HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ 2,796 YEARS AFTER THE OLYMPIC GAMES

We wish you a Happy and prosperous  New Year, filled with Health and Joy ! 

THE TECHNIQUE OF BRONZE STATUARY IN ANCIENT GREECE

The ancient Greeks and Romans had a long history of making statuary in bronze. Literally thousands of images of Gods and heroes, victorious athletes, statesmen, and philosophers filled temples and sanctuaries, and stood in the public areas of major cities. Over the course of more than a thousand years, Greek and Roman artists created hundreds of statue types whose influence on large-scale statuary from western Europe (and beyond) continues to the present day.

During the third millennium BCE, ancient foundry workers recognized through trial and error that bronze had distinct advantages over pure copper for making statuary. Bronze is an alloy typically composed of 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin, and, because it has a lower melting point than pure copper, it will stay liquid longer when filling a mold. It also produces a better casting than pure copper and has superior tensile strength. While there were many sources for copper around the Mediterranean basin in Greek and Roman antiquity, the island of Cyprus, whose very name derives from the Greek word for copper, was among the most important. Tin, on the other hand, was imported from places as far as southwest Turkey, Afghanistan, and Cornwall, England.

The earliest large-scale Greek bronze statues had very simple forms dictated by their technique of manufacture, known as sphyrelaton (literally, “hammer-driven”), in which parts of the statue are made separately of hammered sheets of metal and attached one to another with rivets. Frequently, these metal sheets were embellished by hammering the bronze over wooden forms in order to produce reliefs, or by incising designs using a technique called tracing.

By the Late Archaic period (ca. 500–480 BCE), sphyrelaton went out of use as a primary method when lost-wax casting became the major technique for producing bronze statuary. The lost-wax casting of bronze is achieved in three different ways: solid lost-wax casting, hollow lost-wax casting by the direct process, and hollow lost-wax casting by the indirect process. The first method, which is also the earliest and simplest process, calls for a model fashioned in solid wax. This model is surrounded with clay and then heated in order to remove the wax and harden the clay. Next, the mold is inverted and molten metal poured into it. When the metal cools, the bronzesmith breaks open the clay model to reveal a solid bronze reproduction.

Since the physical properties of bronze do not allow large solid casting, the use of solid wax models limited the founder to casting very small figures. To deal with this problem, the ancient Greeks adopted the process of hollow lost-wax casting to make large, freestanding bronze statues. Typically, large-scale sculpture was cast in several pieces, such as the head, torso, arms, and legs. In the direct process of hollow wax casting, the sculptor first builds up a clay core of the approximate size and shape of the intended statue. With large statues, an armature normally made of iron rods is used to help stabilize this core. The clay core is then coated with wax, and vents are added to facilitate the flow of molten metal and allow gases to escape, which ensures a uniform casting. Next the model is completely covered in a coarse outer layer of clay and then heated to remove all the wax, thereby creating a hollow matrix. The mold is reheated for a second, longer, period of time in order to harden the clay and burn out any wax residue. Once this is accomplished, the bronzesmith pours the molten metal into the mold until the entire matrix has been filled. When the bronze has cooled sufficiently, the mold is broken open and the bronze is ready for the finishing process.

In the indirect method of lost-wax casting, the original master model is not lost in the casting process. Therefore, it is possible to recast sections, to make series of the same statue, and to piece-cast large-scale statuary. Because of these advantages, the majority of large-scale ancient Greek and Roman bronze statues were made using the indirect method. First a model for the statue is made in the sculptor’s preferred medium, usually clay. A mold of clay or plaster is then made around the model to replicate its form. This mold is made in as few sections as can be taken off without damaging any undercut modeling. Upon drying, the individual pieces of the mold are removed, reassembled, and secured together. Each mold segment is then lined with a thin layer of beeswax. After this wax has cooled, the mold is removed and the artist checks to see if all the desired details have transferred from the master model; corrections and other details may be rendered in the wax model at this time. 

