SELEUKIS and PIERIA, Antioch and Seleukeia Pieria. 149/8–147/6 BC. Æ (21.5mm, 7.83 g, 3h). Adelphoi Demi ("The Brother Peoples") issue. Dated SE 165 (148/7 BC). Good VF.

Electronic Auction 542
Lot: 145. Estimated: $ 100

Greek, Bronze

Sold For $ 160. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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SELEUKIS and PIERIA, Antioch and Seleukeia Pieria. 149/8–147/6 BC. Æ (21.5mm, 7.83 g, 3h). Adelphoi Demi ("The Brother Peoples") issue. Dated SE 165 (148/7 BC). Laureate head of Zeus right / Thunderbolt; EΞP (date) and monogram above, monogram below; all within wreath. HGC 9, 1396; SNG München 578. Green-brown surface, light cleaning marks, die break on obverse. Good VF.

The identification of the issuing city/cities of this coinage has long been debated. Since Strabo (16.2.4) mentioned that Seleukeia, Antioch on the Orontes, Apameia on the Orontes, Laodikeia ad Mare, and Seleukeia Pieria were called sisters due to the concord between them, E. Babelon and W. Wroth considered this coinage as evidence of a tetrarchy composed of these cities. However, since these coins were only found in Seleukeia and Antioch, A. Bellinger concluded that they could not have been struck in the four cities, and rather were evidence of an alliance between only the two, Seleukeia and Antioch. Bellinger also concluded that this was evidence of a decline in the power of the Seleukid kingdom. K.J. Rigsby and O. Mørkholm both agreed with Belllinger’s conclusion that this coinage represented a league between the two cities, but thought that it represented an increase in the power of the Seleukid king; Alexander I Balas seems to have restricted the authority of the cities to strike a purely municipal coinage, which ended with the inception of this Adelphoi Demi coinage. (For a full discussion on the debate over this coinage, see G. M. Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin, and North Africa (Berkley, 2006), pp. 82 and 132, n. 12.)

Closing Date and Time: 19 July 2023 at 10:48:00 ET.

All winning bids are subject to an 20% buyer’s fee.