Menander I, 155-130 BC, Drachm

Menander I Soter, Drachm, AR, 155–130 BC, 2.55 g, 18 mm.

Uncertain mint in the northwestern Indian subcontinent. Obverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩTHPOΣ MENANΔPOY, diademed and draped bust of Menander right (legend: Of King Menander the Savior). Reverse: In Kharosthi, Maharajasa tratarasa Menamdrasa, Athena Alkidemos advancing left, brandishing thunderbolt and holding shield. Struck on the Indo-Greek drachm standard with bilingual legends, mid-2nd century BC. Bopearachchi 16I. Menander I, known in Indian sources as Milinda, ruled an Indo-Greek kingdom spanning Bactria and the northwestern Indian subcontinent. His bilingual coinage with Greek and Kharosthi legends provides primary evidence for administration across mixed populations and for the adoption of Indian royal titulature alongside Hellenistic iconography. The Athena Alkidemos type links his coinage to Macedonian precedents, while the “Soter” epithet appears in both scripts, documenting political messaging across languages and serving as a key chronological anchor for Indo-Greek history and the cultural interactions recorded in texts such as the Milindapañha.