THE EUCRATIDES STATER ~ THE LARGEST COIN OF ANTIQUITY

Baktria, in northern Afghanistan and Tajikstan, was a prosperous Greek kingdom established by successors of Alexander the Great beginning about 250 BCE. Little is known about King Eucratides, who ruled Baktria c. 171-145 BCE. He fought the Parthians and conquered parts of northern India. He commissioned the largest surviving gold coin struck in antiquity: a 20-stater piece, 58 mm in diameter, weighing 169.2 grams. That’s nearly five and a half ounces. The unique example was found in 1867 in Bukhara (Uzbekistan), nearly 300 miles northwest of the Baktrian heartland. Eventually acquired by Napoleon III, it resides today in the Bibliothéque nationale in Paris.

On the obverse we see the king in profile, wearing a plumed cavalry helmet. On the reverse, the twin heroes Castor and Pollux carry long lances and palm branches and ride prancing horses surrounded by a carelessly lettered inscription: “Great King Eucratides.” The Smithsonian in Washington has a similar 15-stater gold piece of Eucratides that most experts regard as a 19th century fantasy.

GREEK IDEAS AND SCIENCES IN SASSANIAN IRAN

The arrival of Greek ideas and sciences in Iran cannot be traced only through directly translated texts.  It must also be sought in the allusions and references that we can glean from Pahlavi literature, and, on occasion, in longer passages where the closely related medical and philosophical theories of the ancient East indicate their origins in Greek or Indian civilization.  As early as 1955, Robert Zaehner wrote: “That the Pahlavī books borrowed extensively from Greek philosophy seems now indisputable: the reverse has yet to be proved.”  While such borrowings are attested most of all in the Sasanian period, some go back at least as far as the Achaemenid period, when, as is shown by the frequent appearance of Greek doctors at the court, cultural relationships developed. Two prominent examples of this are Ctesias, who spent seventeen years at the Achaemenid court and was the personal physician of Artaxerxes II, or Apollonides of Cos at the court of Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. 

This disposition to Greek (and Indian) medicine appears again in Sassanian times, in Gondēšāpur, a city in Khuzestan.  Greek philosophers who had taken refuge in Iran after Justinian closed the School of Athens in 529 CE taught here. Moreover, the first hospital (bimārestān) was founded here, probably under Ḵosrow I Anušervān; it was called the Academia Hippocratica.  Greek- and Syrian-speaking Christian deportees who had populated the city took charge of medical activities there.  Evidence of this is the debate held under the aegis of Ḵosrow II Parviz in 610 CE, in which the chief physician (drustbed) Gabriel of Šiggār (Senjār) took part (see entry “Gondēšāpur”).  The management of the hospital of Gondēšāpur was in the hands of the Christian Boḵtišuʿ family.  Medieval Muslim bibliographies attest a continuous Hippocratic tradition of medical practice and teaching at Gondēšāpur from the time of the city’s foundation.

Harold W. Bailey identified several terms of Greek philosophy that were adopted by Iranian languages (often through Syriac) or translated into them word for word.  The Greek mikros kosmos is thus rendered in Middle Persian as gēhān ī kōdak, the microcosm, which is man as opposed to the kosmos or the macrocosm, as gēhān ī wuzurg in Middle Persian.  The theory of the microcosm and macrocosm, which establishes a correspondence between the various elements of the human body and those of the cosmos, associated with astrology’s seven planets and twelve signs of the zodiac, is of Greek and even Gnostic origin, and can be traced back to Plato’s Timaeus.  The Bundahišn thus indicates that “the skin is as the sky, the flesh as the earth, the bones as the mountains, and the veins as rivers, the blood in the body is as the water in the sea, the stomach is as the ocean, and the hair as the plants ...”.  The Dēnkard attests the same theory, albeit limiting the number of elements in comparison to seven: “The body of the world is fire, water, earth, metals, plants, beasts, and man, as the body of man is marrow, blood, veins, nerve, bone, flesh, and hair.”  The seven parts of the body are clearly related to the seven planets, borrowed from Greek astrology.  The same doctrines are present to a great extent in Manicheism, and one may wonder whether it might have accepted them before they passed into Mazdeism. 

