The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s5.18

c10.s5.18

Heliocles is usually supposed to have been the last Greek king of Bactria because it was his coins which the nomad conquerors continued to copy, and no doubt he was the last king who effectively ruled the country; but it is possible—the suggestion has been made—that Antialcidas, who succeeded him in the rule of his Indian provinces between the Hindu Kush and the Jhelum (p. 313), may for a time have had some connection with Bactria. Most of Antialcidas’ coinage, like that of every Greek king who reigned eastwards of the Hindu Kush, is bilingual, and the silver was struck on the reduced standard usual among the Greek rulers in India; but he struck one silver issue of good coins on the Attic weight-standard which are not bilingual but bear his Greek legend only, ‘Of King Antialcidas the Victorious’.³ It was not a Bactrian coinage; it was issued in India. But the Attic standard and the absence of a Kharoshthi legend may point to this coinage being intended for use in Bactria, and it might mean that, though Bactria and the mint there had been lost, he for a time retained some territory to the north of the Hindu Kush; the title νικηφόρος, ‘The Victorious’, might refer to some success against the nomad conquerors.¹ This silver issue is the last appearance of the Attic standard in the Farther East.