Seleukid Coins
Antiochos II
Silver coin • Bronze coin • References
| Identification Number A02-AR-01 | |
| Mint: | Alexandreia in Areia (Artakoana)1 |
| Period: | 261 - 246 BC |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 16.98 g |
| Diameter: | 26 - 29 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Antiochos I right |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ’ left (“of King Antiochos”); nude Apollo seated left on omphalos,2 holding arrow in outstretched right hand and resting left hand on bow; retrograde ‘BA’ in outer left field; ‘ΔΤ’ monogram in exergue; traces of monogram in outer right field |
| Die Position: | c. 120º |
| References: | Houghton and Lorber, SC I, 612.1 (this coin referenced); Houghton, CSE, 1276 (this coin); Ehling, Eine seleukidische Münzstätte in Areia, 1 (dies V1/R1, this coin); Newell, ESM, 727 - 728 var. (same obverse die, different control marks on reverse); Newell, WSM, 727A - 728A var. (same obverse die, different control marks on reverse);3 Münzhandlung Ritter GmbH, stock No. 15367 (same obverse die, different control marks on reverse); LHS Numismatik AG (formerly Leu Numismatik AG), Auction 83 (May 6, 2002), Lot 376 var. (same obverse die, different control marks on reverse); Sayles & Lavender, stock No. 11541 (same obverse die, different control marks on reverse) |
| Note: | This coin belongs to a group of coins which according to their style, fabric, epigraphy and provenance were struck in the area of present-day northeastern Iran. Based on a detailed analysis, Newell (ESM, pp. 250-259) attributed their mint either to Hekatompylos in the Seleukid province of Parthia4 or to Alexandreia in Areia (Artakoana)1. A new historical analysis, corpus and die study was published by Ehling in 1997 under the title Eine seleukidische Münzstätte in Areia (Artakoana/Alexandreia): Zu E. T. Newell ESM Nr. 727–745. Ehling eliminated Hekatompylos from consideration and attributed these coins to Alexandreia in Areia (Artakoana) mint. This attribution was accepted also by Houghton and Lorber in SC I (Vol. I, p. 213). |
The group consists of tetradrachms and drachms. All coins bear the portraits of Antiochos I and Seleukos II. Although Alexandreia in Areia was rebuilt by Antiochos I, the low number of obverse dies with the portrait of Antiochos I,5 reverse monograms and die links show that the mint was established only during the reign of Antiochos II.6 The coinage ended during the reign of Seleukos II when the province of Areia become part of the newly formed Baktrian kingdom. |
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According to Ehling’s die study (ibid, pp. 34-38), the above coin A02-AR-01 is the earliest issue in his corpus of this coinage. |
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| Identification Number A02-AE-01 | |
| Mint: | Sardis7 |
| Period: | 261 - 246 BC |
| Denomination: | AE Quarter Unit |
| Weight: | 0.92 g |
| Diameter: | 9.5 - 10.0 mm |
| Obverse: | Laureate head of Apollo three-quarters facing left |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ’ left (“of King Antiochos”); tripod; anchor right in exergue; ‘Χ’ in outer right field |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Houghton and Lorber, SC I, 521.1 var. (this control mark not mentioned); Newell, WSM, 1382 - 1383 var. (different control marks); FORVM ANCIENT COINS, stock No. 81145; Sayles & Lavender, stock No. 10319; Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., Auction 73 (September 13, 2006), Lot 443 (similar control mark) |
| Note: | Houghton and Lorber, SC I, 521.1, list three control marks: Α (521.1a), Φ (521.1b) and a modified Σ (521.1c). It seems that coins offered by FORVM ANCIENT COINS (stock No. 81145) and by Sayles & Lavender (stock No. 10319) have the same control mark on the reverse as the coin above. A coin sold by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. (Auction 73, September 2006, Lot 443) has a similar control mark which is identified as ΧΑ in the CNG’s auction catalogue and the following note is attached: |
| SC 521a is based off of WSM 1382, which cited a single specimen where the control mark to the right was not clear (“Α?”). This example clearly shows an ΧΑ monogram, which may be the actual reading of the WSM coin. | |
