The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s3.127

c10.s3.127

Eucratides on his side celebrated his success, possibly by founding in Bactria a city bearing his own name, Eucratideia,⁴ and certainly by striking the largest Greek gold coin known, the 20-stater piece now in Paris,⁵ and by beginning to issue his second series of tetradrachms, on which he is no longer merely ‘King’ but ‘Great King’,⁶ a title he continued to use till his death. Had the danger imminent in Antiochus’ experiment already taken shape, and was Eucratides already declaring himself an independent monarch? The title ‘Great King’ does not prove this. It was copied from Antiochus III,⁷ in whose case the name, though it became his cult-name,⁸ referred originally to his reconquest of the Seleucid East;¹ probably therefore the same is true of Eucratides,² and to that extent it was merely the expression of a fact: he *had* conquered the Seleucid East. Neither does his great gold coin prove this; for though to coin gold was a declaration of independence, this piece was only a commemorative one. One other gold coin of his is indeed known, a stater with a romantic history;³ but it may not have been struck till Antiochus was dead. But the question of Eucratideia needs careful consideration.