Strato I Soter AR Tetradrachm, 105–80 BC, Athena Alkidemos, Very Rare

Strato I Soter, Tetradrachm, Silver, 105–80 BC, uncertain royal mint; 9.34 g; 27 mm. Obverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΣΤΡΑΤΩΝΟΣ; diademed and draped bearded bust right. Reverse: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA DHRAMIKASA STRATASA; Athena Alkidemos standing facing, brandishing thunderbolt and holding aegis; monogram in inner left field. Struck on a compact, slightly irregular flan with peripheral flatness and portions of the legends off the edge. References: Bopearachchi 13A; Haughton, Silver 4; Bopearachchi & Rahman –; SNG ANS –; MIG Type 324; HGC 12, 324, Mitchiner 324 Very rare. Strato I governed parts of the Punjab in the late Indo-Greek period, and his bilingual silver issues affirm rule over Greek- and Indian-speaking populations. The paired epithets Soter/Tratarasa (“Saviour”) and Dikaios/Dhramika (“Just”) appear in Greek and Kharosthi, while Athena Alkidemos—an emblem adopted from earlier Macedonian tradition—served as a dynastic badge of authority. Tetradrachms of this type represent currency within a Hellenistic monetary system that persisted in northwestern India into the first century BC.