Bharuch
Bharuch , also known as Broach, is the oldest city in Gujarat, situated at the mouth of the holy river Narmada. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District and a municipality of more than 1,50,000 inhabitants. As Bharuch is a major seaport city, a number of trade activities have...
), as attested by several writers (Strabo 11; Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Chap. 41/47) and as evidenced by coins dating from the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I:
The 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Periplus of the Red Sea is a Greco-Roman periplus, written in Greek, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
describes numerous Greek buildings and fortifications in Barigaza
Bharuch
Bharuch , also known as Broach, is the oldest city in Gujarat, situated at the mouth of the holy river Narmada. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District and a municipality of more than 1,50,000 inhabitants. As Bharuch is a major seaport city, a number of trade activities have...
, although mistakenly attributing them to Alexander, and testifies to the circulation of Indo-Greek coinage in the region:
From ancient authors (Pliny, Arrian, Ptolemy and Strabo), a list of provinces, satrapies, or simple regional designations, and Greek cities from within the Indo-Greek Kingdom can be discerned (though others have been lost), ranging from the Indus basin to the upper valley of the Ganges.
Indian sources
Various Indian records describe Yavana attacks on Mathura, PanchalaPanchala
Panchala is an ancient region of northern India, which corresponds to the geographical area around the Ganges River and Yamuna River, the upper Gangetic plain in particular. This would encompass the modern-day states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient times, it was home to a...
, Saketa, and Pataliputra. The term Yavana is thought to be a transliteration of "Ionians" and is known to have designated Hellenistic Greeks (starting with the Edicts of Ashoka
Edicts of Ashoka
The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka, as well as boulders and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 269 BCE to 231 BCE. These inscriptions are dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India,...
, where Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
writes about "the Yavana king Antiochus
Antiochus II Theos
Antiochus II Theos was a king of the Hellenistic Seleucid Kingdom who reigned 261 BC – 246 BC). He succeeded his father Antiochus I Soter in the winter of 262–61 BC...
"), but may have sometimes referred to other foreigners as well, especially in later centuries.
Patanjali
Patañjali
Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. According to tradition, the same Patañjali was also the author of the Mahābhāṣya, a commentary on Kātyāyana's vārttikas on Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī as well as an unspecified work of medicine .In...
, a grammarian and commentator on Pāṇini around 150 BCE, describes in the Mahābhāsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, denoting a recent event:
- "Arunad Yavanah Sāketam" ("The Yavanas (Greeks) besieged Saketa")
- "Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām" ("The Yavanas were besieged Madhyamika" (the "Middle country")).
The Anushasanaparava of the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
affirms that the country of Mathura, the heartland of India, was under the joint control of the Yavanas and the Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
. The Vayupurana asserts that Mathura was ruled by seven Greek kings over a period of 82 years.
Accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Sunga in Central India are also found in the Mālavikāgnimitram
Malavikagnimitram
Mālavikāgnimitram is a Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa. It is his first play.The play tells the story of the love of King Agnimitra, the Shunga king of Vidisha , for the beautiful hand-maiden of his chief queen. He falls in love with the picture of an exiled servant girl named Mālavikā...
, a play by Kālidāsa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
which describes an encounter between Greek forces and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, during the latter's reign.
Also the Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana
Yuga Purana
The Yuga Purana is an ancient Indian text, part of the larger Puranic literature. It is considered as one of the oldest Purana, written around 250 CE. The Yuga Purana consists two chapters, within the larger text of the Gargi Samhita, also called Vriddha Gargiya Jyotisha...
, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy, relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes
Megasthenes
Megasthenes was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica.He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain...
, and describes the ultimate destruction of the city's walls:
According to the Yuga Purana a situation of complete social disorder follows, in which the Yavanas rule and mingle with the people, and the position of the Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s and the Sudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
s is inverted:
Epigraphic remains
Several depictions of Greeks in Central India dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE are known, such as the Greek soldier in BharhutBharhut
Bharhut or Barhut , is a location in Satna district in Madhya Pradesh, Central India, known for its famous Buddhist stupa. The Bharhut stupa may have been established by the Maurya king Asoka in the 3rd century BCE, but many works of art were apparently added during the Sunga period, with many...
