Agathocles of Bactria

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Agathocles Dicaeus
Indo-Greek king
Reign190–180 BC
PredecessorPantaleon
SuccessorApollodotus I or Antimachus I
DynastyDiodotid
FatherDiodotus II

Agathocles I Dicaeus (

Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BC, likely of the dynasty of Diodotus I, due to his commemoration of Antiochus Nicator
.

Accounts and discovery

There is a near-complete lack of written sources except an extensive coinage.[1][2][3]

Agathocles was first discovered by Johann Martin Honigberger in 1834, with hordes of coins being discovered at a rapid pace.[4] No sooner had Desiré-Raoul Rochette held him to be the founder of the Bactrian dynasty than he was rejected by Christian Lassen, who felt that Agathocles was a contemporary of Demetrius and Eucratides I.[4]

Biography

Silver coin of Agathocles.
Obverse: Diademed bust of young king Agathocles.
Reverse: Zeus holding Greek goddess Hecate in his hand.[5] Legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ, ("King Agathocles")

Agathocles' father may have been Diodotus II, and he would therefore have been illegitimate.[3] Agathocles ruled c. 185 BC[a] and was probably the immediate successor of Pantaleon; he was a contemporaneous relative (maybe, son) of Demetrius I, who was busy expanding towards India.[2][6][3][b]

He was challenged by Antimachus I.[2][6] Depending on the results, which is not accurately ascertainable, he was either immediately ousted by Antimachus I or a few years later, by an usurper Eucratides I.[2][6][3]

Coinage

No gold mints have been found.[7] Bronze and silver mints were commonplace. Copper mints having significant Nickel were discovered by Flight in 1868; François Widemann believes them to have had an intermediate value between bronze and silver.[7][8]

Commemorative coinage

Agathocles issued a series of coins mentioning a variety of rulers.[2]

The first of these types was acquired by a Russian explorer Nicholai de Khanikoff from Bukhara and published by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy: on the obverse was the usual image of Diodotus but with an epithet of "ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ" (savior) instead of basileus and on the reverse was the usual image of Zeus but with an additional inscription that read "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΓΑΘΟ­ΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ" (Agathocles the Just, ruling as a King).[4] This peculiar coinage led to significant debate among numismatists — Barthélemy had construed the coins to venerate a dead ancestor but Johann Gustav Droysen argued, to significant acclaim, that it meant Agathocles was ruling as a subordinate of Diodotus.[4][c]

Precisely similar coins but commemorating other rulers were located in the following decades — Euthydemus (1858) and Antiochus (1868).[4] A coin of the same kind commemorating Diodotus but struck by Antimachus was also chanced upon.[4] Scholars increasingly accepted the reasoning of Droysen and Cunningham proposed that Agathocles (alongside Antimachus) first ruled under Diodotus[d] and then under Euthydemus and Antiochus.[4] The general understanding of Bactrian Kingdom around the middle nineteenth century hold all of these Kings to be contemporaneous co-rulers.[4] Among the rare dissenting voices was Alfred von Sallet who asserted that these "ancestor coins" were struck for the purpose of commemoration and rejected that these rulers were contemporary, based on the design of coins.[4]

Deities on the coinage of Agathokles
Buddha.[9][10]

1. Zeus standing with goddess Hecate.[11] Greek: "King Agathokles".
2. Deity wearing a long himation with a volume on the head, arm partly bent, and contrapposto pose. Greek: "King Agathokles".[11] This coin is in bronze.[12]
3. Hindu god

Samkarshana with attributes. Greek: "King Agathokles".[13]

