Editing Strato II (section)

==Coins of Strato II, III and Strato Dikaios==
[[File:Strato II other coin.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Coin of '''Strato II''' and '''Strato III'''.<br>'''Obv:''' Probable bust of Strato II. Possible Greek legend: ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩΣ ϹΩΤΙΡΟϹ ϹΤΡΑΤΩΝΟϹ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΑ / ϹΤΡΑΤΩΝΟϹ "Of Kings Strato the Saviour and Strato the Father-loving".<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Coins of the Graeco-Indian sovereigns agathokleia, Strato I Soter, and Strato II Philopator|title=Corolla Numismatica|others=Numismatic essays in honour of Barclay V. Head. With a portrait and eighteen plates|place=Oxford|year=1906|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029768565#page/n269/mode/2up|first=E.J.|last=Rapson}} At the [[Internet Archive]].</ref><br>
'''Rev:''' [[Athena]] holding a thunderbolt. [[Kharoshthi]] legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA STRATASA, POTRASA CASA PRIYAPITA STRATASA "King Strato the Saviour, and his grandson Strato the Father-loving.]]
[[File:Coins of Strato and Rajuvula discovered together in a mound in Mathura.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Coins of Strato II (top) and [[Rajuvula]] (bottom) discovered together in a mound in [[Mathura]].<ref>{{cite book |last3=Cunningham |title=The journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. |date=1854 |volume=23 |pages=689–691 Plate XXXV|publisher=Bishop's College Press |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124458#page/788/mode/1up}}</ref>]]
The chronology of the late Indo-Greek kingdom has been established by [[Bopearachchi]] and other scholars from numismatical evidence alone. The coins deteriorated continuously, the Strato coins being the most debased and crude in style, a striking contrast to earlier kings who struck some of the most beautiful coins of antiquity.

The decay was due to the increasing pressure of the [[Indo-Scythian]] nomads on the remaining Greek pockets, as well as their long isolation from the rest of the Hellenistic world.

[[Image:IGM62.jpg|thumb|left|The boxy mint mark characteristic of Strato II and III and late Indo-Greek kings.]]
Strato II and III used exclusively a single "boxy" mint-mark, which they had in common with late Indo-Greek kings such as [[Apollophanes]] and was initiated by [[Dionysios Soter]].<ref name="JJ">{{cite journal|last1=Jakobsson|first1=J|title=A Possible New Indo-Greek King Zoilos III, and an Analysis of Realism on Indo-Greek Royal Portraits|journal=Numismatic Chronicle|date=2010}} [https://www.jstor.org/stable/42678881 JSTOR article]</ref>

Strato II, Strato III and Strato Dikaios struck debased silver drachms, which as mentioned portray Pallas on the reverse. Strato II appears as an old man with a sunken jaw on some of his coins, which is not surprising given that his grandson was co-regent.

Strato II also issued bronzes and even lead coins of the common type Apollo/tripod. On some of Strato II's silver drachms the letter [[sigma]] is written as C (a [[lunate sigma]]), a not uncommon trait on late Hellenistic coins in the east.