The bronzesmith then attaches to the wax model a system of funnels, channels, and vents, and covers the entire structure in one or more layers of clay. As in the direct method, the clay mold is heated and the wax poured out. It is heated again at a higher temperature in order to fire the clay, and then heated one more time when the molten metal is poured in. When this metal cools, the mold is broken open to reveal the cast bronze segment of the statue. Any protrusions left by the pouring channels are cut off, and small imperfections are removed with abrasives. The separately cast parts are then joined together by metallurgical and mechanical means. The skill with which these joins were made in antiquity is one of the greatest technical achievements of Greek and Roman bronzeworking. In the finishing process, decorative details such as hair and other surface design may be emphasized by means of cold-working with a chisel. The ancient Greeks and Romans frequently added eyes inset with glass or stones, teeth and fingernails inlaid with silver, and lips and nipples inlaid with copper, all of which contributed to a bronze statue’s astonishingly lifelike appearance.

Since all but a few ancient bronze statues have been lost or were melted down to reuse the valuable metal, marble copies made during the Roman period provide our primary visual evidence of masterpieces by famous Greek sculptors. Almost all the marble statues in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art are Roman copies of bronze statues created by Greek artists some 500 years earlier, during the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.

Colette Hemingway
Independent Scholar

Seán Hemingway
Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

SOURCE : The MET Museum

THE EARLIEST HINDU LANGUAGE DECIPHERED THROUGH GREEK ~ BRAHMI SCRIPT

The earliest,undisputedly dated, and best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dating to 250–232 BCE.

From 1834, some attempts were made to decipher the Brahmi script, the main script used in old Indian inscriptions such as the Edicts of Ashoka, and which had become extinct since the 5th century CE. Some attempts by Rev. J. Stevenson were made to identify characters from the Karla Caves (circa 1st century CE), based on their similarities with the Gupta script of the Samudragupta inscription of the Allahabad pillar (3th century CE) which had just been deciphered, but this led to a mix of good (about 1/3) and bad guesses, which did not permit proper deciphering of the Brahmi.

The first successful attempts at deciphering the ancient Brahmi script of the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE were made in 1836 by Norwegian scholar Christian Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coins of  Indo-Greek kings Agathocles and Pantaleon to correctly and securely identify several Brahmi letters. 

The task was then completed by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the East India Company, who was able to identify the rest of the Brahmi characters, with the help of Major Cunningham. In a series of results that he published in March 1838, Prinsep was able to translate the inscriptions on a large number of rock edicts found around India, and provide, according to Richard Salomon, a "virtually perfect" rendering of the full Brahmi alphabet.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

ISKANDERKUL : THE LAKE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN TAJIKISTAN

Iskanderkul is the biggest lake in the Fann Mountains.Located in the north-west of Tajikistan, only a few hours from Dushanbe, it is one of the most beautiful glacial lakes in the region.

On the north slope of Gissar Range in the Fann Mountains, this triangle-shaped lake is at an altitude of 2,195m and spans 3.4 square kilometres with a depth of 72 meters.

Even the Tajik president thinks so highly of it, that he has a built himself a holiday house there.

The lake’s name ‘Iskanderkul’ means “Lake of Alexander”, after the famous Greek  Alexander the Great.

Legend has it Alexander the Great created the lake by damming the river in order to annihilate a village which had opposed him.
Whether that’s true or not will never be known, but there may actually be a different story.

Scientists did discover that once there was an earthquake in the area, and a rockslide blocked the Sarytag river.
Their theory is that water pooled and Iskanderkul Lake was created. But you can believe what you want.

Today there are a couple of guesthouses you can stay in right by the lake, and there are lots of fun activities in close proximity.

CRIMEA : 2,000 - YEAR- OLD GREEK FORTRESS DISCOVERED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS

In 2016, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology, have discovered the ruins of a fortress constructed by  Greeks.Archeologists believe that the rampart was built in the early part of the 3rd century BCE and later, in the 1st century BCE, during the reign of King Asander, it was fortified with watchtowers. These fortifications protected the Bosporan Kingdom and its capital at Panticapaeum (modern-day Kerch) from the nomadic and warlike Scythians, who controlled most of what is today known as Ukraine and southern Russia. The Bosporan Kingdom (Basileion tou Kimmerikou Bosporou) was an ancient Greek state established in eastern Crimea and around the present-day Strait of Kerch.  Panticapaeum was originally founded by Greeks in the 7th century BCE, and it grew to become the third largest city in the Ancient Greek world. Thracian kings took over the prosperous city and region in the middle of the 5th century BCE. 
 The excavated site also matches with the geographical attribute, with the defensive complex being situated near the village of Gornostayevka, located about 10 miles west of the city of Kerch.

