The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s4.6

c10.s4.6

It is not possible to get an accurate chronology for Menander’s reign, but one must approximate as nearly as possible. Assuming that Agathocleia was Demetrius’ daughter and not a daughter of Apollodotus (p. 78), she may have married her father’s general directly after Demetrius’ death and his own return from Pāṭaliputra, *i.e.* in 166, or she may not have married him till the death of Apollodotus left him the sole repository of power in India and sole effective support of the Euthydemid cause, say *c.* 161 at latest; a later date than 166 seems probable, but it can hardly be supposed (since unmarried kings normally married on their accession) that Menander did not marry till he was rid of Eucratides in 159. On his death Agathocleia became regent for their son (or eldest son) Strato I; he was therefore a minor, and as it may be assumed that he would take the power at 18 at latest, he was under that age. Now Agathocleia’s first coins as regent bear her own portrait alone, with Strato named only in the Kharoshthi legend; her second series shows jugate busts of herself and Strato; then comes Strato’s coinage alone.¹ As she was regent long enough to issue two series of coins, and long enough for Heliocles, who overstruck some of her coins, to invade India during her regency, it appears that Strato cannot have taken the power till at earliest the third year after his father’s death; that is, he was certainly not over fifteen when Menander died and may of course have been two or three years younger. If now we take one extreme—that Menander married in 166 and that Strato was only twelve when he died—it is possible to put Menander’s death as early as 153, though that is very unlikely. If we take the other extreme—that Menander married about 161 and that Strato was fifteen when he died—it is possible to put Menander’s death as late as 145. To say that Menander’s son might not have been born till some years after the marriage (unlikely in that age) and to bring Menander’s death down to *c.* 140 seems to me impossible, for the association of Strato’s grandson Strato II with Strato as king cannot be later than *c.* 100 or soon after (Chap. VIII). It would seem then that Menander’s death must lie between the limits I have indicated, preferably in the latter half of the period; I shall therefore, with all necessary reserves, treat his death as occurring between 150 and 145. This would give him an undivided reign of probably not less than twelve years and perhaps two or three years more; that suffices. It cannot be very far out; for the portraits on his silver *δίκαιος* coins show an elderly man (p. 262) and, as has been seen, he must have proved himself as a general before Demetrius invaded India (see Addenda).