Another silver tetradrachm of Eucratides II wearing a royal diadem. On the reverse nude Apollo standing facing, holding arrow in right hand, bow in left. Greek legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ Basileos Eukratidou, "Of King Eucratides".Silver tetradrachm of Eucratides II showing him wearing a royal diadem. On the reverse nude Apollo standing facing, holding arrow in right hand, bow in left. Greek legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ Basileos Eukratidou, "Of King Eucratides".
Eucratides II (Ancient Greek: Εὐκρατίδης, romanized: Eukratidēs) was a Greco-Bactrian king of the 2nd century BC who was a successor, and probably a son, of Eucratides I. It seems likely that Eucratides II ruled for a relatively short time after the murder of his namesake, until he was dethroned in the dynastic civil war caused by the same murder, since Justin reports:
"As Eucratides returned from India, he was killed on the way back by his son, whom he had associated to his rule, and who, without hiding his patricide, as if he didn't kill a father but an enemy, ran with his chariot over the blood of his father, and ordered the corpse to be left without a sepulture" Justin 41.6 [1]
During his earlier years, Eucratides II may have been a co-regent of his father: on his later coins he adds the title Soter ("Saviour"), which could be an indication that he now ruled in his own right.
Soon after Eucratides' II death, the last Bactrian king Heliocles I was defeated by the Yuezhi tribes, who expelled the Greek kings from Bactria.
Gallery
Coin of Eucratides II wearing a royal diadem.
Reverse of another coin of Eucratides II. Greek legend reads: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ, "of king Eucratides the Saviour."
The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN1-58115-203-5
Buddhism in Central Asia by B. N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN81-208-0372-8
The Greeks in Bactria and India by W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
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