Artemidoros Aniketos

1st-century BC Indo-Greek king

Artemidoros Aniketos
Portrait of Artemidoros
Indo-Greek king
Reign	85–80 BCE or 100–80 BCE

Artemidoros Aniketos (Greek: Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ Ἀνίκητος; epithet means "the Invincible") was a king who ruled in the area of Gandhara and Pushkalavati in modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A son of Maues?

Artemidoros has a Greek name and has traditionally been seen as an Indo-Greek king. His remaining coins generally feature portraits of Artemidoros and Hellenistic deities and are typical of Indo-Greek rulers, but on a coin described by numismatician R. C. Senior, Artemidoros seems to claim to be the son of the Indo-Scythian king Maues. Not only does this coin enable a closer dating of Artemidoros; it also sheds new light on the transient ethnic identities during the decline of the Indo-Greek kingdom.

While Maues was 'Great King of Kings', Artemidoros only styled himself King; it appears as though he ruled only a smaller part of his father's dominions. He was either challenged by or ruled in tandem with other kings such as Menander II, whose coins have been found alongside his, and Apollodotus II.

New evaluation

In a 2009 article however,^[1] Bopearachchi disputes the interpretation of the coin according to which Artemidoros would be son of Maues. The analysis of several similar coins in good condition and cleaned-up reveals that the obverse should be read rajatirajasa moasa putrasa ca artemidorosa, the ca (pronounced "cha") meaning "and", which opens the way to a possible translation being "King of kings Maues, and the son of Artemidoros".^[1] This would suggest that the son of Artemidoros would have issued coins in the name of his father, recognizing at the same time the suzerainty of Maues.^[1] In that case, Artemidoros would have been a regular Indo-Greek king, whose son simply made a transition with the rule of Maues.^[1]

Time of rule

Bopearachchi has suggested a date of c. 85-80 BCE, but this was before the appearance of the Maues coin. Senior's dating is wider, c. 100–80 BCE, because Senior has given Maues an earlier date.

Coins

During the 1990s, several new types of Artemidoros' coins appeared, of variable quality. R. C. Senior has suggested that Artemidoros relied mostly on temporary mints, perhaps because he held no major cities. All his coins were Indian bilinguals.

Silver:

Obverse: diademed or helmeted bust of king. Reverse: Artemis facing left or right, Nike facing left or right, or king on horseback.

Artemis, the eponymous goddess of hunting, is seen using a curved bow, which may have been typical of Scythian tribes and further supports his affiliation with them.

Bronzes:

Artemis / humped bull or Artemis / lion.

Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, territories and chronology

Based on Bopearachchi (1991)^{[t 1]}

Territories/ dates	West Bactria	East Bactria	Paropamisade	Arachosia	Gandhara	Western Punjab	Eastern Punjab	Mathura^{[t 2]}
	Greco-Bactrian kings		Indo-Greek kings
326-325 BCE	Campaigns of Alexander the Great in India						Nanda Empire
312 BCE	Creation of the Seleucid Empire						Creation of the Maurya Empire
305 BCE	Seleucid Empire after Mauryan war		Maurya Empire
280 BCE	Foundation of Ai-Khanoum
255–239 BCE	Independence of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom Diodotus I		Emperor Ashoka (268-232 BCE)
239–223 BCE	Diodotus II
230–200 BCE	Euthydemus I
200–190 BCE	Demetrius I				Sunga Empire
190-185 BCE	Euthydemus II
190–180 BCE	Agathocles			Pantaleon
185–170 BCE	Antimachus I
180–160 BCE			Apollodotus I
175–170 BCE	Demetrius II
160–155 BCE			Antimachus II
170–145 BCE	Eucratides I
155–130 BCE	Yuezhi occupation, loss of Ai-Khanoum	Eucratides II Plato Heliocles I	Menander I
130–120 BCE	Yuezhi occupation		Zoilus I		Agathoclea			Yavanarajya inscription
120–110 BCE			Lysias		Strato I
110–100 BCE			Antialcidas		Heliocles II
100 BCE			Polyxenus		Demetrius III
100–95 BCE			Philoxenus
95–90 BCE			Diomedes	Amyntas		Epander
90 BCE			Theophilus	Peucolaus		Thraso
90–85 BCE			Nicias	Menander II		Artemidorus
90–70 BCE			Hermaeus	Archebius
			Yuezhi occupation		Maues (Indo-Scythian)
75–70 BCE				Vonones	Telephus	Apollodotus II
65–55 BCE				Spalirises		Hippostratus	Dionysius
55–35 BCE					Azes I (Indo-Scythians)		Zoilus II
55–35 BCE					Vijayamitra/ Azilises		Apollophanes
25 BCE – 10 CE				Gondophares	Zeionises	Kharahostes	Strato II Strato III
				Gondophares (Indo-Parthian)			Rajuvula (Indo-Scythian)
			Kujula Kadphises (Kushan Empire)				Bhadayasa (Indo-Scythian)	Sodasa (Indo-Scythian)
^ O. Bopearachchi, "Monnaies gréco-bactriennes et indo-grecques, Catalogue raisonné", Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1991, p.453 ^ Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie (2 April 2019). "History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE". BRILL – via Google Books.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Osmund Bopearachchi Was Indo-Greek Artemidoros the son of Indo-Sctythian Maues

The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1-58115-203-5
The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

External links

Coins of Artemidoros
More Coins of Artemidoros

Preceded by

Maues

Indo-Greek Ruler
(in Punjab)
c. 80 BCE

Succeeded by

Apollodotus II

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