Timeline of Indo-Greek Kingdoms
Encyclopedia
Main Indo-Greek kings, timeline and territories
There were over 30 Indo-Greek kings, often in competition on different territories. Many of them are only known through their coinsMany of the dates, territories, and relationships between Indo-Greek kings are tentative and essentially based on numismatic analysis (find places, overstrikes, monograms, metallurgy, styles), a few Classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
writings, and Indian writings and epigraphic evidence. The following list of kings, dates and territories after the reign of Demetrius is derived from the latest and most extensive analysis on the subject, by Osmund Bopearachchi
Osmund Bopearachchi
Osmund Bopearachchi is an historian and numismatist who has been specializing in the coinage of the Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms.Originally from Sri Lanka, he finished his studies in France. In 1983 he joined a team of the CNRS at the Ecole Normale Supérieure to further his studies...
("Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Catalogue Raisonné", 1991).
Eastern territories
The descendants of the Greco-Bactrian king EuthydemusEuthydemus
-People:*Euthydemus , a fleet commander for Athens during the Sicilian Expedition, 415 to 413 BC*Euthydemus, son of Cephalus, mentioned in Plato's Republic...
invaded northern India around 180 BC as far as the Punjab.
- Demetrius IDemetrius I of BactriaDemetrius I was a Buddhist Greco-Bactrian king . He was the son of Euthydemus and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what now is eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan thus creating an Indo-Greek kingdom far from Hellenistic Greece...
(reigned c. 200–170 BC) Son of Euthydemus IEuthydemus IEuthydemus I , Greco-Bactrian king in about 230 or 223 BCE according to Polybius., he is thought to have originally been a Satrap of Sogdiana, who overturned the dynasty of Diodotus of Bactria and became a Greco-Bactrian king. Strabo, on the other hand, correlates his accession with internal...
. Greco-Bactrian king, and conqueror of India. Coins
The territory ruled by Demetrius, from Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
to Pataliputra, was then separated between western and eastern parts, and ruled by several sub-kings and successor kings. The Western part made of Bactria was ruled by a succession of Greco-Bactrian kings until the end of the reign of Heliocles around 130 BCE. The Eastern part, made of the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
, 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...
, perhaps as far as Mathura, was ruled by a succession of kings, called "Indo-Greek":
Territories of Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
to Mathura (house of Euthydemus
Euthydemus
-People:*Euthydemus , a fleet commander for Athens during the Sicilian Expedition, 415 to 413 BC*Euthydemus, son of Cephalus, mentioned in Plato's Republic...
)
- AgathoclesAgathocles of BactriaAgathocles Dikaios was a Buddhist Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BCE. He might have been a son of Demetrius and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and India...
(190-180 BC) Coins - PantaleonPantaleonPantaleon was a Greek king who reigned some time between 190–180 BCE in Bactria and India. He was a younger contemporary or successor of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius, and is sometimes believed to have been his brother and/or subking...
(190-185 BC) - Apollodotus I (reigned c. 180–160 BC)
- Antimachus IIAntimachus IIAntimachus 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...
Nikephoros (160-155 BC)
Coins
- Demetrius IIDemetrius II of IndiaDemetrius II was a Greco-Bactrian/Indo-Greek king who ruled brieftly during the 2nd century BCE. Little is known about him and there are different views about how to date him. Earlier authors such as Tarn and Narain saw him as a son and sub-king of Demetrius I, but this view is now abandoned.Osmund...
(155-150 BC)
The usurper Eucratides managed to eradicate the Euthydemid dynasty and occupy territory as far as he Indus
Indus River
The Indus River is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through China and India.Originating in the Tibetan plateau of western China in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the river runs a course through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and...
, between 170 and 145 BCE. Eucratides was then murdered by his son, thereafter Menander I
Menander I
Menander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
seems to have regained all of the territory as far west as the Hindu-Kush
Territory from Hindu-Kush to Mathura (150 - 125 BCE):
- Menander IMenander IMenander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
(reigned c. 150–125 BC). Successor to Apollodotus. Married to Agathocleia. Legendary for the size of his Kingdom, and his support of the Buddhist faith. Coins - AgathokleiaAgathokleiaAgathokleia Theotropa was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled in parts of northern India as regent for her son Strato I.-Date and Genealogy:...
(r.c. 130-125 BCE), Probably widow of MenanderMenander IMenander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC ....
, Queen-Mother and regent for her son Strato IStrato IStrato I , was an Indo-Greek king who was the son of the Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia, who presumably acted as his regent during his early years after Strato's father, another Indo-Greek king, was killed.-Date and genealogy:...
. Coins
After the death of Menander I, his successors seem to have been pushed back east to 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...
, losing the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
and 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...
to a Western Indo-Greek kingdom. Some years later the Eastern kings probably had to retreat even further, to Western Punjab.
Territory from 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...
/Western 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...
to Mathura (125 - 100 BC):
- Strato IStrato IStrato I , was an Indo-Greek king who was the son of the Indo-Greek queen Agathokleia, who presumably acted as his regent during his early years after Strato's father, another Indo-Greek king, was killed.-Date and genealogy:...
