Antialkidas, 115-95 BC, AE Square Unit

Antialkidas, AE square unit, Indo-Greek Kingdom, 115–95 BC, uncertain mint. 8.33 g, 19 mm. Obverse: Diademed and draped bust of Antialkidas right; Greek legend around, BAΣIΛEΩΣ NIKHΦOΡOΥ ANTIAΛKIΔOΥ. Reverse: Standing deity type; Kharoshthi legend around, Maharajasa Jayadarasa Antialkidasa. Struck on a square flan; legends largely legible; minor irregularities to flan edges consistent with the issue. Reference: Bopearachchi 17C.

Antialkidas is an important Indo-Greek ruler known from both numismatic evidence and external epigraphy, notably the Heliodorus pillar inscription recording an embassy of Heliodoros, who identified himself as an envoy of “Antialkidas.” The bilingual Greek–Kharoshthi format on his coinage documents the administrative and linguistic duality of Hellenistic dynasts in the northwestern Indian subcontinent and provides primary evidence for their political presence, titulature, and cross-cultural monetary circulation in the late 2nd century BC.