, or a frieze in Sanchi
Sanchi
Sanchi is a small village in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, it is located 46 km north east of Bhopal, and 10 km from Besnagar and Vidisha in the central part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the location of several Buddhist monuments dating from the 3rd...
which describes Greek-looking foreigners honouring the Sanchi stupa with gifts, prayers and music (image above). They wear the chlamys
Chlamys
The chlamys was an ancient Greek piece of clothing, a type of cloak....
cape over short chiton
Chiton (costume)
A chiton was a form of clothing worn by men and women in Ancient Greece, from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period ....
tunic
Tunic
A tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, of various lengths reaching from the shoulders to somewhere between the hips and the ankles...
s without trousers, and have high-laced sandal
Sandal (footwear)
Sandals are an open type of outdoor footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps passing over the instep and, sometimes, around the ankle...
s. They are beardless with short curly hair and headbands, and two men wear the conical pilos hat. They play various instruments, including two carnyx
Carnyx
The carnyx was a wind instrument of the Iron Age Celts, used between c. 300 BC to 200 AD. It was a type of bronze trumpet, held vertically, the mouth styled in the shape of a boar's, or other animal's, head. It was used in warfare, probably to incite troops to battle and intimidate opponents...
es, and one aulos
Aulos
An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos...
double-flute. This is near Vidisa, where an Indo-Greek monument, the Heliodorus pillar
Heliodorus pillar
The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 110 BCE in central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra...
, is known.
A pillar discovered in Reh, in the Ganges valley 350 km south-east of Mathura mentions Menander:
Another inscription 17mk from Mathura, the Maghera inscription, contains the phrase "In the 116th year of the Greek kings...", suggesting Greek rule in the area until around 70 BCE, as the "Greek era" is thought to have started around 186 BCE.
Urban remains
The city of SirkapSirkap
Sirkap is the name of an archaeological site on the bank opposite to the city of Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan.The city of Sirkap was built by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius after he invaded ancient India around 180 BC. Demetrius founded in the northern and northwestern Indian subcontinent an...
, today in northwestern Pakistan near Taxila
Taxila
Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...
, was built according to the "Hippodamian" grid-plan characteristic of Greek cities, and was a Hellenistic fortress of considerable proportions, with a 6,000 meter wall on the circumference, of a height of about 10 meters. The houses of the Indo-Greek level are "the best planned of all the six strata, and the rubble masonry of which its walls are built is also the most solid and compact". It is thought that the city was built by Demetrius.
Artifacts
Ai-Khanoum
Ai-Khanoum or Ay Khanum , was founded in the 4th century BC, following the conquests of Alexander the Great and was one of the primary cities of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom...
towards more indianized styles.
For example, accessories such as Indian ankle bracelets can be found on some representations of Greek mythological figures such as Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
.
The excavations of the Greek levels at Sirkap were however very limited and made in peripheral areas, out of respect for the more recent archeological strata (those of the Indo-Scythian and especially Indo-Parthian levels) and the remaining religious buildings, and due to the difficulty of excavating extensively to a depth of about 6 meters. The results, although interesting, are partial and cannot be considered as exhaustive. Beyond this, no extensive archaeological excavation of an Indo-Greek city has ever really been done.
Quantities of Hellenistic artifacts and ceramics can also be found throughout Northern India. Clay seals depicting Greek deities, and the depiction of an Indo-Greek king thought to be Demetrius were found at Benares.
Stupas
Dharmarajika
The Dharmarajika is a large Buddhist stupa in the area of Taxila, Pakistan. It is thought that it was established by the Maurya emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE around relics of the Buddha.The stupa is also popularly called as 'Chir Tope.'The site of divided into two parts: the stupa area in...
built by Ashoka
Ashoka
Ashok Maurya or Ashoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
in the 3rd century BCE. These structures were reinforced in the following centuries, by building rings of smaller stupas and constructions around the original ones. Numerous coins of the Indo-Greek king Zoilos II
Zoilos II
Zoilos II Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BCE, a date approximately supported by RC Senior.-Rule:...
were found under the foundation of a 1st century BCE rectangular chapel near the Dharmarajika stupa.
Also, various Buddhist structures, such as the Butkara Stupa
Butkara Stupa
The Butkara Stupa is an important Buddhist stupa in the area of Swat, Pakistan. It may have been originally built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE....
in the area of Swat
Swat (Pakistan)
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...
were enlarged and decorated with Hellenistic architectural elements in the 2nd century BCE, especially during the rule of Menander
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
. Stupas were just round mounds when the Indo-Greeks settled in India, possibly with some top decorations, but soon they added various structural and decorative elements, such as reinforcement belts, niches, architectural decorations such as plinth
Plinth
In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...
es, torus
Torus
In geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...
es and cavettos, plaster painted with decorative scrolls. The niches were probably designed to place statues or friezes, an indication of early Buddhist descriptive art during the time of the Indo-Greeks. Coins of Menander
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
were found within these constructions dating them to around 150 BCE. By the end of Indo-Greek rule and during the Indo-Scythian period (1st century BCE), stupas were highly decorated with colonnated flights of stairs and Hellenistic scrolls of Acanthus
Acanthus (ornament)
The acanthus is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration.-Architecture:In architecture, an ornament is carved into stone or wood to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus genus of plants, which have deeply cut leaves with some similarity to...
leaves.
