Apollodotus I

Apollodotus whose name means "given by Apollo",{{Cite web |title=User-submitted name Apollodotos - Behind the Name |url=https://www.behindthename.com/name/apollodotos/submitted |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=www.behindthename.com}} was not the first to strike bilingual coins outside Bactria, but he was the first king who ruled in India only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom. According to W. W. Tarn, Apollodotus I was one of the generals of Demetrius I of Bactria, the Greco-Bactrian king who invaded northwestern India after 180 BC. Tarn was uncertain whether he was a member of the royal house. It is possible he was an illegitimate son of Euthydemus, making him Demetrius’ half brother. Later authors largely agree with Tarn's analysis,A.K. Narain did not believe in the existence of Apollodotus I, but credited his coins to Apollodotus II. Later analyses of their coins, as well as the finding of coins with portraits of Apollodotus I, have proved this view untenable. though with perhaps even more uncertainty regarding who the king was, for his coins do not give many hints.

Apollodotus likely ruled at the same time as Antimachus I and Antimachus II, or was succeeded in India by Antimachus II. It is also likely that king Antimachus II ruled the more western territories closer to Bactria. Eventually Apollodotus was succeeded by Menander I, and the two kings are mentioned by Pompejus Trogus as important Indo-Greek rulers.Pompejus Trogus, Prologues, recorded by Justin in Epitome of Pompejus Trogus.

The 1st-2nd century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea further testifies to the reign of Apollodotus and the influence of the Indo-Greeks in India:

{{quote|"To the present day ancient drachmae are current in Barygaza, coming from this country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and the devices of those who reigned after Alexander, Apollodorus [sic] and Menander."|Periplus Chap. 47.{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/periplus.html|title=Internet History Sourcebooks|website=www.fordham.edu|access-date=16 April 2018}}}}

File:Apollodotus I round bilingual.jpg legend on the obverse reads: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ, Basileōs Apollodotou Sōtēros, "of Saviour King Apollodotus". The Kharosthi legend on the reverse reads: Maharajasa Apaladatasa Tratarasa, "Of Great Saviour King Apollodotus".]]

File:Appolodotus Coin 2.JPG legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ, "of Saviour King Apollodotus". The reverse shows a Zebu bull with Kharosthi legend: 𐨨𐨱𐨪𐨗𐨯 𐨀𐨤𐨫𐨡𐨟𐨯 𐨟𐨿𐨪𐨟𐨪𐨯, Maharajasa Apaladatasa Tratarasa,{{cite web|url=http://gandhari.org/a_coin.php?catid=CKC0020|title=Gandhari.org – Editions – Coin Legend|website=gandhari.org|access-date=16 April 2018|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305102001/https://gandhari.org/a_coin.php?catid=CKC0020|url-status=dead}} "of Great Saviour King Apollodotus". Actual size: 15 mm, 1.4 grams.]]

The coinage of Apollodotus is, together with that of Menander, one of the most abundant of the Indo-Greek kings. It is found mainly in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat, indicating the southern limit of the Indo-Greek expansion in India. This is also suggested by the Periplus, a 1st-century AD document on trade in the Indian Ocean, which describes the remnants of Greek presence (shrines, barracks, wells, coinage) in the strategic port of Barygaza (Bharuch) in Gujarat. Strabo (XI) also describes the occupation of Patalene (Indus Delta country). While Sindh may have come under his possession, it is not known whether Apollodotus advanced to Gujarat, where the Satavahanas ruled.

Apollodotus also issued a great number of bilingual Indian-standard square coins. Besides the usual royal title, the exact significance of the animals depicted on the coins is unclear. The sacred elephant may be the symbol of the city of Taxila, or possibly the symbol of the white elephant who reputedly entered the womb of the mother of the Buddha, Queen Maya, in a dream, which would make it a symbol of Buddhism, one of the main religions of the Indo-Greek territories.

Similarly, the sacred bull on the reverse may be a symbol of a city (Pushkhalavati), or a depiction of Shiva, making it a symbol of Hinduism, the other major religion at that time. The bull is often represented in a clearly erectile state, which reinforces its interpretation as a representation of Shiva. Conversely, this also reinforces the interpretation of the elephant as a religious symbol. Alternatively, the Bull, according to Foucher, represents the birth of the Buddha, as it happened during the month of Vaicakha (April–May), known to Buddhists as Vesak, under the zodiacal sign of the Taurus, during the full moon."The beginnings of Buddhist Art" Alfred Foucher, Plate I. The enlightenment and passing of the Buddha also occurred during the Taurus full moon.

File:Apollodotus I early coinage symbols.jpg or arched-hill symbol, sun symbols, six-armed symbol, and a river. The bull had a Nandipada in front.]]

File:Apollodotos I Soter Ai Khanoum.jpg hat and a diadem. The reverse shows seated Athena holding Nike, and resting elbow on shield. This coin was found in the ruins of Ai-Khanoum, a Greek city in Bactria.]]

Before their design was eventually simplified, some of the earlier coins of king Apollodotus directly associate the elephant with Buddhist symbolism, such as the stupa hill (arched-hill symbol) surmounted by a crescent or a star (the Chaitya symbol), also seen, for example on the coins of the Mauryan Empire, many local coins of Taxila or those of the later Kuninda kingdom.

Also the zebu bull on the reverse is often shown with a nandipada taurine mark on its hump on the less-worn coins, which reinforces the role of the animal as a symbol, religious or geographic, rather than just the depiction of an animal for decorative purposes. The nandipada and the zebu bull are generally associated with Nandi, Shiva's humped bull in Hinduism.Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art, Doris Srinivasan, BRILL, 1997, p.224 [https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC&pg=PA224] The same association was made later on coins of Zeionises or Vima Kadphises. The elephant, pendant to the bull, and shown with a girdle on the obverse, also must have a symbolic role, possibly Buddhism, as it was associated with the stupa hill in the earliest coins of Apollodotus.Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, Bopearachchi, p.189

Apollodotus experimented with different coin standards for his silver, until he settled for a standard lighter than the Attic which would prevail for centuries, though later rulers usually struck round coins instead of the square (typically Indian) shape of most of Apollodotus' silver. He issued a number of bronzes with Apollo/tripod, that also were repeated for centuries.

Apollodotus also issued a small series of monolingual Attic tetradrachms, intended for export into Bactria. For these, Apollodotus I clearly used Bactrian celators to strike a realistic portrait of the king as an aged man in the Macedonian Greek hat called kausia, with a reverse of sitting Pallas Athene holding Nike, a common Hellenistic motif introduced by the Diadoch Lysimachus. On these coins, he used no epithet.

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Seleucid Empire
• Greco-Buddhism
• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kushan Empire

{{reflist}}

• Tarn, William Woodthorpe. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press, 1938.

• [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/apollodotos_I/t.html Coins of Apollodotus]
• [http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Apollodotos+I+NOT+II+NOT+Philoxenos&Thumb=1 More coins of Apollodotus]

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{{s-bef|before=Agathocles
(in Paropamisade)}}

{{s-ttl|rows=2|title=Greco-Bactrian king
(in Paropamisade, Arachosia, Gandhara, Punjab)|years=180 – 160 BC}}

{{s-aft|rows=2|after=Antimachus II}}

{{s-bef|before=Pantaleon
(in Gandhara)}}

{{s-end}}

{{Indo-Greek kings}}

{{Hellenistic rulers}}

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Category:Indo-Greek kings

Category:2nd-century BC Indian monarchs

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:160s BC deaths