(125 - 110 BC) Coin, son of Menander and AgathokleiaAgathokleiaAgathokleia Theotropa was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled in parts of northern India as regent for her son Strato I.-Date and Genealogy:... - Heliokles II (110 - 100 BC) Coins
The following minor kings who ruled parts of the kingdom:
- PolyxeniosPolyxeniosPolyxenos Epiphanes Soter "the Illustrious and Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled briefly in western Punjab or Gandhara.-Coins of Polyxenos:...
(c. 100 BC - possibly in Gandhara) - Demetrius IIIDemetrios IIIDemetrius 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:...
Aniketos (c. 100 BC).
After around 100 BCE, Indian kings recovered the area of Mathura and Eastern Punjab east of the Ravi River
Ravi River
The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....
, and started to mint their own coins.
The Western king Philoxenus briefly occupied the whole remaining Greek territory from the Paropamisadae to Western Punjab between 100 to 95 BC, after what the territories fragmented again. The eastern kings regained their territory as far west as Arachosia.
During the 1st century BC, the Indo-Greeks progressively lost ground against the invasion of the Indo-Scythians, until the last king Strato II
Strato II
Strato II "Soter" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled circa 25 BCE to 10CE according to Bopearachchi. RC Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier.-Rule:...
ended his ruled in Eastern Punjab around 10 CE.
Territory of 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...
(95-70 BCE)
- AmyntasAmyntas-External links:*...
(95 - 90 BC) Coins - PeukolaosPeukolaosPeucolaus Soter Dikaios was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Gandhara c. 90 BCE. His reign was probably short and insignificant, since he left only a few coins, but the relations of the latter Indo-Greek kings remain largely obscure....
(c. 90 BC) - Menander IIMenander IIMenander II "The Just" was an Indo-Greek King who ruled in the areas of Arachosia and Gandhara in the north of modern Pakistan.-Time of reign:...
Dikaios "The Just" (90 - 85 BCE) Coins - ArchebiosArchebiosArchebius Dikaios Nikephoros "The Just/Follower of the Dharma and Victorious" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Taxila. Osmund Bopearachchi dates him to circa 90–80 BCE, and R C Senior to about the same period. He was probably one of the last Indo-Greek kings before the Saka king...
(90 - 80 BC) (with western Punjab) Coins - (MauesMauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king who invaded the Indo-Greek territories.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
), Indo-Scythian king. - ArtemidorosArtemidorosArtemidoros Aniketos was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara and Pushkalavati in modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.-A son of Maues:Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king...
(c.80 BC) Coins. - TelephosKing TelephosTelephos Euergetes, "the Benefactor", was a late Indo-Greek king who seem to have been one of the weak and brief successors of Maues. Bopearachchi dates Telephos between 75-70 BCE and places him in Gandhara, Senior to circa 60 BCE and suggests that he ruled in some parts of Pushkalavati or even...
(75 - 70 BC) Coins
Territory of Western 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...
(95-55 BC)
- EpanderEpanderEpander 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...
(95 - 90 BC) Coins - ArchebiosArchebiosArchebius Dikaios Nikephoros "The Just/Follower of the Dharma and Victorious" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Taxila. Osmund Bopearachchi dates him to circa 90–80 BCE, and R C Senior to about the same period. He was probably one of the last Indo-Greek kings before the Saka king...
(90 - 80 BC) Coins - (MauesMauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king who invaded the Indo-Greek territories.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
), Indo-Scythian king - ThrasoThrasoThraso was an Indo-Greek king in Central and Western Punjab, unknown until the 1982 discovery of one of his coins by R.C. Senior in the Surana hoard. The coin is in a style similar to those of Menander I, has the same type of Athena, and shares one of Menander's mint marks...
(around 80 BC or earlier) - Apollodotus IIApollodotus IIApollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 85-65 BCE. Apollodotos II was an important ruler who seems to have re-established the Indo-Greek kingdom to some extent of its former glory...
(80 - 65 BC) (with Eastern Punjab) Coins - HippostratosHippostratosHippostratos was an Indo-Greek king who ruled central and north-western Punjab and Pushkalavati. Bopearachchi dates Hippostratos to 65 to 55 BCE whereas R.C...
(65 - 55 BC) Coins, defeated by the Indo-Scythian King Azes IAzes IAzes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who completed the domination of the Scythians in northern India.-History:Although Maues and his successors had conquered the areas of Gandhara, as well as the area of Mathura from 85 BCE, they were unsuccessful against the Indo-Greek kings remaining behind the...
. - (Azes IAzes IAzes I was an Indo-Scythian ruler who completed the domination of the Scythians in northern India.-History:Although Maues and his successors had conquered the areas of Gandhara, as well as the area of Mathura from 85 BCE, they were unsuccessful against the Indo-Greek kings remaining behind the...
). Indo-Scythian king.
Around 80 BCE, parts of Eastern Punjab were regained again:
Territories of Eastern 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...