The end of the first conquests
Back in Bactria a king named Eucratides managed to topple the Euthydemid dynasty around 170 BCE and some years later made himself ruler of the westernmost Indian territories as well, thus weakening the Indo-Greek kingdom and putting a stop to their expansion.Hathigumpha inscription
The Hathigumpha inscription , from Udayagiri, near Bhubaneshwar in Orissa, was written by Kharavela, the king of Kalinga in India, during the 2nd century BCE...
, written by the king of Kalinga
Kalinga (India)
Kalinga was an early state in central-eastern India, which comprised most of the modern state of Orissa/Utkal , as well as the Andhra region of the bordering state of Andhra Pradesh. It was a rich and fertile land that extended from the river Damodar/Ganges to Godavari and from Bay of Bengal to...
, Kharavela
Kharavela
Khārabēḷa was the third and greatest emperor of the Mahāmēghabāhana Dynasty of Kaḷinga . The main source of information about Khārabeḷa is his famous seventeen line rock-cut Hātigumphā inscription in a cave in the Udayagiri hills near Bhubaneswar, Orissa.During the reign of Khārabēḷa, the Chedi...
, also describes the presence of the Yavana king whose name has been identified as "Demetrius" with his army in eastern India, apparently as far as the city of Rajagriha
Rajgir
Rajgir is a city and a notified area in Nalanda district in the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Rajgir was the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have...
about 70 km southeast of Pataliputra and one of the foremost Buddhist sacred cities, but claims that this Demetrius ultimately retreated to Mathura on hearing of Kharavela's military successes further south:
The interpretation has been challenged, and a presence this far east seems difficult to attest to Demetrius I, who issued no Indian coins whatsoever.
In any case, Eucratides seems to have occupied territory as far as the Indus
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
, between ca 170 BCE and 150 BCE. His advances were ultimately checked by the Indo-Greek king Menander I
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
who asserted himself in the Indian part of the empire, and began the last expansions eastwards.
Consolidation and rise of Menander I
Naga hills
Naga hills, reaching a height of around 3825 metres, lie on the border of India and Burma . These hills are part of a complex mountain system, and the parts of the mountain ranges inside the Indian state of Nagaland and the Burmese region of Sagaing are called the Naga Hills.In British India, the...
and Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
, as indicated in Ptolemy's world map
Ptolemy's world map
The Ptolemy world map is a map of the known world to Western society in the 2nd century AD. It was based on the description contained in Ptolemy's book Geographia, written c. 150...
of the 1st century CE geographer Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
. Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature, where he called Milinda, and is described in the Milinda Panha
Milinda Panha
The Milinda Panha is a Buddhist text which dates from approximately 100 BCE. It is included in the Burmese edition of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism as a book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, however, it does not appear in the Thai or Sri Lankan versions.It purports to record a dialogue in which the...
as a convert to Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
: he became an arhat
Arhat (Buddhism)
Arhat , in Buddhism, signifies a spiritual practitioner who has realized certain high stages of attainment. The implications of the term vary based on the respective schools and traditions.-Etymology:...
whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha. He also introduced numismatic reforms, such as issuing coins with portraits, which had hitherto been unknown in India. His most common coin reverse Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") became a common type for his successors in the East.
Conquests east of the Punjab region
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
were most likely made during the second half of the century by the king Menander I
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
, but his eastern conquests were brief. The following passage may allude to the return of Menander to his home territories, perhaps due to a civil war with the competing king Zoilos I
Zoilos I
Zoilus I Dikaios was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in Northern India and occupied the areas of the Paropamisade and Arachosia previously held by Menander I. He may have belonged to the dynasty of Euthydemus I.-Time of reign:...
, or the nomad invasion of Bactria:
Following Menander's reign, about twenty Indo-Greek kings are known to have ruled in succession in the eastern parts of the Indo-Greek territory. Upon his death, Menander was succeeded by his infant son Thraso
Thraso
Thraso was an Indo-Greek king in Central and Western Punjab, unknown until the 1982 discovery of one of his coins by R.C. Senior in the Surana hoard. The coin is in a style similar to those of Menander I, has the same type of Athena, and shares one of Menander's mint marks...
, but he was apparently murdered and further civil wars ensued. Judging from their coins, many of the later kings claimed descendance from either the Euthydemids or Menander, but the details remain uncertain due to the lack of sources.