4. Hindu god
Brahmi
: "Rajane Agathukleyasa", "King Agathokles".

5. Goddess
Brahmi
: "Rajane Agathukleyasa", "King Agathokles".

In 1880, a coin of the same kind struck by Agathocles but "commemorating" Alexander, Son of Philip was published by Percy Garnder of British Museum.[4] That it was impossible for Agathocles to be a sub-king of someone who had ruled about two hundred years earlier, Droysen's explanation was summarily rejected in favor of Sallet.[4][e] Gardner proposed that these coins were struck to increase his public on the eve of an (eventually successful) challenge by Eucratides I.[15] In the early-mid 1900, Hugh Rawinson and William Tarn would extrapolate Gardner's ideas to further their visions of a grand Hellenistic past where Agathocles had faked his pedigree and Eucratides I was carrying out the orders of Antiochus IV to reestablish the Seleucid control.[16][15] Other scholars generally avoided giving too much significance to these "ancestor coins".[17]

More varieties of these coins would be discovered later.[4] These mention Diodotus II, Demetrius II and Demetrius.[4][6][18][17] In the last few decades, such coins have been discovered in more numbers but the accuracy of these finds remain plagued by the fact that these did not came from controlled excavations but auction networks.[4] They were evaluated by scholars only after they have traveled continents and passed through multiple hands.[4]

It has been since accepted that these coins indeed represented Agathocles' predecessors.[19] The precise context of minting and significance is still not clear.[6]

Religious coinage

Agathocles was unique in issuing bilingual coinage.

Buddhist as well as Hindu pantheon alongside inscriptions in Brahmi/Kharosthi.[20][3][f] Monolingual coinage (in Kharosthi) of similar kinds have been discovered.[22]

These finds have led scholars to conclude that Agathocles favored socio-religious tolerance.[22] Osmund Bopearachchi hold him to have inaugurated the first Indo-Greek era; others have been skeptic.[6]

Buddhist

Buddhist symbols such as the

Kharoshthi, whereas later Indo-Greek kings only used Kharoshthi. Lakshmi, goddess of abundance and fortune, appears in several of these coins.[23]

  • Buddhist coin of Agathocles, with stupa surmounted by a star, and vegetal symbol.
    Buddhist coin of Agathocles, with stupa surmounted by a star, and vegetal symbol.
  • A six-arched hill symbol surmounted by a star. Kharoshthi legend Akathukreyasa "Agathocles". Tree-in-railing, Kharoshthi legend Hirañasame.[24][25]
    A
    Kharoshthi legend Akathukreyasa "Agathocles". Tree-in-railing, Kharoshthi legend Hirañasame.[24][25]
  • Agathokles coin Rajaye Agathukleya (Brahmi script).
    Agathokles coin Rajaye Agathukleya (Brahmi script).
  • Indian coinage of Agathocles. Obv Lion with Greek legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ. Rev Lakshmi, with Brahmi legend Rajane Agathukleyasa "King Agathocles".
    Indian coinage of Agathocles.
    Obv Lion with Greek legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ.
    Rev
    Brahmi
    legend Rajane Agathukleyasa "King Agathocles".

Hindu

Brahmi
legend:𑀭𑀚𑀦𑁂 𑀅𑀕𑀣𑀼𑀼𑀓𑁆𑀮𑁂𑀬𑁂𑀲 Rajane Agathukleyesa "King Agathocles".

On 3 October 1970, six Indian-standard silver drachmas were discovered at the administrative quarters of Ai-Khanoum from a pilgrim's water vessel by a team of French archaeologists.[26] These coins are the first numismatic representations of Vedic deities and serve as key evidences about Bhagavatism being the first form of Vaishnavism in early India.[27][28]

The coins display early

chattra with a headdress and conch with a high-necked vase; he hypothesizes that a Greek artist had engraved the coin from a now-lost (or undiscovered) sculpture.[27]

A dancing girl, found on the obverse of some Bronze coins of Agathocles are believed to be representations of Subhadra.[27]

Nickel coins

Dionysos
and panther with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ.

