Please can you help attribute this bull

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by cmezner, Nov 4, 2024.

  1. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    Very grateful for pointing me in the right direction to attribute this coin:

    AE 13
    2.713 g, 1h

    upload_2024-11-4_19-58-27.png

    upload_2024-11-4_19-58-42.png
     
    Alegandron and Bing like this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. danielus

    danielus Member

    Hello everyone:
    Could it be this one?
    So much cracking me up with cornocupia, maybe it will do some good.

    [​IMG]

    Seleukos I Nikator, 312-280 BC. Sardis mint, AE half-unit. 14mm. Winged head of Medusa right with serpents in hair / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY above and beneath bull butting right; ΣI between hind legs. Houghton SC 6.1; Newell, WSM, 1357; SNG Spaer, 67; BMC 65.

    I think the letters underneath match.
    Not above the bull, I can only make out an “E I” but it may give you an idea.
    Best regards.
     
    Alegandron, Bing and Factor like this.
  4. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    Thank you so much @danielus.

    Yes, you are right, it was struck under Seleukos I Nikator.

    Denomination C
    Rev.: (B)AΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥ(ΚΟΥ) Indian bull butting to r. In exergue upload_2025-1-8_22-40-20.png or ΣI

    “There is a well-known story that Seleukos, alone and unarmed, stopped a furious bull which escaped from the altar as Alexander was sacrificing. We may see in the coin an allusion to this story, or we may prefer, regarding rather the Indian type of the bull, to see a reference to the Indian victories of the King.” ; BMC (Greek, Seleucid Kings of Syria, Seleucos I Nicator, p. xxi)

    The mint, according to numismatic.org, is Antiochia ad Orontem, 286 - 281 BC
    https://numismatics.org/sco/id/sc.1.22.1
    SC (part 1) 22.1; WSM 927; BMC (Greek, Seleucid Kings of Syria, Seleucos I Nicator, p. 6) 62-63 ( upload_2025-1-8_22-40-20.png ) or 65 (ΣI). The BMC doesn't specify the mint (or I can't find it).
     
    Alegandron and danielus like this.
  5. danielus

    danielus Member

    I did not know the story. Thanks you gave me material to go deeper into it.
    Great!
    Best regards
     
    cmezner likes this.
  6. cmezner

    cmezner do ut des Supporter

    Alegandron and danielus like this.
  7. danielus

    danielus Member

    Hello: Thank you for the catalog!

    I kept intrigued by the story of Seleukos and the bull and the gorgon on the obverse, and searching a bit I found this book:
    [​IMG]
    The Early Seleukids, Their Gods and Their Coins (Erickson, Kyle).

    I leave it here, it deals among other things, precisely with the image of the bull, it takes as an example your coin, and a little further on it comments on the Gorgon/Medusa.
    I really liked it a lot.

    On the other hand, on this site:
    https://www.seleukidempire.org/SeleukosNikator.htm
    This image appears, I suppose it is ¿¿?? Just curious, the site does not detail much about it.

    [​IMG]
    Series 3, Bronze Denomination D (13mm, 1.59g), late 280s BC
    Obv. Winged head of Medusa r., dotted border.
    Rev. BA above, SE below, bull butting r. on ex. line, dotted border.

    If you are interested in the book I leave it in an epub .rar file 6.7 MB +-

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/igzh9onfrgt05s8/The+Early+S.rar/file

    Best regards and thanks for the data, I had a good day of reading.:)
     
    cmezner and Bing like this.
  8. David@PCC

    David@PCC allcoinage.com

    For future reference this shows the various types, clicking on denomination will sort the flan sizes for you.
     
    cmezner and danielus like this.
  9. danielus

    danielus Member

    Thank you so much David!
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page