Editing Menander I (section)

===Representation of the Buddha===
{{main article|Greco-Buddhist art}}
[[File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|thumb|left|120px|One of the first known representations of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], [[Gandhara]].]]
[[File:Ptolemy Asia detail.jpg|thumb|150px|Detail of Asia in the [[Ptolemy world map]]. The "Menander Mons" are in the center of the map, at the east of the [[Indian subcontinent]], right above the [[Malaysian Peninsula]].]]
The anthropomorphic representation of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] is absent from Indo-Greek coinage, suggesting that the Indo-Greek kings may have respected the Indian an-iconic rule for depictions of the Buddha, limiting themselves to symbolic representation only. Consistently with this perspective, the actual depiction of the Buddha would be a later phenomenon, usually dated to the 1st century, emerging from the sponsorship of the syncretic [[Kushan Empire]] and executed by Greek, and, later, Indian and possibly Roman artists. Datation of [[Greco-Buddhist]] statues is generally uncertain, but they are at least firmly established from the 1st century.

Another possibility is that just as the Indo-Greeks routinely represented philosophers in statues (but certainly not on coins) in Antiquity, the Indo-Greek may have initiated anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha in statuary only, possibly as soon as the 2nd-1st century BC, as advocated by [[Alfred A. Foucher|Foucher]] and suggested by Chinese murals depicting [[Emperor Wu of Han]] worshipping Buddha statues brought from Central Asia in 120 BC (''[[:Image:HanWudiBuddhas.jpg|See picture]]''). An Indo-Chinese tradition also explains that [[Nagasena]], also known as Menander's Buddhist teacher, created in 43 BC in the city of [[Pataliputra]] a statue of the Buddha, the [[Emerald Buddha]], which was later brought to [[Thailand]].

Stylistically, Indo-Greek coins generally display a very high level of [[Hellenistic]] artistic realism, which declined drastically around 50 BC with the invasions of the [[Indo-Scythian]]s, [[Yuezhi]] and [[Indo-Parthian]]s. The first known statues of the Buddha are also very realistic and Hellenistic in style and are more consistent with the pre-50 BC artistic level seen on coins.

This would tend to suggest that the first statues were created between 130 BC (death of Menander) and 50 BC, precisely at the time when Buddhist symbolism appeared on Indo-Greek coinage. From that time, Menander and his successors may have been the key propagators of Buddhist ideas and representations: "the spread of Gandhari Buddhism may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may have the development and spread of Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" (Mcevilley, "The Shape of Ancient Thought", p.&nbsp;378).