 Non-Manichean Gnostic literature is replete with the same theories.  The Secret Book of John, translated from Greek into Coptic, can be considered “the direct source of the Manichean, Syriac, and Iranian accounts,” as stated by Michel Tardieu, who considers that the Mazdean lists of seven terms derive from Manichean lists.  The Hippocratic tradition (cf. Boethius, De Hebdomadibus, first cent. BCE) employed both the teaching of the Greek astrologers and that of Plato’s Timaeus, which is the original source for the theory of the microcosm.  The Iranians also adopted the Greek, namely the Hippocratic, concept of the composition of man, made up of the four cosmic elements (water, air, fire, and earth) and of the four liquids or humors (blood, phlegm, red bile, and black bile).  Zādspram was well acquainted with the properties of each of the humors and their relation to those of the cosmic elements, as described by Hippocrates and Galen. Water is cold and wet, air hot and dry, fire hot and wet, and the earth cold and dry.  The humors, likewise, each had two distinct properties: blood is hot and wet, like fire; phlegm is cold and wet, like water; red bile is hot and dry, like air; and black bile is cold and dry, like the earth .

To highlight the point, one may cite the following passage from Galen, which includes a noteworthy summary of this twofold concept, based on Hippocrates: “To this branch of science belongs [the book] On the Elements According to Hippocrates, in which it is demonstrated that hot, cold, wet, and dry constitute the common elements that issue from bodies subject to genesis and corruption.  And if these are named according to their substance, they are earth, fire, air, and water, while human bodies are formed from the elements of blood, phlegm, and the two biles” . The process of generation was also understood on the basis of Greek science, notably in the idea that the semen is located in the head and passes down the back.  All this science probably reached the Iranians through Syrian Christians .
Paul the Persian is said to have dedicated a book on Aristotle’s Logic to Ḵosrow I Anušervān.  Ptolemy’s Almagest is cited in Dēnkard in the form megistīk ī hrōmāy, derived from the Greek megistè (probably via Syrian).  A passage in Dēnkard IV clearly states that writings of the Greeks, as well as the Indians, were accepted, and therefore known and read, by the Mazdean theologians.  The text, variously translated by Bailey, Shaked, and Shaki, can be read as follows: “The King of Kings Shābūr, son of Ardašīr, collected the secular writings  ... concerning medicine, astronomy, motion, time, space, substance, genesis, decay, transformation, logic, and other crafts and skills, which were dispersed among the Indians and the Greeks and other lands ...” .  The present author agrees with Mansour Shaki in taking the expression az dēn bē to mean “secular,” and not “religious” (Shaked), a sense which does not fit the context.  This list covers all the branches of science developed by Aristotle, which were so adapted in Mazdeism to the conceptual framework of a strict dualism that a rigorous comparison would be a somewhat risky endeavor .  Bailey has set out the comparable terms: “The two topics of bawišn ‘becoming’ and vināsišn ‘destruction’ ... refer ... to the treatise Peri geneseōs kai phtorās ‘on becoming to be and passing away,’ which was rendered into Syriac by Ḥunain (b. Es῾āq).”  Middle Persian jadag-vihīrīh (transformation) corresponds exactly to Greek metaskèmatisis ‘change of form’” .  Similarly, the Middle Persian “gōhr ī dāmān may reasonably be taken ... in the conception of creation as referring to the (Aristotelian) protè hylè, the underlying matter” 

