Greek Coin of
Seleukid Kingdom
Antiochos III Megas
– King: 223-187 B.C.
Bronze 16mm (3.17 grams) Sardeis mint: 223-187 B.C.
Reference: HGC 9, 518 (R1-2); SC 983; AD 206-207
Laureate head of Apollo right.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ANTIOXOY either side of Apollo standing left, holding arrow held in
right hand, left elbow resting on tall tripod; monograms in field to left and
right.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture
used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the
tripod
is the most stable furniture
construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is
particularly associated with
Apollo
and the
Delphic oracle
in
ancient Greece
, and the word “tripod” comes
from the Greek meaning “three-footed.”
Apollo and
Heracles
struggle for the Delphic
tripod (Attic
black-figure
hydria
, c. 520 BC)
Ancient Greece
The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the
Delphic
tripod from which the
Pythian priestess
took her seat to deliver the
oracles
of the deity. The seat was formed by a
circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which a branch of
laurel
was deposited when it was unoccupied by
the priestess. In this sense, by Classical times the tripod was sacred to
Apollo
. The
mytheme
of
Heracles
contesting with Apollo for the tripod
appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle
originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth.
Priestess of Delphi (1891), as imagined by
John Collier
; the Pythia is
inspired by
pneuma
rising from below as she
sits on a tripod
Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the
Plataean Tripod
; it was made from a tenth part
of the spoils taken from the
Persian
army after the
Battle of Plataea
. This consisted of a golden
basin, supported by a
bronze
serpent
with three heads (or three serpents
intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed
on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the
Phocians
during the
Third Sacred War
(356–346 BC); the stand was
removed by the emperor
Constantine
to
Constantinople
in 324, where in modern
Istanbul
it still can be seen in the
hippodrome
, the Atmeydanı, although in
damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is
now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription,
however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three
ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as
support in addition to the three legs.
Tripods frequently are mentioned by
Homer
as prizes in
athletic games
and as complimentary gifts; in
later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served the same
purpose. They also were used as dedicatory
offerings
to the deities, and in the dramatic
contests at the Dionysia
the victorious
choregus
(a wealthy citizen who bore the
expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He
would either dedicate the tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a
marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in
Athens
, called the street of tripods,
from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates
, erected by him
to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The
form of the victory tripod, now missing from the top of the Lysicrates monument,
has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century.
An ancient Greek coin c. 330-300 BC. Laureate head of Apollo (left)
and ornate tripod (right).
Martin L. West
writes that the sibyl at Delphi
shows many traits of
shamanistic
practices, likely inherited or
influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a
tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state,
similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible.
According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144), the victory tripods were not
to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications.
Sometimes the tripod was used as a support for a
lebes
or cauldron or for supporting other items
such as a vase.
-
Delphic tripod (red-figured
bell-krater
,
Paestum
, c. 330 BC)
Ancient China
A
ding
from the late
Shang Dynasty
.
Tripod pottery have been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since
the earliest Neolithic cultures of
Cishan
and
Peiligang
in the 7th and 8th millennium BC.
Sacrificial tripods were also found in use in ancient
China
usually cast in bronze but sometimes
appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as “dings”
and usually have three legs, but in some usages have four legs.
The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when a
“National Unity Tripod” made of bronze was presented by the central Chinese
government to the government of northwest China’s
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
to mark its
fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel
symbolizing unity.
In
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Apollo,
is one of the most important and diverse of the
Olympian deities
. The ideal of the
kouros
(a beardless youth), Apollo has been
variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy;
archery
; medicine and healing; music, poetry,
and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of
Zeus and Leto
, and has a
twin
sister, the chaste huntress
Artemis
. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced
Etruscan mythology
as Apulu. Apollo was
worshiped in both
ancient Greek
and
Roman religion
, as well as in the modern
Greco
–Roman
Neopaganism
.
As the patron of Delphi
(Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an
oracular
god — the prophetic deity of the
Delphic Oracle
. Medicine and healing were
associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his
son Asclepius
, yet Apollo was also seen as a god
who could bring ill-health and deadly
plague
as well as one who had the ability to
cure. Amongst the god’s custodial charges, Apollo became associated with
dominion over
colonists
, and as the patron defender of herds
and flocks. As the leader of the
Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and director of their choir, Apollo
functioned as the patron god of music and
poetry
.
Hermes
created the
lyre for him, and the instrument became a common
attribute
of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were
called paeans
.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as Apollo
Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios
,
god of the sun
, and his sister Artemis
similarly equated with
Selene
,
goddess of the moon
. In Latin texts, on the
other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any conflation of
Apollo with
Sol
among the
Augustan poets
of the first century, not even
in the conjurations of
Aeneas
and
Latinus
in
Aeneid
XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol
remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the third
century CE.
Antiochus III the Great, (Greek
Ἀντίoχoς Μέγας; ca. 241–187 BC,
ruled 222–187 BC), younger son of
Seleucus II Callinicus
, became the 6th ruler of the
Seleucid Empire
as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Ascending the throne
at young age, Antiochus was an ambitious ruler. Although his early attempts in
war against the
Ptolemaic Kingdom
were unsuccessful, in the following years of conquest
Antiochus proved himself as the most successful Seleucid King after
Seleucus I
himself. His traditional designation, the Great, reflects
an epithet he briefly assumed after his Eastern Campaign (it appears in regnal
formulas at Amyzon in 203 and 202 BC, but not later). Antiochos also assumed the
title “Basileus Megas” (which is
Greek
for Great King), the
traditional title of
the Persian kings, which he adopted after his conquest of Koile the
Seleukid Kingdom.
