Polyxenus Epiphanes Soter (, "Polyxenus the Illustrious Saviour") was an

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" ...

king who ruled briefly in western

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Gandhara Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...

Date

Osmund Bopearachchi Osmund Bopearachchi (born 1949) is a Sri Lankan historian and numismatist who has specialized notably standardized the coinage of the Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms. He is currently Emeritus Director of the CNRS at the École normale supé ...

places Polyxenus c. 100 BCEBopearachchi (1998) and R. C. Senior c. 85–80 BCE.

Coinage

Polyxenus, whose portraits depict a diademed young man, struck silver coins which closely resemble those of

Strato I Strato I Dikaios (Greek: ''Strátо̄n Díkaios,'' “Strato the Just”) also known as Stratha in Sanskrit, was a Yavana King (reigned 125/120-110 BCE), the son and successor of Menander, Strato’s mother, Agathoclea ruled as Queen Mother ...

. Both kings used the epithets

Soter Soter derives from the Ancient Greek epithet (''Sōtḗr''), meaning a saviour, a deliverer. The feminine form is Soteira (Σώτειρα, ''Sṓteira'') or sometimes Soteria (Σωτηρία, ''Sōtería''). Soter was used as: * A title of gods ...

Epiphanes and the reverse of Athena Alcidemus (fighting Pallas Athene), the emblem of the dynasty of

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 ...

. Polyxenus also struck bronzes with Athena on the obverse and her

aegis The aegis ( ; ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a deity named Aex, a ...

on the reverse. He issued no Attic silver. His bronzes depict the head of Athena with a reverse of her

. Polyxenus' coins are few and feature only three monograms: these he shares with Strato I as well as Heliocles II and Archebius, according to Bopearachchi and RC 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.

Notes

References

*Osmund Bopearachchi, ''Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum: American Numismatic Society, part 9, Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Coins'', 1998, American Numismatic Society, .

External links

Catalog of the coins of PolyxenusLe Roi Polyxène
Indo-Greek kings 1st-century monarchs in Asia {{AncientGreece-royal-stub