Apollodotos I 174BC Baktrian Indo Greek King of India Apollo Ancient Coin i46915

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Seller: highrating_lowprice ✉️ (26,786) 100%, Location: Rego Park, New York, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 321660855873 Apollodotos I 174BC Baktrian Indo Greek King of India Apollo Ancient Coin i46915. Apollodotos I - King, circa 174-165 B.C. (Maharajasa Apaladatasa tradarasa [of Great King Apollodotos the Savior]) around tripod; monogram in field. Baktrian Indo Greek Kingdom in India. Apollodotus also issued a small series of monolingual Attic tetradrachms, intended for export into Bactria.
Item: i46915   Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Baktrian Indo Greek Kingdom in India Apollodotos I - King, circa 174-165 B.C. Bronze 25mm (6.58 grams) Uncertain mint in the Paropamisadai or Gandhara Reference: HGC 12, 120; Bopearachchi Serie 6.1-94 ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / AΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ / ΣΩTHPOΣ, Apollo standing facing, holding arrow and grounded bow. (Maharajasa Apaladatasa tradarasa [of Great King Apollodotos the Savior]) around tripod; monogram in field.

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A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is particularly associated with Apollo and the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece , and the word "tripod" comes from the Greek meaning "three-footed."

  Apollo and Heracles struggle for the Delphic tripod (Attic black-figure hydria , c. 520 BC)

Ancient Greece

The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the Delphic tripod from which the Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the oracles of the deity. The seat was formed by a circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which a branch of laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by the priestess. In this sense, by Classical times the tripod was sacred to Apollo . The mytheme of Heracles contesting with Apollo for the tripod appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth.

  Priestess of Delphi (1891), as imagined by John Collier ; the Pythia is inspired by pneuma rising from below as she sits on a tripod

Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the Plataean Tripod ; it was made from a tenth part of the spoils taken from the Persian army after the Battle of Plataea . This consisted of a golden basin, supported by a bronze serpent with three heads (or three serpents intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the Phocians during the Third Sacred War (356–346 BC); the stand was removed by the emperor Constantine to Constantinople in 324, where in modern Istanbul it still can be seen in the hippodrome , the Atmeydanı , although in damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription, however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as support in addition to the three legs.

Tripods frequently are mentioned by Homer as prizes in athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served the same purpose. They also were used as dedicatory offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic contests at the Dionysia the victorious choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He would either dedicate the tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in Athens , called the street of tripods,   from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates , erected by him to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The form of the victory tripod, now missing from the top of the Lysicrates monument, has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century.

  An ancient Greek coin c. 330-300 BC. Laureate head of Apollo (left) and ornate tripod (right).

Martin L. West writes that the sibyl at Delphi shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state, similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible.

According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144), the victory tripods were not to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications.

Sometimes the tripod was used as a support for a lebes or cauldron or for supporting other items such as a vase.

 

Ancient China     A ding from the late Shang Dynasty .

Tripod pottery have been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since the earliest Neolithic cultures of Cishan and Peiligang in the 7th and 8th millennium BC. Sacrificial tripods were also found in use in ancient China usually cast in bronze but sometimes appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as "dings" and usually have three legs, but in some usages have four legs.

The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when a "National Unity Tripod" made of bronze was presented by the central Chinese government to the government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to mark its fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel symbolizing unity.

 

In Greek and Roman mythology , Apollo , is one of the most important and diverse of the Olympian deities . The ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery ; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto , and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis . Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu . Apollo was worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion , as well as in the modern Greco -Roman Neopaganism .

As the patron of Delphi (Pythian Apollo ), Apollo was an oracular god — the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle . Medicine and healing were associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius , yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague as well as one who had the ability to cure. Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists , and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. As the leader of the Muses (Apollon Musagetes ) and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry . Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans .

In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios , god of the sun , and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene , goddess of the moon . In Latin texts, on the other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of Apollo with Sol among the Augustan poets of the first century, not even in the conjurations of Aeneas and Latinus in Aeneid XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third century CE.


Apollodotus I Soter (Greek: Ἀπολλόδοτος Α΄ ὁ Σωτήρ ; the epithet means the "Saviour"; Sanskrit : महरजस अपलदतस त्रतरस, "maharajasa apaladatasa tratarasa" ) was an Indo-Greek king between 180 BCE and 160 BCE or between 174 and 165 BCE (first dating Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, second dating Boperachchi) who ruled the western and southern parts of the Indo-Greek kingdom, from Taxila in Punjab to the areas of Sindh and possibly Gujarat .

