Eucratides, 171-145 BC, Obol

Eucratides I, obol, AR, reign 171–145 BC, Paropamisadai or Gandhara mint, struck circa 171–145 BC, 0.67 g, 10 mm. Obverse with diademed and draped bust right. Reverse with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΕΥΚΡΑΤΙΔΟΥ. Struck on a compact, small flan consistent with the fractional silver of the northwestern frontier mints. Reference: Bopearachchi 3G.

Eucratides I was a principal ruler of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom whose coinage circulated across Bactria and the regions south of the Hindu Kush; issues attributed to Paropamisadai or Gandhara document Hellenistic political control and monetary practice in areas closely connected to trans-Hindu Kush routes, employing Greek royal titulature for exchange in multicultural frontier markets during the mid-2nd century BC.