Demetrius I of Bactria

Encounter with Antiochus III

The father of Demetrius, Euthydemus I, was attacked by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III around 210 BC. Although he commanded 10,000 horsemen, Euthydemus initially lost a battle on the Arius and had to retreat. He then successfully resisted a three-year siege in the fortified city of Bactra, before Antiochus finally decided to recognize the new ruler.

The final negotiations were made between Antiochus III and Demetrius. Antiochus III was reportedly highly impressed by the demeanour of the young prince, and offered him one of his daughters in marriage, around 206 BC:

The term used for "young prince" is neaniskos (νεανίσκος), suggesting an age around 16, which in turn gives a birth date for Demetrius around 222 BC.

Kuliab inscription

In an inscription found in the Kuliab area of Tajikistan, in western Greco-Bactria, and dated to 200-195 BC, a Greek by the name of Heliodotus, dedicating a fire altar to Hestia, mentions Euthydemus and Demetrius: τόνδε σοι βωμὸν θυώδη, πρέσβα κυδίστη θεῶν Ἑστία, Διὸς κ(α)τ᾽ ἄλσος καλλίδενδρον ἔκτισεν καὶ κλυταῖς ἤσκησε λοιβαῖς ἐμπύροις Ἡλιόδοτος ὄφρα τὸμ πάντων μέγιστον Εὐθύδημον βασιλέων τοῦ τε παῖδα καλλίνικον ἐκπρεπῆ Δημήτριον πρευμενὴς σώιζηις ἐκηδεῖ(ς) σὺν τύχαι θεόφρον[ι] |"Heliodotos dedicated this fragrant altar for Hestia, venerable goddess, illustrious amongst all, in the grove of Zeus, with beautiful trees; he made libations and sacrifices, so that the greatest of all kings Euthydemos, as well as his son, the glorious, victorious and remarkable Demetrios, be preserved from all pains, with the help of Tyche with divine thoughts."|Kuliab inscription, 200–195 BCE}}

Invasion of India

Demetrius started the invasion of northwestern India between 190 and 180 BC, following the destruction of the Mauryan dynasty by the general Pushyamitra Shunga, who then founded the new Indian Shunga dynasty (180–78 BC). In the Paramparapustaka chronicle, Sri Lankan monks state that Brihadratha, the last Mauryan Emperor, married a daughter of Demetrius, Berenice. The Greco-Bactrians might have invaded the Indus Valley to protect Greek expatriates in the Indian Subcontinent. Also, the Mauryans had had diplomatic alliances with the Greeks, and they may have been considered as allies by the Greco-Bactrians.

• Description of the 302 BCE marital alliance in Strabo 15.2.1(9): "The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus I Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants." The ambassador Megasthenes was also sent to the Mauryan court on this occasion.
• In the Edicts of Ashoka, king Ashoka claims to have sent Buddhist emissaries to the Hellenistic west around 250 BCE.
• When Antiochus III the Great, after having made peace with Euthydemus, went to India in 209 BCE, he is said to have renewed his friendship with the Indian king there and received presents from him: "He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him."Polybius 11.39

Demetrius may have first started to recover the province of Arachosia, an area south of the Hindu Kush already inhabited by many Greeks but ruled by the Mauryas since the annexation of the territory by Chandragupta from Seleucus. In his Parthian stations, Isidorus of Charax mentions a city named Demetrias, supposedly founded by Demetrius himself:

The Greek geographer Strabo described the conquests of Demetrius in his Geographica:

The Greek campaigns may have gone as far as the capital [Pataliputra in eastern India (today Patna):

It is generally considered that Demetrius ruled in Taxila (where many of his coins were found in the archaeological site of Sirkap). The Indian records also describes Greek attacks on Saketa, Panchala, Mathura and Pataliputra (Gargi-Samhita, Yuga Purana chapter). However, the campaigns to Pataliputra are generally attested to the later king Menander I and Demetrius I probably only invaded areas in Pakistan. Other kings may have expanded the territory as well. By c. 175 BC, the Indo-Greeks ruled parts of northwestern India, while the Shungas remained in the Gangetic, Central, and Eastern India.

The Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga king Kharavela mentions that fearing him, a Yavana (Greek) king or general retreated to Mathura with his demoralized army. The name of the Yavana king is not clear, but it contains three letters, and the middle letter can be read as ma or mi. Some historians, such as R. D. Banerji and K.P. Jayaswal reconstructed the name of the Yavana king as "Dimita", and identified him with Demetrius. However, several other historians, such as Ramaprasad Chanda, Sailendra Nath Sen and P.L. Gupta disagree with this interpretation.

