Philoxenus called Anicetus (Greek Aniketos, "the Undefeatable"), was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the region spanning the Paropamisade to 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...

. Philoxenus seems to have been quite an important king who might briefly have ruled most of the Indo-Greek territory. Bopearachchi dates Philoxenus to c. 100-95 BCE and R.C. Senior to c. 125-110 BCE.

Historians have not yet connected Philoxenus with any dynasty, but he could have been the father of the princess Kalliope, who was married to the king Hermaeus.

Coins of Philoxenos

Philoxenus struck several series of bilingual Indian silver coins, with a reverse

Reverse

Reverse may refer to:*The reverse side of currency or a flag; see Obverse and reverse*A change in the direction of:**the movement of a motor or other prime mover; see Transmission **an engineering design: see Reverse engineering...

 of a mounted king, a type previously used as obverse by Antimachus II

Antimachus II

Antimachus 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...

 sixty years earlier and as reverse on rare types of Nicias

King Nicias

Nicias was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the Paropamisade. Most of his relatively few coins have been found in northern Pakistan, indicating that he ruled a smaller principate around the lower Kabul valley.He was possibly a relative of Menander I....

. Whether the horseman was a dynastic emblem or a portrait of the king as a cavalleryman is unclear. Several Saka

Saka

The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....

 kings used similar horsemen on their coinage.

His drachms were square, another feature that was rare among Indo-Greeks but standard for Sakas, and this indicates that Philoxenus had connections with the nomads that had conquered Bactria.

Philoxenus struck bronzes with female deity/bull, or Helios

Helios

Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

/Nike

Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of Kratos , Bia , and Zelus...

.

Philoxenus also minted some Attic-type tetradrachms (with Greek legend only), meant for circulation in Bactria.

Other coins

Preceded by: (In the Paropamisade, 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...  and 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... ) 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... (In 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... ) Demetrios III Demetrios III Demetrius 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:...  or Polyxenios Polyxenios Polyxenos Epiphanes Soter "the Illustrious and Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled briefly in western Punjab or Gandhara.-Coins of Polyxenos:...

Indo-Greek Ruler (Paropamisade, 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... , 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...  and 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... ) (100-95 BCE)

Succeeded by: (In the Paropamisade) 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... (In 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...  and 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... ) Amyntas Amyntas -External links:*... (In 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... ) Epander Epander Epander 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...

External links

• Coins of Philoxenus

See also

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
  Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
  The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was the easternmost part of the Hellenistic world, covering Bactria and Sogdiana in Central Asia from 250 to 125 BC...
  
  
• Seleucid Empire
  Seleucid Empire
  The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
  
  
• Greco-Buddhism
  Greco-Buddhism
  Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE in the area covered by the Indian sub-continent, and modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western...
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• 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...