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Archebius

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Archebius Dikaios Nikephoros ("The Just and Victorious")
Indo-Greek king
Tetradrachm of Archebios.
Obv: Helmetted king Archebius. Greek legend: ARCHEBIOU DIKAIOU NIKEPHOROU "Of Archebius the Just and Victorious"
Rev: Zeus, with Kharoshthi legend: MAHARAJASA DHRAMIKASA JAYADHARASA ARKHEBIYASA "Archebios, the victorious king of the Dharma.
Reign90–80 BCE
Coin of Archebius.
Obv: Bareheaded king Archebius.
Rev: Zeus, with Kharoshthi legend: MAHARAJASA DHRAMIKASA JAYADHARASA ARKHEBIYASA "Archebios, the victorious king of the Dharma.
Archebios coin with elephant and owl.

Archebius Dikaios Nikephoros (Greek: Ἀρχέβιος ὁ Δίκαιος, ὁ Νικηφόρος; epithets mean respectively, "the Just", "the Victorious") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the area of Taxila. Osmund Bopearachchi dates him to c. 90–80 BCE, and R. C. Senior to about the same period. He was probably one of the last Indo-Greek kings before the Saka king Maues conquered Taxila, and a contemporary of Hermaeus in the west. He may have been a relative of Heliokles II, who used a similar reverse and also the title Dikaios.

Coin types

Archebius issued silver with diademed or helmeted king, sometimes in spear-throwing pose. On the reverse is Zeus standing facing, holding a thunderbolt or on some issues an aegis.

Archebius also struck a rare series of Attic tetradrachms, found in Bactria.

He issued bronzes with an owl / Nike.

Overstrikes

Archebius overstruck two coins of Peukolaos.


References

  • The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1-58115-203-5
  • Buddhism in Central Asia by B. N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN 81-208-0372-8
  • The Greeks in Bactria and India by W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
Preceded byas ruler in Arachosia and Gandhara Indo-Greek ruler in Arachosia, Gandhara and Punjab
90–80 BCE
Succeeded byas Indo-Scythian king
Preceded byas ruler in Punjab