kingdom · South Asia
Indo-Greek Kingdom
Origins
Around 180 BCE Demetrius I of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom crossed the Hindu Kush into the Kabul valley and the Punjab, taking advantage of the fall of the Maurya Empire. His successors founded a series of Greek-ruled kingdoms in Gandhara and the Punjab, often rivals of one another and of their Bactrian cousins.
Rule and society
Indo-Greek kings issued bilingual coins with Greek on one side and Prakrit in Kharoshthi on the other, often showing Greek gods beside Indian symbols. Menander I, ruling from Sagala, raided deep into the Ganges plain and appears in the Buddhist text Milindapanha as King Milinda, questioning the monk Nagasena. The envoy Heliodorus, sent by King Antialcidas, set up a pillar to Vasudeva at Vidisha.
Decline and legacy
Pressed by Indo-Scythians and Yuezhi from the north-west, the Indo-Greek kingdoms shrank during the 1st century BCE. The last known king, Strato II, ruled in the eastern Punjab until around 10. Their artistic legacy fed into the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- Indo-Greek Kingdom was conquered by Indo-Scythians80 BCE – 10 CE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Indo-Greek Kingdom. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/indo-greek-kingdom
- MLA
- “Indo-Greek Kingdom.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/indo-greek-kingdom. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Indo-Greek Kingdom.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/indo-greek-kingdom.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Indo-Greek Kingdom’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/indo-greek-kingdom (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