The Suppression of the Revolt in Seleukeia

224, Lot: 282. Estimate $100. Sold for $145. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BABYLONIA, Seleukeia ad Tigrim. 1st century AD. Æ 15mm (3.48 g, 12h). Dated SE 351 (AD 40/1). Turreted and draped bust of Tyche right / Nike advancing left, holding palm; date before. McDowell 142; BMC -; SNG Copenhagen -. Good Fine, black patina. Rare.

From the J.S. Wagner Collection.

Around AD 36, a revolt against Artabanos III broke out in Seleukeia, with popular support turning to the Roman-backed Tiridates. The revolt was not suppressed until AD 40. McDowell, noting the type of imagery and fine style of this issue compared to those immediately preceding it, concluded that, “...the group of autonomous coins with which we are now concerned was not issued under the same authority as the three preceding groups, and that the Nike motif was intended to commemorate the victory of the loyalist, aristocratic party which prepared the way from the resumption of the the Arsacid rule in the city.” (p. 142)