The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s4.242

c10.s4.242

Menander’s regular type on his coins was Athena striding and hurling the thunderbolt, a variant of the widespread Athena Alkis type of Macedonia; she had already been used by Demetrius II (p. 157 n. 1), but doubtless one reason for Menander’s adoption of Athena was that she had been one of the three regular deities on the Alexander-coinage and that of the other two Zeus had become closely associated with Antiochus IV and Heracles with the Euthydemids; it may also be that, in adopting the one Greek deity who had practically never been equated with anything Oriental but had remained Greek (see p. 68), he intended to emphasise the fact that, in spite of the predominantly Indian character of his empire, he was still a Greek king. He used two of Demetrius’ types, the elephant-head (which had been Seleucid)¹ and the head of the Gorgon;² his ox-head, another Seleucid type adapted to new conditions,³ has been thought with some plausibility to signify the mint at Bucephala; his Bactrian camel might mean that he ruled some part of Rajputana with its sands,⁴ but is a slender thread to hang theories on. In reality, the significance of the rather striking menagerie of animals on his coins⁵ is quite obscure; no other Hellenistic king exhibits a menagerie except his contemporary, the Seleucid Demetrius I.⁶ That these two enemies of Eucratides (p. 218) may at some time have entered into political relations with one another is likely enough *a priori*; but no guess can be given as to what the animal coins of these two kings mean.