Antiochus Nicator (Greek: Ἀντίοχος Νικάτωρ; epithet means "Victor") is a proposed Greco-Bactrian king of the Diodotid dynasty, who ruled for some period between 240 – 220 BC. His existence is controversial.

Issue and interpretations

There are two relevant sets of coins: The usual interpretation is that the former issue were semi-independent issues of the first Bactrian king Diodotus I, who would have struck coinage using the name of his former overlord, the Seleucid king Antiochus II, but with his own portrait, at the start of a slow drift into independence from the Seleucid empire. The commemorative issue is traditionally interpreted as commemorating the Seleucid king Antiochus I or Antiochus II, although neither of them bore the epithet Nikator ("Victor"). In 2010, Jens Jakobsson proposed that these coins were struck by a Bactrian king who himself was called Antiochos. This king might have been a brother or a younger son of Diodotus I, ruling either as a co-regent or after the death of the first Diodotus' successor and son Diodotus II. The (very few) ancient literary sources are ambiguous: they mention no king between Diodotus II and Euthydemus I, but do not exclude the possibility. In a 2021 article, Jakobssen reiterated his earlier argument, further noting a number of features that suggest that the "Of King Antiochus" coins were minted after those of Diodotus I and II and immediately before those of Euthydemus I: The matter remains uncertain. Simon Glenn mentions the issue as an as-yet unresolved issue in Bactrian numismatics, but has called the die link "solid numismatic evidence" and the existence of Antiochus Nicator "most likely." By contrast, Olivier Bordeaux calls Jakobsson's proposal "somewhat controversial" and to be treated "with great caution."