GREEK/Seleucid; Antiochos IV Epiphanes BCE 175-164; four examples from Seleucia on Tigris

Seleucia on the Tigris mint c. BCE 173/2 or later 

 

SC 1510    

O: rad head of Antiochos r behind hd A/X denomination  
R: goddess with polos std l, on high backed throne, holding Nike and sometimes scepter, bird stg l at feet, dotted border, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ on r and ANTIOXOY on l.  
 

AE 16 mm Chalkous, 3.38 g, 1h

AE 16 mm Chalkous, 4.07g, 1h

 

AE 16 mm Chalkous, 4.51g, 1h

 

AE 15 mm Chalkous, 4.69g, 1h

Note: the bird on the reverse was thought to be an Ibis but SC notes that LeRider commented that on the best preserved specimens it was thought to be an eagle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



GREEK/Seleucid; Antiochos VII Sidetes BCE 138-129

AE 20 mm, 5.84 g, 12h, Seleucia on the Tigris mint, Late Summer BCE 130-Autumn BCE 129

SC 2129.1 or 2 (R2)

O: Diad. hd of Antiochos VII r, dotted border

R: barely legible inscriptions BAΣIΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY in two lines on r, and ΕYEPΓETOY on l.
Nike adv l holding wreath before her face and palm over shoulder, ΓΠP (BCE 130/129) in ex., but illegible on this example.

As is noted in SC on page. 394 of part II vol. 1, "Antiochus recaptured Babylonia from Phraates II in the late Summer of 130. He held Babylon for a bit more than a year, meanwhile extending his control over Mesopotamia and Elymais and challenging the Parthians in Media. In the autumn of 129, before 5 November, the Parthians attacked and defeated the Seleucid army in Media, and Antiochus perished in battle."

Examples of this coinage and a silver Tetradrachm and drachm represent the last Seleucid coinage from this mint. Parthian control was extended over the mint operations and continued thereafter to issue Tetradrachms for that regime.

Triton XIII, Lot: 543 (2010)

Sellwood 17.1

A Tetradrachm of Phraates II minted at Seleucia after the death of Antiochos VII and the Parthian seizure of the mint. The control utilized is the same as that found on the Tetradrachm of Antiochos VII minted in the prior year (cf SC 2127). This Tetradrachm is thought to have been issued around BCE 129 in the aftermath of the war between the Seleucids and Parthians.