The fall of Bactria
From 130 BCE, the ScythiansIndo-Scythians
Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas , who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE....
and then the Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
, following a long migration from the border of China, started to invade Bactria from the north. Around 125 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles, was probably killed during the invasion and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom proper ceased to exist. The Indo-Greek kingdom, now entirely isolated from the Hellenistic world, did nevertheless maintain itself, if we can judge from the vast number of coins issued from the following kings, such as Lysias
King Lysias
-Time of reign:According to numismatist Bopearachchi, Lysias was a close successor to Menander I and Zoilos I, and therefore may have ruled around 130-120 BCE. R.C...
and Antialcidas
Antialcidas
Antialcidas Nikephoros "the Victorious" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who reigned from his capital at Taxila. Bopearachchi has suggested that he ruled from ca 115 to 95 BCE in the western parts of the Indo-Greek realms, whereas RC Senior places him around 130 to 120 BCE and...
.
During this time, the Indo-Greek territory seems to have extended from the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
and Arachosia
Arachosia
Arachosia is the Latinized form of the Greek name of an Achaemenid and Seleucid governorate in the eastern part of their respective empires, around modern-day southern Afghanistan. The Greek term "Arachosia" corresponds to the Iranian land of Harauti which was between Kandahar in Afghanistan and...
in the west, to eastern Punjab, perhaps even with further eastern strongholds such as Mathura (see below). It is uncertain when the coastal provinces along the mouth of the Indus and further east were lost, or how tightly they were ever integrated with the kingdom.
Later History
Throughout the 1st century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground to the Indians in the east, and the Scythians, the YuezhiYuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
, and the Parthians in the West. About 20 Indo-Greek king are known during this period, down to the last known Indo-Greek king Strato II
Strato II
Strato II "Soter" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled circa 25 BCE to 10CE according to Bopearachchi. RC Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier.-Rule:...
, who ruled in the Punjab region
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
until around 10 CE.
Loss of Mathura and eastern territories (after 100 BCE)
Yaudheya
Yaudheya or Yaudheya Gana was an ancient confederation who lived in the area between the Indus river and the Ganges river. They find mention in Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi and Ganapatha. There are other references to them namely in Mahabharata, Mahamayuri, Brihatsamhita, Puranas, Chandravyakarana and...
s mention military victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas", "Victory of the Yaudheyas"). During the 1st century BCE, the Trigartas, Audumbaras
Audumbaras
The Audumbras, or Audumbaras were a north Indian tribal nation east of the Punjab, in the Western Himalaya region. They were the most important tribe of the Himachal, and lived in the lower hills between Sirmaur and Yamuna....
and finally the Kunindas (closest to Punjab) also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo-Greek coinage.
The Western king Philoxenus briefly occupied most of the remaining Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab c. 100 BCE, after which the territories fragmented again. The following decades saw fierce internal fighting between several kings, such as Heliokles II, Strato I
Strato I
Strato I , was an Indo-Greek king who was the son of the Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia, who presumably acted as his regent during his early years after Strato's father, another Indo-Greek king, was killed.-Date and genealogy:...
and Hermaeus, which contributed to the downfall in a manner perhaps reminiscent of how the Seleucid and Ptolemaic
Ptolemaic Kingdom
The Ptolemaic Kingdom in and around Egypt began following Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. It was founded when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt, creating a powerful Hellenistic state stretching from...
states were torn apart by dynastic wars at the same period.
The Yuezhi expansion (70 BCE-)
Philoxenus was succeeded by Diomedes
King Diomedes
Diomedes Soter "the Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king. The places where his coins have been found seem to indicate that his rule was based in the area of the Paropamisadae, possibly with temporary dominions further east...
, probably his son or younger brother, in the west, but his reign was short and he was succeeded by
Hermaeus, a king married to the princess Calliope who was likely a daughter of Philoxenus. After a reign of at least one decade, Hermaeus was overthrown by nomad tribes, either the Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
or Sakas When Hermaeus is depicted on his coins riding a horse, he is equipped with the recurve bow
Recurve bow
In archery, the shape of the bow is usually taken to be the view from the side. It is the product of the complex relationship of material stresses, designed by a bowyer...
and bow-case of the steppes.
In any case, these nomads became the new rulers of the Paropamisadae, and minted vast quantities of posthumous issues of Hermaeus up to around 40 CE, when they blend with the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises, reigned was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor...
. The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapalbizes
Sapadbizes
Sapadbizes , also Sapalbizes, was a ruler of western Bactria, sometimes linked to the Yuezhi. He is known only from his coins . Two clues provide an approximate date for this ruler. He is believed to have overstruck the coins of Phraates IV of Parthia, secondly his coins are of good silver...
, ruled around 20 BCE, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and celators.
