Ancients: Two Seleucids, Antiochus XII, Alexander Balas

A couple of new acquisitions related to my interest in Nabataeans, so I've paired them with the coins they inspired, first the Seleucid, next to it the Nabataean.

The first is a coin of Antiochus XII, and it's in pretty damn good shape for a Seleucid bronze. Antiochus XII lost a battle to Aretas III, whereby Aretas became ruler of Damascus in 84 BC. You can see the obviously Seleucid style in the Nabataean coin, although the coin of Aretas shows Tyche seated These were both city issues of Damascus. Antiochus certainly liked a lot of legend on his coins. The reverse reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΟΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΚΑΛΛΙΝΙΚΟΥ, although a sizable chunk of it is off-flan. Still, a very respectable example of its type.



Also, a fairly scarce bronze of Alexander I Balas (150-146 BC), Balas wearing a Boeotian helmet. The Nabataeans picked up this style in their early anonymous issues. You can see the Seleucid influence in the Nabataean. The bronzes of Balas are tough in nice grades, and I thought this one had decent eye appeal and smooth surfaces. The legend is BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY, the AB in the left field being Balas' monogram.

 

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Very interesting! Thanks, John

 

Never seen the bronze before. Thank you for sharing!

 

Interesting comparisons, those Seleucid bronzes are nice!

 

Very nice Big John...good info and great coins...

 

Thanks for the comments, friends. I've included these Seleucids in their Nabataean context in the following two pages, should anyone want further reading.

Early Kings Style 2

Aretas III Damascene Issues

The Aretas III page now includes 3 coins from the British Museum Collection. I've been wanting to look at their coins but they've been having website problems all month. Today I finally got through and was able to examine some of Meshorer's plate coins first hand.

 

very nice...love the color of both the last two. seleucids are another weak point in my collection, i have a few rough bronzes.

well dang...having issues, can't post pics. yours look much nicer than mine anyway.

 

Some neat additions!

 

Indeed. Many of the Nabataeans in the BMC are not at all the best specimens. Still, there are some coins worthy of mention, like the unique Damascene tetradrachm of Aretas III. I'm tempted to theorize it was a presentation piece, but that's pure conjecture. It's also likely that many were made but melted down for new coinage after Tigranes I conquered the city. After all, why would a new ruler allow coinage of his vanquished foe to circulate?

The Nike-in-the-guise-of-Tyche bronzes are also extremely rare. I only know of the ones Meshorer cataloged. No one else has published any new varieties, and I've never seen any at auction. That's one of the reasons I bought the coin of Antiochus XII - it's as close as I can get to owning one of these types issued by Aretas.

 

Great coins, JA ... you rock

Yah, I just responded to a different thread regarding Antiochos coins, otherwise I would have blurted-out my examples on this cool thread of yours ...

Cheers

 

These two Seleucids finally came home to roost, so I offer you my own pics. As usual, the sellers' images have nothing to do with the actual color of the coins, but I'm used to that. I'm quite pleased with them...

 

Some wear, but they have retained (or gained) plenty of character. Congratulations with these !

 

Lookin' good, JA

 

Thats fricking cool with the side by sides.