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Round Drachm - Apollodotus I
| Issuer | Indo-Greek Kingdom (India (ancient)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 170 BC - 160 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.1 g |
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| Obverse description | An elephant advances to the right in the central field, rendered in a robust, naturalistic style characteristic of Indo-Greek coinage. A monogram 'K' appears below the animal in the lower field. The circular Greek legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΠOΛΛOΔOTOY ΣΩTHPOΣ (Of King Apollodotus, the Saviour) runs around the entire periphery. The flan is irregular and slightly ragged at the edges, consistent with hand-hammered production. The overall composition reflects the Hellenistic artistic tradition adapted to a Bactrian-Indian context. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Apollodotus I was among the first Indo-Greek kings to strike round silver coins alongside the square bronzes, a deliberate accommodation to Indian commercial conventions that distinguished his coinage from the purely Hellenistic output of Bactria proper. Whether he ruled as a subordinate king under Menander I or as an independent sovereign remains genuinely contested — ancient sources offer nothing, and the numismatic evidence has been interpreted both ways for decades.
The MIG 1745 reference places this within Mitchiner's broader sequencing of the series, though die studies since publication have complicated the proposed chronology.