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Indo Greek &
Baktria Kingdom in
India
Eukratides I Megas – King circa 171-145 B.C.
Silver Tetradrachm 34mm (16.08 grams) Uncertain mint in the Paropamisadai or
Gandhara
Reference: HGC 12, 131; Bopearachchi Série 6; Bopearachchi & Rahman –; SNG ANS
473; MIG Type 177l
Certification:
NGC Ancients
AU Strike: 5/5 Surface: 2/5 4278655-007
Diademed and draped bust right, wearing crested helmet adorned with bull’s horn
and ear; all within bead-and-reel border.
BAΣIΛEΩΣ MEΓAΛΟΥ above, EYKPATIΔOY below, the Dioskouroi on horses rearing
right, palm fronds and lances; monogram to right.
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Gemini
is one of the
constellations
of the
zodiac
. It was one of the 48 constellations
described by the 2nd century AD astronomer
Ptolemy
and it remains one of the 88 modern
constellations today. Its name is
Latin
for “twins,”
and it is associated with the twins
Castor and Pollux
in
Greek mythology
. Its symbol is
(Unicode ♊).
In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Pollux and Castor or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the
Dioskouri. Their mother was
Leda
, but Castor was the mortal son of
Tyndareus
, the king of Sparta, and Pollux the
divine son of Zeus
, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan.
Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been
born from an egg, along with their twin sisters
Helen of Troy
and
Clytemnestra
.
In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini or Castores.
When Castor was killed, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality
with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the
constellation
Gemini
. The pair were regarded as the patrons
of sailors, to whom they appeared as
St. Elmo’s fire
, and were also associated with
horsemanship.
They are sometimes called the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids, later
seen as a reference to their father and stepfather
Tyndareus
.
THE BAKTRIAN AND INDO-GREEK KINGDOMS
(The ancient authors have furnished us with very little information concerning
this easternmost of all the Greek realms. Accordingly, the numismatic evidence
is of more than usual importance in the attempt to piece together the history of
the kings who ruled in Baktria and, later, in the area south of the Hindu Kush.
The kingdom was created from the Seleukid province of Baktro-Sogdiana when the
satrap Diodotos declared himself independent of Antiochos II about 256 B.C.
Antiochos III, at the end of the century, tried unsuccessfully to reimpose
Seleukid authority in the area, and early in the 2nd cent. B.C. King Demetrios
of Baktria extended his rule southwards to include former provinces of the
Mauryan Empire. The first bilingual coins, with inscriptions in Greek and
Karosthi and struck on a new ‘Indo-Greek’ weight standard, date from this time
of Greek expansion. Much of Baktria was lost to Scythian invaders about 130
B.C., and before the end of the century what was left of the Indo-Greek kingdom
split into eastern and western divisions. By the end of the 1st cent. B.C. the
last traces of Greek rule had disappeared, submerged beneath the tide of Kushan
conquest.
Eucratides I (Persian:
اروکرت) (reigned c. 170–145 BCE) was
one of the most important
Greco-Bactrian
kings. He uprooted the
Euthydemid
dynasty of Greco-Bactrian kings and
replaced it with his own lineage. He fought against the
Indo-Greek
kings, the easternmost Hellenistic
rulers in northwestern India, temporarily holding territory as far as the
Indus
, until he was finally defeated and pushed
back to Bactria
. Eucratides had a vast and prestigious
coinage, suggesting a rule of considerable importance.
Biography
Coup
d’etat
Eucratides came to the throne by overthrowing the dynasty of
Euthydemus I
in Bactria, whose son
Demetrius
was conquering northwestern
India
. The king Eucratides dethroned in Bactria
was probably
Antimachus I
.
It is unclear whether Eucratides was a
Bactrian
official who raised a rebellion, or,
according to some scholars, a cousin of the
Seleucid
king
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
who was trying to regain
the Bactrian territory.
Justin
explains that Eucratides acceeded to the
throne at about the same time as
Mithridates
, whose rule is accurately known to
have started in 171 BCE, thereby giving an approximate date for the accession of
Eucratides:
- “Around the same time, two great men started to rule: Mithridates among
the Parthians, and Eucratides among the Bactrians” Justin XLI,6
Some of the coins of Eucratides probably represent his parents, where his
father is named Heliocles, and his mother, who is thought to be
Laodice
, is wearing a royal diadem. Laodice may
have been a member of the Seleucid imperial house.
Having become master of Bactria, Eucratides also conquered the western parts
of the Indo-Greek kingdom. According to the single remaining source, Roman
historian Justin, Eucratides defeated Demetrius of India, but the identity of
this king is uncertain: he could be either
Demetrius I
, or
Demetrius II
.
- “Eucratides led many wars with great courage, and, while weakened by
them, was put under siege by Demetrius, king of the Indians. He made
numerous sorties, and managed to vanquish 60,000 enemies with 300 soldiers,
and thus liberated after four months, he put India under his rule” Justin
XLI,6
Numismatic evidence suggests that Eucratides I was a contemporary of the
Indo-Greek kings
Apollodotus I
,
Antimachus II
and
Menander I
. In any case, Eucratides’ advances
into India are proved by his abundant bilingual coinage.
In the west the
Parthian
king
Mithradates I
began to enlarge his kingdom and
attacked Eucratides; the city of Herat fell in 167 BCE and the Parthians
succeeded in conquering two provinces between Bactria and Parthia, called by
Strabo
the country of Aspiones and Turiua.
Eucratides I is most likely the founder of
Eucratideia
.
Death
Justin ends his account of Eucratides’ life by claiming that the warlike king
was murdered on his way back from India by his own son (either
Eucratides II
or
Heliocles I
, although there are speculations
that it could be his enemy’s son
Demetrius II
), who hated his father so much
that he dragged his dead body after his chariot:
- “As Eucratides returned from India, he was killed on the way back by his
son, whom he had associated to his rule, and who, without hiding his
patricide, as if he didn’t kill a father but an enemy, ran with his chariot
over the blood of his father, and ordered the corpse to be left without a
sepulture” Justin XLI,6
The murder of Eucratides probably brought about a civil war amongst the
members of the dynasty. The successors to Eucratides were
Eucratides II
and
Heliocles I
(145–130 BCE), who was the last
Greek king to reign in Bactria. Once the
Yuezhi
tribes overpowered Heliocles, the Greco-Bactrians
lost control of the provinces north of the
Hindu Kush
.
Two other members of the dynasty were
Plato
and probably
Demetrius II
, who in that case was not
identical with the king Justin claimed was the enemy of Eucratides I.
The rule of the Greco-Bactrians soon crumbled following these numerous wars:
- “The Bactrians, involved in various wars, lost not only their rule but
also their freedom, as, exhausted by their wars against the Sogdians, the
Arachotes, the Dranges, the Arians and the Indians, they were finally
crushed, as if drawn of all their blood, by an enemy weaker than them, the
Parthians.” Justin, XLI,6
However, the rule of the
Indo-Greeks
over territories south of the Hindu
Kush lasted for a further 150 years, ultimately collapsing under the pressure of
the Yüeh-chih and
Scythian
(Saka) invasions in around 10 BCE,
with the last Indo-Greek ruler
Strato II
.
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