- Antimachus II
::"For other uses of the name see Antimachus"
Antimachus II Nikephoros "The Victorious" was an
Indo-Greek king. He ruled on a vast territory from theHindu-Kush to the Punjab around 170 BCE. He was almost certainly identical with the eponymous son ofAntimachus I , who is known from a unique preserved tax-receipt [Rea, J.R., Senior, R.C. and Hollis, A.S., “A tax receipt from Hellenistic Bactria”,Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 104 (1994)] . Bopearachchi dated Antimachus II to 160-155 BCE on numismatical grounds, but changed this to 174-165 BCE after the tax-receipt was revealed to synchronise his reign with that of Antimachus I. [Boperarachchi (1991) and (1998), respectively.] . R C Senior has not dated Antimachus II but thinks that his coins were possibly Indian issues ofAntimachus I , despite their different epithets and coin types.In both of Boperachchi's reconstructions, Antimachus II was succeeded by
Menander I who inherited three of his four monograms. Antimachus II probably fought with the Bactrian kingEucratides I , who had dethroned his father in Bactria.Coins of Antimachus II
Just like his predecessor or contemporary
Apollodotus I , Antimachus II did not strike a portrait on his coins, likely since this was not custom in India. Neither did the early kings strike tetradrachms. Antimachus II struck a large number of bilingual drachms on the same lighter Indian standard as Apollodotus I, though round in shape. On the obverse is Nike, and on the reverse a king on horseback.He also issued bilingual bronzes with
aegis /laurel wreath and palm. Both these and the goddess Nike seem to allude to his epithet "the Victorious"."Notes
ee also
*
Greco-Buddhism
*Indo-Scythians ources
*cite journal|last=Rea|first=J. R.|coauthors=R. C. Senior and A. S. Hollis|year=1994|title=A Tax Receipt from Hellenistic Bactria|journal=Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik|volume=104|pages=261–280|url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1994/104pdf/104261.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2006-12-13
*cite book|last=Tarn|first=William Woodthorpe|authorlink=William Woodthorpe Tarn|title=The Greeks in Bactria and India|edition=3rd edition|year=1966|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge
*"Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum 9", American Numismatic Society, New York, 1997.
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