Aftermath

Demetrius I died of unknown reasons, and the date 180 BC is merely a suggestion aimed to allow suitable regnal periods for subsequent kings, of which there were several. Even if some of them were co-regents, civil wars and temporary divisions of the empire are most likely.

The kings Pantaleon, Agathocles, Antimachus I and possibly Euthydemus II ruled after Demetrius I, and theories about their origin include all of them being relatives of Demetrius I, or only Antimachus. It is highly likely that Agathocles was a son of Demetrius I. Eventually, the kingdom of Bactria fell to the able newcomer Eucratides.

Demetrius II was a later king, possibly a son or nephew of his namesake, and he ruled in India only. Justin mentions him being defeated by the Bactrian king Eucratides, an event which took place at the end of the latter's reign, possibly around 150 BC. Demetrius II left behind his generals Apollodotus and Menander, who in turn became kings of India and rulers of the Indo-Greek Kingdom following his death.

Geoffrey Chaucer names Demetrius among the combatants at a tournament held in Athens by Theseus: Upon a steede bay trapped in steel, Covered in clooth of gold, dyapred weel, Cam ridynge lyk the God of armes, Mars.|sign=Geoffrey Chaucer

Demetrius as Deva Wubujing-Gobujo

Lucas Christopoulos’s article explores the idea that Demetrius of Bactria, was later remembered in Buddhist traditions as the divine figure Deva Gobujo (Wubujing)in China and in Japan. He argues that this transformation reflects a process of religious and cultural syncretism, where Demetrius became absorbed into Buddhist cosmologies. Christopoulos shows how Demetrius became worshipped later as a protector of the Dharma. He situates this within a wider context of Hellenistic influence reaching Central and East Asia mainly from Gandhara, passing through the Tarim Basin and the Gansu (Hexi) corridor.

Coinage

The coins of Demetrius are of five types. One bilingual type with Greek and Kharoshthi legends exists; it is naturally associated with the Indian Demetrius II. A series with the king in diadem are likely to be early issues of Demetrius I.

There is also one series representing a Gorgon shield on the obverse and a trident on the reverse. There are also three types depicting elephants. The first type shows Demetrius (I) with elephant-crown, a well-known symbol of India, which simply denotes his conquests in India, as Alexander the Great had also done on his coinage before. One type represents an elephant with Nike on the other side holding a wreath of victory. This sort of symbolism can be seen on the reverse of the coins of Antialcidas in which Nike (supported by Zeus) directly hands the victory wreath to the elephant on the same coin face.[[File:Taxila single dye coin.jpg |thumb|[[Taxila]] single-die coin with [[Lakshmi]] and [[arched-hill symbol]] (185–160 BC).|210x210px]]

Indian coinage in Gandhara (after 185 BC)

Main article: Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara

The year 186 BC, with the invasion of the Greco-Bactrians into India, marks an evolution in the design of single-die cast coins in the coinage of Gandhara, as deities and realistic animals were introduced. At the same time coinage technology also evolved, as double-die coins (engraved on both sides, obverse and reverse) started to appear. The archaeological excavations of coins have shown that these coins, as well as the new double die coins, were contemporary with those of the Indo-Greeks. According to Osmund Bopearachchi these coins, and particularly those depicting the goddess Lakshmi, were probably minted by Demetrius I following his invasion of Gandhara.

Buddhism

Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested by W. W. Tarn that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the Mauryan empire in reaction to the persecution by the Sungas against Buddhism. However, that persecution in turn is debatable, with contemporary historians such as Romila Thapar suggesting that some of the accounts might be the product of exaggeration from Buddhist missionaries. Thapar attributes purely economic motivations to the Indo-Greek invasion of Southern Asia.

Elephant with the caduceus coinage

One of Demetrius' "elephant" types represents a rejoicing elephant, depicted on the front on the coin and surrounded by the royal bead-and-reel decoration, and therefore treated on the same level as a King. The elephant, one of the symbols of Buddhism and Gautama Buddha, possibly represents the victory of Buddhism brought about by Demetrius. Alternatively, though, the elephant has been described as a possible symbol of the Indian capital of Taxila (Tarn), or as a symbol of India as a whole.

