Seleukid Coins
Demetrios I
Silver coins • Bronze coins • References
| Identification Number DE1-AR-01 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Orontes1 |
| Period: | 152/1 BC |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 16.53 g |
| Diameter: | 27 - 29 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Demetrios I right; laurel wreath border |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ’ left (“of King Demetrios the Saviour”); Tyche, fully draped, holding short scepter with right hand and cornucopiae2 with left arm, seated left on throne with winged tritoness support;3 two monograms in outer left field; Seleukid date ΑΞΡ (year 161 of the Seleukid Era, i.e. 152/1 BC)4 in exergue |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Newell, SMA, 119; Houghton, CSE, 158 (different lower monogram in outer left field of reverse; monograms of CSE 153 and 154); SNG Spaer, 1275 (regnal year ΞΡ, i.e. 153/2 BC) |
| Identification Number DE1-AR-02 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Persian Gulf5 (?) |
| Period: | 162 - 150 BC |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 16.83 g |
| Diameter: | 27 - 28 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Demetrios I right; fillet border |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ’ left (“of King Demetrios”); nude Apollo seated left on omphalos6, holding arrow in outstretched right hand and resting left hand on bow; monogram in outer left field and in outer right field |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Houghton, CSE, 1092 (this coin); Mørkholm, Seleucid Mint, p. 34 (dies A1/P1, this coin); Mørkholm, Susiana, Pl. III, C (this coin) |
| Note: | Otto Mørkholm in The Seleucid Mint at Antiochia on the Persian Gulf (p. 43) discusses this coin: The first coin of Demetrius I (A1 - P1) also deserves commentary, because the portrait is so unlike all other representations of that king. In fact, the head of this coin is much more similar to the portraits of Antiochus IV, and I have suggested earlier (Acta Archaeologica, Vol. 36 (1965), p. 153) that an old die of Antiochus IV may have been reused at the beginning of Demetrius I’s reign, when his portrait was not yet known in the east. However, another explanation is perhaps, preferable. It may be that the die-cutter, faced with the task of producing an obverse die for the first issue of Demetrius I without knowing what the king looked like, had to make the best of a difficult situation and produced a portrait closely related to his own former works, which therefore showed greater similarity to the deceased Antiochus IV than to the reigning king. |
| Identification Number DE1-AR-03 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Persian Gulf5 |
| Period: | 162 - 150 BC |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 16.62 g |
| Diameter: | 26.0 - 26.5 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Demetrios I right; fillet border |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ’ left (“of King Demetrios”); nude Apollo seated left on omphalos6, holding arrow in outstretched right hand and resting left hand on bow; monogram in outer left field and in exergue |
| Die Position: | -10º |
| References: | Houghton, CSE, 1094 (this coin); Strauss, Suse, p. 115, 76 (this coin); Mørkholm, Seleucid Mint, p. 34 (obv. die A2); SNG Spaer, 1369 |
| Identification Number DE1-AE-01 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Orontes1 |
| Period: | 162 - 150 BC |
| Denomination: | AE Serrated Quadruple Unit |
| Weight: | 15.19 g |
| Diameter: | 24 - 25 mm |
| Obverse: | Laureate head of Apollo with the features of Demetrios I right; bow and quiver behind; dotted border |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ right, ‘[Δ]ΗΜΗΤΡΙ[ΟΥ]’ left (“of King Demetrios”); tripod |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Houghton, CSE, 169; SNG Spaer, 1291-1294 |
| Identification Number DE1-AE-02 | |
| Mint: | uncertain mint, probably in Northern Syria |
| Period: | 162 - 150 BC |
| Denomination: | AE Quadruple Unit |
| Weight: | 18.06 g |
| Diameter: | 24 - 25 mm |
| Obverse: | Lion head left; fillet border |
| Reverse: | ‘ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ’ above, ‘ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ [Σ]ΩΤΗΡΟ[Σ]’ below (“of King Demetrios the Saviour”); boar head right; monogram in left field |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | BMC 4, p. 49, No. 57 (Plate XIV, 12) |
| Identification Number DE1-AE-03 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Orontes1 |
| Period: | 162 - 150 BC |
| Denomination: | AE Unit |
| Weight: | 3.31 g |
| Diameter: | 13.5 - 14.0 mm |
| Obverse: | Bridled horse head left; dotted border |
| Reverse: | ‘[ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ]’ above, ‘[ΔΗΜ]ΗΤΡΙΟΥ’ below (“of King Demetrios”); elephant head right |
| Die Position: | c. -30º |
| References: | BMC 4, p. 49, Nos. 60 (Plate XIV, 15) and 61; Houghton, CSE, 172; Hunterian Coll. III, p. 56, Nos. 13-15; SNG Spaer, 1299-1304 |
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).
