Featured The so-called Tyche of Antioch

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Recently (actually it was some years before!) I got this nice tetradrachm of Tigranes II. This should be the cause to write an article about the so-called Tyche of Antioch. I hope something will be new for you!

1st coin:
Kingdom of Armenia, Tigranes II, 95-56 BC
AR - tetradrachm, 16.68g, 27.18mm, 345°
struck in Antiochia ad Orontem
obv. Bust of Tigranes II, wearing Armenian tiara, r.; tiara ornamented with eight-pointed star between two eagles, decorated with 5 beaded pyramidal points
rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - TIΓPANOV
Tyche of Antioch in long garment and with veil, wearing mural crown, std. r. on rock,
resting with r. ellbow on r. knee and holding in r. hand long Palm branch; stg. with r. foot on shoulder of rivergod Orontes, who swims below her r; beneath waves
in r. field and left below on rock a monogram
all within laurel-wreath
ref. Bedoukian 17

This is one of the first depictions of this famous statue.

2nd coin:
Syria, Seleukis and Pieria, Antiochia ad Orontem, Augustus, 27 BC - AD 14
AR - tetradrachm, 14.99g, 26.51mm, 15°
struck 2-1 BC. (Year 30 of Actian era)
obv. KAIΣAPOΣ ΣE - BAΣTOY (clockwise, starting upper r.)
laureate head r.
rev. ETOYΣ - L - NIKHΣ (Year 30 of the victory)
The depiction is nearly identical with the depiction on the tetradrachm of Tigranes!
In field one below the other 2 monograms, in front of the upper one IΓ (= 13)
ref.: Prieur 555; RPC 4156; Wruck 7

Note:
The upper monogramm can be read as VΠA = COS, so its meaning is COS XIII
The lower one could be ANT AVΓ.

3rd coin:
Justinus I, AD 518-527
AE - AE 5 (pentanummion), 1.46g, 11.73mm, 180°
Antiochia
obv. [DN IVSTINVS P P AV]
Bust, draped and cuirassed, pearl-diademed, r.
rev. Tyche of Antioch, wearing mural crown, std. l. in shrine; below her river-god Orontes
in l. field retrograde E
ref. DOC 57; MIBE 67; BNP 11-17; Berk 100; Hahn 67; Sear 111

This is the last type showing a classic pagane motive. If you consider that this motive was struck for the first time under Tigranes II now 600 years of Hellenistic culture have ended. It's remarkable nevertheless that it was the Antiochene Tyche.

Some general notes on Tyche:
The etymology of Tyche is clear. It belongs to Greek τυνχανειν = to happen accidently. So its meaning is chance, fortune but misfortune too. Tyche was not known by Homer. She doesn't occur in his epics. And there is little mythology of her. Hesiod claims that she was one of the daughters of Okeanos, other (f.e. Pindar) suggest that Zeus has been her father. But that doesn't matter anything. She was seen as goddess not before the great families of deities have been established. Therefore there is no genealogy. But when the relevance of the old gods was decreasing she was playing an increasing important role. Her character is similar to that of Nemesis or Themis. Originally she was seen as spirit, who ruled the world blindly, because she brought misfortune to good and wise men, and fortune to fools and bad men. This unjust and senseless role was taken up by the Attic comedies. Certainly this must be seen in connection with the unsure times and the depletion of the conservative belief in the old gods. At first she was an ambivalente deity, later she leant towards a better meaning, especially as Tyche Agathos, the good Tyche.

In the first time she has had no cults. But in Hellenism her cult spreads, especially in Thebes, Athens, Megara and Megalopolis. Libanios describes the Tychaion of Alexandria as the most gorgeous of the entire Hellenistic world. She was seen too as personal Tyche, who determines the fate of her owner, like Frederic the Great demanded "fortune" from his generals.

She is depicted holding a rudder as arbiter of the world, with cornucopiae, symbol of wealth or with a sphere as sign of uncertainty. Often she was wearing a mural crown and thereby seen as city-goddess.

In Rome she was seen almost equivalent to Fortuna, where numerous temples were built for her, the first ones by Servius Tullius in the regio I. Famous was the temple in Antium where 2 Fortunae were worshipped simultaneously.

History of Art:
In 1780 a small marble statue was found in Rome on a manor of the Barberini family at the Via Latina outside of the Porta S. Giovanni. This statue was recognized as Tyche and after a first restauration by Paolo Cavaceppi sold in 1781 to the Vatican.

