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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TTerrier, post: 2533991, member: 76835&quot;]This is another coin from the Seleucid lot that I thought was unusual.&nbsp; Rather than me try to explain I will include a link to a great summary of a theory of why these coins were produced and a lot of nice examples - the information is from the Beast Coins website.&nbsp; I have not asked his permission to do this so if I am offside moderators please let me know and kindly remove the link.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://beastcoins.com/Collections/Star-Of-Bethlehem/Star-Of-Bethlehem.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://beastcoins.com/Collections/Star-Of-Bethlehem/Star-Of-Bethlehem.htm" rel="nofollow">http://beastcoins.com/Collections/Star-Of-Bethlehem/Star-Of-Bethlehem.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>In really summarized form, the Ram (or Aries in the zodiac) represented Judea in some way.&nbsp; In 6 BC (which the Magi recognized as a year of a divine birth) there was an unusual alignment of the planets in Aries, which is represented on the coin by the ram looking back at the star.</p><p><br /></p><p>The date on the coin ΔΜ or 44 would be 13/14 AD using the Actian dating system (Doug gave a good explanation of this in the Varus thread).&nbsp; This would equate to 18 years after 6 BC which I guess is a birthday that had particular meaning.&nbsp; In Canada it means if you live in Alberta you get to start drinking in bars!</p><p><br /></p><p>AE&nbsp; 7.02g&nbsp; 20mm</p><p>Semi-autonomous coin of Antioch</p><p>Struck under governor Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus Silanus</p><p>Head of Zeus right /</p><p>Leaping Ram looking back at star</p><p>[ΕΠΙ ΣΙΛ]ΑΝΟΥ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ&nbsp; &quot;reign of Silanus Antioch&quot;&nbsp; (thanks to Beast coins for making the attribution easier)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]541912[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]541913[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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