The association of medicine (biziškīh) and physics (cihr-šnāsīh) is also striking.  The theory of the transformation of the cosmic elements by the means of their reciprocal differences, which is to be found in Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption, finds a striking echo in chapter 119 of Dēnkard III , although the Mazdean author does not state the agent of such transformation, namely, the four elementary properties combined in pairs.  As for the four humors and their seats, which are thoroughly described in Zādspram, the source is to be found in the treatise On the Nature of Man (Ar. Fi ṭabiʿat al-ensān) in the Hippocratic Corpus.  Zādspram’s explanation of sight is that fiery light comes to reside in the eyes during the formation of the embryo.  This corresponds to the explanation given by Plato and by Empedocles, which was rejected by Aristotle.  Touraj Daryaee has demonstrated the association between sight, the semen, and the brain, in which the semen forms an association that, as Richard Onians has shown, is of Greek origin. 
Shaki has dealt with Mazdean philosophical and theological ideas and has brought to light a Greek, or neo-Platonic, substratum (see entry “Falsafa”).  But Mazdean philosophy is still too complex and too little explored to yield to study by the comparative method.  As a first step, the overarching ideas would have to be defined in terms of their technical nature and their interrelations.  Among these ideas, that of the “good measure” (Mid. Pers. paymān) is of particular significance.  The Dēnkard declares that the Iranians have always praised moderation and faulted excess and shortcoming.  The concept was not, of course, of their invention; it clearly came from Aristotle and was adopted by Hippocrates.  In the Nicomachean Ethics , the writer defines virtue as a medium between two opposites: “It is a mean between two kinds of vice, one of excess and the other of deficiency.”  But the Mazdean theologians, in adapting the concept to their system of strict dualism, somewhat distorted the significance of the medium as a just mean.  They compared only two terms: “good is, in summary, the measure ...; evil is, in summary, excess and deficiency” (Dēnkard III).  Aristotle also linked these two words when he wrote that “injustice consists in excess and deficiency in the sense that it is productive of these ...”.  The Dēnkard appears to reproduce precisely that assertion: “Violence (must), which is itself excess and deficiency, is the principle of injustice”.  These few comparisons should suffice to show the extent to which Ādurfarnbag ī Farroxzādān, the first author of Dēnkard, was acquainted with Aristotle’s moral and philosophical writings, no doubt through Syrian versions. 

The theory of universal sympathy, which goes back at least as far as the Stoics (4th-3rd cent. BCE), finds its counterpart in Iran not only in the theory of the microcosm and macrocosm, but also in some more obscure passages of the Dēnkard, where it is stated that physical medicine cannot keep the body in good health unless the soul is also taken care of, thus emphasizing the necessary harmony between body and soul. 

  Astronomy and astrology spread from Iran to India thanks to borrowings from Greece and Mesopotamia, in a confluence of the Semitic, Greek, and Indo-Iranian world.  It appears that the first two Sassanian kings commissioned translations of Greek and Sanskrit works on astronomy and astrology, notably the treatises of Dorotheus of Sidon and Vettius Valens and Ptolemy’s Syntaxis Mathematike , but these Middle Persian translations have been lost .  In 556, Ḵosrow I Anušervān reportedly summoned an assembly of astronomers to draw up the tables.  While deeply influenced by the Indian approach, the tables also had as a practical model the Greek tradition, notably Ptolemy’s Manual Tables. 

History was never a science in pre-Islamic Iran; it was intermingled with myth, and, furthermore, primary importance was given to oral transmission.  Historical geography has received more attention in recent research.  The world was envisaged as being divided into seven regions (kišwar, see CLIME), and the four cardinal points and a center, represented by Iran, which served as the point of reference.  This latter theory was known across the ancient eastern Mediterranean.  

SOURCE: Encyclopedia Iranica

IMAGES WITH THE DELPHIC MAXIMS ( PART 1 )

The following images include various Delphic Maxims ( for more on this topic, click here ). To download them, right-click on each picture.

'Επου Θεώ ~ Follow God

Νόμω πείθου ~ Obey the Law

Θεούς Σέβου ~ Respect the Gods

           Γνώθι μαθών ~Know what you have learned

Ακούσας νόει ~ Understand what you have heard

Σαυτόν Ίσθι ~ Be / Know Yourself

Καιρόν Γνώθι ~ Know your Opportunity 

Φρόνει θνητά ~ Think as a Mortal

Εστίαν τίμα ~  Honor your Family

Άρχε Σεαυτού ~ Control Yourself

IRIS ~ THE GREEK GODDESS OF THE RAINBOW

In Greek Religion, Iris ( Ίρις) is the Goddess of the rainbow and Messenger of the Gods. She is often described as the handmaiden and personal Messenger of Hera. Her father is Thaumas ( the Wondrous ) a marine God, and her mother is Electra ( Amber ), a cloud Nymph. She is therefore closely connected to the sea and the skies. For the Greeks, a nation with strong ties to the sea, the rainbow's arc indicated that the Goddess provided the clouds with water from the sea-and the rainbow was often seen as a manifestation of the Goddess Herself. 