Pic of the statue before the restauration.

The restaurated statue today stands in the Galleria dei Candelabri in the Musei Vaticani. It is dated back to the time of Trajan and its height is 88cm.

10 years later, AD 1790, Ennio Quirino Visconto, son of Giambattista Visconto, who was successor of Winckelmann as Papal Supervisor of the Roman antiquities, discovered this statuette in a niche of the Galleria. Based on the mention by Pausanias VI.2, 6 and especially by the depictions on the coinage of Antioch, he identified it as Tyche of Antioch. Thereby he pointed out the legends on coins of Philadelphia TYXH FILADELFEWN.

Drawing of Visconti, AD 1790

The two most important ancient sources are:
(1) Pausanias, Perihegesis, 6.2, 6:
"...but Timosthenes (was created) by Eutychides from Sikyon, who has learned at Lysippos. This Eutychides has made a cult statue of Tyche too for the Syrians at the Orontes, which was held in high esteem."
Here already Pausanias made the mistake of calling this statue Tyche!
and
(2) Malalas, Chronographia 8, 201:
Malalas was a late antique historian, born c. AD 490 in Antioch, later (from AD 530) working in Constantinopolis. He wrote a history of the world in 18 volumes, beginning with the creation of the world until shortly before the death of Justinian (AD 565). In it he describes the erection of statues of Tyche in Antioch by Seleukos I and Trajan. At both occasions a maid should have been sacrificed, today seen as later probably Christian insertions.
"...he (Seleukos I) had erected a bronze statue of the sacrificed maid (Emathia) as Tyche for the city across the river (Orontes) (seated) and made an offering immediately for the maid."
"And the theatre of Antioch, which was uncompleted, he (Trajan) completed by erecting over four columns in the theatre in the centre of the nymphaeum of the proskenion a gilded bronze statue of the sacrificed maid (Kalliope), who is sitting above the river Orontes and is wreathed by the kings Seleukos I and Antiochos I, for the fortune of this city."

The original statue probably was endowed by Seleukos I Nikator shortly after the founding of Antioch in 300 BC and consecrated in 296. Eutychides was a Greek sculptor from Sikyon regarded as scholar of Lysippos. Sadly there is none of his works preserved. Wether there actually have been different statues or groups as Malalas has written is doubtful. Anyway the famous original statue of Eutychides is not preserved, it probably was destroyed by an earth-quake in the 6th century AD. In ancient times transportable bronze miniature copies of the Antiochene statue were popular. They were produced in series by special handicraft businesses with the aid of reproduction copies (M. Meyer).

Description of the Statue:
The original statue probably was made of bronze because of the large movements of the river-god's arms and the assumed colossal size of the figure. The dating into the years direct after the founding of the city corresponds with Plinius, who puts the flourishing time of Eutychides into the 121th Olympiad (296-293 BC). It was a female sitting figure in chiton and mantle, wearing a mural crown, std. r. with crossed legs on a rock. Her left hand is resting on the rock and with the right hand she is holding grain-ears. Her right foot is placed on the shoulder of the river-god swimming below her. This is the earliest Greek depiction of a mural crown! Originally the mural crown comes from the Asian Astarte and was adopted by the Greek art not before the 4th/3rd century BC.

The copy in the Vatican differs significantly from the recorded description. This is true especially for chiton and mantle, so that Messerschmidt in 2003 has doubted the ascription to Eutychides. But an ancient beholder would have surely recognized the Roman copy as the Tyche of Antioch. Why the copyist has deviated so much is unknown.

Interpretation:
Marion Meyer has realized that the statue is not Tyche (Fortuna), but the personification of the city of Antioch! Here are her arguments:
We have 3 possible interpretations:
(1) It is the personification of the city, the city-goddess
(2) It is a new kind of deity, a guardian deity for the city, probably because in the early hellenism doubts arose about the power of the established deities.
(3) It is Tyche, the goddess of fortune

A. Furtwängler writes: Because the mural crown comes from the Asian Astarte, this goddess is the Greek answer in her function as guardian of the city.

B. Fehr however thinks, that there was no melting of Greek and indigene elements in the Seleucid Empire. The focus was more on segregation than integration. The concept could be bilingual, especially by the depicted body language. The Greek could have seen Tyche. The crossed legs, the turned upper body and head would represent the wandering and arbitrary character of Tyche, with a touch of Aphrodite. The local inhabitant in contrast has seen, by the dominating role towards the river-god too, the 'Great Mother'. The mural crown was the symbol for the fortified city for both.

