Apollodotos I AR Drachm

Kings of Bactria. Apollodotos I (c. 174-165 BC). AR Drachm (15-16 mm, 2.45 g).
Obv. BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΠOΛΛOΔOTOΥ ΣΩTHΡOΣ, elephant walking right, monogram below.
Rev. Zebu bull right, legend in Karoshti around.
Mitchiner, Indogreek, 207; SNG ANS 317.

Nicely toned and extremely fine.

Apollodotos I. is one of the few Bactrian kings to be named by classic authors from the Graeco-Roman west. The Augustean historian Pompeius Trogus, who wrote a history of Alexander and his successors, apparently also described Apollodotos' life, but only a short summary of it (by Junianus Justinus) has survived. The king is also named in the Periplus Marae Erythraei, a 1st Century AD periplus describing the trading routes from Egypt to India.