Telephos Euergetes,
"the Benefactor", was a late Indo-Greek king who seem to have been one of the weak and brief successors of
MauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
. 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 further west.
Nothing is known about his dynastic connections. His few coins are rather singular and none of them bear his likeness, a rare occurrence in Indo-Greek coinage.
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Telephos Euergetes,
"the Benefactor", was a late Indo-Greek king who seem to have been one of the weak and brief successors of
MauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
. 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 further west.
Nothing is known about his dynastic connections. His few coins are rather singular and none of them bear his likeness, a rare occurrence in Indo-Greek coinage. Despite his Greek name, Telephos might therefore have been a ruler of
SakaThe Saka were a Scythian tribe, rendered in Greek as , in Chinese as , and in Sanskrit as , referring to those Scythians who founded the Indo-Scythian kingdom in the 2nd century BC.-Classical accounts:Modern historical accounts of the Indo-Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian...
origin. His epithet was also unprecedented.
Coins of Telephos
The silver of Telephos is rare and mostly consists of drachms; only a single tetradrachm is known. On the Greek side is a serpent-footed monster holding the stems of two plants, and on the Kharosthi side two deities that probably should be identified with
HeliosIn Greek mythology the sun was personified as Helios 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...
and
SeleneSelene is the Titan goddess of the moon.In Greek mythology, Seléne was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
, the sun and moon. Both types were unique in the area, though the monster would later appear on bronzes of
HippostratosHippostratus 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...
.
An example of one of his bronzes is seen above, The obverse is the common type of sitting Zeus making a benediction gesture, whereas on the reverse is the unique type of a squatting man holding what on some specimens looks like a spear, on others a palm branch.
Telephos used only two monograms, which he inherited from
MauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
.
Overstrikes
Telephos overstruck the earlier king Archebius.
Preceded by:
Indo-Scythian king
MauesMaues was an Indo-Scythian king from modern Afghanistan who reigned circa 85-60 BCE, and invaded the Indo-Greek territories of modern Pakistan.-Conqueror of Gandhara:...
|
Indo-Greek Ruler
(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...
)
(75-70 BCE). |
Succeeded by:
Indo-Scythian king
Azes 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...
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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...