And here is M. Meyer: To take the goddess of fortune in her fickleness as symbol for the city after the founding is not convincing. To be Tyche Agathos the cornucopiae is missing. But one should mention the geography of Antioch: The river-god is by common accord the river Orontes. Antioch was situated on its left bank. The rock on which the deity is seated is Silpios, the city mountain of Antioch. The situation of Antioch was dangerous. Especially at the time of snowmelt when torrents coming down the hills. The foot on the river-god symbolizes that the goddess has everything under control. The land itself is fertile, the harvest is safe, therefore the grain-ears in her hand. The goddess is mistress over the natural forces and in the same moment the beneficiary of nature. So there is every indication that the figure is Antioch itself, the personification of the city!

Thus naming her Tyche of Antioch is equally wrong as naming the bull of Julian II Apis bull!

Soon this statue was copied by Seleukeia. As goddess of fortune with cornucopiae she is found first under Demetrios I. Then under the usurper Alexander Balas and so forth.

I have attached:
(1) A pic of the unrestaurated marble statue of the Vatican, the Roman copy from the time of Trajan. The copy was completed by Paolo Cavaceppi 1781 and by Michele Ilari 1819: Head, left hand, right forearm with grain-ears, forward section of right foot, and arms of the river-god.
(2) Drawing of Visconti, done after restauration.
The pic of the restaurated statue in the Galleria dei Candelabri of the Musei Vaticani in Rome can be found everywhere in the web.

Sources:
(1) Pausanias, Periegesis

Literature:
(1) E.Q.Visconti, Il museo Pio Clementino III., Milano 1790
(2) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon
(3) Der Kleine Pauly
(4) Paul Z. Bedoukian, Coinage of the Artaxiads of Armenia, 1978
(5) Marion Meyer: Personifikation der Stadt Antiochia, in: Bernd Funck, Hellenismus:
Beiträge zur Erforschung von Akkulturation und politischer Ordnung im Hellenismus, 1996, S.243-254 (at googlebook)
(6) Marion Meyer, Die Personifikation der Stadt Antiocheia. Ein neues Bild für eine neue Gottheit, 2006
(7) Text und Skulptur: Berühmte Bildhauer und Bronzegießer der Antike in Wort und
Bild. Ausstellung in der Abguss-Sammlung Antiker Plastik Berlin, Sascha Kansteiner, Lauri Lehmann, Bernd Seidensticker
(8) Wolfgang Messerschmidt, Prosopopoiia, 2003
(9) Tobias Dohrn, Die Tyche von Antiochia, 1960

Online-Sources:
(1) Andrea Peine, Agathe Tyche im Spiegel der griechischen und römischen Plastik.
Untersuchungen klassischer Statuentypen und ihre kaiserzeitliche Rezeption, 1998
(Dissertation)
(2) www.arachne.uni-koeln.de
(3) www.zeno.org/Meyers-1905 (drawing by Visconti)

Best regards

 

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Great, informative writeup (as always), @Jochen! I've always appreciated the coins with the very detailed tureted headwear of hers (though I don't claim to have one to the detail level I love), and equally appreciate the oft metaphorical relation to her seated in rocks and with the river god below her feet.

 

Hi Justin!

If you love the detailed mural crowns then take a look at Laodicea ad Mare. There Tyche has not only a wall on her head but a whole town!

Laodikeia ad Mare, Antoninus Pius, SNG Copenhagen 351.

Best regards

 

Beautiful Tyche representations.

I own a few Tyche coins:

PHOENICIA ARADOS
AR Tetradrachm
OBVERSE: Turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche right
REVERSE: Nike standing left, holding wreath and palm frond; in left field, ZOP (date) above Aramaic B above ΘЄ; all within wreath
Arados CY 177 (83/82 BC)
14.91g, 27mm
Duyrat 3536–49; HGC 10, 72; DCA 772; BMC 239
Ex JAZ Numismatics

CILICIA, KORYKOS CITY COINAGE
AE 19
OBVERSE: Turreted head of Tyche right; A behind. Circle of dots
REVERSE: ΚΩΡΥΚΙΩΤΩΝ, Hermes standing left, holding caduceus, ΕΥ/ΕΠΙ/ΕΡ in left field
Struck at Cilicia 1st century BC (100-30 BC)
5.87g, 19.42
SNG Levante 792; SNG France 1075

