Apollodotus I

Apollodotus I Soter
Indo-Greek king
Portrait of Apollodotus.
Reign	180–160 BCE or between 174–165 BCE
Predecessor	Agathocles of Bactria
Successor	Demetrius II of India
Born	Bactria in Central Asia
Died	ca. 163–62 BCE Ohind near Taxila, Pakistan
Dynasty	Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
Father	Eucratides I
Mother	Theophila

Apollodotus I Soter (Greek: Ἀπολλόδοτος Α΄ ὁ Σωτήρ; the epithet means the "Saviour"; Prakrit in the Kharoshti script: maharajasa apaladatasa tratarasa) was an Indo-Greek king between 180 BCE and 160 BCE or between 174 and 165 BCE (first dating Osmund Bopearachchi and R. C. Senior, second dating Boperachchi) who ruled the western and southern parts of the Indo-Greek kingdom, from Taxila in Punjab to the areas of Sindh and possibly Gujarat.

Apollodotus was not the first to strike bilingual coins outside Bactria, but he was the first king who ruled in India only, and therefore the founder of the proper Indo-Greek kingdom. According to W. W. Tarn, Apollodotus I was one of the generals of Demetrius I of Bactria, the Greco-Bactrian king who invaded northwestern India after 180 BCE. Tarn was uncertain whether he was a member of the royal house. Later authors largely agree with Tarn's analysis, though with perhaps even more uncertainty regarding who the king was, for his coins do not give many hints.

Apollodotus was either succeeded in India by Antimachus II, or the two kings were contemporary, Antimachus II ruling the more western territories closer to Bactria. Eventually Apollodotus I was succeeded by Menander I, and the two kings are mentioned by Pompejus Trogus as important Indo-Greek rulers.

The 1st-2nd century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea further testifies to the reign of Apollodotus I and the influence of the Indo-Greeks in India: