Philoxenos Aniketos AR Tetradrachm, Indo-Greek, 125–110 BC, Horseman

Philoxenos Aniketos, Tetradrachm, silver, 125–110 BC, Paropamisadai or Gandhara; 9.51 g; 25 mm. Obv: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANIKHTOY ΦIΛOΞENOY; diademed heroic bust left, wearing crested helmet adorned with bull’s horn and ear, brandishing spear over shoulder. Rev: MAHARAJASA APADIHATASA PHILASINASA; Philoxenos in military attire on rearing horse right on ground line; monogram below. Struck on a broad flan; obverse slightly off center with peripheral legend partly off flan; reverse softly struck with portions of Kharosthi legend indistinct. Bopearachchi 9B; cf. SNG ANS 1198; HGC 12, 270. Philoxenos ruled sections of the Indo-Greek kingdom in Paropamisadai and Gandhara during the fragmentation after Menander I. His bilingual coinage, pairing Greek and Kharosthi legends on the Indian silver standard, documents administrative adaptation to a mixed populace and trade networks across the Hindu Kush. The horned helmet and equestrian type present a martial image consistent with contested control of the region and the prominence of cavalry in Indo-Greek warfare.