Iris is depicted in ancient Greek art as a beautiful young woman with golden wings, a herald's rod (kerykeion), and sometimes a water-pitcher (oinochoe) in Ηer hand. She is usually standing beside Zeus or Hera, sometimes serving nectar from her jug.During the Titanomachy, Iris was the messenger of the Olympian Gods, while Her twin sister Arke betrayed the Olympians and became the messenger of the Titans. Iris also mentioned as a wife of Zephyros, the God of the West wind, although she is referred to as a maiden in some sources. Iris links the Gods to humanity,by delivering their messages. She travels with the speed of wind from one end of the world to the other, and into the depths of the sea and the Underworld.Iris is frequently mentioned in the Iliad.

According to the "Homeric Hymn to Apollo", when Leto was in labor, before giving birth to Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, all the Goddesses were present, apart from two;  Hera and Ilithyia, the Goddess of childbirth. On the 9th day of her labor, Leto told Iris to bribe Ilithyia and ask for her help, and keep it a secret from Hera. 

According to Apollonius Rhodius, Iris intervened when the Argonauts Zetes and Calais, chased the Harpies to the Strophades ("Islands of Turning"). The brothers had driven off the monsters ,which were torturing Phineus. Iris asked the Argonauts to spare the lives of the Harpies, and promised that they would keep away from Phineus.

As a Goddess, Iris is also associated with communication, messages,  and new endeavors.In some texts, She is described as wearing a coat of many colors. With this coat she actually creates the rainbows she rides to get from place to place. Her wings are said to emit so much light, that can light up the darkest of places. 

Though Iris is principally associated with communication and messages, she also helps the fulfillment of humans' prayers, either by fulfilling them Herself or by bringing them to the attention of the other Gods and Goddesses.

There are no known temples or sanctuaries to Iris; and while She is frequently depicted on vases and in bas-reliefs, no statues of Hers have been found until now. 

Ancient sources tell us that Iris was worshiped on the Sacred Island of Delos- the devotees offered Her cakes made of wheat,honey and dried figs. This is the only evidence known about her cult, which seems to have been minor.

EDITED FROM: Wikipedia

THE EARLY SELEUCIDS ,THEIR GODS , AND THEIR COINS ~ FREE BOOK ~ PDF

A book on the coinage of the Seleucids and their Gods.
Whoever wants to read it, it's available below in pdf form for free.

   Click here : EARLY SELEUCID ,THEIR GODS AND THEIR COINS
THE EARLY SELEUCIDS ,THEIR GODS , AND THEIR  COINS

INDO-GREEK KINGDOM ~ THE SPREADING OF GREEK KNOWLEDGE IN INDIA

Introduction

Indo-Greek Kingdom or Greco-Indian Kingdom was ruled by more than 30 Hellenistic Kings at the various parts of the Northwest and Northern Indian subcontinent during a period from the 2nd century BCE to the beginning of the 1st century CE. They were often in conflict with each other.

The Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India early in the second century BCE; and formed the kingdom, in this context at the boundary of India. There were numerous cities, such as Taxila, Pakistan's Punjab, or Pushkalavati, Sagala and a number of dynasties in their times, based on Ptolemy's Geography and the nomenclature of later Kings.

The Indo- Greeks remained in India for two centuries (up to the 1st century CE) and later paving the way for the Shakas (Scythians), Pahlavas (Parthians) and the Kushanas (Yuezhi).

Indo-Greek Kingdom

Demetrius, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I, led his troops across the Hindu Kush around 200 BCE when the invasion of northern India, and the establishment of "Indo-Greek Kingdom" started. Apollodotus may have made advances in the South, while Menander, led later invasions further East.

The Bactrian king Euthydemus and his son Demetrius crossed the Hindu Kush and began the conquest of Northern Afghanistan and the Indus valley. For a short time, they wielded great power: a great Greek empire seemed to have arisen far in the East. But this empire was fallen off by internal argument and continual usurpations. When Demetrius advanced far into India one of his generals, Eucratides, made himself king of Bactria, and soon in every province there arose new usurpers, who proclaimed themselves kings and fought one against the other.
Most of them were from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and known only by their coins. By these wars, the dominant position of the Greeks was weakened even more quickly than would otherwise have been the case. After Demetrius and Eucratides, the kings abandoned the Attic standard of coinage and introduced a native standard, no doubt to gain support from outside the Greek minority.

In India, Milinda/ Menander I the Indo-Greek King, converted to Buddhism. His successors managed to cling to power until the last known Indo-Greek ruler, a king named Strato II, who ruled in the Punjab region until around 55 BCE. However other sources place the end of Strato II's reign as late as 10 CE.

