Apollodotus I

[2] Apollodotus whose name means "given by Apollo",[3] was not the first to strike bilingual coins outside Bactria, but he was the first king who ruled in India only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom.

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 AD 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.

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.

[10] The elephant, pendant to the bull, and shown with a girdle on the obverse, also must have a symbolic role, possibly Buddhism, as it was associated with the stupa hill in the earliest coins of Apollodotus.

For these, Apollodotus I clearly used Bactrian celators to strike a realistic portrait of the king as an aged man in the Macedonian Greek hat called kausia, with a reverse of sitting Pallas Athene holding Nike, a common Hellenistic motif introduced by the Diadoch Lysimachus.

Attic Tetradrachm of Apollodotus I shown wearing a kausia hat. The Greek inscription reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ, Basileōs Apollodotou, "of King Apollodotus". The reverse shows Athena holding Nike in right hand, spear in left, resting her left elbow on shield.
Early bilingual drachm (rare) of Apollodotus I. Greek legend reads: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΠΟΛΛΟΔΟΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ Basileōs Apollodotou Sotēros, "of Saviour King Apollodotus".
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), [ 7 ] "of Saviour King Apollodotus".
Actual size: 15 mm, 1.4 grams.
The first Indian coins of Apollodotus showed symbols and depicted animals. These coins associated the elephant with the Buddhist Chaitya or arched-hill symbol , sun symbols, six-armed symbol, and a river. The bull had a Nandipada in front.
A damaged Attic tetradrachm of Apollodotus I found in Ai-Khanoum , a Greek city in Bactria.