| Although it cannot be excluded that the control mark on all four coins is a combination of letters Χ and Α (the letter Α forming the lower part of the letter Χ), it seems more likely that only the letter Χ was used on the above specimen and on the FORVM’s and Sayles & Lavender’s coins. | |
1 Alexandreia in Areia, the present-day city of Herat (the capital of Herat province in western Afghanistan), was founded by Alexander the Great in 330 BC during his campaign against Satibarzanes, satrap of Areia. The province of Areia included present-day eastern portion of Khorasan (a region in northeastern Iran) and present-day western Afghanistan. Alexandreia may have been a suburb of Artakoana, the capital of Areia, or at least these two cities were near each other. (Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography - entries “Aria Civitas” and “A’ria”; Houghton and Lorber, SC I, Vol. 1, p. 213; Stillwell et al., The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites - Alexandrian foundations: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Soviet Central Asia, India)
Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography - Aria Civitas, notes that “according to a memorial verse still current among the people of Herát, that town is believed to unite the claims of the ancient capital built by Alexander,” and refers to an article by Mohun Lall in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, January 1834.
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 6.25: Ariana (Areia) is a region parched by the sun and surrounded by deserts; still, however, as the face of the country is every here and there diversified with well-shaded spots, it finds communities grouped together to cultivate it, and more especially around the two rivers, known as the Tonberos and the Arosapes. There is also the town of Artacoana (Artakoana), and the river Arius (present Harirud river), which flows past Alexandria (Alexandreia in Areia), a city founded by Alexander; this place is thirty stadia in extent. Much more beautiful than it, as well as of much greater antiquity, is Artacabane, fortified a second time by Antiochus, and fifty stadia in breadth.
Strabo, Geography, 11.8.9: Eratosthenes gives the distances as follows: From Mt. Caspius to the Cyrus River, about one thousand eight hundred stadia; thence to the Caspian Gates, five thousand six hundred; then to Alexandreia in the country of the Arians (Alexandreia in Areia), six thousand four hundred; then to the city Bactra, also called Zariaspa, three thousand eight hundred and seventy; then to the Iaxartes River, to which Alexander came, about five thousand; a distance all told of twenty-two thousand six hundred and seventy stadia. He gives also the distance from the Caspian Gates to India as follows: To Hecatompylus, one thousand nine hundred and sixty stadia; to Alexandreia in the country of the Arians, four thousand five hundred and thirty; then to Prophthasia in Drangge, one thousand six hundred (others say one thousand five hundred); then to the city Arachoti, four thousand one hundred and twenty; then to Ortospana, to the junction of the three roads leading from Bactra, two thousand; then to the borders of India, one thousand; a distance all told of fifteen thousand three hundred stadia.
Strabo, Geography, 11.10.1: Aria (Areia) and Margiana are the most powerful districts in this part of Asia, these districts in part being enclosed by the mountains and in part having their habitations in the plains. Now the mountains are occupied by Tent-dwellers, and the plains are intersected by rivers that irrigate them, partly by the Arius and partly by the Margus. Aria borders on Margiana and [...] (the text is corrupt) Bactriana; it is about six thousand stadia distant from Hyrcania. And Drangiana, as far as Carmania, was joined with Aria in the payment of tribute – Dragiana, for the most part, lying below the southern parts of the mountains, though some parts of it approach the northern region opposite Aria. But Arachosia, also, is not far away, this country too lying below the southern parts of the mountains and extending as far as the Indus River, being a part of Ariana. The length of Aria is about two thousand stadia, and the breadth of the plain about three hundred. Its cities are Artacaëna (Artakoana) and Alexandreia (Alexandreia in Areia) and Achaïa, all named after their founders. The land is exceedingly productive of wine, which keeps good for three generations in vessels not smeared with pitch.
