Silver tetradrachm of King Antialcidas (r.c. 115-100 BCE).
Obv: Bust of Antialcidas wearing aegis and holding a spear, with Greek legend BASILEOS NIKEPHOROI ANTIALKIDOI "Victorious King Antialcidas".
Rev: Zeus with lotus-tipped sceptre, in front of an elephant with a bell (symbol of Taxila), surmouted by Nike holding a wreath, crowning the elephant. Kharoshti legend. Pushkalavati mint.

Antialcidas was an Indo-Greek king, who reigned from his capital at Taxila from around 115 to 100 BCE.

Antialcidas is known from an inscription left on a pillar (the Heliodorus pillar) erected by his ambassador Heliodorus at the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra at Vidisha.

The inscriptions says: "This Garuda-standard was made by order of the Bhagavata ……….Heliodoros, the son of Dion, a man of Taxila, a Greek ambassador from King Antialkidas, to King Bhagabhadra, the son of the Princess from Benares, the saviour, while prospering in the fourteenth year of his reign."

Otherwise, Antialcidas is also known through his coins.

He is the last western Indo-Greek king to have ruled together the areas of the Paropamisadae, Gandhara and Taxila. His territory was divided into three kingdoms at the end of his rule.

External links

• Coins of Antialcidas (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Antialkidas&Thumb=1)
• More coins of Antialcidas (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/baktria/kings/antialkidas/t.html)

References

• "The Shape of Ancient Thought. Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies" by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1581152035
• "Buddhism in Central Asia" by B.N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN 8120803728
• "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.