 The ancient fortress had a defensive ditch, a gate, structural blocks made of masonry bricks, an ‘economic’ section with bored wells and a preserved ancient tower that overlooked a large part of the settlement. Additionally the archaeologists have also discovered several burials, including the tomb of a female (of presumed high status) buried with objects like a jug and bowl, earrings, beads and a bronze mirror.

As for the Bosporan Kingdom itself, the ancient Greek mercantile state prospered from its noted export of wheat, fish and slaves to mainland Greece. The strategic value of the realm was not lost on the Romans,who offered the client-state status to the kingdom (circa late 1st century CE) even after the subjugation of mainland Greece, thus making it the longest surviving client kingdom of the Romans. On the other hand, the realm also showcased its fascinating brand of cultural synthesis between the Greeks and the Eurasian nomads (Scythians and later Sarmatians), which was often mirrored by exotic artworks, including Bosporan architectural and sculptural specimens.


These excavations began in 2016 near Gornostayevka, as part of preparations for a planned gas pipeline to Crimea from the mainland Russia.

Images Credit: Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology

SOURCES : Realm of History , Russia Beyond

ORPHIC HYMN TO GOD DIONYSOS

The following Orphic Hymn is dedicated to Dionysos, the Greek God of Ecstasy. The video is the adaptation of the Hymn by the Greek band Daemonia Nymphe. Below the video there is a translation of the Hymn in English,as well as the original text in Ancient Greek.

English Translation

I call Diónysos the loud-roarer!He, who wails in revel!    

First-Born, two-natured, thrice-born, Bacchic King,

Wild, inscrutable, cryptic, two-horned, two-shaped,

Bedecked in ivy, bull-faced, war-like, howling, holy,

Divine victim, feasted every other year, adorned with grapes, bedecked in foliage.    

He who is prudent, counselor, born upon the secret bed of Zeus and Persephone, immortal Daemon;

Listen, Happy One, to my voice! Sweetly breathe on me with gentleness, 

Be kind and grant my desire, with the aid of Your chaste Nurses!

Ancient Greek text

Κικλήσκω Διόνυσον ἐρίβρομον, εὐαστῆρα,   

πρωτόγονον, διφυῆ, τρίγονον, Βακχεῖον ἄνακτα,

ἄγριον, ἄρρητον, κρύφιον, δικέρωτα, δίμορφον,

κισσόβρυον, ταυρωπόν, ἀρήϊον, εὔϊον, ἁγνόν,

ὠμάδιον, τριετῆ, βοτρυοτρὸφον, ἐρνεσίπεπλον.   

Εὐβουλεῦ, πολύβουλε, Διὸς καὶ Περσεφονείης

ἀρρήτοις λέκτροισι τεκνωθείς, ἄμβροτε δαῖμον·

κλῦθι μάκαρ φωνῆς, ἡδὺς δ’ ἐπίπνευσον ἐνηής,

εὐμενὲς ἦτορ ἔχων, σὺν ἐυζώνοισι τιθήναις.

SOURCE: http://www.hellenicgods.org/  

IMAGES WITH THE DELPHIC MAXIMS ( PART 5 )

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

Λαβὼν ἀπόδος ~ Give back what you have received

Ὑφορῶ μηδένα ~ Look down upon no one

Τέχνῃ χρῶ ~ Use your skill

Ὃ μέλλεις, δός ~ Do what you mean to do

 Εὐεργεσίας τίμα ~ Honor a benefaction

Δικαίως κτῶ ~ Gain possessions justly

  Ἀγαθοὺς τίμα ~ Honor good men

Ἁπλῶς διαλέγου ~ Speak plainly

Δαπανῶν ἄρχου ~ Govern your expenses

Κτώμενος ἥδου ~ Be happy with what you have

THE COPYING OF THE LIFE OF GREEK GOD DIONYSOS BY THE CHRISTIANS

Hundreds of years before the Common Era, Dionysos, the Greek God of Ecstasy, walks on water, sits under a decorated tree, dies and returns back to life... Does it sound familiar?
The image speaks for itself. To enlarge it, right-click on it. 

