Seleukid Coins
Antiochos XIII
| Identification Number A13-AR-01 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Orontes1 |
| Period: | 69/8 - 67 BC or 65 - 65/4 BC2 |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 15.37 g |
| Diameter: | 25 - 27 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Antiochos XIII right; fillet border |
| Reverse: | ‘[Β]ΑΣΙΛΕΩ[Σ] ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ’ right, ‘ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ’ left (“of King Antiochos the Brother-loving”); Zeus Nikephoros (“carrying victory”) seated on throne left, holding Nike in right hand and scepter in left hand; control mark in inner left field; laurel wreath border |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Houghton, CSE, 399 (same dies); Newell, SMA, 460 (same obverse die); SNG Spaer, 2919 |
| Note: | Catharine C. Lorber in Numismatic Fine Arts’s catalogue of Auction XVIII (comment to Lot 402) remarks: The tetradrachms of Antiochus XIII can be distinguished from those of Antiochus XI by technical features that place them after the coins of Philip: small flans, low relief, and especially the absence of monograms from the outer left field. Iconographically, however, his portrait shares features that are characteristic of the portraiture of Antiochus VIII and his descendants – tousled hair, various locks overlapping the diadem, and two locks at the back of the neck – in opposition to the calmer portraiture of Antiochus IX and X, the grandfather and father of Antiochus XIII. |
1 Antioch was founded about 300 BC by Seleukos I Nikator, the founder of the Seleukid Dynasty, and it became the principal capital of the Seleukid Empire. The city was named after a family name Antiochos, passed from his father to his son (Antiochos I Soter). There were a number of other cities by the same name and this Antioch was known as Antioch on the Orontes (i.e. the Orontes River, along which it was located).