(80 BC - 10 AD)
- Apollodotus IIApollodotus IIApollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 85-65 BCE. Apollodotos II was an important ruler who seems to have re-established the Indo-Greek kingdom to some extent of its former glory...
(80 - 65 BCE)Coins - DionysiosKing DionysiosDionysios Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king in the area of eastern Punjab.-Reign:According to Osmund Bopearachchi, he reigned ca circa 65 - 55 BCE and inherited the eastern parts of the kingdom of the important late ruler Apollodotus II...
(65 - 55 BC) - Zoilos IIZoilos IIZoilos II Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BCE, a date approximately supported by RC Senior.-Rule:...
(55 - 35 BC) - ApollophanesApollophanesApollophanes Soter was an Indo-Greek king in the area of eastern and central Punjab in modern India and Pakistan.-Rule:...
(35-25 BC) - Strato IIStrato IIStrato II "Soter" was an Indo-Greek king. He ruled circa 25 BCE to 10CE according to Bopearachchi. RC Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier.-Rule:...
(25 BC - 10 AD) Coin - (RajuvulaRajuvulaRajuvula was an Indo-Scythian Great Satrap who ruled in the area of Mathura in northern India in the years around 10 CE. In central India, the Indo-Scythians conquered the area of Mathura over Indian kings around 60 BCE...
), Indo-Scythian king.
Western territories
The following kings ruled the western parts of the Indo-Greek/Graeco-Bactrian realms, which are here referred to as the "Western kingdom". Probably after the death of Menander I, the Paropamisadae and Arachosia broke loose, and the Western kings eventually seem to have extended into GandharaGandhara
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...
by the following kings. Several of its rulers are believed to have belonged to the house of Eucratides.
Territories of the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
, 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...
(130 - 95 BC):
- Zoilos IZoilos IZoilus I Dikaios was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in Northern India and occupied the areas of the Paropamisade and Arachosia previously held by Menander I. He may have belonged to the dynasty of Euthydemus I.-Time of reign:...
(130 - 120 BC´), revolted against the dynasty of Menander.Coins - LysiasKing Lysias-Time of reign:According to numismatist Bopearachchi, Lysias was a close successor to Menander I and Zoilos I, and therefore may have ruled around 130-120 BCE. R.C...
(120 - 110 BC), probably conquered Gandhara for the Western kingdom. Coins - AntialcidasAntialcidasAntialcidas 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...
(r.c. 115-95 BC) Coins - Philoxenus (reigned c. 100- 95 BCE) Coins. Philoxenus ruled in western Punjab as well.
After the death of Philoxenus, the Western kingdom fragmented and never became dominating again. The following kings ruled mostly in the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
.
Territory of the Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae
Paropamisadae or Paropamisus was the ancient Greek name for a region of the Hindu-Kush in eastern Afghanistan, centered on the cities of Kabul and Kapisa .-History of Paropamisadae:...
(95-70 BC)
- DiomedesKing DiomedesDiomedes 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...
(95 - 90 BC)Coin - TheophilosTheophilos (king)Theophilos was a minor Indo-Greek king who ruled for a short time in the Paropamisadae. He was possibly a relative of Zoilos I and is only known from coins. It is possible that some of Theophilos' coins in fact belong to another ruler, in Greek Bactria, during approximately the same period.-Time of...
(c. 90 BC) Coin - Nicias (reigned c. 90–85 BC
- HermaeusKing HermaeusHermaeus Soter "the Saviour" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisade in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus...
(reigned c. 90–70 BC). - (YuezhiYuezhiThe Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
rulers)
The Yuezhi probably then took control of the Paropamisadae after Hermaeus. The first documented Yuezhi prince, Sapadbizes
Sapadbizes
Sapadbizes , also Sapalbizes, was a ruler of western Bactria, sometimes linked to the Yuezhi. He is known only from his coins . Two clues provide an approximate date for this ruler. He is believed to have overstruck the coins of Phraates IV of Parthia, secondly his coins are of good silver...
, ruled around 20 BCE, and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings, probably depending on Greek mints and celators. The Yuezhi expanded to the east during the 1st century CE, to found the 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...
. The first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises
Kujula Kadphises, reigned was a Kushan prince who united the Yuezhi confederation during the 1st century CE, and became the first Kushan emperor...
ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus
King Hermaeus
Hermaeus Soter "the Saviour" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisade in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus...
on his coins, suggesting that he may have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy.
Indo-Greek princelets (Gandhara)
After the Indo-Scythian Kings became the rulers of northern India, remaining Greek communities were probably governed by lesser Greek rulers, without the right of coinage, into the 1st century CE, in the areas of the Paropamisadae and Gandhara:- TheodamasTheodamasTheodamas seems to have been an Indo-Greek ruler in the Bajaur area of Gandhara, in modern Pakistan.No coins of him are known, but he has left a signet bearing his name in kharoshthi script, which was found in the region of Bajaur....
(c. 1st century CE) Indo-Greek ruler of the Bajaur area, northern Gandhara.
The Indo-Greeks may have kept a significant military role towards the 2nd century CE as suggested by the inscriptions of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
kings.