Seleukid Coins
Philip II (?)
| Identification Number PH2-AR-01 | |
| Mint: | Antioch on the Orontes1 |
| Period: | 67/6 - 66/5 BC (?) |
| Denomination: | AR Tetradrachm |
| Weight: | 15.62 g |
| Diameter: | 26 - 27 mm |
| Obverse: | Diademed head of Philip II (?) right; fillet border |
| Reverse: | ‘[Β]ΑΣΙΛΕΩ[Σ] ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ’ right, ‘ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ [Φ]ΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟ[Υ]’ left (“of King Philip, the Illustrious, Brother-Loving”); Zeus Nikephoros (“carrying victory”) seated left on throne, holding Nike in outstretched right hand and scepter in left hand; ‘Ι’ in inner left field; ‘ΔΙ’ monogram under throne; partially visible ‘Θ’ in exergue; all within partially visible laurel wreath |
| Die Position: | 0º |
| References: | Houghton, Lorber and Hoover, SC II, 2488.5 (classified as posthumous issue of Philip I); Newell, SMA, 453 (attributed to Philip I); SNG Spaer, 2813 (attributed to Philip I) |
| Note: | This coin belongs to the series No. 2488 in Houghton, Lorber and Hoover, SC II. Eight issues of this series are differentiated by controls in inner left field and in the exergue. Houghton, Lorber and Hoover’s analysis of this series is summarized as follows (SC II, Vol. I, p. 621): The evidence of the Sarnakunk hoard, combined with the low weight standard, suggests a date of issue in the 60s or even later. There is no way to determine whether these tetradrachms might have been produced by Philip II, who has no known coinage; by the civic authorities at Antioch; or by the Roman administration before the proconsulship of Aulus Gabinius. The average weight suggests this coinage could have preceded that of Antiochus XIII, but the metrological data for his reign are too scanty to support a firm conclusion.2 |
In my personal opinion, portraits on this series are very different from both lifetime issues of Philip I and from the latter Roman re-issues. It would be strange if the Antiochene civic authorities or the Roman administration had chosen a model so different from the lifetime issues. The possibility that these coins in fact depict Philip I how he looked in 60s BC is not likely, as he was probably already dead by that time.3 Philip II’s nickname was “the Heavy-footed” (Βαρυπους), or perhaps “the Thick-footed” (Παχυπους).4 Both variants of the nickname indicate that Philip II was a corpulent man, which fully corresponds with the portraits on this series. For these reasons, the attribution of these coins to Philip II seems to me to be the most likely possibility, although the other possibilities cannot be also excluded. |
|
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 See also Hoover, CSE 2, p. 148, for the same conclusion.
3 Dobias, Φιλιππος Βαρυπους – A Contribution to the History of the Last Seleukids, argues that Diodoros differentiates between two kings of the name of Philip because he explicitly calls the contra candidate of Antiochos XIII “the son of Philip” (this report is more reliable than the later record of Porphyrios/Eusebios who identifies Philip I, the son of Antiochos VIII Grypos and Kleopatra Tryphaina, with the candidate for the throne of Egypt in 56 BC). If Philip I had lived in 60s BC, the Antiochene rebels would have more likely chosen him and not his son. See Dobias, ibid, pp. 220-1.
4 The epithet Barypous is mentioned by Johannes Malalas, Chronicle, Bk. 9; see Dobias, Φιλιππος Βαρυπους – A Contribution to the History of the Last Seleukids, p. 217. Dobias notes that an old ecclesiastical Slavonic version of Malalas’s Chronicle translates the Greek word βαρυπουν as “thick-footed”. This translation corresponds rather to the Greek παχυπουν. The word παχυπουν is better for a nickname than βαρυπουν and, from the paleographic point of view, the exchange of βαρυπουν and παχυπουν means no serious problem. On the other hand, it cannot be excluded that only the Slavonic translator used the word “thick-footed” instead of the Greek “heavy-footed”. See Dobias, ibid, p. 221, footnote 3.