P. FURIUS CRASSIPES ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS FURIA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: Turreted head of Cybele (Tyche) right, behind, foot pointing upwards, AED.CVR behind head
REVERSE: Curule chair inscribed P FOVRIVS; CRASSIPES in exergue
Rome 84 BC
3.88g. 19Mm
Cr 356/1c; Syd 735b

PHOENICIA TYRE
AE20
OBVERSE: Turreted head of Tyche to right, palm branch behind
REVERSE: Galley to left, prow terminating in volute, aphlaston at stern, NA (= 76/5 B.C.) and Tyre monogram above over IEΡAΣ [AΣNΛON] in monogram above, Phoenican letters below
Tyre 76-75 BC
7g, 20mm
BMC 26, 255, 254

ANTONIUS PIUS
AE 25
OBVERSE: AVTO KAI TI AIL ADRI ANTWNINOC CEEBV, laureate head right
REVERSE: IOVLIEWN TWN KAI LAODIKEWN, turreted and draped bust of Tyche right; QE-HP P in fields
Struck at Laodikeia ad Mare, 140-141 AD 9.28g, 25mm
SNG Copenhagen 350 var, BMC 57

ALEXANDRIA TROAS CIVIC ISSUE
AE 19
OBVERSE: CO-L TRO, draped and turreted bust of Tyche right; vexillum behind
REVERSE: CO-L AVG, TRO in exergue, eagle standing right on the forepart of a bull
Struck at Alexandria Troas, Third Century AD
5.06g, 19mm
SNG Cop 117

ALEXANDER TROAS CIVIC ISSUE
AE25
OBVERSE: COL ALEX TRO, Turreted & draped bust of city goddess or Tyche right; vexillum behind
REVERSE: COL AL [EX TRO], Horse feeding right, tree behind; beside the horse, a herdsman wearing chlamys, holding pedum in right hand, standing right
Struck at Alexandria Troas, 250-70 AD
5.6g, 24.9mm
BMC 52

PHILIP I
AE30
OBVERSE: AVTOK K M IOVLI FILIPPOC CEB, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: ANTIOCEWN MHTRO KOLWN D-E S-C, turreted & draped bust of Tyche right, ram leaping right above, star beneath
Struck at Antioch, 244-249 AD
30mm, 14g
BMC 528

MAXIMINUS II DAIA
Quarter-Nummus
OBVERSE: GENIO ANTIOCHENI, Tyche of Antioch seated facing on rocks, turreted and veiled, stalks of grain in right, river-god Orontes swimming below
REVERSE: APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left, patera in right, lyre in left. S in right field, mintmark SMA
Struck at Antioch, 312 AD
1.2g, 13mm
Van Heesch 3, A

 

Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.)
Laodicaea ad Mare
Obverse: Portrait of AP right
Reverse: Portrait of Tyche left, with city represented on her head, countermark on Pius' left shoulder

 

Yours is really beautiful! Mine from there isn't as ornate:

Syria, Seleucis and Pieria. Laodicea ad Mare
Trajan, AE25, Struck 116/117 AD
Obverse: ΑΥΤΟΚΡ ΝΕΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟС ΑΡΙСΤ ΚΑΙС СΕΒ ΓΕΡ ΔΑΚ ΠΑΡ, laureate head of Trajan, r., with drapery on l. shoulder.
Reverse: ΙΟΥΛΙΕωΝ ΤωΝ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕωΝ ΓΞΡ, turreted and veiled bust of Tyche, r., date M/KO year 163.
References: RPC III 3797-8
Size: 25mm, 9.8g

Would this still be considered Tyche of Antioch? Or is Tyche then simply the city goddess of any city that "conjures" her?

Yours is gorgeous too!

 

I think that this is Tyche as City Goddess, not Tyche of Antioch even if she was naturally the model.

Jochen

 

@ancient coin hunter Yes, that is the most impressive mural Crown of ancient coins. I love it!

Jochen

 

Here is a photo after restoration (an aside from Revolt in Judaea: The Road to Masada):

It's beautiful...

 

Excursion: 'The Mourning Penelope' - An Addentum to 'Tyche'

Recently (actually some years before!) I have found in a book of my schoolfellow Volker Sinn, Einführung in die klassische Archäologie, an interesting consideration about the depiction of the seated City Tyche, which I want to share.

