The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s3.192

c10.s3.192

When Eucratides crossed the Hindu Kush, he may as was customary have left his eldest son Heliocles to govern Bactria in his absence; Heliocles certainly was his eldest son, as is universally supposed, since he bore his grandfather’s name. But there is nothing to show that Heliocles was joint-king; that was *not* Hellenistic practice,¹ though it had been the practice of the Euthydemids. Judging by Eucratides’ age, Heliocles in 165 must have been quite young, probably not over twenty, but none of his coins show so young a face; and as, if he had been joint-king, he would presumably have coined, his coins are evidence that, if he *was* left to govern Bactria (which is only a presumption), he did not coin and was therefore just governor in the ordinary way. The matter is one of some importance for what follows.