Baktria , Indo-Greek Kingdom in India
Hermaios - King, circa 105-90 B.C.
Indo-Scythian Types of the Paropamisadai and Gandhara
Silver Drachm 15mm (2.34 grams) Struck circa 105-90 B.C.
Uncertain mint in the Paropamisadai
Reference: HGC 12, 293; Bopearachchi Serie 3
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ  EPMAIOY, Diademed bust of Hermaios right.
(Maharajasa tratasa Heramayasa [of Great King Hermaios the Savior]), Zeus-Mithra  enthroned facing three-quarters to left, making benediction gesture and holding  scepter; monogram in field to right.

The last king of the western Indo-Greek realm, Hermaios had a long and eventful  reign in the course of which his fortunes fluctuated considerably. In the early  stages, when his wife Kalliope seems to have shared his throne, Hermaios pursued  an aggressive foreign policy and re-conquered some territories which his  predecessors had lost. However, his success was only transitory and the  Indo-Greeks found themselves surrounded by powerful enemies. Eventually Hermaios  was defeated by the Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, bringing to an end more than  three centuries of Greek dominion in the area.

Biblical connection

Although very unlikely, some Christian Biblical scholars have suggested that  Hermaeus may have been one of the three Kings (actually identified as being Magi by the bible, and unnumbered) from the east who are related to  have visited Jesus at the time of his birth:

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King  Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has  been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship  him" Matthew 2:1–8 .

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The Baktrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms

The ancient authors have furnished us with very little information concerning  this easternmost of all the Greek realms. Accordingly, the numismatic evidence  is of more than usual importance in the attempt to piece together the history of  the kings who ruled in Baktria and, later, in the area south of the Hindu Kush.  The kingdom was created from the Seleucid province of Baktro-Sogdiana when the  satrap Diodotos declared himself independent of Antiochus II about 256 B.C.  Antiochus III, at the end of the century, tried unsuccessfully to reimpose  Seleucid authority in the area, and early in the 2nd century B.C. King Demetrios  of Baktria extended his rule southwards to include former provinces of the  Mauryan  Empire. The first bilingual coins, with inscriptions in Greek and  Karosthi and struck on new 'Indo-Greek' weight standard, date from this time of  Greek expansion. Much of Baktria was lost to Scythian invaders about 130 B.C.,  and before the end of the century what was left of the Indo-Greek kingdom split  into eastern and western divisions. By the end of the 1st century B.C. the last  traces of Greek rule had disappeared, submerged beneath the tide of Kushan  conquest.
 

Hermaeus Soter "the Saviour" 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 (near today's Kabul , Afghanistan ). Bopearachchi dates Hermaeus to  circa 90–70 BCE and R. C. Senior to circa 95–80 BCE but concedes that  Bopearachchi's later date could be correct.

Hermaeus seems to have been successor of Philoxenus or Diomedes , and his wife Kalliope 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 overtook 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 .

Following his reign, it is generally considered that Greek communities  remained under the rule of these Hellenized nomads, continuing rich cultural  interraction (See Greco-Buddhism ). Some parts of his kingdom may  have been taken over by later kings, such as Amyntas Nikator .

The coinage of Hermaeus was copied widely (posthumous issues), in  increasingly barbarized form by the new nomad rulers down to around 40 CE (see Yuezhi article). At that time, Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises emphatically associated  himself to Hermaeus on his coins, suggesting he was either a descendant by  alliance of the Greek king, or that at least he wanted to claim his legacy. In  any case, the Yuezhi-Kushan 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.

Coins of Hermaeus

Hermaeus issued Indian silver coins of three types. The first type has  diademed or sometimes helmeted portrait, with reverse of sitting Zeus making  benediction gesture. Hermaeus also issued a rare series of Attic silver  tetradrachms of this type, which were issued for export to Bactria.

The second type was a joint series of Hermaeus with his queen Kalliope. The  reverse departs from the traditional Hermaeus format, in that it shows the king  on a prancing horse. The "king on a pracing horse" is characteristic of the  contemporary Greek kings in the eastern Punjab such as Hippostratos , and it has been suggested that  the coin represented a marital alliance between the two dynastic lines. The  horseman on Hermaeus' version is however portrayed somewhat different, being  equipped with a typic Scythian longbow.

The third series combined the reverses of the first series, without portrait.

Hermaeus also issued bronze coins with head of Zeus-Mithras  and a prancing horse on the reverse.

Contacts with China

A Chinese historical record from the Hanshu Chap. 96A could possible be related to  Hermaeus, even though this is very speculative and the record more likely refers  to later Saka kings. The chronicle tells how a king who may possibly be  identified as Hermaeus received the support of the Chinese against Indo-Scythian occupants, and may explain why  his kingdom was suddenly so prosperous despite the general decline of the  Indo-Greeks during the period. The Chinese records would put Hermaeus's dates  later, with his reign ending around 40 BCE.

According to the Hanshu , Chap. 96A, Wutoulao (Spalirises?),  king of Jibin (Kophen, upper Kabul Valley), killed some Chinese envoys.  After the death of the king, his son (Spaladagames) sent an envoy to China with  gifts. The Chinese general Wen Zhong, commander of the border area in western Gansu , accompanied the escort back. Wutoulao's  son plotted to kill Wen Zhong. When Wen Zhong discovered the plot, he allied  himself with Yinmofu (Hermaeus?), "son of the king of Rongqu" (Yonaka,  the Greeks). They attacked Jibin (possibly with the support of the Yuezhi , themselves allies of the Chinese since  around 100 BCE according to the Hanshu) and killed Wutoulao's son. Yinmofu (Hermaeus?)  was then installed as king of Jibin, as a vassal of the Chinese Empire, and  receiving the Chinese seal and ribbon of investiture.

Later Yinmofu (Hermaeus?) himself is recorded to have killed Chinese envoys  in the reign of Emperor Yuandi (48–33 BCE), then sent envoys to  apologize to the Chinese court, but he was disregarded. During the reign of Emperor Chengdi (51–7 BCE) other envoys were  sent, but they were rejected as simple traders.

These events may have initiated an alliance between the Greeks and the Yuezhi  (even possibly a dynastic alliance), explaining why the Yuezhi gained  pre-eminence after the reign of Hermaeus, why their rulers such as Heraios then minted coins in a way very  faithful to the Greek type, and why the first Kushan emperor Kujula Kadphises associated himself with  Hermaeus on his coins, in a way characteristic of a ruler asserting his  pedigree.

Biblical connection

Although very unlikely, some Christian Biblical scholars have suggested that  Hermaeus may have been one of the three Kings (actually identified as being Magi by the bible, and unnumbered) from the east who are related to  have visited Jesus at the time of his birth:

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King  Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has  been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship  him" Matthew 2:1–8 .