Zoilus I
Zoilus I Dicaeus ("The Just") | |
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Indo-Greek king | |
Reign | 130–120 BCE |
Zoilus I Dicaeus (
Time of reign
Zoilus used to be dated after the death of Menander, c. 130–120 BCE (Bopearachchi). Two coins of Zoilus I were however overstruck by Menander I [1] so Zoilus came to power while Menander was still alive and was perhaps his enemy. R. C. Senior has suggested some time between 150 and 135 BCE.
Coin types of Zoilos I
Zoilus I uses a silver coin type similar to that of Euthydemus II, son of Demetrius: Crowned Herakles standing, holding a wreath or diadem in his right hand, and a club and the lion skin in his left hand. On some of the coins, which are of lower artistic quality, Herakles is crowned by a small Nike. Zoilus I also struck rare gold-plated silver coins with portrait and Heracles.
In place of his Greek epithet "the just", Zoilus' Indian-standard coins bear the
. This is the first time this epithet appears on Indo-Greek coinage. A few monolingual Attic tetradrachms of Zoilos I have been found. Zoilus inherited (or took) several monograms from Menander I.His bronze coins are square and original in that they combine the club of Heracles with a
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Zoilos I and Heracles.
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Coin of Zoilus I. Profile of the ruler, with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΖΩΙΛΟΥ "Of King Zoilus the Just". Metropolitan Museum of Art
See also
Notes
- ^ Senior R.C., MacDonald, D.: The Decline of the Indo-Greeks, Monographs of the Hellenic Numismatic Society, Athens (1998)
References
- The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press