Sophytes is described in Classical sources as a ruler in the Punjab region who submitted to Alexander and was, thereby, permitted to retain his realms.
He gave Alexander hunting dogs as a gift. Scholars, including Sylvain Lévi, have suggested, based on Panini, that the name Sophytes may be equated with the name Saubhuti, but there is no conclusive proof of this. It is not clear whether this king Sophytes is the same as the individual named Sophytes on coins discovered in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, or whether he was a later dynast based in Bactria.
Sophytes has been subject to a great deal of speculation, with Indian origin on one end of the spectrum and Greek on the other. Cunningham identifies him with the Indian King Fobnath of "Sangala," (a name some read as "Saka-town") while A.C.L.
Carlleyle connects him with the same king's son Suveg, which is more likely in light of the identification of Fobnath as a royal title rather than a name; potentially making him a Madra of Saka/Iranian origin. Cunningham believes the Sobii and Kathaei to have been his subjects, whom he asserts were Turanians, making them of the same stock as the Saka or Indo-Scythians. It is interesting to note that Sagala was the capital of the later Indo-Greek dynasty of Menander I for several generations, and that Menander himself struck several coins with a similar reverse, suggesting that his dynasty inherited the older king's mints when he took the city for himself.
EDITED FROM: Wikipedia
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