The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s2.154

c10.s2.154

Probably the first step was the appointment by Demetrius of his third son Pantaleon to be sub-king of Seistan and Arachosia in place of Apollodotus, whose hands were full in India. Pantaleon’s own coins¹ are too rare to indicate where he ruled, but their practical identity with those of Agathocles, which will presently be discussed, shows that it was the same country, that is, that he was also sub-king of and coined in the Paropamisadae; it is conceivable that he never coined at all in Seistan but continued to strike Euthydemus’ money there, and that he got the Paropamisadae later than Seistan. This of course implies the transfer of Demetrius II from the Paropamisadae. It is known that he was governing Bactria when Eucratides arrived (below); therefore Euthydemus II was dead, and this is borne out by the fact that all the coins of the latter show a very youthful portrait. It may have been the death of Euthydemus II, or troubles from the north, or both, which recalled Demetrius from India; the Euthydemids were no less tied to their northern frontier than the Antigonids, though for Bactria the record is lost prior to the final conquest by the nomads, just as it is lost for Macedonia prior to Philip V. Demetrius made Demetrius II his joint-king in Bactria in his brother’s place, which shows that he himself intended to return to India. Demetrius II in the Paropamisadae, as has been seen, had simply coined for his father; but henceforth in Bactria he struck his own tetradrachms with his own portrait and type and his own legend ‘Of King Demetrius’,¹ just as Euthydemus II had done; it is the Seleucid bead and reel moulding on one of his tetradrachms in the British Museum which shows that he was king when Eucratides came (p. 201). Pantaleon, as the rarity of his coins indicates, can only have had a short reign and must have soon died, for before Eucratides came he had been succeeded by the fourth brother, Agathocles,² who has left an amount of both information and problems out of all proportion to his political importance. It will be best to finish with Pantaleon and Agathocles before returning to India.