Tetradrachm of Agathokleia, as Regent for Strato I. Circa 135–125 BC. Æ 29mm (9.54 gm). Obv: Bust of Agathokleia with Greek legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ EΠIΦANOYΣ SΩTHPOΣ, ΣTPATΩNOΣ "Saviour King and God made manisfest, Strato". Rev: Bow and quiver with strap; monogram at left. Kharoshthi legend.
Agathokleia was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled between c. 135–125 BC in northern India. She was the widow of the great king Menander I, and ruled as a regent for their son Strato I. Her territory extended from the Hindu-Kush in the West to Mathura in the East, retaining the capital of her husband in Sagala (modern Sialkot) in the northern Punjab.
She was the first woman to rule a Hellenistic kingdom, in the period following the reign of Alexander the Great. More female rulers would follow however, such as Cleopatra Thea of the Ptolemaic line, who would rule the remains of the Seleucid Empire.
Most of her coins depict her with the legends associated with her son Strato. Some others show her with the title BASILISSES TEOTROPOU AGATOKLEIASM ("Godlike Queen Agatokleia") and depicts her as Athena, the goddess of war.
It seems Agathokleia's territory was invaded in the west by the last Greco_Bactrian king Heliocles, who himself was fleeing from the barbarian invasions of the Yueh-Chih in Bactria. He settled in Kapisa (modern Kabul) to govern the Paropamisadae (Hindu-Kush) and Gandhara areas. Heliocles overstruck some of Agathokleia's coins.
See also
Greco-Buddhism
Indo-Scythians
Sources
W.W. Tarn. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Third edition. Cambridge: University Press, 1966.
Main coins of Agathokleia (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Agathokleia+NOT+Menander&Thumb=1)
Agathokleia was the first of several Indo-Greek rulers to depict a gesture of benediction made with the right hand, identical to the Buddhist vitarka Mudra.
Agathokleia did not manage to keep the empire of her husband intact.
Some of her subjects may have been reluctant to accept an infant king with a queen regent: unlike the western hellenistic kingdoms, almost all the rulers were depicted as grown men which may reflect the important role of the king as general among the Indo-Greeks and Graeco-Bactrians.
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