Written evidence of the initial Greek invasion survives in the Greek writings of Strabo and Justin and in Sanskrit in the records of Patanjali, Kālidāsa, and in the Yuga Purana, among others. Coins and architectural evidence also attest to the extent of the initial Greek campaign.

They ruled for two centuries, combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols which can be seen on their coins, and blended ancient Greek, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their cities.

The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 CE following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer under the subsequent rule of the Indo-Parthians and Kushans.

Literature

Various Indian records describe Yavana attacks on Mathura, Panchala, Saketa, and Pataliputra. The term Yavana is thought to be a transliteration of "Ionians" and is known to have designated Hellenistic Greeks, starting with the Edicts of Ashoka, where Ashoka writes about "the Yavana king Antiochus".

Patanjali, a grammarian and commentator on Panini around 150 BCE, describes in the Mahābhāsya, the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit, denoting a recent event: "Arunad Yavanah Sāketam" and "Arunad Yavano Madhyamikām".
Also the Brahmanical text of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy, but is thought to be likely historical, relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes, and describes the ultimate destruction of the city's walls.
After the Greco-Bactrians militarily occupied parts of northern India from around 180 BCE, numerous instances of interaction between Greeks and Buddhism are recorded.

Religion

Besides the worship of the Classical Pantheon of the Greek Gods found on the coins (Zeus, Herakles, Athena, Apollo), the Indo-Greeks were involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism.
Menander I, converted to Buddhism, and is described as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka. The wheel Menander represented on some of his coins was probably Buddhist, and he is famous for his dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena, transmitted to us in the Milinda Panha, which explain that he became a Buddhist arhat
Another Indian text, the Stupavadana of Ksemendra, mentions in the form of a prophecy that Menander will build a stupa in Pataliputra. Plutarch also presents Menander as an example of benevolent rule, and explains that upon his death, the honour of sharing his remains was claimed by the various cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in "monuments" (μνημεία, probably stupas), in a parallel with the historic Buddha.

Art

In general, the art of the Indo-Greeks is poorly documented, and few works of art (apart from their coins and a few stone palettes) are directly attributed to them. The coinage of the Indo-Greeks however is generally considered as some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity. The Hellenistic heritage (Ai-Khanoum) and artistic proficiency of the Indo-Greek world would suggest a rich sculptural tradition as well, but traditionally very few sculptural remains have been attributed to them. On the contrary, most Gandharan Hellenistic works of art are usually attributed to the direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in India in 1st century CE, such as the nomadic Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and, in an already decadent state, the Kushans.

The possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed, as the dating of the rule of Indo-Greek kings has been extended to the first decades of the 1st century CE, with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab. Also, Foucher, Tarn, and more recently, Boardman, Bussagli and McEvilley have taken the view that some of the most purely Hellenistic works of northwestern India and Afghanistan, may actually be wrongly attributed to later centuries, and instead belong to a period one or two centuries earlier, to the time of the Indo-Greeks in the 2nd-1st century BCE.

This also seems to be corroborated by Ranajit Pal's suggestion that the Indo-Greek king Diodotus I was the great Ashoka.

Afghanistan, an area which "might indeed be the cradle of incipient Buddhist sculpture in Indo-Greek style" .Referring to one of the Buddha triads in Hadda, in which the Buddha is sided by very Classical depictions of Herakles/Vajrapani and Tyche/Hariti, Boardman explains that both figures "might at first (and even second) glance, pass as, say, from Asia Minor or Syria of the first or second century BCE (...) these are essentially Greek figures, executed by artists fully conversant with far more than the externals of the Classical style".

Alternatively, it has been suggested that these works of art may have been executed by itinerant Greek artists during the time of maritime contacts with the West from the 1st to the 3rd century CE.

The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, beyond the omnipresence of Greek style and stylistic elements which might be simply considered as an enduring artistic tradition, offers numerous depictions of people in Greek Classical realistic style, attitudes and fashion (clothes such as the chiton and the himation, similar in form and style to the 2nd century BCE Greco-Bactrian statues of Ai-Khanoum, hairstyle), holding contraptions which are characteristic of Greek culture (amphorae, "kantharos" Greek drinking cups), in situations which can range from festive (such as Bacchanalian scenes) to Buddhist-devotional.

