Menander I

Menander I
Maharaja
Basileus
Portrait of Menander I Soter, from his coinage
Indo-Greek King
Reign165/155–130 BC
PredecessorAntimachus II
SuccessorStrato I (Agathoclea as regent)
Bornc. 180 BC
Kalisi (in present-day Bagram, Afghanistan)[1][2] or Sagala (present-day Sialkot, Pakistan)[3]
Died130 BC (aged 50)
Sagala (present-day Sialkot)
Burial
Stupas across the Indo-Greek Kingdom
ConsortAgathoclea
IssueStrato I
ReligionGreek polytheism (until circa 150 BCE)
Greco-Buddhism (from circa 150 BCE)

Menander I Soter (Ancient Greek: Μένανδρος Σωτήρ, romanized: Ménandros Sōtḗr, lit. 'Menander the Saviour'; Pali: Milinda; sometimes called Menander the Great[4][5]) was a Greco-Bactrian and later Indo-Greek King (reigned c. 165/155[6] –130 BC) who administered a large territory in the Northwestern regions of the Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia. Menander is noted for having become a patron and convert to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings.[7]

Menander might have initially been a king of Bactria. After conquering the Punjab,[2] as far as Taxila, he established an empire which stretched from the Kabul River in the west to the Indus River in the east, and from the Swat River valley in the north to Arachosia (the Helmand Province).

According to Numismatist Joe Cribb and archaeologist Rachel Mairs, the accounts of Menander’s kingdom stretching as far as Sialkot, is hard to believe, as there is no numismatic evidence of him east of Taxila, even more hard is to believe is stretching even further east as thought earlier by historians based upon Indian references, which most likely are referring to Kushans. [8]

Large numbers of Menander’s coins have been unearthed, attesting to both the flourishing commerce and longevity of his realm. Menander was also a patron of Buddhism, and his conversations with the Buddhist sage Nagasena are recorded in the important Buddhist work, the Milinda Panha ("The Questions of King Milinda"; panha meaning "question" in Pali). After his death in 130 BC, he was succeeded by his wife Agathocleia, perhaps the daughter of Agathocles, who ruled as regent for his son Strato I.[9] Buddhist tradition relates that he handed over his kingdom to his son and retired from the world, but Plutarch says that he died in camp while on a military campaign, and that his remains were divided equally between the cities to be enshrined in monuments, probably stupas, across his realm.

  1. ^ "Menander". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Hazel 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Magill 2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Ḍār, Saifurraḥmān (2006). Historical Routes Through Gandhara (Pakistan): 200 B.C-200 A.D. National College of Arts. p. 88. ISBN 9799690020351.
  5. ^ Dar, Saifur Rahman; Jan, Zakirullah (2015). "Three Seasons of Excavations at Pir Manakrai, Haripur: Preliminary Report". Ancient Pakistan. 26: 1–44. ISSN 2708-4590.
  6. ^ Bopearachchi (1998) and (1991), respectively. The first date is estimated by Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, the other Boperachchi
  7. ^ "Menander | Indo-Greek king". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  8. ^ Mairs, Rachel (2020). The Graeco bactrians and Indo Greeks world. Taylor & Francis. p. 654. ISBN 9781351610278.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  9. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. 1970. p. 406. ISBN 978-0-521-23448-1.