24 Facts About Menander I

Menander I might have initially been a prince or king of Bactria.

Large numbers of Menander I's coins have been unearthed, attesting to both the flourishing commerce and longevity of his realm.

Menander I was a patron of Buddhism, and his conversations with the Buddhist sage Nagasena are recorded in the important Buddhist work, the Milinda Panha.

Menander I was born into a Greek family in a village called Kalasi adjacent to Alexandria of the Caucasus.

Menander I's territories covered Bactria and extended to modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Menander I's capital is supposed to have been Sagala, a prosperous city in northern Punjab.

Guesses among historians have been that Menander I was either a nephew or a former general of the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I, but the two kings are now thought to be separated by at least thirty years.

Menander I's empire survived him in a fragmented manner until the last Greek king Strato II disappeared around 10 AD.

However, numerous silver and copper coins of Menander I have been found, including the Siranwali hoard found near Sialkot, and in the Sonipat hoard from present-day Haryana.

Bajaur is the only place where inscriptions of Menander I have been found.

However, large numbers of Menander I's coins have been unearthed, mostly of silver and bronze, attesting to both the duration of his reign and the flourishing commerce of his realm.

Menander I is described as constantly accompanied by an elite guard of 500 Greek soldiers, and two of his counsellors are named Demetrius and Antiochus.

Menander I was rich too, mighty in wealth and prosperity, and the number of his armed hosts knew no end.

Buddhist tradition relates that, following his discussions with Nagasena, Menander I adopted the Buddhist faith:.

Menander I then handed over his kingdom to his son and retired from the world:.

Menander I has left behind an immense corpus of silver and bronze coins, more so than any other Indo-Greek king, indicating the length of his long reign and a flourishing trade during it, and are the main source of his history.

Menander I was the first Indo-Greek ruler to introduce the representation of Athena Alkidemos on his coins, probably in reference to a similar statue of Athena Alkidemos in Pella, capital of Macedon.

However, Menander I struck a rare bronze series with a Buddhist wheel.

The Milinda Panha might give some support to the idea that Menander I's position was precarious, since it describes him as being somewhat cornered by numerous enemies into a circumscribed territory:.

Menander I was the last Indo-Greek king mentioned by ancient historians, and developments after his death are therefore difficult to trace.

Tarn and Bopearachchi, is that Menander I was succeeded by his queen Agathoclea, who acted as regent to their infant son Strato I until he became an adult and took over the crown.

Strato I used the same reverse as Menander I, Athena hurling a thunderbolt, and the title Soter.

Especially, all the kings after Menander I who are recorded to have ruled in Gandhara display Buddhist symbolism in one form or another.

The Milind College in the city of Aurangabad, India, is named after King Menander I using the Pali translation of his name, Milind.