Zoilos II

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Zoilos II Soter ("The Saviour")
Indo-Greek king
Coin of Zoilos II Soter.jpg
Coin of king Zoilos II (55–35 BCE).
Obv: Bust of Zoilus II (or Zoilus III) with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΖΩΙΛΟΥ (BASILEOS SOTEROS ZOILOU) "Of King Zoilos the Saviour".
Rev: Athena advancing left, with thunderbolt and shield covered with aegis (type of Menander I). Kharosthi legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA JHOILASA "King Zoilos the Saviour".
Reign 55–35 BCE

Zoilos II Soter (Greek: Ζωΐλος Β΄ ὁ Σωτήρ; epithet means "the Saviour") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BCE, a date approximately supported by R. C. Senior. The name is often Latinized as Zoilus. It is possible that that some of his coins were issued by a separate king, Zoilos III.

Rule[edit]

He seems to have been one of the rulers who succeeded the last important Indo-Greek king Apollodotus II the Great in the eastern parts of his former kingdom. All these kings use the same symbol as Apollodotus II, the fighting Pallas Athene introduced by Menander I, and usually also the same epithet Soter (Saviour). It is therefore possible that they belonged to the same dynasty, and Zoilus II could also have been related to the earlier king Zoilus I, but the lack of written sources make all such conjections uncertain. He may have been the Bactrian ally of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) and Cleopatra VII referred to by Virgil in his vision of the Battle of Actium in The Aeneid, Bk.VIII, 688: Hinc ope barbarica variisque Antonius armis, victor ab Aurorae populis et litore rubro, Aegyptum viresque Orientis et ultima secum Bactra vehit. (Antony, with barbarous wealth and strange weapons, conqueror of eastern peoples and the Indian shores, bringing Egypt, and the might of the Orient, with him, and furthest Bactria).[1]

Coins of Zoilos II[edit]

Zoilos II issued silver drachms with diademed portrait and Pallas Athene in rather crude style, and two sorts of bronzes in various denominations: "Apollo, with tripod and small elephant", and "Elephant and tripod".

Zoilos III, a separate king?[edit]

The portraits attributed to Zoilos II could be divided into two groups; one depicting a balding man with hollow cheeks, the other a seemingly younger man with a fringe and round cheeks. As numismatic evidence indicates that the younger portraits are later, recent research has suggested that they be attributed to a younger king, Zoilos III Soter, who would then have been a son and successor of the older Zoilos.[2]

Monograms[edit]

Coin of Zoilos II or Zoilus III, younger portrait.

Many of the (monograms) on the coins of Zoilos II are in Kharoshti, indicating that they were probably made by an Indian moneyer. This is a characteristic of several of the Indo-Greek kings of the eastern Punjab, such as Strato I, Apollodotus II, and sometimes Apollophanes and Dionysios. Furthermore, the monogram is often identical on their coins, indicating that the moneyer, or the place of mint, were the same.

The coins of Zoilos II combine Greek monograms with Kharoshthi ones, indicating that some of the celators may have been native Indians. The Kharoshthi monograms are the letters for: sti, ji, ra, ga, gri, ha, stri, ri, bu, a, di, stra, and śi. The "Apollo and tripod" and "Elephant and tripod" types only have Kharoshthi monograms, while the portrait types usually have combinations of Greek and Kharoshthi monograms. The monogram 62 (below) has been shown to be the last Indo-Greek monogram, and only appears on the younger portraits that may be belong to Zoilus III.

Findplaces[edit]

The coins of Zoilos II have been found in the Sutlej and Sialkot II hoards, and in Punjab hoards east in the Jhelum (Bopearachchi, p138).

Also, coins of Zoilos II were found under the foundation of 1st century BCE rectangular chapel in the monastery of Dharmarajika, near Taxila (John Marshall, "Taxila, Archaeological excavations", p. 248.)

Two coins of Zoilos II were also found in the Bara hoard near Peshawar, together with coins of the Indo-Scythian kings Azes I, Azilises, Azes II.[3]

Overstrikes[edit]

A coin of Zoilus II was overstruck on a coin of Apollodotus II.

Indo-Greek Kings and their territories
Based on Bopearachchi (1991)
Territories/
dates
Paropamisade
Arachosia Gandhara Western Punjab Eastern Punjab
200–190 BCE Demetrius I DemetriusCoin.jpg
190–180 BCE Agathocles AgathoclesWithAlexander.jpg PantaleonCoin of Greco-Baktrian Kingdom king Pantaleon.jpg
185–170 BCE Antimachus IAntimachusMedaille.jpg
180–160 BCE Apollodotus ICoin of Indo-Greek king Apollodotos I.jpg
175–170 BCE Demetrius II Coin of the Baktrian king Demetrios II.jpg
170–145 BCE EucratidesTetradrachm Eukratides.jpg
160–155 BCE Antimachus IICoin of Antimachus II.jpg
155–130 BCE Menander IMenander Alexandria-Kapisa.jpg
130–120 BCE Zoilos IZoilosI-525.jpg AgathokleiaCoin of Agathokleia.jpg
120–110 BCE Lysias Lysias-150.jpg Strato ICoin of Agathokleia & Strato.jpg
110–100 BCE AntialcidasCoin of Antialcidas.jpg Heliokles IICoin of Heliocles II.jpg
100 BCE PolyxenosCoin of Indo-Greek king Polyxenos.jpg Demetrius IIIDemetrius Aniketou.jpg
100–95 BCE PhiloxenusCoin of Philoxenos.jpg
95–90 BCE DiomedesCoin of Diomedes Soter.jpg Amyntas Coin of Amyntas Nicator.jpg EpanderCoin of Epander.jpg
90 BCE Theophilos Theophilos-634.jpg PeukolaosPeukolaos coin.jpg Thraso
90–85 BCE NiciasCoin of Indo-Greek king Nikias Soter.jpg Menander IICoin of Menander Dikaiou.jpg ArtemidorosCoin of Artimedoros.jpg
90–70 BCE HermaeusHermaeusCoin.jpg ArchebiusCoin of Indo-Greek king Archebios.jpg
Yuezhi tribes Maues (Indo-Scythian)
75–70 BCE Telephos Coin of Telephos.jpg Apollodotus IICoin of Appollodotos II.jpg
65–55 BCE HippostratosCoin of Hippostratos.jpg DionysiosDyonisos coin.jpg
55–35 BCE Azes I (Indo-Scythian) Zoilos IIZoilosIICoin.JPG
55–35 BCE ApollophanesCoin of Apollophanes.jpg
25 BCE – 10 CE Strato II and IIICoin of Strato II.jpg
Rajuvula (Indo-Scythian)

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Francis Henry Skrine and Edward Denison Ross, The Heart of Asia: A History of Russian Turkestan and the Central Asian Khanates from the Earliest Times, by London, Methuen, 1899, p.19; E. Drouin, “Bactriane”, La Grande Encyclopédie: Inventaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts, Paris, Lamirault, 1885-1902, Tome 4, pp.1115-1122, nb 1118.
  2. ^ Jakobsson, J (2010). "A Possible New Indo-Greek King Zoilos III, and an Analysis of Realism on Indo-Greek Royal Portraits". Numismatic Chronicle. 
  3. ^ Reference

References[edit]

  • The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
  • Indo-Greek Coins, R. B. Whitehead, 1914.
Preceded by:
Dionysios
Indo-Greek Ruler
(Eastern Punjab)
55–35 BCE
Succeeded by:
Apollophanes