Scythian invasions (80 BCE-50CE)
Maues
Maues was an Indo-Scythian king who invaded the Indo-Greek territories.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
, possibly an ally of some of the Indo-Greeks kings, captured Taxila and ruled Gandhara for a few years. The king he dethroned was probably Archebius. After Maues' death, the Indo-Greeks were able to regain control of Taxila, but at this time, the line between Greeks and Sakas may not have been that clear. Among the kings who emerged in Gandhara after Maues' death, Artemidoros
Artemidoros
Artemidoros Aniketos was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara and Pushkalavati in modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.-A son of Maues:Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king...
who was seemingly a regular Indo-Greek king, presents himself as "son of Maues" on a bronze. This discovery caused a small sensation and has lead scholars such as Senior to assume that also Hermaeus may have been of partly Saka origin.
Another important king during this period was Amyntas, who issued the last Attic coins found in Bactria and may have attempted to reunite the Indo-Greek territories. It was however the king Apollodotus II
Apollodotus II
Apollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 85-65 BCE. Apollodotos II was an important ruler who seems to have re-established the Indo-Greek kingdom to some extent of its former glory...
, seemingly a descendant of Menander, who managed to regain Gandhara from remaining Greek strongholds in eastern Punjab. After the death of Apollodotus II the kingdom fragmented once more.
In the west, he was succeeded by Hippostratos
Hippostratos
Hippostratos was an Indo-Greek king who ruled central and north-western Punjab and Pushkalavati. Bopearachchi dates Hippostratos to 65 to 55 BCE whereas R.C...
who was initially a successful ruler, but he was the last western ruler: around 55-50 BCE he was defeated by the Indo-Scythian Azes I
Azes I
Azes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who completed the domination of the Scythians in northern India.-History:Although Maues and his successors had conquered the areas of Gandhara, as well as the area of Mathura from 85 BCE, they were unsuccessful against the Indo-Greek kings remaining behind the...
, who established his own Indo-Scythian dynasty.
Although the Indo-Scythians clearly ruled militarily and politically, they remained respectful of Greek and Indian cultures. Their coins were minted in Greek mints, continued using proper Greek and Kharoshthi legends, and incorporated depictions of Greek deities, particularly Zeus. The Mathura lion capital
Mathura lion capital
The Mathura lion capital is an Indo-Scythian sandstone capital from Mathura in Central India, dated to the 1st century CE.The capital is covered with Prakrit inscriptions in the kharoshthi script of northwestern India...
inscription attests that they adopted the Buddhist faith, as do the depictions of deities forming the vitarka mudra on their coins. Greek communities, far from being exterminated, probably persisted under Indo-Scythian rule. The Buner reliefs
Buner reliefs
The Buner reliefs are a series of frieze reliefs that lie in Buner District, from the area of the Peshawar valley in Pakistan. They are also near the Swat Valley.-Hellenistic scenes:...
show Indo-Greeks and Indo-Scythians reveling in a Buddhist context.
The last eastern kingdom (50 BCE-10CE)
The Indo-Greeks continued to maintain themselves in the eastern Punjab for several decades, until the kingdom of the last Indo-Greek king Strato IIStrato II
Strato II "Soter" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled circa 25 BCE to 10CE according to Bopearachchi. RC Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier.-Rule:...
was taken over by the Indo-Scythian ruler Rajuvula
Rajuvula
Rajuvula was an Indo-Scythian Great Satrap who ruled in the area of Mathura in northern India in the years around 10 CE. In central India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the area of Mathura over Indian kings around 60 BCE...
around 10 CE. The coins of these Indo-Greek rulers deteriorated constantly, both in terms of artistic quality (due to the long isolation) and in silver content. Still, the last Strato had the honour of ruling the last pocket of an independent Hellenistic state; when he disappeared, Cleopatra, usually seen as the last of the rulers who followed Alexander the Great, was already gone.
Indo-Parthian rule (10–60 CE)
The Parthians, represented by the Suren, a noble Parthian family of Arsacid descent, started to make inroads into the territories which had been occupied by the Indo-Scythians
Indo-Scythians
Indo-Scythians is a term used to refer to Sakas , who migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE....
and the Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
, until the demise of the last Indo-Scythian emperor Azes II
Azes II
Azes II , may have been the last Indo-Scythian king in northern Indian subcontinent . After the death of Azes II, the rule of the Indo-Scythians in northwestern India and Pakistan finally crumbled with the conquest of the Kushans, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi who had lived in Bactria for...
around 12 BCE. The Parthians ended up controlling all of Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
and extensive territories in Northern India, after fighting many local rulers such as the Kushan Empire
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early 1st century AD under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus in what is now northern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.During the 1st and early 2nd centuries...
ruler Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises, reigned was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor...
, in the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
region. Around 20, Gondophares
Gondophares
Gondophares I a Seistani representative of the house of Suren as well as founder and first king of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom. He seems to have ruled c...
