Eucratides, 171-145 BC, Obol

Eucratides I, obol, AR, reign 171–145 BC, Paropamisadai or Gandhara mint, 0.72 g, 11 mm. Obv. Diademed bust of Eucratides facing right, with dotted border. Rev. Greek legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ EYKPATIΔOY (“of King Eucratides”); remaining reverse type not recorded in the provided data. Struck on a small flan, with minor irregularity at the edges consistent with the denomination. Reference: Mitchiner, Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage, vol. 1, 180.

Eucratides I was among the most prominent rulers of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, associated with a period of territorial expansion and intensified political competition in Central Asia during the mid-2nd century BC. Silver fractional issues attributed to Paropamisadai or Gandhara reflect the circulation of Hellenistic monetary forms across the Hindu Kush into regions closely connected with northwestern South Asia, documenting Greek royal authority and Greek-language titulature in an area of sustained cross-cultural contact.