The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s2.27

c10.s2.27

Demetrius had to make arrangements for the government of Bactria during his absence, and he left his eldest son Euthydemus II as king in Bactria-Sogdiana; Euthydemus II put his own name and portrait on his silver coins,⁴ but on his nickel and bronze issues he used a Seleucid type, the head of Apollo and a tripod-lebes.⁵ The common Hellenistic practice when a king was absent had been to leave a son merely as governor (p. 218 n. 1), but a parallel to the kingship of Euthydemus II can be found later among the Ptolemies: when Ptolemy VI Philometor invaded Syria and expected to be in that country for some time he left his son Ptolemy Neos Philopator as king in Egypt.⁶ As Bactria was Demetrius’ home kingdom, it is probable that Euthydemus II was not a sub-king—that would hardly have suited the circumstances—but a full joint-king with his father on the Seleucid model; this would agree with what happened later (p. 221). The western provinces of the empire in Iran, as already noticed, were under the rule of Antimachus in the north and Apollodotus in the south.