FUNERARY CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT GREECE

The Ancient Greeks placed great importance to the burial of the dead. They believed that souls could not enter the Elysian Fields till their bodies had been properly buried. So strong was this feeling among the Greeks that it was considered a religious duty to throw at least some soil upon a dead body which someone might happen to find unburied; among the Athenians, those children who were released from all other obligations to unworthy parents were nevertheless bound to bury them. The neglect of burying one's relatives is frequently mentioned by the orators as a grave charge against the moral character of a man, since the burial of the body by their relatives was an essential religious duty by the universal law of the Greeks. The common expressions for the funeral rites, called  τὰ δίκαια,( the lawful ones) show that the dead had, as it were, a legal and moral claim to burial.

At the moment of death, the eyes and mouth were closed by one of those present . According to Lucian, the coin which served as Charon 's fare was at once placed in the mouth of the deceased . This custom is first mentioned by Aristophanes, and does not appear to have been in use at a very early date. Confirmation of the practice is given by actual discoveries, for coins are frequently found in Greek tombs, and in some between the teeth of the skeleton. The body was then washed , anointed with perfumes, and clothed in rich garments, generally white in colour. These were buried or burned with the body. A wreath of flowers was placed upon the head. Golden wreaths, in imitation of laurel or other foliage, were sometimes used, and have been found in graves.

Prothesis

The body was then laid out on a bed, which appears to have been of the ordinary kind, with a pillow for supporting the head and back. This procedure was called prothesis and,by law,it took place inside the house. The feet of the deceased were turned towards the door. Special vases, probably containing perfumes, were placed beside the body. These vases were also buried with the coffin, and a large number of them have been found in graves in Attica. A few of them are in the ordinary black and red -figured styles, but the greater number are of a special ware of great beauty, manufactured for funeral purposes. In this ware the ground is white, and scenes are painted upon it in bright colours, in a freer and less rigid style than in the vases with red or black figures. A honey-cake was also placed by the side of the body. This was intended as a treat for Cerberos, the Guardian Hound of God Hades. Before the door, a vessel of water was placed, so that people who had been in the house could sprinkle it upon and be cleansed from the miasma of death.

The close relatives of the deceased assembled round the funeral bed and uttered loud lamentations. Plato himself had declared that the prothesis should not last longer than was necessary to show that death had truly taken place. It appears that singers were hired to lead the mourning chant.

Funeral Procession

The funeral took place legally, as has been already remarked, on the day following the prothesis. It might, however, be put off several days to allow of the arrival of distant friends. The early morning was the usual time. The bier was borne either by hired bearers, or, in cases where it was decided to honour the dead, by specially selected citizens. The men walked before the deceased and the women behind, and it appears that musicians were hired to play mournful tunes on the flute and sing dirges at the ekphora (procession) as well as at the prothesis. Those who accompanied the funeral wore mourning garments of a black or dark colour. The mourners would shave their head or cut their hair as a sign of grief.

Military Public Funerals

In Athens,it was customary to hold public funerals for those who had fallen in war. Thucydides describes the standard procedure on such occasions. The bones were placed on a platform (or perhaps in a booth or tent) erected for that purpose in some public place. On the day of the funerals, coffins of cypress wood, one for each tribe, were carried upon wagons. Each coffin contained the bones of the members of the tribe to which it was assigned. An empty couch, adorned as for a funeral, was borne in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. The procession was accompanied by any citizens and foreigners who wished to attend, and by women who were related to those who had fallen. In Greece, funeral orations were pronounced only at public funerals of the kind described, not over individuals, even if they might have been distinguished. This custom seems to have arisen about the time of the Persian Wars. In other respects, the procedure at a public funeral does not seem to have differed from that in use at private burials.