Uncertainties in dating make it unclear whether these works of art actually depict Greeks of the period of Indo-Greek rule up to the 1st century BCE, or remaining Greek communities under the rule of the Indo-Parthians or Kushans in the 1st and 2nd century CE. Benjamin Rowland thinks that the Indo-Greeks, rather than the Indo-Scythians or the Kushans, may have been the models for the Bodhisattva statues of Gandhara.

It is also thought that Greeks contributed to the sculptural work of the Pillars of Ashoka and more generally to flourish the Mauryan art.

Economy

Very little is known about the economy of the Indo-Greeks, although it seems to have been rather vibrant. The abundance of their coins would tend to suggest large mining operations, particularly in the mountainous area of the Hindu-Kush, and an important monetary economy. The Indo-Greek did strike bilingual coins both in the Greek "round" standard and in the Indian "square" standard, suggesting that monetary circulation extended to all parts of society. The adoption of Indo-Greek monetary conventions by neighbouring kingdoms, such as the Kunindas to the east and the Satavahanas to the south, would also suggest that Indo-Greek coins were used extensively for cross-border trade.

Trade with China

An indirect testimony by the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian, who visited Bactria around 128 BCE, suggests that intense trade with Southern China was going through northern India. Zhang Qian explains that he found Chinese products in the Bactrian markets, and that they were transiting through northwestern India, which he incidentally describes as a civilization similar to that of Bactria.

Indian Ocean trade

Maritime relations across the Indian ocean started in the 3rd century BCE, and further developed during the time of the Indo-Greeks together with their territorial expansion along the western coast of India. By the time Indo-Greek rule was ending, up to 120 ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India.

Armed forces

The coins of the Indo-Greeks provide rich clues on their uniforms and weapons. Typical Hellenistic uniforms are depicted, with helmets being either round in the Greco-Bactrian style, or the flat kausia of the Macedonians (coins of Apollodotus I).

Military technology

Their weapons were spears, swords, longbow (on the coins of Agathokleia) and arrows. The recurve bow becomes a standard feature of Indo-Greek horsemen by 90 BCE, as seen on some of the coins of Hermaeus.

Generally, Indo-Greek kings are often represented riding horses, as early as the reign of Antimachus II around 160 BCE. The equestrian tradition probably goes back to the Greco-Bactrians, who are said by Polybius to have faced a Seleucid invasion in 210 BCE with 10,000 horsemen. War elephants are represented on their coins.

Coins

There are coin finds of several dozen Indo-Greek rulers in India; exactly how many is complicated to determine, because the Greeks did not number their kings, and the eastern Greeks did not date their coins. For example, there are a substantial number of coin finds for a King Demetrius, but authors have postulated one, two, or three Demetrii, and the same coins have been identified by different enquirers as describing Demetrius I, Demetrius II, or Demetrius III. The following deductions have been made from coins, in addition to mere existence:
• Kings who left many coins reigned long and prosperously.
• Hoards which contain many coins of the same king come from his realm.
• Kings who use the same iconography are friendly, and may well be from the same family,
• If a king overstrikes another king's coins, this is an important evidence to show that the overstriker reigned after the overstruck. Overstrikes may indicate that the two kings were enemies.
• Indo-Greek coins, like other Hellenistic coins, have monograms in addition to their inscriptions. These are generally held to indicate a mint official; therefore, if two kings issue coins with the same monogram, they reigned in the same area, and if not immediately following one another, have no long interval between them.

All of these arguments are arguments of probability, and have exceptions; one of Menander's coins was found in Wales.

The exact time and progression of the Bactrian expansion into India is difficult to ascertain, but ancient authors name Demetrius, Apollodotus, and Menander as conquerors.

The Arjunayanas (area of Mathura) and Yaudheyas mention military victories on their coins ("Victory of the Arjunayanas", "Victory of the Yaudheyas"). During the 1st century BCE, the Trigartas, Audumbaras and finally the Kunindas also started to mint their own coins, usually in a style highly reminiscent of Indo-Greek coinage.

