page_title: Agathocles of Bactria
section_title: Nickel coins
hierarchical_section_title: Agathocles of Bactria / Nickel coins
caption_attribution_description: English: Agathokles. Circa 185-180 BC. CU-NI Double Unit (23mm, 8.16 g, 11h). Bust of Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath, thyrsos over shoulder Rev Panther with bell around neck standing right, raising paw;
context_page_description: Agathocles Dikaios was a Greco-Bactrian/ Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BC. He might have been a son of Demetrius and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and Indus-Ganges plains. In that case, he was a grandson of Euthydemus whom he qualified on his coins as Βασιλεὺς Θεός, Basileus Theos.
  Agathocles was contemporary with or a successor of king Pantaleon. He seems to have been attacked and killed by the usurper Eucratides, who took control of the Greco-Bactrian territory. Little is known about him, apart from his extensive coinage.
context_section_description: Also, Agathocles and Pantaleon, along with their contemporary Euthydemus II, are unique in the ancient world, in that they were the first in the world to issue copper-nickel (75/25 ratio) coins, an alloy technology only known by the Chinese at the time (some weapons from the Warring States period were in copper-nickel alloy). These coins are indicative of the existence of trade links with China around that time (see Greco-Bactrian kingdom). Copper-nickel would not be used again in coinage until the 19th century in the United States.
  These coins used the symbolism of Dionysos with a thyrsus over his left shoulder and his panther, which were his type for smaller coinage.
caption: Agathokles nickel coin with Dionysos and panther with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ.
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