A meridarch or meridarches (, from meris, "division", and -arches, "ruler") was the civil governor of a province in the Hellenistic world (4th–1st centuries BCE), and could be translated as "Divisional Commissioner". Only a few mentions of meridarchs are known from ancient sources, one from Palestine, two others from the Indo-Greek kingdom in South Asia, one on a vase from Swat, the other on a copper plate from Taxila, and one belonging to Oḍirāja kingdom, also from Swat.
Judea Shortly after 153 BCE, Josephus relates, Alexander Balas appointed Jonathan Maccabeus as strategos (general) and meridarch (civil governor of a province) of Judea, and sent him back with honors to Jerusalem (I Macc. x. 51–66; Josephus, "Ant." xiii. 4, § 1).
Indo-Greek kingdom
At the far eastern end of the Hellenistic world, in northern India, an inscription in Kharosthi has been found on a relic vase in Swāt, referring to a "meridarch Theodorus" and his enshrinement of relics of the Buddha:
Another mention of a Meridarch appears on the Taxila "meridarch" plate. The plate reads:
A third mention in form of gold leaf inscription of Senavarma, also from Swat Valley during the era of Oḍirājas, states that:
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