Agathokleia

Agathokleia Theotropos (Greek: Ἀγαθόκλεια Θεότροπος; the epithet possibly means the Goddess-like) was an Indo-Greek queen who ruled in parts of northern India as regent for her son Strato I.

Date and genealogy

The traditional view, introduced by Tarn and defended as late as 1998 by Bopearachchi, is that Agathokleia was the widow of Menander I. In the civil wars after Menander's death, the Indo-Greek empire was divided, with Agathokleia and her young son Strato maintaining themselves in the eastern territories of Gandhara and Punjab.

The modern view, embraced by R. C. Senior and probably more solid since it is founded on numismatical analyses, suggests that Agathokleia was a later queen, perhaps ruling from 110 BC–100 BC or slightly later. In this case, Agathokleia was likely the widow of another king, possibly Nicias or Theophilus. In either case, Agathokleia was among the first women to rule a Hellenistic Kingdom, in the period following the reign of Alexander the Great.

Some of her subjects may have been reluctant to accept an infant king with a queen regent: unlike the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Kingdoms, almost all Indo-Greek rulers were depicted as grown men. This was probably because the kings were required to command armies, as can be seen on their coins where they are often depicted with helmets and spears. Agathokleia seems to have associated herself with Athena, the goddess of war. Athena was also the dynastic deity of the family of Menander, and Agathokleia's prominent position suggests that she was herself the daughter of a king, though she was probably too late to have been a daughter of the Bactrian king Agathocles.

Agathocles (son of Lysimachus)

Agathocles (Greek: Ἀγαθοκλῆς; born between 320–310s BC – died 284 BC) was a Greek Prince who was of Macedonian and Thessalian descent. He was the son born to Lysimachus from his first wife the Queen consort, Nicaea a daughter of the powerful regent Antipater. His full blooded siblings were his younger sisters:Eurydice and Arsinoe I.

Agathocles was sent by his father against the Getae, about 292 BC, but was defeated and taken prisoner. He was kindly treated by Dromichaetes the king of the Getae, and sent back to his father with presents; but Lysimachus, notwithstanding, marched against the Getae, and was taken prisoner himself. He too was also released by Dromichaetes, who received in consequence the daughter of Lysimachus in marriage. According to some authors it was only Agathocles and according to others only Lysimachus, who was taken prisoner.

In 287 BC Agathocles was sent by his father against Demetrius I Poliorcetes, who had marched into Anatolia to deprive Lysimachus of Lydia and Caria. In this expedition he was successful; he defeated Demetrius I and drove him out of his father's provinces. Agathocles was destined to be the successor of Lysimachus, and was popular among his subjects. His stepmother Arsinoe II, prejudiced the mind of his father against him and after an unsuccessful attempt to poison him, Lysimachus cast him into prison and had him executed (284 BC). His maternal cousin-wife and now widow Lysandra with their children fled with Alexander (Agathocles' paternal half-brother) to Seleucus I Nicator in Syria, who made war upon Lysimachus in consequence.