Zoilos II

Zoilos II Soter "Saviour" was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BCE, a date approximately supported by RC Senior.

He seems to have been one of the rulers who succeeded the last important Indo-Greek king Apollodotus II the Great in the eastern parts of his former kingdom. All these kings use the same symbol as Apollodotus II, the fighting Pallas Athene introduced by Menander I, and usually also the same epithet "Soter" (Saviour). It is therefore possible that they belonged to the same dynasty, and Zoilus II could also have been related to the earlier king Zoilus I, but the lack of written sources make all such conjections uncertain.

Coins of Zoilus II

Zoilos II issued silver drachms with diademed portrait and Pallas Athene in rather crude style, and two sorts of bronzes in various denominations: "Apollo, with tripod and small elephant", and "Elephant and tripod".

Monograms

Many of the (monograms) on the coins of Zoilos II are in Kharoshti, indicating that they were probably made by an Indian moneyer. This is a characteristic of several of the Indo-Greek kings of the eastern Punjab, such as Strato I, Apollodotus II, and sometimes Apollophanes and Dionysios. Furthermore, the monogram is often identical on their coins, indicating that the moneyer, or the place of mint, were the same.

The coins of Zoilos II combine Greek monograms with Kharoshthi ones, indicating that some of the celators may have been native Indians. The Kharoshthi monograms are the letters for: sti, ji, ra, ga, gri, ha, stri, ri, bu, a, di, stra, and śi. The "Apollo and tripod" and "Elephant and tripod" types only have Kharoshthi monograms, while the portrait types usually have combinations of Greek and Kharoshthi monograms.

Findplaces

The coins of Zoilos II have been found in the Sutlej and Sialkot II hoards, and in Punjab hoards east in the Jhelum (Bopearachchi, p138).

Also, coins of Zoilos II were found under the foundation of 1st century BCE rectangular chapel in the monastery of Dharmarajika, near Taxila (John Marshall, "Taxila, Archaeological excavations", p.248.)

Two coins of Zoilos II were also found in the Bara hoard near Peshawar, together with coins of the Indo-Scythian kings Azes I, Azilises, Azes II. [ [http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotviewer.php?LotID=43045&AucID=46&Lot=541 Reference] ]

Overstrikes

A coin of Zoilus II was overstruck on a coin of Apollodotus II.

Notes

ee also

* Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
* Seleucid Empire
* Greco-Buddhism
* Indo-Scythians
* Indo-Parthian Kingdom
* Kushan Empire

References

* "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
* "Coins of the Indo-Greeks", Whitehead.