The Punjab The Punjab The Punjab (pronounced or ; Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], [[Shahmukhi script|, ), also spelled Panjab ' onMouseout='HidePop("40557")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Sindh">Sindh
Sindh , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhis. Different cultural and ethnic groups also reside in Sindh including Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees who migrated to Pakistan from India upon independence as well as the people migrated from other provinces after...
and possibly
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
.
Ruler of the Indo-Greek kingdom
Apollodotus was not the first to strike bilingual coins outside of Bactria, but he was the first king who ruled in India only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom. According to W.W. Tarn, Apollodotus I was one of the generals of
Demetrius I of BactriaDemetrius I or 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...
, the Greco-Bactrian king who invaded northwestern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
after 180 BCE. Tarn was uncertain whether he was a member of the royal house. Later authors largely agree with Tarn's analysis, though with perhaps even more uncertainty regarding who the king was, for his coins do not give many hints.
Apollodotus was either succeeded in India by
Antimachus 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...
, or the two kings were contemporary, Antimachus II ruling the more western territories closer to Bactria. Eventually Apollodotus I was succeeded by
Menander IMenander I Soter "The Saviour" was one of the rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom in present-day Pakistan from either 165 or 155 BC to 130 BC...
, and the two kings are mentioned by Pompejus Trogus as important Indo-Greek rulers.
Coinage
The coinage of Apollodotus is, together with that of Menander, one of the most abundant of the Indo-Greek kings. It is found mainly in the provinces of Punjab,
SindhSindh , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhis. Different cultural and ethnic groups also reside in Sindh including Urdu-speaking Muslim refugees who migrated to Pakistan from India upon independence as well as the people migrated from other provinces after...
and
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
, indicating the southern limit of the Indo-Greek expansion in India. This is also suggested by the
PeriplusThe Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is a Greek periplus, describing navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice along the coast of the Red Sea, and others along Northeast Africa and India...
, a 1st century CE document on trade in the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
, which describes the remnants of Greek presence (shrines, barracks, wells, coinage) in the strategic port of Barygaza (
BharuchBharuch, Gujarati ભરૂચ , is today is a large seaport city of more than a million inhabitants and a municipality in the Bharuch district, in the state of Gujarat, India...
) in Gujarat.
StraboStrabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus , which had recently become part of the Roman Empire.. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome...
(XI) also describes the occupation of Patalene (
IndusThe Indus River is the longest river in...
Delta country). While Sindh may have come under his possession, it is not known as to whether Apollodotus advanced to Gujarat, where the Satavahanas ruled.
Apollodotus also issued a great number of bilingual Indian-standard square coins. Beside the usual royal title, the exact significance of the animals depicted on the coins is unclear. The sacred elephant may be the symbol of the city of
TaxilaTaxila is an important archaeological site in the Punjab province of Pakistan.It dates back to the Ancient Indian period and contains the ruins of the Gandhāran city of Takshashila an important Vedic/Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BCEto the 5th century CE...
, or possibly the symbol of the white elephant who reputedly entered in dream the womb the mother of the
BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
,
Queen MayaQueen Māyā of Sakya was the birth mother of the historical Gautama Buddha, Siddhārtha of the Gautama gotra, and sister of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī the first woman ordained by the Buddha. "Māyā" means "illusion" or "enchantment" in Sanskrit and Pāli. Māyā is also called Mahāmāyā or Māyādevī . In...
, which would make it a symbol of
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
, one of the central religion of the Indo-Greek territories.
Similarly, the sacred bull on the reverse may be a symbol of a city (Pushkhalavati), or a depiction of
ShivaShiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...
, making it a symbol of
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
, the other major religion at that time. The bull is often represented in a clearly erectile state, which reinforces its interpretation as a representation of Shiva. Conversely, this also reinforces the interpretation of the elephant as a religious symbol. Alternatively, the Bull, according to Foucher, represents the birth of the Buddha, as it happened during the month of
Vaicakha (April-May), known to Buddhists as
VesakVesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in South Asian and South East Asian countries like Nepal, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan and India...
, under the zodiacal sign of the
TaurusTaurus is the astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation of Taurus. In western astrology, this sign is no longer aligned with the constellation as a result of the precession of the equinoxes. In astrology, Taurus is considered a "feminine", negative sign. It is also...
, during the full moon. The enlightenment and passing of the Buddha also occurred during the Taurus full moon.
Before their design was eventually simplified, some of the earlier coins of king Apollodotus directly associate the elephant with Buddhist symbolism, such as the
stupaA stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint...
hill surmounted by a star, also seen, for example on the coins of the Mauryan Empire or those of the later
Kuninda kingdomThe Kingdom of Kuninda was an ancient central Himalayan kingdom from around the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century, located in the modern state of Uttarakhand and southern areas of Himachal in northern India....
. Apollodotus experimented with different coin standards for his silver, until he settled for a standard lighter than the Attic which would prevail for centuries, though later rulers usually struck round coins instead of the square (typically Indian) shape of most of Apollodotus' silver. He issued a number of bronzes with
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
/tripod, that also were repeated for centuries.
Bactrian coins
Apollodotus also issued a small series of monolingual Attic tetradrachms, intended for export into Bactria. For these, Apollodotus I clearly used Bactrian celators to strike an exquisite realistic portrait of the king as an aged man in the Macedonian hat called kausia, with a reverse of sitting Pallas Athene holding
NikeIn Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria...
, a common Hellenistic motif introduced by the Diadoch
LysimachusFor other uses, see Lysimachus Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BCE, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor andMacedonia.-Early career:Lysimachus was born in 362/361 BC, the son of the Thessalian Agathocles from Crannon...
. On these coins, he used no epithet.
See also
- 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 BCE...
- Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan...
- Greco-Buddhism
Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelt 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 modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western border regions of modern India namely...
- Indo-Scythians
The Indo-Scythians are a branch of Sakas , who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century CE...
- Indo-Parthian Kingdom
The Gondopharid dynasty, and other so-called Indo-Parthian rulers, were a group of ancient kings who ruled in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India, during or slightly before the 1st century AD...
- Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire of Ancient India originally formed in the territories of ancient Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus River or Amu Darya in what is now northern Afghanistan, and southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan...
Sources
- Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1938.
External links
Preceded by:
(In Paropamisade)
AgathoclesAgathocles 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...
(In GandharaSee also 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...
)
PantaleonKing Pantaleon reigned some time between 190 BCE - 180 BCE and is one of the most enigmatic of the Greek kings 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...
|
Indo-Greek Ruler
(Paropamisade, ArachosiaArachosia is the latinized form of Greek name of an Achaemenid and Seleucid governorate in the eastern part of their respective empires, and that was inhabited by the Iranian Arachosians or Arachoti....
, GandharaSee also 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...
, PunjabThe Punjab The Punjab The Punjab (pronounced or ; Punjabi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], The Punjab (pronounced or ; [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]: [[Gurmukhī script|ਪੰਜਾਬ]], [[Shahmukhi script|, ), also spelled Panjab (180-160 BCE) |
Succeeded by:
Antimachus 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...
|