Philoxenus Anicetus

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Philoxenus
Indo-Greek king
Silver tetradrachm of king Philoxenus.
Obv: Helmetted, diademed and draped bust of Philoxenus. Greek legend BASILEOS ANIKETOU PHILOXENOU "Of the Invincible King Philoxenus"
Rev: King on prancing horse in military dress. Kharoshti legend MAHARAJASA APADIHATASA PHILASINASA "Undefeatable King Philoxenus".
Reign100–95 BCE
Coin of Philoxenus, making a blessing gesture with his right hand. Kharoshti legend MAHARAJASA APADIHATASA PHILASINASA "Invincible King Philoxenus". British Museum.

Philoxenus Anicetus (Greek: Φιλόξενος ὁ Ἀνίκητος; epithet means "the Invincible") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the region spanning the Paropamisade to Punjab. Philoxenus seems to have been quite an important king who might briefly have ruled most of the Indo-Greek territory. Bopearachchi dates Philoxenus to c. 100–95 BCE and R. C. Senior to c. 125–110 BCE.

Historians have not yet connected Philoxenus with any dynasty, but he could have been the father of the princess Kalliope, who was married to the king Hermaeus.

Coins of Philoxenos

Philoxenus struck several series of bilingual Indian silver coins, with a reverse of a mounted king, a type previously used as obverse by Antimachus II sixty years earlier and as reverse on rare types of Nicias. Whether the horseman was a dynastic emblem or a portrait of the king as a cavalleryman is unclear. Several Saka kings used similar horsemen on their coinage.

His drachms were square, another feature that was rare among Indo-Greeks but standard for Sakas, and this indicates that Philoxenus had connections with the nomads that had conquered Bactria.

Philoxenus struck bronzes with female deity/bull, or Helios/Nike.

Philoxenus also minted some Attic-type tetradrachms (with Greek legend only), meant for circulation in Bactria.

Overstrikes

One overstrike is known, of Epander over Philoxenus.

Other coins

See also

References

  • The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

External links

Preceded by:
(In the Paropamisade, Arachosia and Gandhara)
Antialcidas

(In Punjab)
Demetrius III or Polyxenios
Indo-Greek Ruler
(Paropamisade, Arachosia, Gandhara and Punjab)
(100–95 BCE)
Succeeded by:
(In the Paropamisade)
Diomedes

(In Arachosia and Gandhara)
Amyntas

(In Punjab)
Epander