In AD 1930 during excavations in Persepolis the Greek marble statue of a seated woman with crossed legs was found, supporting her head with the hand. It is only a seated torso but because of style examinations it is certain that the statue was created around 440-430 BC and comes from a studio on the Aegean Islands or the west-coast of Asia Minor. The depiction is known already from depictions of Penelope and Electra from c.470 BC. Today we know 7 copies in bronze and marble from the Roman Imperial Time. But this seems to be the original statue, at least one of them. It is known under the name 'Mourning Penelope'.

This statue was found in the so-called Treasury of Dareios under a layer of debris with a height of some meters and was destroyed 330 BC. And that is remarkable! For usually the Greek have took back to Greece all works which were displaced by the Persians. That was true e.g. for the statue of the 'Tyrannocide' or the 'Apollo Philesios' of Didyme. And that was true for all Persian booty. But not for our 'Mourning Penelope'! The conclusion must be that the 'Mourning Penelope' can't be booty!

And that leads us to the relation of the Greeks on the Aegean Islands and the west-coast of Asia minor to the Persians. The hostility of the Greeks against the Persians which we know from literary sources is the view of the continental Greeks especially the Athenians. In Asia minor it was very different. Here we had pro-Persian tendencies especially since under the Attic-Delic Sea League the obligatory dues increased and often the independence was lost. So it is understandable that many Greek cities - of course out of opportunity too - turned toward the Persians.

What is the symbolic meaning of Elektra and Penelope in Greek mythology? Penelope as widow according to the ethical conceptions of the nobility society of the early Greek was obligated to remarriage. For 10 years she was exposed to the impudent bedgerings of the suitors who had spread in her palace. Only the hope for the return of Odysseus had make bearable this debasement. By her unbending morale she finally gained the victory over her tormentors. Elektra, daughter of king Agamemnon of Mykene and his wife Klytaimnestra was exposed to most evil humiliations after the murder of Agamamnon by Klytaimnestra and Aigisthos which she had to suffer many years hoping for the return of her brother Orestes and the future revenge. Only then her fate turned to good and by Pylades she returned to deserved emotional security. So we have 2 parallel fortunes which were regarded by the Greeks as symbols of unbended bearing against temptations and hostility. Elektra stands for sense of family, Penelope for loyalty and married love (Sinn). We can understand why their depictions are so similar.

But their meaning can well be meant poltically! First the Thebans used the figure of the invincible mythological woman for their city. Then this motiv became the iconography of the City Goddess (Tyche) of several Greek cities. The most famous was the so-called Tyche of Antiocheia. It is imaginable that this image motif was used by Greek cities of Asia minor to symbolize their resistance against subordination under a foreign power. And this was for these cities Athens and the Attic-Delic Sea League! So it is well possible that a statue with the symbolism of Penelope was sent to Persepolis to emphasize a petition for Persian support against Athens. And then we understand why this statue was destroyed by the Greek troops of Alexander the Great in 330 BC. There was no hope for mercy!

I have added 2 pics:
[1] Statue of the 'Mourning Penelope' from the Iran National Museum in Teheran. This is the statue found in 1930 in Persepolis. See above. The pic itself is from livius.org
[2] 'Mourning Penelope'. Roman copy from the Bodemuseum in Berlin. Pic from
commons.wikimedia.org. We see the obvious similarity to the type of the seated Tyche.


Sources:
[1] Volker Sinn, Einführung in die Klassische Archäologie, Beck 2000
[2] http://www.livius.org/pen-pg/persepolis/persepolis_treasury.html
[3] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonnenschein_Trauernde_Penelope.jpg

Best regards

 

When such a wonderful thread already exists, why not keep adding to it!
Here is my newly acquired Tyche, which may have also had a place in the 'unusually well rendered for the type' thread =)




LAODIKEIA AD MARE. Tetradrachm (15.30g). 65/64 BC BC: head of Tyche with crown and veil no Rs .: ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟΥ, Zeus with Nike on the R. after l. enthroned, before that year HK (year 28), under the throne monogram, in the section ΣΕ. O.Morkholm, The Autonomous Tetradrachm of Laodicea ad Mare, ANSMN 28, 1983, -. DCA p. 314. RR with this year!

 

TYCHE


Cilicia - Tarsos turret counterstamped Bow Pompey Pirates AE 19 164 BCE Tyche-Zeus seated



PHOENICIA TYRE AE20 7g 76 BCE Turret hd Tyche palm branch - Galley prow volute aphlaston at stern Phoenican letters BMC 26

 

How did I miss this thread the first time around? Informative, as usual, @Jochen1 .