 It is certain, both from literary evidence and also from the excavation of tombs, that cremation and burial were both practised by the Greeks. Spartans also buried their dead. In Homer there is no mention of any burial without cremation taking place first; but in graves at Mycenae, skeletons have been found which showed no traces of fire. Evidence both of cremation and burying has been found in graves of a later date in many parts of the Greek world.

The pile of wood  upon which the body was burned was sometimes erected over the grave in which the ashes were to be buried. There is a full description of cremation in the Homeric period in Iliad , where Achilles holds the funeral of Patroclos. The pyre was made a hundred feet in length and width, and the bodies of sheep, oxen, horses, dogs, and twelve Trojan captives were placed upon it. Honey and perfumes were also poured upon it before it was lighted. When the pyre had burned down, the remains of the fire were quenched with wine, and the relatives and friends collected the bones or ashes. The remains thus collected were placed in a vessel  and buried. 
When bodies were buried without previous cremation, they were generally placed in coffins, which were called by various names, as σοροί, ληνοί, λάρνακες,  though some of these names were also applied to the urns in which the bones were collected.

Immediately after the funeral was over, the relatives gathered for a feast called nekrodeipnon ( the supper of the dead). This feast took place at the house of the relative closest to the deceased.

Other ceremonies were performed on the 3rd,9th, and the 30ieth days after the funeral.The rites on the 30th day included a repetition of the funeral feast.

It was also the custom to bring offerings to the tomb on certain days each year. Herodotus mentions that these annual sacrifices to the dead were called γενέσια, from which it is inferred that they were offered on the birthday of the deceased. The name νεκύσια was also used in the same sense. The ceremonies which were performed at these stated intervals could take place at any other time of the year, if for some reason it was necessary to appease the departed spirit. The offerings given on these occasions were called ἐναγίσματα,and consisted of libations of wine, oil, milk, honey mixed with water or milk, which were poured upon the ground. Elaborate banquets were sometimes prepared, burned in honour of the dead, and buried in a trench. Wreaths were also placed upon the grave-stones, and they were anointed with perfumes.


The period of mourning varied in length at different places. At Athens it seems to have ended it on the thirtieth day after the funeral .In Sparta, it lasted only eleven days.

Certain special rites were used in particular cases. A spear was carried in front of the body of any person who had died a violent death, as a symbol of the revenge which was to follow the murderer . In the case of those who had committed suicide, the hand which had done the deed was cut off and buried separately. Certain criminals, who were put to death by the State, were also deprived of burial, which was considered to be an additional punishment . The bodies of those persons who had been struck by lightning were regarded as sacred (ἱεροὶ νεκροί); they were not buried with others , but usually on the spot where they had been struck.


It has been already mentioned that in the public funerals of those killed in war, an empty couch was carried in the procession to represent those whose bodies had not been found. In other cases, when a person was supposed to be dead,but his body was not found, funeral rites were performed for him. If such a person was afterwards found to be alive, he was considered impure, and was not allowed to enter temples till certain rites had been performed. These rites were a symbolism of birth and the ceremonies connected with it. The δευτερόποτμος or ὑστερόποτμος was washed, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and fed with milk. Having been thus born again into life, he was freed from his impurity.

Edited from : hellenicaworld.com

GREEK LANGUAGE AS THE KEY TO DECODING EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS: THE ROSETTA STONE

The Rosetta Stone is a granodiorite stele, found in 1799, inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BCE during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic script and Demotic script, respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. As the decree has only minor differences between the three versions, the Rosetta Stone proved to be the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, thereby opening a window into ancient Egyptian history.

The stone, carved during the Hellenistic period, is believed to have originally been displayed within a temple, possibly at nearby Sais. It was probably moved during the early Christian or medieval period, and was eventually used as building material in the construction of Fort Julien near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta. It was rediscovered there in July 1799 by a French soldier, named Pierre-François Bouchard, during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. It was the first Ancient Egyptian bilingual text recovered in modern times, and it aroused widespread public interest with its potential to decipher this previously untranslated hieroglyphic language. Lithographic copies and plaster casts began circulating among European museums and scholars. British troops having meanwhile defeated the French, under the Capitulation of Alexandria in 1801 the original stone came into British possession and was transported to London. It has been on public display at the British Museum almost continuously since 1802 and is the most-visited object there.