The reverse of the coin depicts the caduceus, symbol of reconciliation between two fighting serpents, which is possibly a representation of peace between the Greeks and the Shungas, and likewise between Buddhism and Hinduism (the caduceus also appears as a symbol of the punch-marked coins of the Maurya Empire in India, in the 3rd-2nd century BC).

Unambiguous Buddhist symbols are found on later Greek coins of Menander I or Menander II, but the conquests of Demetrius I did influence the Buddhist religion in India.

Gallery

File:AgathoklesCoinOfDemetriusAniketos.JPG|A pedigree coin of Agathocles for Demetrius I. The Greek legend reads: ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΑΝΙΚΗΤΟΥ, Dēmētriou Anikētou, "Of Demetrius the Unconquered". File:Demetrius I of Bactria (Termez Archaeological Museum).jpg|A statue likely depicting Demetrius I of Bactria. Termez Archaeological Museum. File:Reverse Die for a Tetradrachm of Demetrios I.jpg|A remarkable reverse die, once used to make the silver tetradrachms of Demetrius I. One of the very few coin dies to survive from the Hellenistic period; 2nd century BC.

References

Citations

Bibliography

References

1. (2003-12-01). "A Comprehensive History Of Ancient India (3 Vol. Set)". Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
2. "We think that the conquests of these regions south of the Hindu Kush brought to Demetrius I the title of "King of India" given to him by [[Apollodorus of Artemita]]." Bopearachchi, p. 52
3. Phang, Sara. (2016). "Conflict in Ancient Greece and Rome: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia [3 volumes]: The Definitive Political, Social, and Military Encyclopedia". ABC-CLIO.
4. (2023). "Look at the Coins! Papers in Honour of Joe Cribb on his 75th Birthday". Archaeopress.
5. Demetrius is said to have founded [[Taxila]] (archaeological excavations), and also [[Sagala]] in the Punjab, which he seemed to have called Euthydemia, after his father ("the city of Sagala, also called Euthydemia" (Ptolemy, Geographia, VII 1))
6. No undisputed coins of Demetrius I himself use this title, but it is employed on one of the pedigree coins issued by [[Agathocles of Bactria. Agathocles]], which bear on the reverse the classical profile of Demetrius crowned by the elephant scalp, with the legend DEMETRIOU ANIKETOU, and on the reverse Herakles crowning himself, with the legend "Of king Agathocles" (Boppearachchi, Pl 8). Coins of the supposed [[Demetrius III Aniketos. Demetrius III]] also use the title "Invincible", and therefore are attributed by some to the same Demetrius (Whitehead and al.)
7. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+10.49 Polybius 10.49, Battle of the Arius]
8. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plb.+11.34 Polybius 11.34 Siege of Bactra]
9. Shane Wallace [https://www.academia.edu/25638818 Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries] p.206
10. [[Osmund Bopearachchi]], [https://www.academia.edu/22821570 Some Observations on the Chronology of the Early Kushans], p.48
11. Shane Wallace [https://www.academia.edu/25638818 Greek Culture in Afghanistan and India: Old Evidence and New Discoveries] p.211
12. [http://www.attalus.org/docs/seg/s54_1569.html Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum: 54.1569]
13. Paranavithana, Senarath. (1971). "The Greeks and the Mauryas". Lake House Investments.
14. "Obviously, for the Greeks who survived in India and suffered from the oppression of the Shunga (for whom they were aliens and heretics), Demetrios must have appeared as a saviour" Mario Bussagli, p. 101
15. Mentioned in Bopearachchi, "Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques", p52. Original text in paragraph 19 of [http://www.parthia.com/parthian_stations.htm#PARTHIAN_STATIONS Parthian stations]
16. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.11.1 Strabo 11.11.1 full text]
17. Kusâna Coins and History, D.K. Printworld, 1994, p.184, note 5; reprint of a 1985 article
18. Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya. (1974). "Some Early Dynasties of South India". Motilal Banarsidass.
19. Sailendra Nath Sen. (1999). "Ancient Indian History and Civilization". New Age International.
20. Lucas Christopoulos, Demetrios of Bactria and other Indo-Greek Myths of Japan. Sino-Platonic Papers n.368. September 2025
21. Ancient Indian Coinage, Rekha Jain, D.K.Printworld Ltd, p.114
22. [[Osmund Bopearachchi]], 2016, [https://www.academia.edu/25807197/Emergence_of_Vi%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%87u_and_%C5%9Aiva_Images_in_India_Numismatic_and_Sculptural_Evidence Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence]
23. Thapar, Romila. (1960). "Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas". Oxford University Press.