page_title: Hermaeus
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Hermaeus / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Hermaios coin
context_page_description: Hermaeus Soter or Hermaios Soter was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who ruled the territory of Paropamisade in the Hindu-Kush region, with his capital in Alexandria of the Caucasus. Bopearachchi dates Hermaeus to c. 90–70 BCE and R. C. Senior to c. 95–80 BCE.
context_section_description: Hermaeus seems to have been successor of Philoxenus or Diomedes, and his wife Kalliope (Greek: Καλλιόπη) may have been a daughter of Philoxenus, according to Senior. Judging from his coins, Hermaeus' rule was long and prosperous, but came to an end when the Yuezhi, coming from neighbouring Bactria, overran most of his Greek kingdom in the Paropamisade around 70 BCE. According to Bopearachchi, these nomads were the Yuezhi, the ancestors of the Kushans, whereas Senior considers them Sakas.
  Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises associated himself to Hermaeus on his coins, either in attempt to solidify legitimacy or due to the difficulties minting early coins. In any case, the Yuezhi-Kushans preserved a close cultural interaction with the Greeks as late as the 3rd century CE.
  Given the importance of Hermaeus to the nomad rulers, it is possible that Hermaeus himself was partially of nomad origin.
caption: Coin of Hermaeus. Greek legend: BΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΕΡΜΑΙΟΥ "Of the Saviour King Hermaeus". British Museum.
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