, one of the Parthian conquerors, declared his independence from the Parthian empire and established the Indo-Parthian kingdom
Indo-Parthian Kingdom
The Gondopharid dynasty, and other so-called Indo-Parthian rulers, were a group of ancient kings from present day eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan who ruled India, during or slightly before the 1st century AD...
in the conquered territories, with his capital in Taxila
Taxila
Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...
.
Kushan supremacy
The Yuezhi expanded to the east during the 1st century CE, to found the Kushan Empire
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire originally formed in the early 1st century AD under Kujula Kadphises in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus in what is now northern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.During the 1st and early 2nd centuries...
. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises, reigned was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor...
ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus
King Hermaeus
Hermaeus Soter "the Saviour" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisade in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus...
on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy. The Yuezhi (future Kushans) were in many ways the cultural and political heirs to the Indo-Greeks, as suggested by their adoption of the Greek culture (writing system, Greco-Buddhist art
Greco-Buddhist art
Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, and the Islamic...
) and their claim to a lineage with the last western Indo-Greek king Hermaeus.
The last known mention of an Indo-Greek ruler is suggested by an inscription on a signet ring of the 1st century CE in the name of a king Theodamas
Theodamas
Theodamas seems to have been an Indo-Greek ruler in the Bajaur area of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan.No coins of him are known, but he has left a signet bearing his name in kharoshthi script, which was found in the region of Bajaur....
, from the Bajaur
Bajaur
Bajaur or Bajur or Bajour is an Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Smallest of the agencies in FATA, it has a hilly terrain. According to the 1998 census, the population was 595,227 but other more recent estimates it has grown to 757,000...
area of Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, in modern Pakistan. No coins of him are known, but the signet bears in kharoshthi script the inscription "Su Theodamasa", "Su" being explained as the Greek transliteration of the ubiquitous Kushan royal title "Shau" ("Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
", "King").
The Indo-Greek rulers
"Indo-Greek" kings are distinguished from "Bactrian" kings in that they issued dominantly bilingual coinage, meant for circulation outside the Hindu Kush. However, Demetrius I is usually included (though he issued no such coins) and some mainly Bactrian kings who also held Indian territories. The chronology is tentative, as are the territories. This overview largely gives the chronology of Senior (2004) while most of the territories are adapted from Bopearachchi (1991). The views of both authors, as well as other alternatives, are given under each king.The Bactrian period (c. 200-130 BCE)
Territories of Arachosia, Paropamisadae, Gandhara?Euthydemus I
Euthydemus I
Euthydemus I , Greco-Bactrian king in about 230 or 223 BCE according to Polybius., he is thought to have originally been a Satrap of Sogdiana, who overturned the dynasty of Diodotus of Bactria and became a Greco-Bactrian king. Strabo, on the other hand, correlates his accession with internal...
and Demetrius I
Demetrius I of Bactria
Demetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...
(c. 200-175 BCE) Coins. Demetrius was the first Indo-Greek king to gain territories in India. It is possible that he made his first conquests as general for his father, a view supported by the Heliodorus inscription.
- PantaleonPantaleonPantaleon was a Greek king who reigned some time between 190–180 BCE in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, and is sometimes believed to have been his brother and/or subking...
- AgathoclesAgathocles of BactriaAgathocles Dikaios was a Buddhist Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BCE. He might have been a son of Demetrius and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and India...
Coins. These two Bactrian kings, likely father and son, ruled between c.190-175 BCE.
Territories of Gandhara, western Punjab
- Apollodotus I (c. 180-160 BCE)
- Antimachus IIAntimachus IIAntimachus II Nikephoros "The Victorious" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled on a vast territory from the Hindu-Kush to the Punjab around 170 BCE. He was almost certainly identical with the eponymous son of Antimachus I, who is known from a unique preserved tax-receipt...
(c.174-165 BCE or 160-155 BCE). Coins R.C Senior (2004) has suggested that this king was possibly identical with Antimachus I, but an Antimachus, who was the co-regent (and presumably son) of Antimachus I is known from a preserved tax-receipt.
Territories of Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
- Menander IMenander IMenander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
(reigned c. 165/155 - 135/130 BCE), though with some interruption in the western territories. Legendary for the size of his kingdom, and his support of the Buddhist faith. Coins
Territories of Arachosia, Paropamisadae, Gandhara
- Eucratides managed to eradicate the Euthydemid dynasty and occupy territory as far as he IndusIndus RiverThe Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
, between c. 160-145 BCE. Eucratides was then murdered by his son, thereafter Menander IMenander IMenander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
seems to have regained all of the territory as far west as the Hindu-Kush. - Zoilos IZoilos IZoilus I Dikaios was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in Northern India and occupied the areas of the Paropamisade and Arachosia previously held by Menander I. He may have belonged to the dynasty of Euthydemus I.-Time of reign:...
