Lysias Anicetus

Lysias Anicetus "Invincible"
Indo-Greek king
Reign	130–120 BCE

Kharoshti

legend, translation of the Greek.

Lysias Anicetus (

Indo-Greek

king.

Time of reign

According to numismatist

Zoilos I

, and therefore may have ruled around 130–120 BCE. R. C. Senior suggests a similar date.

Bopearachchi suggests that Lysias' territory covered the areas of the

Paropamisade and Arachosia, but his coins have been found in the Punjab and it is possible that Lysias ruled most of the Indo-Greek territory for a period, though perhaps in cooperation with Antialcidas

, with whom he shared most of his monograms.

Lysias apparently claimed to be a descendant of Demetrius, using a similar reverse of Heracles crowning himself, Demetrius' epithet Invincible, and sometimes the elephant crown always worn by this king. A similar reverse was also used by Zoilus I, who may have ruled some decades earlier and was likely an enemy of Menander.

Lysias' rule seems to have begun after the murder of Menander's infant son

Thrason

, and since his coins do not resemble Menander's it seems as though he, just as Zoilus, belonged to a competing line. Despite his magnificent coinage, his policies were probably rather defensive. The Bactrian kingdom had recently fallen to invading nomads and though the Indo-Greeks managed to avoid the same fate, they became isolated from the Hellenistic world.

Coin types

Kharoshti

legend, translation of the Greek.

Lysias issued a number of bilingual Indian coins. On his silver portrait types he appears either diademed or dressed in various types of headgear worn by earlier kings: the elephant scalp of Demetrios I, a bull's horns helmet or Corinthian helmet with scales, and the Greek flat hat "kausia". He also appeared throwing a spear.

The reverse is always

Herakles

crowning himself, and holding his club, with the new addition of a palm to signify victory.

He also issued a series of Attic tetradrachms, and even smaller denominations (a hemidrachm is known) for circulation in Bactria.

His Indian type square bronzes show a bust of

Herakles

/elephant.

"Mule coins" (overstrikes)

There is a bronze which features the obverse of Lysias and the reverse of Antialcidas. This was interpreted by Tarn and other earlier scholars as though the two kings might have forged some kind of alliance, but later, a bronze with the opposite arrangement was found.

The modern view is that these coins were "mules"--in other words, an improperly overstruck issue of one of the pertinent rulers. While not signs of an alliance, they still suggest that Lysias' and Antialcidas' reigns were adjacent.

Lysias with elephant scalp and
Herakles
.
Lysias with kausia, and Herakles.
Coin of Lysias, with bust of Herakles with club, and elephant in reverse.

References

The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press

External links

Preceded by Zoilos I	Indo-Greek king (in Paropamisadae, Arachosia ) 120 – 110 BC	Succeeded by Antialcidas

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.

Time of reign

Coin types

"Mule coins" (overstrikes)

See also

References

External links