Here's my Tyche of Antioch:


Anonymous issue under Maximinus II.
Roman billon quarter follis, 1.35 g, 16.3 mm, 11 h.
Antioch, officina 10, AD 311-312.
Obv: GENIO ANTIOCHENI, Tyche of Antioch seated facing; river god Orontes swimming below.
Rev: APOLLONI SANCTO, Apollo standing left holding patera and lyre; S in right field, SMA in ex.
Refs: RCV 14927; Vagi 2954; Van Heesch 3(a); McAlee 170f.

 

@Jochen1 your coins look great, especially that Tigranes II.

Tarsos had a very similar Tyche depiction. That Tyche is holding poppies and wheat, and standing upon a different river-god, Kyndos.


Cilicia, Tarsos, 164-27 BC, AE26, 13.54g
Obv: ΤΑΡΣΕΩΝ / ΜΑΞΙΜΟΥ ΝΙΚΟ-ΛΑΟΝ; Zeus seated left, holding Nike with wreath and staff.
Rev: ΟΡΤΥΓΟΘΗ ΡΑ; Tyche seated right on stool, holding poppy and corn-ears, river-god Kyndos swimming right below.
Ref: SNG Levante 984, SNG Paris 1387
ex-Stacks/Coin Galleries April 2005, lot 135

I can't recall which catalog gave me the date of "164-27 BC" that I am using here. Probably I combined the earliest and latest dates from conflicting catalogs. I am not sure if this coin is earlier or later than your Tigranes.

Given how the arm is broken off I don't know how Visconti determined the statue is the Antioch version with palm and not the Tarsos version with poppy.

Tyche represents the local town. For Tarsos, the city's slogan might have been "come for the wheat, stay for the opium (?) poppies."

 

Great addition @Nvb

My two Tyches, first one being similar to @Justin Lee's one


Trajan, Bronze - SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Laodicea ad Mare, c114-115 AD
AUTOKR NER TRAIANOC ARICT(KAIC CEB), laureate head of Trajan right
IOULIEWN TWN KAI LAODIKEWN BXR, Turreted bust of Tychee right, IOU in field
9.97 gr
Ref : Sear #1080



Trebonianus Gallus, AE 8 Assaria - SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Antioch.
AYTOK K G OYIB TPEB GALLOC CEB, Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right /
ANTIOXEWN MHTPO KOLWN, Tyche seated facing within tetrastyle temple; below, river god Orontes swimming left; above temple, ram advancing right, head left; Delta and Epsilon across field. SC at exergue
21.08 g, (30mm, 6h)
Ref : Sear # 4350, McAlee 1181; SNG Copenhagen 292 (same rev. die).

Q

 

Tetradrachm of Trajan Tarsus or Rome? .100 A.D. Rv Tyche of Antioch seated r. river god swiming before Prieur 752 RPC 3254 14.92 grms 26 mm

 

Great article and coins!

 

Jochen,

You should have your Tigranes looked at closely. It's unusually heavy for the issue and doesn't look struck. It could be the cleaning and the photo, but it really looks odd in the photo.

Barry Murphy

 

Also Augustus, but 12th Consulship:
Tetradrachm, Seleucis and Pieria, Antioch (today Antakya, Turkey), dated year 26 Actian Era and Cos XII = 5 BC

24 mm, 14.12 g
Prieur 50; RPC I 4151; McAlee 180; DCA 400

Ob.: KAIΣAPOΣ ΣEBAΣTOY, laureate head right
Rev.: ETOYΣ ςΚ NIKHΣ (year 26 of the victory = 5 BC), Tyche of Antioch seated right on rocks, turreted, holding palm branch, half-length figure of river-god Orontes swimming right below, his head turned facing, in r. field YΠA monogram and IB (12th consulship) over ANT (Antioch) monogram

​

and a Caracalla but from Pisidia, Antioch (Colonia Caesareia Antiocheia). I just like the head on the obverse - the reverse is not nice - well, one can't have it all

Æ23, 5.64 g;
Colonia Caesareia Antiocheia, 206 - 211 AD
Krzyzanowska Group C CAR19.37-38 var (rev legend with CAS resp. CAE); BMC Lycia, Pamphilia and Pisisdia p.182, 41 - 43 var (?); RPC Vol VI, 6566 var; SNG von Aulock 4936 var.

Ob.: IMP CAES M AVR ANTONINVS A, laureate head right
Rev.: ANTIOCH GENI COL CAS, Tyche of Antiocheia standing left, holding branch and cornucopia

​