Dionysius Soter ( grc, Διονύσιος Σωτήρ, Dionysios Sōtēr;

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

means "the Saviour") was an

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent (p ...

king in the area of eastern

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

.''The Greeks in Bactria and India'' by William Woodthorpe Tarn p.318
/ref>

Reign

According to Osmund Bopearachchi, he reigned c. 65–55 BCE and inherited the eastern parts of the kingdom of the important late ruler Apollodotus II. The kings share the same epithet and use the common reverse of fighting Pallas Athene, and it seems plausible that they were closely related, but relationships between the last Indo-Greek kings remain uncertain since the only sources of information are their remaining coins. R. C. Senior dates him approximately ten years later. Earlier scholars like Professor

Ahmad Hasan Dani Ahmad Hassan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He was among the foremost authorities on Central Asian and South Asian archaeolog ...

have dated Dionysius much earlier, between the years 115 and 100 BCE, making him the ruler of the Swat and Dir Valleys and the weak successor of

Polyxenus In Greek mythology, Polyxenus or Polyxeinus (, ''Poluxenos'', or , ''Poluxeinos'') is a name that may refer to: *Polyxenus, one of the first priests of Demeter and one of the first to learn the secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries. *Polyxenus, ...

. Dionysios was probably pressured by the invasions of the

Indo-Scythians Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into modern day Pakistan and Northwestern India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 4th c ...

, and also had to deal with

Hippostratus Hippostratus ( grc, Ἱππόστρατος, Hippostratos) was an Indo-Greek king who ruled central and north-western Punjab and Pushkalavati. Bopearachchi dates Hippostratus to 65 to 55 BCE whereas R. C. Senior suggests 60 to 50 BCE. Rule I ...

, a more important king who had inherited the western part of the kingdom of Apollodotus II. Dionysius' name echoes the Olympic wine-god

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

, who according to Greek mythology was also an ancient king of India.

Coins of Dionysios

Dionysius was the first in the line of late kings who issued only silver drachms, but no tetradrachms, which was likely due to his limited resources. On their obverse is a diademed portrait of the king, with

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

Alcidemus on the reverse. He also issued bronzes with Apollo on the reverse and a tripod on the obverse. Both these types were inherited from Apollodotus II. The quality of the portraits is inferior to most earlier kings. According to Bopearachchi, Dionysius inherited only the inferior celators of Apollodotus II, which he associates with mints in eastern Punjab.

Mint-marks

One single coin of Dionysius Soter is known to have used the "boxy" mint-mark characteristic of the last Indo-Greek kings, down to

Apollophanes Apollophanes Soter (Greek: ; epithet means "the Saviour"; reigned c. 35 – 25 BCE) was an Indo-Greek king in the area of eastern and central Punjab in modern India and Pakistan. Rule Little is known about him, except for some of his remaining ...

, Strato II and Strato III, who used it exclusively of any other.JSTOR article
/ref> He is also the first king known to have used this mint-mark, which therefore came to be during his reign.

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Monnaies Gréco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques'', Osmund Bopearachchi, Bibliothèque Nationale de France. * ''The Bactrian and Indus-Greeks'', Ahmed Hasan Dani, Lahore Museum. * ''The Indo-Greeks Revisited and Supplemented'', A.K. Narain, BR Publishing Corporation.

External links