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Tetradrachm - Strato I
| Issuer | Kings of Baktria |
|---|---|
| Year | 105 BC - 85 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros standing to the left in a dynamic pose, her left arm extended horizontally to bear a large round shield, while her right arm is raised and poised to hurl a thunderbolt. The goddess is depicted in full armour in the Hellenistic manner, combining attributes of Athena and Zeus as was customary in the coinage of the Indo-Greek kings. The field is surrounded by the Kharosthi legend giving the royal titulature in the Prakrit equivalent of the obverse Greek inscription. |
| Reverse script | Kharosthi |
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| Additional information |
Strato I ruled the fragmenting Indo-Greek kingdom at a moment when Baktria proper had already fallen to Saka and Parthian pressure, leaving him confined to the Indian territories — likely the Punjab and adjacent regions. His coinage is bilingual by necessity rather than convention, carrying Greek on one face and Kharosthi on the other to function across a population that had largely stopped reading Greek. The kingdom he administered was shrinking generation by generation, and the coin reflects that pragmatism rather than any confident imperial posture.
He frequently issued coins jointly with his mother Agathokleia, suggesting a regency or co-rulership arrangement during part of his reign — a political arrangement with almost no parallel in the broader Hellenistic world.