Hermaeus (ca. 90-70 BCE) was one of the last of the Greco-Indian kings. His reign came to an end when the Indo-Scythians overran his Indian kingdom in the Paropamisadae. His wife was Kalliope, represented conjointly on some of his coins.

Following his reign, it is generally considered that Greek communities remained under the rule of the Hellenized nomads, continuing rich cultural interraction (See Greco-Buddhism).

The coinage of Hermaeus was copied widely (posthumous issues) by the Indo-Scythian kings down to around 1 BCE.

Although rather unlikely, some Biblical scholars have suggested that Hermaeus may have been one of the three Kings (or Magi) 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 .

Hermaeus issued joint coins of himself with his queen Kalliope.

The coin type on the reverse departs from the traditional Hermaeus format, in that it shows the king on a prancing horse, rather than Hermeaus' usual seated Zeus figure.

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.

External links

• Coins of Hermaeus
• More coins of Hermaeus
• Hermaios and the birth of Jesus

See also

• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Seleucid Empire
• Greco-Buddhism
• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Kushan Empire

References

• "The Greeks in Bactria and India", W.W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.
• "The Coin types of the Indo-Greek Kings 256-54 BCE", A.K. Narain