Demetrius III Aniketos

Demetrios III Aniketos ("The Invincible")
Indo-Greek king
Reign	c. 100 BCE

Kharoshthi

legend: MAHARAJASA APARAJITASA DIMETRIA (Invincible king Demetrius).

Kharoshthi

legend: MAHARAJASA APARAJITASA DIMETRIA (Invincible king Demetrius).

Demetrius III Aniketos (

Punjab

Controversy about time of reign

The coins of Demetrius III are few and rather crude. He copies some of his imagery from the renowned Bactrian king Demetrius I (c. 200–180 BCE). The two namesakes share the war-like epithet "The Invincible" and wear elephant-crowns, the symbol that Alexander the Great used to celebrate his conquest of the Indus Valley.

The historical sources of the Indo-Greek kingdom are very few, and the separation of kings with the same name is not an easy process. Numismatician Osmund

Heliokles II

However, Demetrius III is the only Demetrius to strike bilingual Greek/Indian (

Bopearachchi nevertheless identifies Justin's Demetrius with the king Demetrius II even though he only struck Greek coins and reigned c. 175–170 BCE, even before Eucratides. In addition, Bopearachchi's early dating of Demetrius II has been challenged (see discussion under Demetrius II

Yet other authors have identified Justin's Demetrius with Demetrius I of Bactria, ignoring both Bopearachchi's chronology as well as modifying Justin's text.[2]

Earlier authors such as Tarn and Narain thought that the Demetrius who struck the coins now identified with Demetrius III^[3] was the king who fought Eucratides, and saw him as a son of Demetrius I.

The absence of absolute proofs of dating Demetrius III (such as counter-marked coins), and the remaining problems of all current reconstructions, means the problem is not definitely solved, and the alternative chronology would be to place Demetrius III around 150 BCE in compliance with Tarn's and Narain's ideas about his identity as a Euthydemid prince who fought against Eucratides.^[4]

Possible dynastic context

If he ruled around 150 BCE, he was very likely a surviving Euthydemid prince like Tarn and Narain assumed, and due to his name this would make sense. The symbols of his coin connect him with several Euthydemid kings: the kausia hat on one of his portrait with Antimachus I, the elephant-crown and the title Aniketos as mentioned with Demetrius I, and the standing Zeus on his silver reverses with Agathocles.

Coins of Demetrius III

The actual coins of Demetrius III are very few and struck with a single, unique monogram. This suggests a short and insignificant reign. On his silver, Demetrius III appears in the kausia hat (on the unique known tetradrachm) or diademed, with a reverse of Zeus holding thunderbolt. His bronzes feature a king in elephant's crown, either Demetrius III or Demetrius I, with thunderbolt on the reverse.

Notes

^ Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, XLI:6
^ L.M. Wilson, and G.R.F. Assar, Re-dating Eukratides I relative to Mithradates I, ONS Journal 191 (2007). They suggest that Justin's reference that Eucratides "carried on many wars" before his campaign against Demetrius refers to wars fought before Eucratides became king, so that the war took place during the early stages of Eucratides' rule. Against this interpretation must be said that Justin continues to state that these "many wars" seriously weakened Eucratides, whereas in Wilson's and Assar's reading, the wars in question lead to Eucratides becoming an important king.
^ Tarn and Narain usually refer to this king as Demetrius II, since they did not separate him from Demetrius II of Bactria
^ The actual datings suggested by Tarn and Narain differ from 150 BCE, but a number of circumstances has made their general chronology outdated.

Preceded by Heliokles II	Punjab ) c. 100 BC	Succeeded by Philoxenus

Territories/ dates	West Bactria	East Bactria	Paropamisade	Arachosia	Gandhara	Western Punjab	Eastern Punjab	Mathura^{[t 2]}
	Greco-Bactrian kings		Indo-Greek kings
326-325 BCE	Campaigns of Alexander the Great in India						Nanda Empire
312 BCE	Creation of the Seleucid Empire						Creation of the Maurya Empire
305 BCE	Seleucid Empire after Mauryan war		Maurya Empire
280 BCE	Foundation of Ai-Khanoum
255–239 BCE	Independence of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom Diodotus I		Emperor Ashoka (268-232 BCE)
239–223 BCE	Diodotus II
230–200 BCE	Euthydemus I
200–190 BCE	Demetrius I				Sunga Empire
190-185 BCE	Euthydemus II
190–180 BCE	Agathocles			Pantaleon
185–170 BCE	Antimachus I
180–160 BCE			Apollodotus I
175–170 BCE	Demetrius II
160–155 BCE			Antimachus II
170–145 BCE	Eucratides I
155–130 BCE	Yuezhi occupation, loss of Ai-Khanoum	Plato Heliocles I	Menander I
130–120 BCE	Yuezhi occupation		Zoilus I		Agathoclea			Yavanarajya inscription
120–110 BCE			Lysias		Strato I
110–100 BCE			Antialcidas		Heliocles II
100 BCE			Polyxenus		Demetrius III
100–95 BCE			Philoxenus
95–90 BCE			Diomedes	Amyntas		Epander
90 BCE			Theophilus	Peucolaus		Thraso
90–85 BCE			Nicias	Menander II		Artemidorus
90–70 BCE			Hermaeus	Archebius
			Yuezhi occupation		Indo-Scythian )
75–70 BCE				Vonones	Telephus	Apollodotus II
65–55 BCE				Spalirises		Hippostratus	Dionysius
55–35 BCE					Azes I (Indo-Scythians)		Zoilus II
55–35 BCE					Vijayamitra/ Azilises		Apollophanes
25 BCE – 10 CE				Gondophares	Zeionises	Kharahostes	Strato II Strato III
				Indo-Parthian )			Rajuvula (Indo-Scythian)
			Kujula Kadphises (Kushan Empire)				Bhadayasa (Indo-Scythian)	Sodasa (Indo-Scythian)
^ O. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné", Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1991, p.453 ^ Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2 April 2019). "History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE". BRILL – via Google Books.

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Hellenistic rulers were preceded by Hellenistic satraps in most of their territories.

Controversy about time of reign

Possible dynastic context

Coins of Demetrius III

See also

Notes