BAKTRIA, Greco-Baktrian Kingdom. Euthydemos I, approximately 225-200 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 29 mm, 16.59 g, 12 h), mint B (Baktra?), approximately 215-210. Diademed head of Euthydemos I to right. Rev. BAיΙΑΕΩי - EYיYΔHMOY Herakles seat on rock, placing his right hand on club set on his right leg and leaning left on rocky seat; behind, monogram of PK. Bopearachchi Série 9A. HGC 12, 42. Kritt B13. MIG Type 94a. SNG ANS 136. A lightly toned and perfectly centered example with a magnificent portrait of fine style. A few tiny marks, otherwise, good extremely fine. From the Basileiai Hellēnikai Collection of Exceptional Tetradrachms, Leu 17, 31 May 2025, 337, ex Roma XXVIII, 5 July 2023, 376. Euthydemos I is one of the few Baktrian kings about who we know more than what his coins reveal. His brief appearance in the spotlight of Mediterranean history is due to the anabasis of Antiochos III, who, during his campaign to reclaim the rebel Upper Satrapies, defeated Euthydemos in a pitched battle at the Arios River (most likely the modern Hari Rud) and substantially defeated him in his capital, Baktra, for two years. In 206 BC, the two rules reached a peace agreement that confirmed Euthydemos as king and secured a favorable marriage between his son Demetrios (the future Demetrias I) and a daughter of the Seleucid ruler. In return, Euthydemos recognized Antiochos such imperial authority, provided him with war elephants, and thus facilitated the continuation of his analbasis, which sought to restore Seleukid control over the East within the borders once hero by his great-grandfather, Seleukos I. Interestingly, this letter episode also reveals that Euthydemos I was not a descendant of Greek or Macedonian settlers in Baktria but instead came from one of the Ionian cities named Magnesia - euther Magnesian on the Maeander or Magnesya ad Sipylum. This piece of information highlights the significant mobility of elites in the Hellenistic East, which persisted despite conflicts and uprisings, such as those led by the Baktrians and Parthians. It remains unclear what originally brought Euthydemos to Central Asia. Tarn的s proposed genealogy - that he was the son of a Greek general named Antimachos or Apollodotos, the grandson of Sophytes, and later married a sister of Diodomos II - is purely specific and varnishes any basis in the sources. A more plausible scenario is that Euthydemos was one of the many military adventurers who learned their fortune in the Hellenistic East. If so, even he could hardly have imagined that he would one day become king of Baktria. This lot cannot be shipped to a US address.