Antimachus I

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Silver coin of Antimachus I (171-160 BC).
Obv: Bust of Antimachus I.
Rev: Depiction of Poseidon, with Greek legend BASILEOS TEOU ANTIMACHOU "God-King Antimachus".

Anthimachus I was one of the Greco-Bactrian kings from around 185 to 170 BC.

Tarn and most Western historians place Antimachus as a member the Euthydemid dynasty and probably as a son of Euthydemus and brother of Demetrius. Many Eastern historians, like Narain, mark him as independent of Euthydemid authority, and probably a scion of some relation to the Diodoti themselves. He was king of an area covering parts of Bactria, the lower Kabul Valley and, as attested by the regions ruled by his proven associate kings, suzerain of parts of northern Pakistan. He apparently was defeated during his resistance to the usurper Eucratides, or his main territory was absorbed by the latter upon his death.

Apparently adding to the argument against direct Euthydemid familial connections, is a unique tax-receipt that begins:

• "In the reign of Antimachos Theos and Eumenes and Antimachos..."

Coin of Antimachus, Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.

That Antimachos would list his own associate kings argues strongly against the suggestion that he was appointed as a Northern associate of Euthydemus and Demetrius. This inscription also gives an excellent idea as to the nature of his kingdom; his elder or more senior associate Eumenes (hence his name appearing before the second Antimachus in the receipt) ruling with or near him in the North (thus he need not have necessarilly minted an extensive coinage), and Antimachus II governing his own provinces in Northern India (where a more regionally appropriate coinage was needed). This arrangement also explains why Antimachus I adopted only Buddhist symbology, while Antimachus II minted his own Greek and Kharosthi issues in his territories - where it would be more pertinent.

The alternative interpretation holds that the receipt dates from a period after Euthydemus death, and that Antimachus could still have been a son or associate of the former. This arrangement would then suggest an internal break within the Euthydemid House, in which Demetrius' ilk ruled a kingdom separate from that of Antimachus' immediate family.

On his coinage, Antimachus called himself "God-King", a first in the Hellenistic world. On some of his coins, he also sometimes labeled his father Euthydemus "The God", indicating that he might have been the object of a state cult (see coin description: [1]).

Coin of King Antimachus I.
Obv: Walking elephant with decorative belt and bell.
Rev: Greek goddess Nike handing out the wreath of victory. Greek legend BASILEOS ANTIMACHOU "King Antimachus".

Anthimachus I also issued coins depicting an elephant on the front, within the bead and reel contour, a position reserved to Kings. The back of the coints show the Greek goddess of victory Nike holding out a wreath (to the elephant on the other side). The elephant is one of the symbols of Buddhism and Gautama Buddha, and the coins probably illustrate the victory of Buddhism brought about by the conquests of the Indo-Greek Kings. These coins are reminiscent of those of Demetrius I, as well as Apollodotus I. Antimachus I had his two sons as co-regents, Antimachus II and the otherwise unknown Eumenes.

[edit] External links

• Coins of Antimachus
• More coins of Antimachus

[edit] References

• "The Greek in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press
• "The Decline of the Indo-Greeks", R.C. Senior and D. MacDonald, Hellenistic Numismatic Society
• "The Indo-Greeks", A.K. Narain, B.R. Publications