Study of the decree was already under way when the first full translation of the Greek text appeared in 1803. It was 20 years, however, before the transliteration of the Egyptian scripts was announced by Jean-François Champollion in Paris in 1822; it took even longer still before scholars were able to read Ancient Egyptian inscriptions and literature confidently. Major advances in the decoding were recognition that the stone offered three versions of the same text (1799); that the demotic text used phonetic characters to spell foreign names (1802); that the hieroglyphic text did so as well, and had pervasive similarities to the demotic (Thomas Young, 1814); and that, in addition to being used for foreign names, phonetic characters were also used to spell native Egyptian words (Champollion, 1822–1824).

Ever since its rediscovery, the Stone has been the focus of nationalist rivalries, including its transfer from French to British possession during the Napoleonic Wars, a long-running dispute over the relative value of Young and Champollion's contributions to the decipherment and, since 2003, demands for the stone's return to Egypt.

Two other fragmentary copies of the same decree were discovered later, and several similar Egyptian bilingual or trilingual inscriptions are now known, including two slightly earlier Ptolemaic decrees (the Decree of Canopus in 238 BCE, and the Memphis decree of Ptolemy IV, c. 218 BCE). The Rosetta Stone is, therefore, no longer unique, but it was the essential key to modern understanding of Ancient Egyptian literature and civilisation. The term Rosetta Stone is now used in other contexts as the name for the essential clue to a new field of knowledge.

SOURCE : Wikipedia

FROM KABUL TO SRI LANKA - AN EPIC PILGRIMAGE LED BY A GREEK BUDDHIST MONK

ONE OF THE GREATEST PILGRIMAGES OF ALL TIME, GUIDED BY THE GREEK BUDDHIST MONK MAHADHARMARAKSITA

Mahadhammarakkhita (Sanskrit: Mahadharmaraksita, literally "Great protector of the Dharma") was a Greek Buddhist master, who lived during the 2nd century BCE, during the reign of the Indo-Greek king Menander.

In the Mahavamsa, a key Pali historical text, he is recorded as having travelled from “Alasandra” (thought to be Alexandria of the Caucasus, around 150 kilometers north of today's Kabul, or possibly Alexandria of the Arachosians), with 30,000 monks  for the dedication ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great stupa") at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, when it was completed shortly after the death of the Sri Lankan king Dutthagamani Abhaya (c. 161 - 137 BCE).


















The Mahamvasa lists the congregations that visited Sri Lanka for the dedication of the Maha Thupa, explaining that:
"From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhus." (Mahavamsa, XXIX)


This reference says a lot about the role of the Greeks in the Buddhist community of that era;Alexandria of the Caucasus or Alexandria of the Arachosians, cities under the control of the Greek king Menander, had a Buddhist monk population of possibly as many as 30,000, indicating a flourishing Buddhist culture under the Greeks.

The head of this Buddhist community was a Greek (Yona) Buddhist elder whose religious name was Mahadhammarakkhita ("Great protector of the Dharma), a fact that illustrates the involvement of Greeks in the development of the Buddhist faith, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.

They were able to travel freely south as far as Sri Lanka; this is probably evidence of some political stability along the west coast of the Indian subcontinent. It should be noted that during that time, the Shunga Empire was persecuting Buddhists in the East.

It is also separately established through another text, the Milinda Panha, and archeological evidence, that Menander himself ruled a vast empire in northern India, and that he became a Buddhist arhat. According to Buddhist tradition, he was a great benefactor of the Buddhist faith, along with Ashoka or the Kushan Kanishka.

