Editing Strato II

{{about|Indo-Greek kings|the airplane|Grob Strato 2C}}

{{Infobox royalty
| name            =Strato II 
| succession      =[[Indo-Greek]] king
| image           = Rajuvula coin Northern Satrap with Greek legend and Athena Alkidemos.jpg
| religion        = [[Greco-Buddhism]]
| caption         =[[Saka]] imitation of Strato II
| reign           =25 BCE – 10 CE
|predecessor=[[Menander II]] (dynastically)|successor=[[Strato III]]| death_date      = 10 CE 
| death_place     = [[Mathura]]
|}}
[[File:Strato_II_fine.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|<small>Coin of Strato II.<br>'''Obv:''' Bust of Strato II. Greek legend: BASILEOS SOTEROS STRATONOS "Of King Strato the Savior".<br>'''Rev:''' [[Athena]] holding a thunderbolt. [[Kharoshthi]] legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA STRATASA "King Strato the Saviour".</small>]]
'''Strato II''' '''[[Soter]]''' ({{langx|grc|Στράτων B΄ ὁ Σωτήρ}}, ''Strátōn B΄ ho Sotḗr''; [[epithet]] means "the Saviour") also known as '''Stratha''', was an [[Indo-Greek]] king. He ruled {{Circa|25&nbsp;BCE}} to 10 CE according to Bopearachchi. R. C. Senior suggests that his reign ended perhaps a decade earlier. He may have been supplanted by the [[Indo-Scythian]] [[Northern Satraps]], particularly [[Rajuvula]] and [[Bhadayasa]], whose coins were often copied on those of the last Indo-Greek kings.<ref name="Rosenfield">The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans, John M. Rosenfield, University of California Press, 1967, p.135 [https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA135]</ref> Numerous coins of Rajuvula have been found in company with the coins of the Strato group in the [[Punjab, India|Eastern Punjab]] (to the east of the [[Jhelum]]) and also in the [[Mathura]] area:<ref>Mathurā and Its Society: The ʼSakæ-Pahlava Phase, Bratindra Nath Mukherjee, Firma K.L.M., 1981, p.9</ref> for example, 96 coins of Strato II were found in Mathura in conjunction with coins of [[Rajuvula]], who also imitated the designs of Strato II in the majority of his issues.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan63894/pdf |title=Bibliography of Greek coin hoards, p. 194-195 |access-date=2016-12-08 |archive-date=2018-05-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525113741/http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan63894/pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Rule==
[[File:Strato II Soter Maharajasa tratarasa Stratasa.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Monolingual coin of Strato II Soter in [[Prakrit]] only. '''Obv.''' [[Apollo]] standing right, with quiver on back, holding arrow; thick [[bead-and-reel]] border. '''Obv.''' [[Diadem]] with [[Kharoshthi]] legend "Maharajasa tratarasa Stratasa" (Saviour King Strato).]]
Strato II ruled in the eastern [[Punjab region|Punjab]], probably retaining the capital of [[Sagala]] (modern [[Sialkot]], [[Pakistan]]), or possibly to the city of Bucephala (Plutarch, p.&nbsp;48 n. 5).
[[File:Strato II East Punjab territory with capital in Sagala.jpg|left|thumb|Approximate region of [[East Punjab]] and Strato II's capital [[Sagala]].]]
His territory was invaded by [[Rajuvula]], [[Indo-Scythian]] king of [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], and he became the last of the Indo-Greek kings, together with his son<ref>R.C. Senior, ''Indo-Scythian coins and history. Volume IV''. The Greek legend clearly implies that the two kings were father and son, and Senior dismisses the older reading "grandson" on the Kharosthi legend.</ref> [[Strato III]] ''"Philopator"'' ("the father-loving"), who was included as joint regent on some of his coins and also issued coins on his own.

A few silver coins with a different portrait and the inscription '''Strato Soter ''Dikaios''''' ("the just") may also belong to Strato III as sole ruler, or to a fourth king named Strato.<ref>Senior, ibid.</ref>{{refn|group=n|Given that the coins of Strato I have lately been attributed to two different kings, there may actually have been as many as five kings named Strato.}}

Just like the earlier king Strato I, the last Stratos are thought to belong to the dynasty of [[Menander I]], who also used the epithet Soter and the symbol of standing [[Pallas Athena]].

==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.

==Imitations by Indo-Scythian rulers==
[[File:Rajuvula coin Northern Satrap with Greek legend and Athena Alkidemos.jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Northern Satrap]] [[Rajuvula]] ({{Circa|10&nbsp;CE}}), an imitation of Strato II, [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] and Eastern [[Punjab]]. This was the main coin type of Rajuvula.]]
Subsequent Indo-Scythian rulers, who replaced the Stratos in their territories, designed their coins in direct imitation of those of Strato II. This is the case of the [[Northern Satraps]], who ruled in the territories from [[Sagala]] in Eastern [[Punjab]] to [[Mathura]], such as [[Rajuvula]], [[Bhadayasa]]. Just as the [[Yuezhi]] had copied the coins of the last [[Greco-Bactrian]] ruler [[Heliocles]] in [[Bactria]], or the [[Indo-Scythians]] had copied the coins of the last western [[Indo-Greek]] ruler [[Hermaios]] in the area of [[Kabul]], here again the [[Indo-Scythian]] Northern Satraps relied heavily on the numismatics of their predecessors.<ref name="Rosenfield"/> The fact that powerful new rulers such as Rajuvula extensively adopted these coin designs tends to suggest that Strato II had been quite a significant ruler in his eyes.

{{clear}}
{{Indo-Greek kings}}

==See also==
* [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]]
* [[Greco-Buddhism]]
* [[Indo-Scythians]]

==Notes and references==
'''Notes'''
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'''References'''
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|title=Catalogue of coins in the Punjab museum, Lahore|volume=I Indo-Greek Coins|url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofcoins01lahoiala#page/n5/mode/2up|first=R.B.|last=Whitehead|place=Oxford|year=1914}} At the Internet Archive.

==External links==
* [http://coinindia.com/galleries-strato2.html Coin India Strato II and III]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.academia.edu/36359754/LES_ROIS_STRATON_II_LE_SAUVEUR_BA%CE%A3I%CE%9BE%CE%A3_%CE%A3THPO%CE%A3_%CE%A3TPATNO%CE%A3_ET_STRATON_III_PHILOPATOR_DU_PENDJAB_Par_Roger_COTTEREAU?s=t Les Rois Straton II et III]

{{S-start}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Apollophanes]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Indo-Greek#Indo-Greek kings: their coins, territories and chronology|Indo-Greek ruler]] <br/>(Eastern [[Punjab region|Punjab]])|years= 25 BCE – 10 CE}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Strato III]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Hellenistic rulers}}

[[Category:Indo-Greek kings]]
[[Category:1st-century monarchs in Asia]]
[[Category:Greek Buddhist monarchs]]
[[Category:Euthydemid dynasty]]