Also, Agathocles and

Dionysos with a thyrsus over his left shoulder and his panther, which were his type for smaller coinage.[32][33]

It has long been suggested that the nickel contained in the coins of Agathocles was ultimately of Chinese origin (Chinese Baitong, 白铜, "white copper"), and that they were indicative of the existence of trade links with China around that time.[34][29] However, a recent archaeometallurgical study of trace elements has shown that nickel in these coins actually came from natural nickeliferous copper ore.[35]

Decipherment of the Brahmi script

Identical regnal names Agathuklayesa (Brahmi: 𑀅𑀕𑀣𑀼𑀼𑀓𑁆𑀮𑁂𑀬𑁂𑀲) and Agathokles (Greek: ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ) on a bilingual coin of Agathocles, used by Christian Lassen to decipher securely the first Brahmi letters.[21]

From 1834, some attempts were made to decipher the

Allahabad pillar (4th century CE) which had just been deciphered, but this led to a mix of good (about 1/3) and bad guesses, which did not permit proper decipherment of the Brahmi.[36][37]

The first successful attempts at deciphering the ancient Brahmi script of the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE were made in 1836 by Norwegian scholar

Major Cunningham.[21][38] In a series of results that he published in March 1838 Prinsep was able to translate the inscriptions on a large number of rock edicts found around India, and provide, according to Richard Salomon, a "virtually perfect" rendering of the full Brahmi alphabet.[39][40]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The precise spans of rule for these kings are uncertain. Bopearachchi (1991) dates Agathocles to 185-175 BC.
  2. ^ The intricacies of Bactrian Kingship remain understudied.
  3. ^ Droysen had construed the participle ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ to refer to a subordinate position. Barthélemy was not convinced and issued a line-by-line rebut.
  4. ^ Diodotus I apparently had two daughters (and a son Diodotus II) who were married off to Agathocles and Antimachus. Thus, they served as "lieutenant kings".
  5. ^ Frank L. Holt emphasizes how not only the discoveries but their chronological order dictated the scholarly opinion.[4]
  6. ^ These coins also served as Rosetta-stone equivalents for the deciphering of Brahmi script by colonial scholars.[21]
  7. ^ Bopearachchi notes that the attributes are contemporaneous to depictions in Indian literary cannon.

References

  1. JSTOR 29757721
    .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ .
  5. ^ Foreign Influence on Ancient India, Krishna Chandra Sagar, Northern Book Centre, 1992 [1]
  6. ^
    S2CID 170794074
    .
  7. ^ .
  8. .
  9. .
  10. ^ Osmund Bopearachchi "Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques" Bibliothèque Nationale 1991, p. 172-180
  11. ^ a b Osmund Bopearachchi, Catalogue raisonné, p. 172-175
  12. ^ High definition image in "Bronze Double Unit of Agathocles, Uncertain, 185 BC - 170 BC. 1976.215.7". numismatics.org.
  13. ^ a b P. Bernard, Revue Numismatique 1974 p. 7-41 Archived 2018-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ P. Bernard, Revue Numismatique 1974 p. 23 Archived 2018-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^
    S2CID 226753981
    .
  16. .
  17. ^ a b Holt, frank L. (January 1984). "The So-Called" Pedigree Coins" of the Bactrian Greeks". Ancient Coins of the Graeco-Roman World. The Nickle ...
  18. .
  19. .
  20. ^ .
  21. ^ .
  22. ^ .
  23. .
  24. ^ Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Bopearachchi, p.176
  25. .
  26. .
  27. ^ a b c d e Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence Archived 2017-11-23 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ .
  29. ^ .
  30. .
  31. .
  32. .
  33. .
  34. .
  35. .
  36. ^ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta : Printed at the Baptist Mission Press [etc.] 1834. pp. 495–499.
  37. .
  38. ^ More details about Buddhist monuments at Sanchi Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, Archaeological Survey of India, 1989.
  39. ^ Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta : Printed at the Baptist Mission Press [etc.] 1838. pp. 219–285.
  40. .
Preceded by
Paropamisade
)

190-180 BCE
Succeeded by