2 The horn of plenty signifying prosperity and unlimited abundance. Its origin is connected with the events surrounding the birth of Zeus. According to ancient authors, Zeus was cared for by nymphs who fed him milk and honey. A nymph named Amaltheia owned a bull’s horn that could magically produce food or drink in limitless supply. According to another version of the myth, her goat named Aix (whose milk she fed the infant Zeus) accidentally broke off one of its horns and this became the cornucopiae. According to yet another version, Amaltheia was the goat from whom Zeus suckled milk and one of Amaltheia’s horns flowed with nectar and the other with ambrosia. After Zeus had matured, he honored Amaltheia by placing her in the sky as a constellation. In gratitude to the nymphs who had nurtured him, he presented them with a horn from Amaltheia that had the power to provide food and drink in limitless supply. (Bitner, The Cornucopia - A Horn of Plenty)
The cornucopiae is usually depicted overflowing with fruits and other agricultural produces. The depicted horns belonged to an ancient breed of wild goats known for their large horns. The word cornucopiae (plural cornuacopiae) is a combination of two Latin words, cornu (horn) and copiae (plenty). (Bitner, The Cornucopia - A Horn of Plenty)
3 Edward T. Newell in his study The Seleucid Mint of Antioch writes: The exact significance of the reverse type of the seated goddess has never been satisfactorily explained. It is even uncertain whether the figure is intended to be that of a Tyche or of Demeter. The fact that she is partially undraped on the earliest coins would seem inimical to either explanation, particularly so to the latter. It seems almost certainly to have been copied from some statue but from what one or why is still an enigma. See Newell, The Seleucid Mint of Antioch, p. 38.
4 The Seleukid Era is based on a lunar calendar, beginning with the autumn of 312 BC. It means that if x is a Seleukid year (and x<312) then the corresponding BC time interval is from 313–x to 312–x.
The beginning of the Seleukid Era was set as follows: In 311 BC, shortly after capturing Babylon, Seleukos I Nikator began the enumeration of his satrapal years there. However, after his decisive victory over Antigonos Monophthalmos in 307/6 BC, he backdated his “fictitious” first regnal year to coincide with Nisanu 1, 311 BC (New Year’s Day in the Babylonian calendar). This marked the antedated epoch of the Seleukid calendar according to the Babylonian reckoning. Later in 305/4 BC, when Seleukos I took the diadem and assumed the royal title “King”, he retained the numbering of his regnal years in Babylon but employed the Makedonian calendar and thus pushed his accession year back to Dios, 312 BC (Dios was the first month of the Makedonian calendar; it corresponds to October-November). This became the antedated epoch of the Seleukid era on the Macedonian calendar. (Assar, Recent Studies in Parthian History, Part I, p. 6)
The Seleukid Era was used at least until the first century AD in some Eastern countries.
5 Antioch on the Persian Gulf (also known as Antioch on the Erythrean Sea or as Antioch in Charakene) was allegedly founded by Alexander the Great under the name of Alexandria and later, having been destroyed by floods, was refunded and renamed presumably by Antiochos IV. The opening of a mint here by Antiochos IV may be explained as a measure intended to revive and stimulate trade along the important sea route between India and the district at the mouth of the great Mesopotamian rivers. The Seleukid mint was in operation from Antiochos IV to Demetrios II’s first reign. (Mørkholm, The Seleucid Mint at Antiochia on the Persian Gulf, p. 44; Grainger, A Seleukid Prosopography and Gazetteer, p. 686 - Antiocheia-on-the-Erythraian-See)
The city was located probably between the mouths of the Tigris and Eulaeus (Karun River) near the Persian Gulf, probably south of modern Basra. It is best known under its later name, Charax Spasinou (the name means “Palisade of Hyspaosines” or “Rampart of Hyspaosines”; alternative spelling Charax Spasinu or Charax Pasinu or Charax Spasini), which was given to it by Hyspaosines (alternative spelling Spasines or Pasines), the son of a local Arab ruler named Sagdodonacus, during the 120’s BC. It become the capital of the small kingdom of Characene, from which the kingdom took its name. It was a major commercial site in the Parthian and later periods. (Hopkins, Parthian Mints - Charax (Charax Spasini); Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography - Charax, Charax Spasinu, Eulaeus)
A lot of our knowledge about this city is based on Pliny the Elder (The Natural History, 6.31): Charax is a city situate at the furthest extremity of the Arabian Gulf, at which begins the more prominent portion of Arabia Felix: it is built on an artificial elevation, having the Tigris on the right, and the Eulaus on the left, and lies on a piece of ground three miles in extent, just between the confluence of those streams. It was first founded by Alexander the Great, with colonists from the royal city of Durine, which was then destroyed, and such of his soldiers as were invalided and left behind. By his order it was to be called Alexandria, and a borough called Pella, from his native place, was to be peopled solely by Macedonians; the city, however, was destroyed by inundations of the rivers. Antiochus, the fifth king of Syria, afterwards rebuilt this place and called it by his own name; and on its being again destroyed, Pasines, the son of Saggonadacus, and king of the neighbouring Arabians, whom Juba has incorrectly described as a satrap of king Antiochus, restored it, and raised embankments for its protection, calling it after himself. These embankments extended in length a distance of nearly three miles, in breadth a little less. It stood at first at a distance of ten stadia from the shore, and even had a harbour of its own. But according to Juba, it is fifty miles from the sea; and at the present day, the ambassadors from Arabia, and our own merchants who have visited the place, say that it stands at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from the sea-shore. Indeed, in no part of the world have alluvial deposits been formed more rapidly by the rivers, and to a greater extent than here; and it is only a matter of surprise that the tides, which run to a considerable distance beyond this city, do not carry them back again. At this place was born Dionysius, the most recent author of a description of the world; he was sent by the late emperor Augustus to gather all necessary information in the East, when his eldest son was about to set out for Armenia to take the command against the Parthians and Arabians.
6 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.