The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s3.137

c10.s3.137

Before coming to India I must notice Plato. His solitary coin,⁴ dated in 165 B.C., is no longer unique, for a second specimen, from Turkestan, was published in 1913.¹ The coins shew a helmeted head and on the helmet the Seleucid device worn by Eucratides, the horn and ear of a bull, and they have the Seleucid bead and reel border; the reverse type is the four-horse chariot of Helios, with the legend ‘Of King Plato, (god) manifest’. Artistically, the head is a copy of the helmeted head of Eucratides on one particular coin of his second series,² and (though poorly executed) the resemblance of the features is so close that I do not know myself whether the head be meant for Eucratides or Plato; the deduction in either case must be the same, that Plato was a very near relative, which from the ages can only mean Eucratides’ brother; the chariot of Helios may be a fanciful allusion to the name of their father Heliocles. It cannot be said for certain that Plato was not this king’s real name, for (the philosopher apart) it is not an uncommon Greek name in inscriptions; but as the name of a Macedonian king of Seleucid descent it is certainly suspect,³ and may have been assumed. As only two coins of his are known, his kingdom was either very small, or ephemeral, or both; his assumption of Antiochus’ cult-name Epiphanes⁴ may show not only that he claimed divinity but that he had a childish vanity; the chariot of Helios, perhaps inspired by Antiochus wearing the radiate crown of the Sun-god, is not far from evidence that the god he claimed to be was the Sun. A man with the name of a philosopher who had some close connection with the Sun and had a little kingdom irresistibly recalls another man who thought he was the Sun and who had dreams of philosophy and a little kingdom to play with—Cassander’s brother Alexarchus,⁵ whom Cassander established in a small principality where he could dream in security under his brother’s shield. In the same way Eucratides may have given Plato a town or two to play with while he did the work.