This king may have fought against Menander I around 150-140 BCE. - (Demetrius IIIDemetrios IIIDemetrius III Aniketos "The Invincible" is here identified with an Indo-Greek king who reigned in the area of Gandhara and Punjab.-Controversy about time of reign:...
possibly c. 150 BCE). This ephemereal ruler was possibly identical with the Demetrius, king of the Indians, who fought with Eucratides.
Civil wars and nomad invasions (c.130 BCE-50 CE)
Territories of Gandhara or western PunjabA smaller kingdom seems to have emerged in the Kabul valley, between c. 130-115/110 BCE.
- Thrason Son of Menander, ruled very briefly c.130 BCE.
- Nicias
- TheophilosTheophilos (king)Theophilos was a minor Indo-Greek king who ruled for a short time in the Paropamisadae. He was possibly a relative of Zoilos I and is only known from coins. It is possible that some of Theophilos' coins in fact belong to another ruler, in Greek Bactria, during approximately the same period.-Time of...
Coin - Philoxenus
Territories of Arachosia, Paropamisadae, Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
- LysiasKing Lysias-Time of reign:According to numismatist Bopearachchi, Lysias was a close successor to Menander I and Zoilos I, and therefore may have ruled around 130-120 BCE. R.C...
Coins and - AntialcidasAntialcidasAntialcidas Nikephoros "the Victorious" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who reigned from his capital at Taxila. Bopearachchi has suggested that he ruled from ca 115 to 95 BCE in the western parts of the Indo-Greek realms, whereas RC Senior places him around 130 to 120 BCE and...
Coins were the most important successors of Menander. They ruled most of the Indo-Greek kingdom, though perhaps as co-rulers, c. 130-110 BCE. - Philoxenus (c. 115-105 or 100- 95 BCE) Coins. Philoxenus temporarily united the major kingdom with the smaller state in the Kabul valley.
Territories of Arachosia and the Paropamisadae
- DiomedesKing DiomedesDiomedes Soter "the Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king. The places where his coins have been found seem to indicate that his rule was based in the area of the Paropamisadae, possibly with temporary dominions further east...
(c.105-95 BCE) Coin - HermaeusKing HermaeusHermaeus Soter "the Saviour" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisade in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus...
(reigned c. 95-80 BCE). - ( YuezhiYuezhiThe Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
or SakaSakaThe Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....
rulers)
Territories of Gandhara, western and eastern Punjab
A number of kings fought for hegemony during the period after Philoxenus' death to the advent of Maues.
- AgathokleiaAgathokleiaAgathokleia Theotropa was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled in parts of northern India as regent for her son Strato I.-Date and Genealogy:...
(c. 110-105 BCE), Probably widow of another king, she was presumably regent for her son Strato IStrato IStrato I , was an Indo-Greek king who was the son of the Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia, who presumably acted as his regent during his early years after Strato's father, another Indo-Greek king, was killed.-Date and genealogy:...
. Coins - Strato IStrato IStrato I , was an Indo-Greek king who was the son of the Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia, who presumably acted as his regent during his early years after Strato's father, another Indo-Greek king, was killed.-Date and genealogy:...
(c. 110 - 85BCE) Coin
The territory of Mathura and eastern Punjab may have been lost after Strato's death.
- Heliokles II (c. 95 - 80 BCE) Coins
- ArchebiosArchebiosArchebius Dikaios Nikephoros "The Just/Follower of the Dharma and Victorious" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Taxila. Osmund Bopearachchi dates him to circa 90–80 BCE, and R C Senior to about the same period. He was probably one of the last Indo-Greek kings before the Saka king...
(c.90 - 80 BCE) Coins - AmyntasAmyntas-External links:*...
(c.80 - 65 BCE) Coins
The following minor kings ruled parts of the kingdom:
- PolyxenosPolyxeniosPolyxenos Epiphanes Soter "the Illustrious and Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled briefly in western Punjab or Gandhara.-Coins of Polyxenos:...
(c. 80 BCE - possibly in Gandhara) - PeukolaosPeukolaosPeucolaus Soter Dikaios was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Gandhara c. 90 BCE. His reign was probably short and insignificant, since he left only a few coins, but the relations of the latter Indo-Greek kings remain largely obscure....
(c. 90 BCE) - Demetrius IIIDemetrios IIIDemetrius III Aniketos "The Invincible" is here identified with an Indo-Greek king who reigned in the area of Gandhara and Punjab.-Controversy about time of reign:...
Aniketos (possibly c. 75 BCE) - EpanderEpanderEpander was one of the Indo-Greek kings. He may have been a relative of Menander I, and the findplaces of his coins seem to indicate that he ruled in the area of Punjab.-Time of reign:Bopearachchi dates Epander to c. 95-90 BCE and R.C. Senior to c. 80 BCE...
