The
Indo-Greek Kingdom covered various parts of the northwest and northern Indian
subcontinent from 180 BCE to around 10 CE, and was ruled by a succession of
more than thirty Hellenic kings who were often in conflict with each other. The
kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, the king of Syria,
who invaded India in 180BC.
During
the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and
Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended ancient
Greek, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeological
remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism.
The
first Greek coins to be minted in India, those of Menander I and Appolodotus I
bear the mention "Saviour king" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), a title with high
value in the Greek world which indicated an important deflective victory. There
were coins minted by Demetrios I, Seleukid Kings of Syria. These coins were
made of silver, weighing 4.2 grams, with a Diademed head in the obverse and a
Cornucopia in the reverse. This was around 162 BC.
After
Bactria declared himself King in 256BC, he soon issued gold and copper coins
bearing his portrait on obverse and Greek deities (prominently Zeus) on
reverse. Also, most of the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual,
written in Greek on the front and in Pali (in the Kharoshthi script) on the
back, a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the
Hellenic world.
After death of last great Mauryan King, Ashoka, India was disintegrated into many small kingdoms, which provided great opportunity for Indo-Greek kings for eastern expansion of their kingdoms.
After death of last great Mauryan King, Ashoka, India was disintegrated into many small kingdoms, which provided great opportunity for Indo-Greek kings for eastern expansion of their kingdoms.
The
coins stuck by Euthydemus, Demetrius and Antimachus (weriearing kausia cap and
half mocking smile) are purely Greek in style, in language and in weight and
are the best examples of art applied to portraiture, anywhere in the world.
These coins depict the lifelike portraits of these kings. After the so called
'conquest of India', Demetrius minted coins showing himself wearing elephant's
scalp which represent the excellent example of portrait coins of Indo-Greeks. Demetrius was followed by two
of his generals, Apollodotus I and Menander. Both ruled different regions of
North Western India. Menander, known as Milinda, has earned tremendous fame as
a great ruler not only in India but also in Greek world. He was a great
conqueror and ruled over large areas. His coins, which show greater variety and
wider distribution than those of any other Indo-Greek ruler, are found in all
of modern Afganistan, Pakistan and northwestern region of modern India. His
coins were bilingual with interrupted legends on them. One example of his coin
minted at Taxila has the king throwing Javelin on the obverse. The legends are
in Greek, King Soter Menander while reverse shows Pallas Athene facing left
with sloping shield.
From
the reign of Apollodotus II, around 80 BCE, Kharoshthi letters started to be
used as mintmarks on coins in combination with Greek monograms and mintmarks,
suggests the participation of local technicians to the minting process. Before
arrival of Indo-Greeks, local population of his newly acquired kingdom had been
using rectangular/square shaped punch-marked coins for most transactions.
Perhaps this fact had influenced him to issue square shaped, bilingual coinage,
which can be accepted readily by local merchants. Also, to keep up with Indian
tradition of punching animals like Elephant and Bull on punch-marked coin, his
coins also bear these two animals. The legends on reverse are in Prakrit,
written in Kharoshthi script. Incidentally, these bilingual coins of the
Indo-Greeks were the key in the decipherment of the Kharoshthi script by James
Prinsep (1799-1840). Kharoshthi became extinct around the 3rd century CE. To know more read:
