2019-12-04 Wed

The first woman to rule the Hellenistic Kingdom is queen Agathokleia, she is popularly known as Agathokleia Theotropos. Queen Agathokleia was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled northern India around 2nd century BC as regent for her son king Strato I.

Queen Agathokleia issued gold, silver, copper and bronze coins during her reign. On her coins, Agathokelia seems to associate herself with Athena; the Goddess of war. One fine example of the following statement is the above-shown copper coin.

Most of her coins are the joint issued with her son Strato I. In the early issues the portrait of her son is not depicted. The young king is shown standing in arms and holding a spear. Later on, the conjoined busts of both Agathokelia and Strato I were circulated.

mage Courtesy: Personal collection of Amit Udeshi