The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s6.28

c10.s6.28

Antialcidas was the last king to rule all the three kingdoms west of the Jhelum—Taxila, Gandhāra, Paropamisadae; on his death his realm was divided, or broke up, into its component parts. His successor in Taxila was Archebius, who struck a certain number of tetradrachms⁷ and was certainly succeeded by the Saca Maues;⁸ his coinage is better artistically than that of his contemporaries,⁹ which means that a better engraver had appeared in Taxila. In Gandhāra five kings are known between Antialcidas and Maues:¹⁰ Diomedes, Epander, and Philoxenus all use the humped bull of Pushkalāvatī; Peucolaos may be ‘king Peucela’ (pp. 244 sq.) and exhibits the Fortune of Pushkalāvatī on his rare coinage;¹ Artemidorus’ rule in Pushkalāvatī is certain both from his name and his types, and it is quite certain that his immediate successor was Maues.² The coins of Peucolaos and Artemidorus are extremely rare, and indicate very short reigns. As all coined in Pushkalāvatī, we cannot suppose a number of little kingdoms in the separate satrapies of Gandhāra; but some might have been sub-kings. The matter is complicated by Artemidorus and Philoxenus³ use of the title ἀνίκητος, which may signify some connection with Lysias; it is likely enough that, if I am right about the peace between Antialcidas and Lysias, the two houses were intermarrying, as they did later (p. 337), and in fact Philoxenus uses the type of Antimachus II, ‘King on prancing horse’.⁴ It seems probable, therefore, that the one-time simple division—house of Eucratides west of the Jhelum, house of Euthydemus east of it—needs a good deal of qualification.