Editing Menander I (section)

==Coinage==
[[File:MenanderAndReverse.JPG|thumb|4. Silver coin of Menander, with Athena on reverse. [[British Museum]].]]
Menander has left behind an immense corpus of silver and bronze coins, more so than any other Indo-Greek king, indicating the length of his long reign and a flourishing trade during it, and are the main source of his history.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> During his reign, the fusion between Indian and [[Ancient Greek coinage|Greek coin]] standards reached its apogee. The wheel engraved on some of Menander’s coins may be the Buddhist [[Dharmachakra]].<ref name=":0" /> The coins feature the legend ({{langx|grc|ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ|BASILEOS SOTEROS MENANDROU}} / [[Kharoshthi]]: MAHARAJA TRATARASA MENADRASA).
* According to [[Bopearachchi]], his silver coinage begins with a rare series of drachma depicting on the obverse [[Athena]] and on the reverse her attribute the owl. The weight and monograms of this series match those of earlier king [[Antimachus II]], indicating that Menander succeeded Antimachus II.
* On the next series, Menander introduces his own portrait, a hitherto unknown custom among Indian rulers. The reverse features his dynastical trademark: the so-called [[Athena Alkidemos]] throwing a thunderbolt, an emblem used by many of Menander's successors and also the emblem of the [[Antigonid dynasty|Antigonid]] kings of Macedonia.
* In a further development, Menander changed the legends from circular orientation to the arrangement seen on coin 4 to the right.{{clarify|date=April 2021}} This modification ensured that the coins could be read without being rotated, and was used without exception by all later Indo-Greek kings.

These alterations were possibly an adaption on Menander's part to the Indian coins of the Bactrian [[Eucratides I]], who had conquered the westernmost parts of the Indo-Greek kingdom, and are interpreted by Bopearachchi as an indication that Menander recaptured these western territories after the death of Eucratides.
* Menander also struck very rare Attic standard coinage with monolingual inscriptions (coin 5),{{clarify|date=April 2021}} which were probably intended for use in Bactria (where they have been found), perhaps thought to demonstrate his victories against the Bactrian kings, as well as Menander's own claim to the kingdom.
* There exist bronze coins of Menander featuring a manifold variation of Olympic, Indian, and other symbols. It seems as though Menander introduced a new weight standard for bronzes.
Menander was the first Indo-Greek ruler to introduce the representation of [[Athena Alkidemos]] ("Athena, saviour of the people") on his coins, probably in reference to a similar statue of Athena Alkidemos in [[Pella]], capital of [[Macedon]]. This type was subsequently used by most of the later Indo-Greek kings.