King Diomedes

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Tetradrachm of Diomedes in the Attic standard.
Obv: Helmetted king Diomedes, with bead and reel contour.
Rev: Dioscuri charging, holding victory palms. Greek legend: BASILEOS SOTIROS DIOMEDOY "King Diomedes, The Saviour".

Coin of king Diomedes(r.c. 95-90 BCE).
Obv: Helmeted bust of Diomedes. Greek legend BASILEOS SOTEROS DIOMEDOU "Saviour King Diomedes"
Rev: Standing Dioscuri (type of Eucratides). Kharoshti legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA DIYUMETASA "Saviour King Diomedes".

Diomedes was one of the Indo-Greek kings, and ruled from around 95 to 90 BCE. Very little is known of him, but the findplaces of his coins seem to indicate that he ruled in the area of the Paropamisadae.

The Dioscuri depicted on his coins are indicative of the belonging of Diomedes to the house of Eucratides, who was the first to adopt this type.

Diomedes minted both Attic-type coins (Greco-Bactrian style, with Greek legend only), and bilingual coins (with Greek and Kharoshthi), indicating that he was ruling in the western part of the Indo-Greek territory.

[edit] Overstrikes

One overstrike is known, of a coin of Strato and Agathokleia over a coin of Diomedes, suggesting that Diomedes may have been an earlier king, about 120 BCE ^[1]. The overstrike might also be used as indication to place the reign of Strato and Agathokleia at a later time.

[edit] Notes

1. ↑  Bopearachchi, "De l'Indus à l'Oxus", p129

[edit] External links

• Coins of Diomedes
• Other coins of Diomedes

[edit] See also

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

[edit] References

• Tarn, W. W. (1984). The Greeks in Bactria and India. Chicago: Ares. ISBN 0-89005-524-6.
• Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 2-9516679-2-2.