Thursday, 16 January 2020

POLYXENOS EPIPHANES SOTER ~ INDOGREEK KING


Polyxenos Epiphanes Soter (Greek: Πολύξενος ο Ἐπιφανής, ὁ Σωτήρ; epithets mean respectively, "the Illustrious", "the Saviour") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled briefly in western Punjab or Gandhara.

Bopearachchi places Polyxenos c. 100 BCE  and R.C. Senior c. 85–80 BCE.

Polyxenos, whose portraits depict a diademed young man, struck silver coins which closely resemble those of Strato I. Both kings used the epithets Soter Epiphanes and the reverse of Athena Alkidemos (fighting Pallas Athene), the emblem of the dynasty of Menander I. Polyxenos also struck bronzes with Athena on the obverse and Her aegis on the reverse. He issued no Attic silver.

His bronzes depict the head of Athena with a reverse of Her aegis.

Polyxenos' coins are few and feature only three monograms: these he shares with Straton I, as well as the kings Heliokles II and Archebios, according to Bopearachchi and R.C.Senior.

He was therefore likely to have been a brief contestant for power in the central Indo-Greek kingdom after the presumably violent death of Straton I, who was possibly his father.

Source: Wikipedia

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