A meridarch or ''meridarches'' ( el, μεριδάρχης, from ''meris'', "division", and ''-arches'', "ruler") was the civil governor of a province in the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

world (4th-1st centuries BCE), and could be translated as "Divisional Commissioner". Only three mentions of meridarchs are known from ancient sources, one from Palestine, the two others from the

Indo-Greek kingdom The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent (p ...

in India, one on a vase from Swat, the other on a copper plate from Taxila.

Judea

Shortly after 153 BCE,

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

relates,

Alexander Balas Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος Βάλας, Alexandros Balas), was the ruler of the Seleucid Empire from 150/Summer 152 – August 145 BC. Picked from obscurity and supported by the neighboring Roman ...

appointed

Jonathan Maccabeus Jonathan Apphus (Hebrew: ''Yōnāṯān ʾApfūs''; Ancient Greek: Ἰωνάθαν Ἀπφοῦς, ''Iōnáthan Apphoûs'') was one of the sons of Mattathias and the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE. Name H J Wolf n ...

as '' strategos'' (general) and meridarch (civil governor of a province) of

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...

, and sent him back with honors to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

(I Macc. x. 51–66; Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 4, § 1).

Indo-Greek kingdom

Meridarch Theodorus inscription in Swat relic vase

At the far eastern end of the Hellenistic world, in northern India, an inscription in

Kharoshthi The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and e ...

has been found on a relic vase Swāt, referring to a " meridarch Theodorus" and his enshrinement of relics of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

Another mention of a Meridarch appears on the Taxila "meridarch" plate. The plate reads:

References

Ancient Greek titles Indo-Greeks Hellenistic civilization {{AncientGreece-stub