Ruler of the Indo-Greek kingdom

Apollodotus was not the first to strike bilingual coins outside of Bactria, but he was the first king who ruled in India only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom. According to W. W. Tarn , Apollodotus I was one of the generals of Demetrius I of Bactria , the Greco-Bactrian king who invaded northwestern India after 180 BCE. Tarn was uncertain whether he was a member of the royal house. Later authors largely agree with Tarn's analysis, though with perhaps even more uncertainty regarding who the king was, for his coins do not give many hints.

Apollodotus was either succeeded in India by Antimachus II , or the two kings were contemporary, Antimachus II ruling the more western territories closer to Bactria. Eventually Apollodotus I was succeeded by Menander I , and the two kings are mentioned by Pompejus Trogus as important Indo-Greek rulers.

The 1st-2nd century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea further testifies to the reign of Apollodotus I and the influence of the Indo-Greeks in India:

"To the present day ancient drachmae are current in Barygaza , coming from this country, bearing inscriptions in Greek letters, and the devices of those who reigned after Alexander, Apollodorus [sic] and Menander ."

—Periplus Chap. 47.

Coinage   Indian-standard coin of Apollodotus I . Obv: Sacred elephant with decorative belt and Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ, "of Saviour King Apollodotus". Rev: Zebu bull with Kharoshti legend 𐨨𐨱𐨪𐨗𐨯 𐨀𐨤𐨫𐨡𐨟𐨯 𐨟𐨿𐨪𐨟𐨪𐨯 (MAHARAJASA APALADATASA TRATARASA), "Saviour King Apollodotus". Actual size: 15 mm, 1.4 grams.   Indian coin of Apollodotus I.

The coinage of Apollodotus is, together with that of Menander, one of the most abundant of the Indo-Greek kings. It is found mainly in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat , indicating the southern limit of the Indo-Greek expansion in India. This is also suggested by the Periplus , a 1st-century CE document on trade in the Indian Ocean , which describes the remnants of Greek presence (shrines, barracks, wells, coinage) in the strategic port of Barygaza (Bharuch) in Gujarat. Strabo (XI) also describes the occupation of Patalene (Indus Delta country). While Sindh may have come under his possession, it is not known as to whether Apollodotus advanced to Gujarat, where the Satavahanas ruled.

Apollodotus also issued a great number of bilingual Indian-standard square coins. Beside the usual royal title, the exact significance of the animals depicted on the coins is unclear. The sacred elephant may be the symbol of the city of Taxila , or possibly the symbol of the white elephant who reputedly entered in dream the womb the mother of the Buddha , Queen Maya , which would make it a symbol of Buddhism , one of the main religions of the Indo-Greek territories.

Similarly, the sacred bull on the reverse may be a symbol of a city (Pushkhalavati), or a depiction of Shiva , making it a symbol of Hinduism , the other major religion at that time. The bull is often represented in a clearly erectile state, which reinforces its interpretation as a representation of Shiva. Conversely, this also reinforces the interpretation of the elephant as a religious symbol. Alternatively, the Bull, according to Foucher , represents the birth of the Buddha, as it happened during the month of Vaicakha (April–May), known to Buddhists as Vesak , under the zodiacal sign of the Taurus , during the full moon. The enlightenment and passing of the Buddha also occurred during the Taurus full moon.

Before their design was eventually simplified, some of the earlier coins of king Apollodotus directly associate the elephant with Buddhist symbolism, such as the stupa hill surmounted by a star, also seen, for example on the coins of the Mauryan Empire or those of the later Kuninda kingdom . Apollodotus experimented with different coin standards for his silver, until he settled for a standard lighter than the Attic which would prevail for centuries, though later rulers usually struck round coins instead of the square (typically Indian) shape of most of Apollodotus' silver. He issued a number of bronzes with Apollo /tripod, that also were repeated for centuries.

Bactrian coins

Apollodotus also issued a small series of monolingual Attic tetradrachms, intended for export into Bactria. For these, Apollodotus I clearly used Bactrian celators to strike an exquisite realistic portrait of the king as an aged man in the Macedonian hat called kausia, with a reverse of sitting Pallas Athene holding Nike , a common Hellenistic motif introduced by the Diadoch Lysimachus . On these coins, he used no epithet.

Preceded by: (In Paropamisade ) Agathocles (In Gandhara ) Pantaleon Indo-Greek Ruler (Paropamisade, Arachosia , Gandhara , Punjab ) 180–160 BCE Succeeded by: Antimachus II

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