Heliocles I (, meaning "glory of

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

"; reigned c. 145–120 BC) was a

Greco-Bactrian The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom () was a Greek state of the Hellenistic period located in Central-South Asia. The kingdom was founded by the Seleucid satrap Diodotus I Soter in about 256 BC, and continued to dominate Central Asia until its fall a ...

king, a son and successor of Eucratides the Great, and considered the last Greek king to reign over the Bactrian country. His reign was a troubled one; according to Roman historian

Justin Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

, Eucratides was murdered crossing the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

by one of his sons, although this is highly disputed and Justin fails to name the perpetrator. Eucratides’ death led to instability, even civil war, which caused the Indian parts of the empire to be lost to Indo-Greek king

Menander I Menander I Soter (, ; ), sometimes called Menander the Great, was an Indo-Greek king (reigned /155Bopearachchi (1998) and (1991), respectively. The first date is estimated by Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, the other Boperachchi –1 ...

and southern

Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...

to be lost to the

Yuezhi The Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in China, Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC. After a major defea ...

Yuezhi invasion

From 130 BC a

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

people, the

, started to invade

from the north and we could assume that Heliocles was likely killed in battle during this invasion. Details from Chinese sources seem to indicate that the nomad invasion did not end civilisation in Bactria entirely. Hellenised cities continued to exist for some time, and the well-organised agricultural systems were not demolished. The Yuezhi would copy and adapt the coin types of Heliocles I for a long time after the latter's death. Heliocles I used the Greek epithet

Dikaios Dikaios ( Greek: δίκαιος, lit. 'righteous, just'; sometimes romanised as ''Dicaeus'') is a title first used by Hellenistic Greek rulers, and later also given to holy men and women of the Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the f ...

("the Just") on his coins. There is evidence that Heliocles I ruled around the same time as Eucratides II, as a silver coin has been discovered showing both rulers sharing the coin in a joint issue.

Gallery

File:Heliocles I helmetted.jpg, Tetradrachm of Heliocles I, showing the king helmetted and in uniform. Reverse shows seated

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΗΛΙΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ''Basileōs Dikaiou Hēliokleous,'' "Of King Heliocles the Just". Image: Heliocles I delta.jpg, Tetradrachm of Heliocles I. The Reverse shows standing

, and

legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΗΛΙΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ, ''Basileōs Dikaiou Hēliokleous,'' "Of King Heliocles the Just". File:Yuezhi copy of Heliocles I coin.jpg,

copy of a coin of king Heliocles I. The Yuezhi are thought to have invaded his territory and taken over his coinage as a consequence.

References

* '' The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies'' by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) * ''Buddhism in Central Asia'' by B. N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) * ''The Greeks in Bactria and India'', W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

External links

Coins of Heliocles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heliocles 01 Greco-Bactrian kings 2nd-century BC monarchs in Asia Greek Buddhist monarchs