Arrian, Anabasis, 3.25: While Alexander was on his way to Bactra, he was informed that Satibarzanes, viceroy of Areia, had killed Anaxippus and the horse-javelin-men who were with him, had armed the Areiani and collected them in the city of Artacoana (Artakoana), which was the capital of that nation. It was also said that he had resolved, as soon as he ascertained that Alexander had advanced, to leave that place and go with his forces to Bessus, with the intention of joining that prince in an attack upon the Macedonians, wherever a chance might occur. When he received this news, he stopped the march towards Bactra, and taking with him the Companion cavalry, the horse. javelin-men, the archers, the Agrianians and the regiment of Amyntas and Coenus, and leaving the rest of his forces there under the command of Craterus, he made a forced march against Satibarzanes and the Areians; and having travelled 6oo stades in two days came near Artacoana. Satibarzanes, however, no sooner perceived that Alexander was near, than being struck with terror at the quickness of his arrival, he took to flight with a few Areian horsemen.
2 The omphalos (“navel” in Greek) was a sacred stone at Delphi. It was supposed to mark the center of the earth. Similar stones were erected in several areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.16.3: What is called the Omphalus by the Delphians is made of white marble, and is said by the Delphians to be the center of all the earth.
3 Chapter “Addenda to The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints”.
4 Hekatompylos, the capital of the Seleukid province of Parthia. Appian (Syriake, 57) mentions Hekatompylos in connection with cities founded by Seleukos I, but it already existed before Alexander the Great. It was taken by Arsakes I, the first Parthian king, approximately in the second half of the 240s BC and became one of the Parthian royal cities. It was retaken by Antiochos III in 210 BC, but lost to the Parthians again in the 2nd century BC. (Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography; Grainger, A Seleukid Prosopography and Gazetteer, p. 724 - Hecatompylos, p. 761 - Parthia; Houghton and Lorber, Seleucid Coins, A Comprehensive Catalogue. Part I, Vol. 1, p. 213)
The city’s name means “The Hundred-Gated” in Greek. According to Polybios (Histories, 10.28.7), it derived its name from its position in a locality where many roads met.
Appian, Syriake 57: He (Seleukos I) built cities throughout the entire length of his dominions ...; whence it comes to pass that in Syria and among the barbarous regions of upper Asia many of the towns bear Greek and Macedonian names, such as Berrhoea, Edessa, Perinthus, Maronea, Callipolis, Achaia, Pella, Orophus, Amphipolis, Arethusa, Astacus, Tegea, Chalcis, Larissa, Heraea, and Apollonia; in Parthia also Sotera, Calliope, Charis, Hecatompylos, Achaia; ...
Polybios, Histories (the Loeb edition), 10.28.7: The king (Antiochos III) having traversed the desert came to the city called Hecatompylus, which lies in the centre of Parthia. This city derives its name from the fact that it is the meeting-place of all the roads leading to the surrounding districts.
Polybios, Histories (the Macmillan edition), 10.28.7: The king (Antiochos III), having thus accomplished the journey across the desert, arrived before the city Hecatompylos, which is situated in the centre of Parthia, and derives its name from the fact that the roads which lead to all the surrounding districts converge there.
5 Ehling, Eine seleukidische Münzstätte in Areia, pp. 34-36, records 15 tetradrachms and 13 drachms with the portrait of Antiochos I. The tetradrachms are struck from three obverse dies and the drachms from one obverse die only. As for coins with the portrait of Seleukos II, Ehling (ibid, pp. 36-37) records 10 tetradrachms and 14 drachms struck from five and two obverse dies, respectively.
6 Houghton, CSE, p. 117; Ehling, Eine seleukidische Münzstätte in Areia, p. 38; Houghton and Lorber, SC I, Vol. I, p. 213.
7 The capital of ancient Lydia (a historic region of western Asia Minor).