It would also seem that some of the coins of the Indo-Greek kings, particularly those in the monolingual Attic standard, may have been used to pay some form of tribute to the Yuezhi tribes north of the Hindu-Kush. This is indicated by the finds of the Qunduz hoard in northern Afghanistan, which have yielded quantities of Indo-Greek coins in the Hellenistic standard (Greek weights, Greek language), although none of the kings represented in the hoard are known to have ruled so far north. Conversely, none of these coins have ever been found south of the Hindu-Kush.
While all Indo-Greek kings after Apollodotus I mainly issued bilingual (Greek and Kharoshti) coins for circulation in their own territories, several of them also struck rare Greek coins which have been found in Bactria. The later kings probably struck these coins as some kind of payment to the Scythian or Yuezhi tribes who now ruled there, though if as tribute or payment for mercenaries remains unknown.

SOURCE:Wikipedia

PHILOXENUS ANICETUS: INDO~GREEK KING

Philoxenus Anicetus (Greek: Φιλόξενος ὁ Ἀνίκητος; epithet means "the Invincible") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the region spanning the Paropamisade to Punjab. Philoxenus seems to have been quite an important king who might briefly have ruled most of the Indo-Greek territory. Bopearachchi dates Philoxenus to c. 100–95 BCE and R. C. Senior to c. 125–110 BCE.

Historians have not yet connected Philoxenus with any dynasty, but he could have been the father of the princess Kalliope, who was married to the king Hermaeus.

Source :WikiVisually

GREEK INFLUENCE IN MALAYSIA

Sculpture found within SEGI University College compound, Kota Damansara building. Here, the Greek style of architecture is used to create a set of statues that support a dome with their heads. As you can see, the upper part is actually a Corinthian column, originating from Greek Architecture as well, whereas the lower part of the column is represented by the statue and the added sculptured flower. The presence of a sculpture very similar to the Karyatides of Athens in the University enhances the idea of academic endeavour for the students.

Another picture taken from SEGI University College showing once again how the building is influenced by Greek Architecture. From the picture above, we can see the tall pillars located right in front of the building, which are known as Ionic columns- one of the most famous elements of ancient Greek architecture. 

This primary school building shown above has several elements that resemble Ionic columns, and also arches,which are similar to the temples of ancient Greece. The columns are built under the roof of the main entrance and the arched windows can be seen at the left side of the building. This school is known to be one of the finest buildings in Sarawak during the time it was built, as it was unique and different from the other buildings which were built with wood. 

The picture shown above is the cenotaph located on the same hill as Tugu Negara, The National Monument, in Taman Tasik Perdana, Kuala Lumpur, and is erected by British Administrators. The cenotaph is an empty tomb which is used honour those who died during World War I, World War II as well as the Civil War of 1948-1960. The Malaysian soldiers who died in battles for their country are remembered in this way. Cenotaphs were also erected in ancient Greece to honour those who fell in battle. The use of marble makes it even more similar to Greek architecture.

Segi College campus in Kota Damansara uses Greek elements to enhance its overall appearance. Most of its exterior combines modern university and classical Greek finishing. It gives students the feel of a scholar in a modern- day context. This shows that in Malaysia people appreciate the Ancient Greek Civilization as a knowledge- driven society.

Kuala Lumpur Library incorporates an Islamic dome and Greek library windows as its exterior. This gives a certain ambience to the structure, matching its role as a center of knowledge. Malaysians appreciate knowledge and don't hesitate to use various cultural influences in their academic buildings.

FTMS College has Greek Doric columns. Again they use it to emphasize on knowledge. This creates the appropriate atmosphere for the students, who enter a place of academic learning.

Perdana Putra in Putrajaya has a Greek library- like structure with Islamic dome. As the Prime Minister's office, this exterior portrays his leardership with knowledge and Islamic influence. 

Muzium Telekom is a Neo-Classical Greek architecture and the first interactive Museum in Malaysia.The buiding is located in Jalam Gereja, Kuala Lumpur. Before that, it was  the Central Battery Manual Telephone Exchange in 1928. Later, the building was intended to be demolished for the construction of a new 26-storey office complex; but the then Prime Minister suggested to maintain it because of its special history. 

The picture shown above is the National Stadium of Malaysia and below is the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece. The Panathenaic stadium is the ancient model of athletics tracks that looks much like a hairpin. The National Stadium of Malaysia kept this standardized Greek design due to its effectiveness for sports and its seating capacity. In essence, the Malaysian National Stadium is built according to the finest sports standards of ancient Greece,being considered the best Stadium in the country.

Edited from : SOURCE