Zoilus II

Coin of Zoilus II, as a balding man.Obv: Bust of Zoilus with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΖΩΙΛΟΥ "Of King Zoilos the Saviour".Rev: Athena advancing left, with thunderbolt and shield covered with aegis (type of Menander I). Kharosthi legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA JHOILASA "King Zoilus the Saviour". Zoilus II Soter (; epithet means "the Saviour") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in eastern Punjab. Bopearachchi dates his reign to c. 55–35 BC, a date approximately supported by R. C. Senior. It is possible that some of his coins were issued by a separate king, Zoilus III.

Rule Coin of Zoilus II, with Apollo and small elephant behind him. Tripod on the reverse.

Zoilus seems to have been one of the rulers who succeeded the last important Indo-Greek king Apollodotus II in the eastern parts of his former kingdom. All these kings use the same symbol as Apollodotus II, the fighting Pallas Athene introduced by Menander I, and usually also the same epithet Soter (Saviour). It is therefore possible that they belonged to the same dynasty, and Zoilus II could also have been related to the earlier king Zoilus I, but the lack of written sources make all such conjections uncertain.

He may have been the Bactrian ally of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII referred to by Virgil in his vision of the Battle of Actium in :

Coinage Zoilus II issued silver drachms with diademed portrait and Pallas Athene in rather crude style, and two sorts of bronzes in various denominations: "Apollo, with tripod and small elephant", and "Elephant and tripod".

Zoilus III, a separate king?

Coin of full-haired Zoilus with later "boxy" mint-mark, hypothesized to be Zoilus III.Obv: Bust of king with Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΖΩΙΛΟΥ "Of King Zoilos the Saviour".Rev: Athena advancing left, with thunderbolt and shield covered with aegis (type of Menander I). Kharosthi legend: MAHARAJASA TRATARASA JHOILASA "King Zoilus the Saviour". Zoilus II Indian-standard coin with "boxy" mint-mark, possibly characteristic of Zoilus III. Obv Standing god Apollo, holding an arrow and a bow.Rev Tripod. Monolingual coin of Zoilus II Soter with "boxy" mint-mark. Obv Standing Apollo with bead and reel border. Rev Diadem with Kharoshthi legend "Maharajasa tratarasa Jhahilasa" (Saviour King Zoilus). The portraits attributed to Zoilus II could be divided into two groups; one depicting a balding man with hollow cheeks, the other a seemingly younger man with a fringe and round cheeks. As numismatic evidence indicates that the younger portraits are later, recent research has suggested that they be attributed to a younger king, Zoilus III Soter, who would then have been a son and successor of the older Zoilos.

In particular, the mint mark which is characteristic of the coins of Zoilos with a full head of hair, is a later mint mark used down to the last Indo-Greek kings Strato II and Strato III, suggesting a later reign for Zoilus III.

Two coins of Zoilus II were also found in the Bara hoard near Peshawar, together with coins of the Indo-Scythian kings Azes I, Azilises, Azes II.

Overstrikes A coin of Zoilus II was overstruck on a coin of Apollodotus II.