- Agathokleia
:"For the
3rd century BC mistress ofPtolemy IV Philopator , seeAgathoclea ."Agathokleia Theotropa, "the Goddess-like" was anIndo-Greek queen who ruled in parts of northern India as regent for her sonStrato I .Date and genealogy
The traditional view, introduced by Tarn and defended as late as 1998 by Bopearachchi, is that Agathokleaia was the widow of
Menander I . In the civil wars after Menander's death, the Indo-Greek empire was divided, with Agathokleia and her young son Strato maintaining themselves in the eastern territories ofGandhara and Punjab.The modern view, embraced by R.C. Senior and probably more solid since it is founded on numismatical analyses, suggests that Agathokleia was a later queen, perhaps ruling from 110-100 BCE or slightly later. In this case, Agathokleia was likely the widow of another king, possibly Nicias or
Theophilus .In either case, Agathokleia was among the first women to rule a
Hellenistic kingdom, in the period following the reign ofAlexander the Great .Some of her subjects may have been reluctant to accept an infant king with a queen regent: unlike the
Seleucid andPtolemaic kingdoms, almost all Indo-Greek rulers were depicted as grown men. This was probably because the kings were required to command armies, as can be seen on their coins where they are often depicted with helmets and spears. Agathokleia seems to have associated herself withAthena , the goddess of war. Athena was also the dynastic deity of the family of Menander, and Agathokleia's prominent position suggests that she was herself the daughter of a king, though she was probably too late to have been a daughter of the Bactrian king Agathocles .The coins of Agathokleia and Strato were all bilingual, and Agathokleia's name appears more often in the Greek legend than in the Indian. This seems to indicate that the idea of a female ruler was more acceptable to the Greeks.
Coins of Agathokleia
"(See
Strato I for details of legends.)"Most of Agathokleia's coins were struck jointly with her son Strato, though on their first issues, he is not featured on the portrait.
Silver: Bust of Agathokleia / walking king
Bust of Strato & Agathokleia conjoined / Athena Alkidemos
Bronzes: Bust of either helmeted Athena or Agathokleia as a personification of this goddess / sitting Herakles
The later king
Heliokles II overstruck some of Agathokleia's coins.ee also
*
Greco-Buddhism
*Indo-Scythians ources
*W.W. Tarn. "The Greeks in Bactria and India." Third edition. Cambridge: University Press, 1966.
* [http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Agathokleia+NOT+Menander&Thumb=1 Main coins of Agathokleia]
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