| Eucratides |
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Obv: Bust of Eucratides. Helmet decorated with a bull's horn and ear. Rev: Depiction of the Dioscuri , each holding palm in left hand, spear in righthand. Greek legend: BASILEOS MEGALOI EUKRATIDOI "Great King Eucratides". Mint monogram below. Characteristics: Diameter 32 mm. Weight 15.9 g. Attic standard. One of the largest Hellenic coins ever minted.]] Eucratides I (ca. 170 BC - 145 BC ) was one of the Greco-Bactrian kings. Eucratides came to the throne by toppling the dynasty of Euthydemus , whose son Demetrius had conquered western India . It is unclear whether he was a Bactria n official who raised a rebellion, or, according to some scholars, a cousin of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was trying to regain the Bactrian territory. Some of the coins of Eucratides represent his parents, where his father is named Heliocles, and his mother, wearing a royal diadem, Laodice. Laodice may have been a member of the Seleucid imperial house. Eucratides took control of the Bactrian territory for himself. He became a powerful king in Bactria and invaded parts of India. He was challenged by other contemporaries Greek kings such as Antimachus I , Apollodotus and Menander I . In the west the Parthian king Mithradates I began to enlarge his kingdom and attacked Eucratides; he succeeded in conquering two provinces between Bactria and Parthia, called by Strabo the country of Aspiones and Turiua. king Eucratides (170-145 BCE), mentioning Alexandria Of The Caucasus / Kapisa. Obv: Bust of king Eucratides . Greek legend: BASILEOS MEGALOY EUKRATIDOY "Great King Eucratides". Rev: Divinity of Kapisa with palm in left hand, probably But the principal opponent of Eucratides was Demetrius of India. Demetrius and Eucratides waged a Civil War which divided the Kingdom between Bactriana and Punjab . Eucratides became the new ruler of Bactriana while Demetrius's rule was confined to the Punjab, which thus became the Indo-Greek Kingdom . The immediate successors to Eucratides were Eucratides II and Heliocles I (145- 130 BC ), who was the last Greek king to reign in Bactria. Once the Yüeh-chih tribes overpowered him, the Greco-Bactrians lost control of the provinces north of the Hindu Kush . Another member of the dynasty was Plato , who probably was a co-regent. However, the rule of the Indo-Greeks over territories south of the Hindu Kush lasted for a further 150 years, ultimately collapsing under the pressure of the Yüeh-chih and Scythian (Saka) invasions in around 10 BC . EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES
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