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Apollodotos I Soter [ Savior ] is unknown to history aside from his coins, of which the rare Attic-weight tetradrachms like this piece are among the finest of all of Hellenistic portrait coins.
He is shown as rather aged and jowly, with a hint of a smile, wearing a distinctive Macedonian sun-hat called a kausia. In these respects he resembles another contemporary Baktrian ruler, Antimachos I Theos, who may be his brother or other close relation. His area of control was likely centered in Gandhara, now in northwestern Pakistan, and likely extended into northern India, as his small square silver drachms are commonly found there. He could thus be considered the first fully Indo-Greek ruler, although too little is known about his area of control to be certain.
Almost all of his coinage adhered to Indian standards, with bi lingual Greek and Kharosthi legends and non-portrait types, either elephant and bull on his silver, or Apollo and tripod on the bronze.
Apollodotos introduced the Indian standard silver drachm of circa 2.42 grams into the Baktrian coinage system, which gradually replaced the heavier Attic weight standard throughout the realm. His only Attic weight coinage was of scarce hemidrachms of Indian type and the truly rare portrait tetradrachms.
He is shown as rather aged and jowly, with a hint of a smile, wearing a distinctive Macedonian sun-hat called a kausia. In these respects he resembles another contemporary Baktrian ruler, Antimachos I Theos, who may be his brother or other close relation. His area of control was likely centered in Gandhara, now in northwestern Pakistan, and likely extended into northern India, as his small square silver drachms are commonly found there. He could thus be considered the first fully Indo-Greek ruler, although too little is known about his area of control to be certain.
Almost all of his coinage adhered to Indian standards, with bi lingual Greek and Kharosthi legends and non-portrait types, either elephant and bull on his silver, or Apollo and tripod on the bronze.
Apollodotos introduced the Indian standard silver drachm of circa 2.42 grams into the Baktrian coinage system, which gradually replaced the heavier Attic weight standard throughout the realm. His only Attic weight coinage was of scarce hemidrachms of Indian type and the truly rare portrait tetradrachms.