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Artemidoros Aniketos (The invincible) was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara
Gandhara

Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River....
 and Pushkalavati
Pushkalavati

Pushkalavati is an ancient site situated in Peshawar valley in the NWFP of Pakistan. It is located on the banks of Swat River, near its junction with Kabul River, now it is known as Charsadda....
 in modern northern Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 and Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
.
midoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king. His remaining coins generally feature portraits of Artemidoros and Hellenistic deities and are typical of Indo-Greek rulers, but on a coin described by numismatician R.C.






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Artemidoros Aniketos (The invincible) was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara
Gandhara

Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River....
 and Pushkalavati
Pushkalavati

Pushkalavati is an ancient site situated in Peshawar valley in the NWFP of Pakistan. It is located on the banks of Swat River, near its junction with Kabul River, now it is known as Charsadda....
 in modern northern Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 and Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
.

A son of Maues

Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king. His remaining coins generally feature portraits of Artemidoros and Hellenistic deities and are typical of Indo-Greek rulers, but on a coin described by numismatician R.C. Senior, Artemidoros claims to be the son of the Indo-Scythian
Indo-Scythians

The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Iranians Sakas , who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab region, and into parts of Western and Central India, Gujarat and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century Common Era....
 king Maues
Maues

Maues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85 BCE-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan....
. Not only does this coin enable a closer dating of Artemidoros; it also sheds new light on the transient ethnic identities during the decline of the Indo-Greek kingdom.

While Maues was 'Great King of Kings', Artemidoros only styled himself King; it appears as though he ruled only a smaller part of his father's dominions. He was either challenged by or ruled in tandem with other kings such as Menander II
Menander II

Menander II "The Just" was an Indo-Greek King who ruled in the areas of Arachosia and Gandhara in the north of modern Pakistan....
, whose coins have been found alongside his, and Apollodotus II
Apollodotus II

Apollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab region. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 65-55 BCE....
.

Time of rule

Bopearachchi has suggested a date of c. 85-80 BCE, but this was before the appearance of the Maues coin. Senior's dating is wider, c.100-80 BCE, because Senior has given Maues an earlier date.

Coins

During the 1990s, several new types of Artemidoros' coins appeared, of variable quality. R.C. Senior has suggested that Artemidoros relied mostly on temporary mints, perhaps because he held no major cities. All his coins were Indian bilinguals.

Silver:

Obverse:diademed or helmeted bust of king. Reverse: Artemis
Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
 facing left or right, Nike
Nike (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nike , was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria ....
 facing left or right, or king on horseback.

Artemis, the eponymous goddess of hunting, is seen using a curved bow, which may have been typical of Scythian tribes and further supports his affiliation with them.

Bronzes:

Artemis / humped bull or Artemis / lion.




Preceded by:
Maues
Maues

Maues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85 BCE-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan....
 Indo-Greek Ruler
(Punjab
Punjab region

Punjab , also Panjab , is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. The "Five Rivers" are Beas River, Ravi River, Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum River; all these are tributaries of the Indus river, Jhelum being the biggest one....
)
(c. 80 BCE)		 Succeeded by:
Apollodotus II
Apollodotus II

Apollodotus II , was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the western and eastern parts of Punjab region. Bopearachchi dates him to circa 80-65 BCE, and RC Senior to circa 65-55 BCE....


External links



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 BCE....
  • Seleucid Empire
    Seleucid Empire

    The Seleucid Empire /s?'lus?d/ 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 Mountains and parts of Pakistan....
  • Greco-Buddhism
    Greco-Buddhism

    Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelt Graeco-Buddhism, refers to the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic civilization 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 western portions of Jammu and Ka...
  • Indo-Scythians
    Indo-Scythians

    The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Iranians Sakas , who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab region, and into parts of Western and Central India, Gujarat and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th century Common Era....
  • Indo-Parthian Kingdom
    Indo-Parthian Kingdom

    The Indo-Parthian Kingdom was established during the 1st century by Gondophares, and at its greatest extent extended into areas that are in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India....
  • Kushan Empire
    Kushan Empire

    The Kushan Empire of Ancient India originally formed in Bactria on either side of the middle course of the Oxus River or Syr Darya in what is now northern Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern Tajikistan and Uzbekistan....