Diomedes Soter

Diomedes Soter
Diomedes Soter
	Coin of Diodotus ‘Diomedes’
Indo-Greek king
Reign	95–90 BCE

Diomedes Soter (Greek: Διομήδης ὁ Σωτήρ; epithet means "the Saviour") was an Indo-Greek king and possible claimant Greco-Bactrian King who may have attempted to reconquer the lands north of the Hindu Kush. The places where his coins have been found seem to indicate that his rule was based in the area of the Paropamisadae, possibly with temporary dominions further east. Judging from their similar portraits and many overlapping monograms, the young Diomedes seems to have been the heir (and probably a relative) of Philoxenus, the last king to rule before the kingdom of Menander I finally fragmented.

Time of reign

Bopearachchi dates Diomedes to c. 95–90 BCE and R. C. Senior dates him to c. 115–105 BCE.

Coins of Diomedes

Diomedes is depicted with the Dioscuri on his coins, either on horseback or standing; both types were previously used by Eucratides the Great, which suggests a dynastic link to the latter. It is however uncertain how the two were related, since Eucratides I died long before Diomedes.

Diomedes minted both Attic-type coins (Greco-Bactrian style, with Greek legend only), and bilingual coins (with Greek and Kharoshthi), indicating that he was ruling in the western part of the Indo-Greek territory.

One overstrike is known, of a coin of Strato and Agathoclea over a coin of Diomedes.^[1] This overstrike could indicate that Diomedes fought over the central areas of the Indo-Greek territories with Strato and Agathoclea.

References

^ Bopearachchi, De l'Indus à l'Oxus, p. 129

Tarn, W. W. (1984). The Greeks in Bactria and India. Chicago: Ares. ISBN 0-89005-524-6.
Bopearachchi, Osmund (2003). De l'Indus à l'Oxus, Archéologie de l'Asie Centrale (in French). Lattes: Association imago-musée de Lattes. ISBN 2-9516679-2-2.