(c.95 - 90 BCE) Coins
Territories of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara
During the 1st century BCE, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground against the invasion of the Indo-Scythians. After the invasion of (Maues
Maues
Maues was an Indo-Scythian king who invaded the Indo-Greek territories.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
),, the following kings maintained themselves in the Paropamisadae or Gandhara:
- Menander IIMenander IIMenander II "The Just" was an Indo-Greek King who ruled in the areas of Arachosia and Gandhara in the north of modern Pakistan.-Time of reign:...
(c.70-65 BCE) Coins - ArtemidorosArtemidorosArtemidoros Aniketos was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara and Pushkalavati in modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.-A son of Maues:Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king...
(c.75-65 BCE) Coins. - TelephosKing TelephosTelephos Euergetes, "the Benefactor", was a late Indo-Greek king who seem to have been one of the weak and brief successors of Maues. Bopearachchi dates Telephos between 75-70 BCE and places him in Gandhara, Senior to circa 60 BCE and suggests that he ruled in some parts of Pushkalavati or even...
(c.65 - 60 BCE) Coins
Despite his Greek name, Artemidoros was the son of Maues and therefore formally a Scythian king, and the ethnicity of Telephus is unknown as well.
- Apollodotus IIApollodotus IIApollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 85-65 BCE. Apollodotos II was an important ruler who seems to have re-established the Indo-Greek kingdom to some extent of its former glory...
(c.65 - 55 BCE) Coins
Apollodotus II temporarily united most of the Indo-Greek kingdom, but after his death it fragmented again.
Territories of Gandhara and western Punjab
- HippostratosHippostratosHippostratos was an Indo-Greek king who ruled central and north-western Punjab and Pushkalavati. Bopearachchi dates Hippostratos to 65 to 55 BCE whereas R.C...
(c. 60 - 50 BCE)Coins, who was defeated by the Indo-Scythian King Azes IAzes IAzes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who completed the domination of the Scythians in northern India.-History:Although Maues and his successors had conquered the areas of Gandhara, as well as the area of Mathura from 85 BCE, they were unsuccessful against the Indo-Greek kings remaining behind the...
. - (Azes IAzes IAzes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who completed the domination of the Scythians in northern India.-History:Although Maues and his successors had conquered the areas of Gandhara, as well as the area of Mathura from 85 BCE, they were unsuccessful against the Indo-Greek kings remaining behind the...
). Indo-Scythian king.
Last eastern kingdom
Territories of eastern PunjabThe last Indo-Greek kings ruled in eastern Punjab during from around 55 BCE-10 CE
- DionysiosKing DionysiosDionysios Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king in the area of eastern Punjab.-Reign:According to Osmund Bopearachchi, he reigned ca circa 65 - 55 BCE and inherited the eastern parts of the kingdom of the important late ruler Apollodotus II...
- Zoilos IIZoilos IIZoilos II Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BCE, a date approximately supported by RC Senior.-Rule:...
- ApollophanesApollophanesApollophanes Soter was an Indo-Greek king in the area of eastern and central Punjab in modern India and Pakistan.-Rule:...
- Strato IIStrato IIStrato II "Soter" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled circa 25 BCE to 10CE according to Bopearachchi. RC Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier.-Rule:...
Coin with Strato III, who was overthrown by - (RajuvulaRajuvulaRajuvula was an Indo-Scythian Great Satrap who ruled in the area of Mathura in northern India in the years around 10 CE. In central India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the area of Mathura over Indian kings around 60 BCE...
), Indo-Scythian king.
Indo-Greek princelets (Gandhara)
After the Indo-Scythian Kings became the rulers of northern India, remaining Greek communities were probably governed by lesser Greek rulers, without the right of coinage, into the 1st century CE, in the areas of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara:- TheodamasTheodamasTheodamas seems to have been an Indo-Greek ruler in the Bajaur area of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan.No coins of him are known, but he has left a signet bearing his name in kharoshthi script, which was found in the region of Bajaur....
(c. 1st century CE) Indo-Greek ruler of the Bajaur area, northern Gandhara.
The Indo-Greeks may have kept a significant military role towards the 2nd century CE as suggested by the inscriptions of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
kings.
Sources
- Senior, R.C., New Indo Greek Coins, Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 186
- Senior, R.C. and MacDonald, D., The decline of the Indo-Greeks, Monographs of the Hellenic Numismatic Society, Athens, 1998
- Senior, R.C., Indo-Greek–The Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian King Sequences in the Second and First Centuries BC, 2004, Supplement to Oriental Numismatic Society Newsletter, no. 179