Demetrius I of Bactria
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox royalty Demetrius I Anicetus (Template:Langx, "Demetrius the Unconquered"), also called Dimetriya in Indian sources,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was a Greco-Bactrian king and the founder of the Indo-Greek kingdom, who ruled areas from Bactria to ancient northwestern India. He was the son of the Greco-Bactrian ruler Euthydemus I and succeeded him around 200 BC, after which he conquered extensive areas in what is now southern Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India.<ref>Demetrius is said to have founded Taxila (archaeological excavations), and also Sagala in the Punjab, which he seemed to have called Euthydemia, after his father ("the city of Sagala, also called Euthydemia" (Ptolemy, Geographia, VII 1))</ref>
He was never defeated in battle and was posthumously referred to as "the Unconquered" (Ἀνίκητος, Aniketos) on the pedigree coins of his successor Agathocles of Bactria.<ref>No undisputed coins of Demetrius I himself use this title, but it is employed on one of the pedigree coins issued by Agathocles, which bear on the reverse the classical profile of Demetrius crowned by the elephant scalp, with the legend DEMETRIOU ANIKETOU, and on the reverse Herakles crowning himself, with the legend "Of king Agathocles" (Boppearachchi, Pl 8). Coins of the supposed Demetrius III also use the title "Invincible", and therefore are attributed by some to the same Demetrius (Whitehead and al.)</ref> Demetrius I may have been the initiator of the Yavana era, starting in 186–185 BC, which was used for several centuries thereafter.
Demetrius was the name of at least two and probably three Bactrian Greek kings. The much debated Demetrius II was a possible relative, whereas Demetrius III (Template:Circa), is known only from numismatic evidence.
Encounter with Antiochus III
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The father of Demetrius, Euthydemus I, was attacked by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III around 210 BC. Although he commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius<ref>Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius</ref> and had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the fortified city of Bactra, before Antiochus finally decided to recognize the new ruler.
The final negotiations were made between Antiochus III and Demetrius. Antiochus III was reportedly highly impressed by the demeanour of the young prince, and offered him one of his daughters in marriage, around 206 BC:
The term used for "young prince" is neaniskos (νεανίσκος), suggesting an age around 16, which in turn gives a birth date for Demetrius around 222 BC.
Kuliab inscription
[edit]In an inscription found in the Kuliab area of Tajikistan, in western Greco-Bactria, and dated to 200-195 BC,<ref name="SW">Shane Wallace Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries p.206</ref> a Greek by the name of Heliodotus, dedicating a fire altar to Hestia, mentions Euthydemus and Demetrius:<ref>Osmund Bopearachchi, Some Observations on the Chronology of the Early Kushans, p.48</ref><ref name="SW"/> Template:Verse translation
Invasion of India
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Demetrius started the invasion of northwestern India between 190 and 180 BC, following the destruction of the Mauryan dynasty by the general Pushyamitra Shunga, who then founded the new Indian Shunga dynasty (180–78 BC). In the Paramparapustaka chronicle, Sri Lankan monks state that Brihadratha, the last Mauryan Emperor, married a daughter of Demetrius, Berenice.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Greco-Bactrians might have invaded the Indus Valley to protect Greek expatriates in the Indian Subcontinent. Also, the Mauryans had had diplomatic alliances with the Greeks, and they may have been considered as allies by the Greco-Bactrians.<ref>
- Description of the 302 BCE marital alliance in Strabo 15.2.1(9): "The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus I Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants." The ambassador Megasthenes was also sent to the Mauryan court on this occasion.
- In the Edicts of Ashoka, king Ashoka claims to have sent Buddhist emissaries to the Hellenistic west around 250 BCE.
- When Antiochus III the Great, after having made peace with Euthydemus, went to India in 209 BCE, he is said to have renewed his friendship with the Indian king there and received presents from him: "He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him."Polybius 11.39 Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>"Obviously, for the Greeks who survived in India and suffered from the oppression of the Shunga (for whom they were aliens and heretics), Demetrios must have appeared as a saviour" Mario Bussagli, p. 101</ref>
Demetrius may have first started to recover the province of Arachosia, an area south of the Hindu Kush already inhabited by many Greeks but ruled by the Mauryas since the annexation of the territory by Chandragupta from Seleucus. In his Parthian stations, Isidorus of Charax mentions a city named Demetrias, supposedly founded by Demetrius himself:
The Greek geographer Strabo described the conquests of Demetrius in his Geographica:
The Greek campaigns may have gone as far as the capital Pataliputra in eastern India (today Patna):
It is generally considered that Demetrius ruled in Taxila (where many of his coins were found in the archaeological site of Sirkap). The Indian records also describes Greek attacks on Saketa, Panchala, Mathura and Pataliputra (Gargi-Samhita, Yuga Purana chapter). However, the campaigns to Pataliputra are generally attested to the later king Menander I and Demetrius I probably only invaded areas in Pakistan. Other kings may have expanded the territory as well. By c. 175 BC, the Indo-Greeks ruled parts of northwestern India, while the Shungas remained in the Gangetic, Central, and Eastern India.
The Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga king Kharavela mentions that fearing him, a Yavana (Greek) king or general retreated to Mathura with his demoralized army. The name of the Yavana king is not clear, but it contains three letters, and the middle letter can be read as ma or mi.<ref name="PLGupta_1994">Kusâna Coins and History, D.K. Printworld, 1994, p.184, note 5; reprint of a 1985 article</ref> Some historians, such as R. D. Banerji and K.P. Jayaswal reconstructed the name of the Yavana king as "Dimita", and identified him with Demetrius. However, several other historians, such as Ramaprasad Chanda, Sailendra Nath Sen and P.L. Gupta disagree with this interpretation.<ref name="PLGupta_1994"/><ref name="Sudhakar_1974">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Sailendra_1999">Template:Cite book</ref>
Aftermath
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Demetrius I died of unknown reasons, and the date 180 BC is merely a suggestion aimed to allow suitable regnal periods for subsequent kings, of which there were several. Even if some of them were co-regents, civil wars and temporary divisions of the empire are most likely.
The kings Pantaleon, Agathocles, Antimachus I and possibly Euthydemus II ruled after Demetrius I, and theories about their origin include all of them being relatives of Demetrius I, or only Antimachus. It is highly likely that Agathocles was a son of Demetrius I. Eventually, the kingdom of Bactria fell to the able newcomer Eucratides.
Demetrius II was a later king, possibly a son or nephew of his namesake, and he ruled in India only. Justin mentions him being defeated by the Bactrian king Eucratides, an event which took place at the end of the latter's reign, possibly around 150 BC. Demetrius II left behind his generals Apollodotus and Menander, who in turn became kings of India and rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom following his death.
Geoffrey Chaucer names Demetrius among the combatants at a tournament held in Athens by Theseus: Template:Poem quote
Coinage
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The coins of Demetrius are of five types. One bilingual type with Greek and Kharoshthi legends exists; it is naturally associated with the Indian Demetrius II. A series with the king in diadem are likely to be early issues of Demetrius I.
There is also one series representing a Gorgon shield on the obverse and a trident on the reverse.
There are also three types depicting elephants. The first type shows Demetrius (I) with elephant-crown, a well-known symbol of India, which simply denotes his conquests in India, as Alexander the Great had also done on his coinage before. One type represents an elephant with Nike on the other side holding a wreath of victory. This sort of symbolism can be seen on the reverse of the coins of Antialcidas in which Nike (supported by Zeus) directly hands the victory wreath to the elephant on the same coin face.
Indian coinage in Gandhara (after 185 BC)
[edit]Template:Main The year 186 BC, with the invasion of the Greco-Bactrians into India, marks an evolution in the design of single-die cast coins in the coinage of Gandhara, as deities and realistic animals were introduced. At the same time coinage technology also evolved, as double-die coins (engraved on both sides, obverse and reverse) started to appear. The archaeological excavations of coins have shown that these coins, as well as the new double die coins, were contemporary with those of the Indo-Greeks.<ref name="Jain">Ancient Indian Coinage, Rekha Jain, D.K.Printworld Ltd, p.114</ref> According to Osmund Bopearachchi these coins, and particularly those depicting the goddess Lakshmi, were probably minted by Demetrius I following his invasion of Gandhara.<ref name="Bopearachchi">Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence</ref>
Buddhism
[edit]Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested by W. W. Tarn that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the Mauryan empire in reaction to the persecution by the Sungas against Buddhism. However, that persecution in turn is debatable, with contemporary historians such as Romila Thapar suggesting that some of the accounts might be the product of exaggeration from Buddhist missionaries. Thapar attributes purely economic motivations to the Indo-Greek invasion of Southern Asia.<ref name=Thapar>Template:Cite book</ref>
Elephant with the caduceus coinage
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One of Demetrius' "elephant" types represents a rejoicing elephant, depicted on the front on the coin and surrounded by the royal bead-and-reel decoration, and therefore treated on the same level as a King. The elephant, one of the symbols of Buddhism and Gautama Buddha, possibly represents the victory of Buddhism brought about by Demetrius. Alternatively, though, the elephant has been described as a possible symbol of the Indian capital of Taxila (Tarn), or as a symbol of India as a whole.
The reverse of the coin depicts the caduceus, symbol of reconciliation between two fighting serpents, which is possibly a representation of peace between the Greeks and the Shungas, and likewise between Buddhism and Hinduism (the caduceus also appears as a symbol of the punch-marked coins of the Maurya Empire in India, in the 3rd-2nd century BC).
Unambiguous Buddhist symbols are found on later Greek coins of Menander I or Menander II, but the conquests of Demetrius I did influence the Buddhist religion in India.
Gallery
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A pedigree coin of Agathocles for Demetrius I. The Greek legend reads: ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΑΝΙΚΗΤΟΥ, Dēmētriou Anikētou, "Of Demetrius the Unconquered".
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A statue likely depicting Demetrius I of Bactria. Termez Archaeological Museum.
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A remarkable reverse die, once used to make the silver tetradrachms of Demetrius I. One of the very few coin dies to survive from the Hellenistic period; 2nd century BC.
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See also
[edit]- Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
- Seleucid Empire
- Greco-Buddhism
- Indo-Scythians
- Indo-Parthian Kingdom
- Kushan Empire
References
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