Women were relegated to secondary roles in Ancient Greece, which is why most queenly names belong to mythology: Jocasta, Leda, Pelops, Gorgophone, Aglaea… A few historical ones could be added, but they ruled only as consorts, such as Stratonice of Cappadocia, Philistis, Nereis of Epirus, or Stratonice of Pergamum.
However, during the Hellenistic Period, things began to change, and figures like Berenice, Arsinoe, and Cleopatra emerged. One of the earliest was Agathocleia, whose domains were in northern India, and she served as regent for her son Strato I.
Known as Agathocleia Theotropos, with the latter epithet meaning something like “godlike”, she is believed to have been born around 150 BCE in Bactria, as the Greeks called a region in Central Asia situated between what classical authors referred to as the Paropamisus or Indian Caucasus (the present-day Hindu Kush mountain range) to the south and the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) to the north. Today, this territory is divided among Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Its capital was Bactra or Zaraspa (modern-day Balkh in Afghanistan).

Around 250 BCE, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was founded in this region, an independent state carved out of the Seleucid Empire by the post-Alexandrian satrap of Bactria, Diodotus I. He rebelled against Antiochus II Theos, taking advantage of the latter’s war with the Egyptian Ptolemies, and proclaimed himself king. The kingdom represented the easternmost boundary of the Hellenic world, though isolated from it due to the rise of the Parthian Empire. Diodotus was succeeded by his son, who was eventually overthrown by Euthydemus, the founder of a new dynasty.
Euthydemus’ son and successor, Demetrius I, expanded his domains to Sogdiana and conquered territories from the Maurya Empire following its collapse due to attacks by the Shunga dynasty. He titled himself King of India and is thus considered the founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
The most notable monarch of this kingdom was Menander I, who extended its borders by taking over Punjab, Sindh, and Gujarat, possibly reaching Pataliputra. He also introduced Buddhism and is thought to have converted to it, although his coins depicted the image of Athena Alkidemos (Athena the Savior).

Menander established the capital at Sagala (modern Sialkot, near the India-Pakistan border) and faced challenges from the Greco-Bactrian usurper Eucratides I, whom he managed to push back to the Paropamisus (the Pamir mountain range).
It is possible that, in an effort to avoid further conflict, Menander married Agathocleia, who is believed to have been of royal or noble lineage. Some even suggest she was Eucratides’ daughter, though there is no evidence to support this claim. In any case, Menander died in 130 BCE, leaving the widow in a challenging situation.
The heir, Strato I, was only an eight-year-old boy, which led some regions—Paropamisus and Arachosia—to break away. Agathocleia and her son were forced to move the court to Gandhara and Punjab for safety, helplessly watching the kingdom disintegrate. Thus, Strato was probably not proclaimed king until later, at some uncertain date between 125 and 110 BCE, according to numismatic records, leading some historians to question whether he was truly Menander’s son.

In fact, it has been suggested that Agathocleia—who should not be confused with the mistress of the same name of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator—might not have been Menander’s wife but rather married to another monarch, possibly Nicias or Theophilus, two rulers in the aforementioned Paropamisus (an Alexandrian satrapy located between Afghanistan and Pakistan). It is speculated that the former could have been a relative and successor to Menander; in any case, both may have ruled simultaneously, with the dates remaining unclear due to much of the information being derived from coinage, which was often reused from other rulers.
Even worse, numismatics further complicates matters by introducing a third hypothesis. According to this theory, the coins preserved with the name of Straton show differences in titulature, monogram, and types, suggesting that they actually correspond to two distinct kings who ruled between approximately 105 and 80 BCE. These would be Straton Soter and Dikaios (“Straton the Savior and Just”), the true son of Agathoclea, and Straton Epiphanes Soter (“Straton the Illustrious, Savior”), lord of western Punjab and supposedly Agathoclea’s brother.
Be that as it may, Agathoclea must not have had it easy, as in the Hellenic mindset of the time, it was not well-accepted for a woman to wield power, not even as a regent. Yet she did so, becoming one of the first to do so and aiding Straton in overcoming the fact that, unlike in the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, it was also frowned upon for a monarch to be young. The most likely reason for this was that the sovereign was expected to lead the army (hence often depicted in military panoply on coins), which required a certain level of experience.

This could explain why Agathoclea was depicted as Athena, the goddess of wisdom but also of war, whose iconography typically portrays her with a helmet, shield, and spear. Incidentally, Athena was also the deity of Menander’s family, which can be considered another element in favor of the theory that Agathoclea was the daughter of a king. As previously mentioned, there was a time when it was speculated without evidence that her father was Eucratides; another candidate considered was Agathocles, king of Bactria.
Of Agathocles, who ruled roughly between 190 and 180 BCE, it is not known whether he was the son of Demetrius I or Diodotus II, nor whether his overthrow was due to the Greco-Bactrian Antimachus I or the aforementioned usurper Eucratides I. Experts suggest that these monarchs co-ruled at various points; however, they did so chronologically too far removed from Agathoclea, making it virtually impossible for her to be a direct descendant of either.
The greatest testimony of her reign is once again provided by numismatics. Most of her coins were minted in her name and that of her offspring, Straton, which is why both their effigies appear and often with bilingual inscriptions, in Greek and Indian dialects, though her name is more frequently featured in the former. Once Straton reached adulthood—as evidenced by his depiction with a beard—Agathoclea gradually disappeared from the coins. It is believed she died around 100 BCE, being buried in a stupa in Gandhara.
This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on December 23, 2024: Agatoclea, la reina griega que gobernó al norte de la India
SOURCES
William Woodthorpe, The Greeks in Bactria and India
Rachel Mairs (ed.), The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek world
E. Astin (dir.), The Cambridge Ancient History
A. K. Narain, The Indo-Greeks
Wikipedia, Agatoclea (Reina)
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