Jump to content

Amyntas Nicator

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NihiltresBot (talk | contribs) at 18:00, 25 July 2016 (top: Merging {{Other people2}} to {{other people}} per Wikipedia:Templates for discussion/Log/2016 July 11#Template:Other people2 using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Amyntas
Indo-Greek king
Coin of Amyntas Nikator. Obv: Bust of king. Rev: Seated Zeus.
Reign95–90 BCE

Amyntas Nikator (Greek: Ἀμύντας ὁ Νικάτωρ; epithet means "the Conqueror") was an Indo-Greek king. His coins have been found both in eastern Punjab and Afghanistan, indicating that he ruled a considerable territory.

Time of reign

Bopearachchi places Amyntas c. 95–90 BCE, whereas Senior places him c. 80–65 BCE.

Coinage

Amyntas struck bilingual silver coins with a variety of portraits. Most of these bear the reverse of sitting Zeus holding a victory palm and a small statue of Athena, which according to RC Senior may have indicated an alliance between the house of Menander I and the house of Antialcidas. Some of his coins feature the reverse of fighting Athena typical for Menander's descendants. The epithet Nikator (Victor) was previously only used on the Bactrian coins of Agathocles, a century before Amyntas' reign.

His bronzes feature the syncretic deity Zeus-Mithra wearing a phrygian cap and Athena standing at rest, both forming the vitarka mudra.

Amyntas also minted some spectacular Attic coins, the largest silver coins of Antiquity: double-decadrachms, of a weight of 85g. These huge coins were found on the archeological site of Qunduz in Afghanistan. Some of these coins use his ordinary Zeus reverse, but some of them used Tyche in an identical position.

Overstrikes

Amyntas is known to have overstruck coins of Heliokles II [1].

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Bopearachchi, "De l'Indus à l'Oxus", p129

References