Talk:Demetrius III Aniketos

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IMHO this entry could be removed. KIRK RAPPE, in THE GRECO-BACTRIAN MIRAGE: RECONSTRUCTING A HISTORY OF HELLENISTIC BACTRIA (1982, jan ed of Scientific American)denotes the upper coin to Demetrius I (note the similarity with Antimachus I), and even if I would prefer Demetrius II (as the Indian text suggests), it looks very much like a mid 2nd-century coin, pre-Menandros.

The lower coin's obverse is a low quality replica of the classical elephant helmet coins of Demetrius I, with his (posthumous) title "Aniketos". IIRC it's very rare, and I would rather attribute it to some kind of posthumous release. One must bear in mind that for the later Indo-Greeks Demetrius I might have been a legend well in league with Alexander the Great. Would the contemporaries of a tentative Demetrius III not have interpreted this coin as a pedigree coin of some of commemorative issue, rather than being the currency of a new - rather insignificant - king? Almost all other Indo-Greek kings cared to boast their own achievements and existence on coins (unlike f i the Ptolemies who kept referring to older kings). So: probably a city struck this coin, during some kind of independence in the turmoil of the latter period.

/Sponsianus

I am now removing my own old reservations against Demetrius III and replacing them - somewhat ironically - with new ones. But I think my doubts are better voiced this time. The only reason Bopearachchi gives for his dating of Demetrius III is the orientation of the text - a few early bilingual coins (by Antimachus II and Menander I) used another orientation in full circle. Little could be derived from the few mintmarks Demetrius III uses, although Bopearachchi manages to place him in the wrong area, eastern Punjab instead of western Punjab/Gandhara (he shares one mintmark with Lysias, IIRC).

Bopearachchi also gives a candidate for Justin's Indian king Demetrius which IMHO is simply not acceptable, more or less contradicting every single paragraph of the description of his war with Eucratides. I am not saying he is wrong - Justin could certainly be ill-informed - but Justin's Demetrius and Demetrius II in Bopearachchi's book are so obviously mismatched. Is Demetrius III a king who ruled before Menander and fought Eucratides? Possibly not, but IMHO there seems to be enough doubt to mention the uncertainty.

Bopearachchi is of course a cornerstone. But his work is an encyclopaedia, and as in all such there are minor errors.--Sponsianus 14:07, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As is said on the main page, all kings ruling in the Gandhara exhibit Buddhist symbols - except Demetrius III. That is another indication to consider that he reigned before Menander.And finally, he strikes square coins with his portraits, which is more or less unique. It was these peculiar coins that I believed were pedigree coins. But if Demetrius III is indeed Justin's Demetrius, these coins could be seen as an experiment, later abandoned. --Sponsianus 07:56, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]