Source : Buddhism Guide 

ANTIALCIDAS NIKEPHOROS : GREEK KING OF PUNJAB

Antialcidas Nikephoros (Greek: Αντιαλκίδας ο Νικηφόρος;  "the Victorious", Brahmi: 𑀅𑀁𑀢𑀮𑀺𑀓𑀺𑀢𑀲 Aṃtalikitasa, in the Heliodorus Pillar) was an Indo-Greek king of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, who reigned from his capital at Taxila. Bopearachchi has suggested that he ruled in the western parts of the Indo-Greek realms, and also in eastern Punjab.  
Antialcidas may have been a relative of the Bactrian king Heliocles I, but ruled after the fall of the Bactrian kingdom. Several later kings may have been related to Antialcidas: Heliokles II, Amyntas, Diomedes and Hermaeus all struck coins with similar features.

Antialcidas is known from an inscription left on a pillar (the Heliodorus pillar), which was erected by his ambassador Heliodorus at the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra at Vidisha, near Sanchi. 

A part of the inscription says:

"This Garuda-standard was made by order of the Bhagavata ... Heliodoros, the son of Dion, a man of Taxila, a Greek ambassador from King Antialkidas, to King Bhagabhadra, the son of the Princess from Benares, the saviour, while prospering in the 14th year of his reign."

Antialcidas issued at least four different types of Attic weight tetradrachms which carried only Greek legends. These included two with the helmeted bust, as on this coin, but with two different legend arrangements, and one each with a bare-headed bust and a bust with the king wearing a kausia.He also issued at least two different monolingual drachms, a helmeted type and a kausia type. Thus, his Attic coinage was the most extensive of all the Greek kings who ruled south of the Hindu Kush.  Τhis was because he acquired territory in Bactria, north of the Hindu Kush.

Sources : coinindia, Wikipedia 

MILITARY FORCES OF THE GRECOBACTRIAN KINGDOM

Alexander and Seleucus I both settled Greeks in Bactria, while  to keep their Macedonian settlers farther west. Greek garrisons in the satrapy of Bactria were housed in fortresses called phrouria and at major cities. Military colonists were settled in the countryside and were each given an allotment of land called a kleros. These colonists numbered in the tens of thousands, and were trained in the fashion of the Macedonian army. A Greek army in Bactria during the anti-Macedonian revolt of 323 numbered 23,000.

IMAGE SOURCE

The army of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom was then a multi-ethnic force with Greek colonists making up large portions of the infantry as pike phalanxes, supported by light infantry units of local Bactrians and mercenary javelin-wielding Thureophoroi.

 The cavalry arm was very large for a Hellenistic army and composed mostly of native Bactrian, Sogdian and other Indo-Iranian light horsemen. 

Polybius mentions 10,000 horses at the Battle of the Arius river in 208 BCE. Greco-Bactrian armies also included units of heavily armored cataphracts and small elite units of companion cavalry. The third arm of the Greco-Bactrian army was the Indian war elephants, which are depicted in some coins with a tower (thorakion) or howdah housing men armed with bows and javelins. This force grew as the Greco-Bactrian kingdom expanded into India and was widely depicted in Greco-Bactrian coinage. Other units in the Bactrian military included mercenaries or levies from various surrounding peoples such as the Scythians, Dahae, Indians and Parthians.

 The Greco-Bactrian rulers  had war elephants,which were used in warfare against rivals. An early source mentions the presence of war elephants in Bactria during the reign of King Euthydemus I ( 206 BCE) . During his eastern campaign, King Antiochus III the Great tried to take back the provinces of Bactria and Parthia. As a result of this campaign, Euthydemus and Antiochus signed a peace agreement, in which the Greco-Bactrian King had to give all his war elephants. 

Also, archaeological finds testify to the presence of war elephants in Bactria. One of the Greco-Bactrian artifacts that have been found is a horse's decorative plague, which shows a turreted war elephant .One of the warriors is wearing a distinctively Greek helmet. The other warrior wears a thick chevelure. Both carry long spears. In the Hellenistic Times, towers were put on elephants.It is safe to assume that war elephants were used for a long time, since there is reference to them in the much later Milinda Panha.
 Usually, the elephants were placed at the front of the troops.The aim for them was to break the enemy line.If the enemy resisted, the Greco-Bactrian phalanx would open to give way to the animals and after they retreated, the different pedestrian and cavalry groups would enter the battle.

Sources : Ancient History Encyclopedia ,Wikipedia, idosi.org , Battles of the Ancients