//
Early years
Antiochus III inherited a disorganized state. Not only had
Asia Minor
become detached, but the farther eastern provinces had broken away,
Bactria
under
the Greek
Diodotus of Bactria
, and
Parthia
under
the nomad chieftain
Arsaces
. Soon after Antiochus’s accession,
Media
and
Persis
revolted under their governors, the brothers
Molon
and
Alexander
.
The young king, under the baneful influence of the minister
Hermeias
,
authorised an attack on
Judea
instead of
going in person to face the rebels. The attack on Judea proved a fiasco, and the
generals sent against Molon and Alexander met with disaster. Only in Asia Minor,
where the king’s cousin, the able
Achaeus
represented the Seleucid cause, did its prestige recover, driving
the Pergamene power back to its earlier limits.
In 221 BC Antiochus at last went east, and the rebellion of Molon and
Alexander collapsed. The submission of Lesser Media, which had asserted its
independence under
Artabazanes
, followed. Antiochus rid himself of Hermeias by assassination
and returned to the Seleukid Kingdom
(220 BC). Meanwhile Achaeus himself had revolted and assumed the title of king
in Asia Minor. Since, however, his power was not well enough grounded to allow
of his attacking the Seleukid Kingdom, Antiochus considered that he might leave Achaeus for the
present and renew his attempt on Judea.
The campaigns of 219 BC and 218 BC carried the Seleucid armies almost to the
confines of
Ptolemaic Egypt
, but in 217 BC
Ptolemy IV
confronted Antiochus at the
battle of Raphia
and inflicted a defeat upon him which nullified all
Antiochus’s successes and compelled him to withdraw north of the
Lebanon
. In
216 BC Antiochus went north to deal with Achaeus, and had by 214 BC driven him
from the field into Sardis
. Antiochus contrived to get possession of the person of
Achaeus
(see
Polybius
),
but the citadel held out until 213 BC under Achaeus’ widow
Laodice
and then surrendered.
Having thus recovered the central part of Asia Minor – for the Seleucid
government had perforce to tolerate the dynasties in
Pergamon
,
Bithynia
and Cappadocia
– Antiochus turned to recover the outlying provinces of the north
and east. He obliged
Xerxes of Armenia
to acknowledge his supremacy in 212 BC. In 209 BC
Antiochus invaded Parthia
, occupied the capital
Hecatompylus
and pushed forward into
Hyrcania
.
The Parthian king
Arsaces II
apparently successfully sued for peace.
Bactrian
campaign and Indian expedition
Year 209 BC saw Antiochus in
Bactria
,
where the
Greco-Bactrian
king
Euthydemus I
had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with
success.
After sustaining a famous siege in his capital
Bactra
(Balkh), Euthydemus obtained an honourable peace by which
Antiochus promised Euthydemus’ son
Demetrius
the hand of one of his daughters.
Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the
Kabul
valley,
renewed his friendship with the
Indian
king
Sophagasenus
and returned west by way of
Seistan
and Kerman (206/5). According to
Polybius
:
-
“He crossed the Caucasus (Hindu
Kush) and descended into India; renewed his friendship with
Sophagasenus
(Subhashsena in Prakrit) the king of the Indians; received
more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once
more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving
Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king
had agreed to hand over to him.”
Polybius 11.39
Persia and Koile
the Seleukid Kingdom campaigns
The Seleucid Empire in 200BC, (before Antiochus was defeated by the
Romans)..
From
Seleucia on the Tigris
he led a short expedition down the
Persian
Gulf
against the
Gerrhaeans
of
the Arabian coast (205 BC/204 BC). Antiochus seemed to have restored the
Seleucid empire in the east, and the achievement brought him the title of “the
Great.” (Antiochos Megas). In 205 BC/204 BC the infant
Ptolemy V Epiphanes
succeeded to the Egyptian throne, and Antiochus is said
(notably by Polybios) to have concluded a secret pact with
Philip V of Macedon
for the partition of the Ptolemaic possessions. Under
the terms of this pact,
Macedon
were to receive Egypt’s around the Aegean Sea and
Cyrene
while Antiochus would take
Cyprus
and
Egypt.
Once more Antiochus attacked the Ptolemaic province of Koile
the Seleukid Kingdom and
Phoenicia, and by 199 BC he seems to have had possession of it before the Aetolian,
Scopas
, recovered it for Ptolemy. But that recovery proved brief, for in 198
BC Antiochus defeated Scopas at the
Battle of Panium
, near the sources of the
Jordan
,
a battle which marks the end of Ptolemaic rule in Judea.
War against Rome
Antiochus then moved to Asia Minor to secure the coast towns which had
belonged to the Ptolemaic overseas dominions and the independent Greek cities.
This enterprise brought him into antagonism with
Rome
, since Smyrna
and
Lampsacus
appealed to the republic of the west, and the tension became greater after
Antiochus had in 196 BC established a footing in
Thrace
. The
evacuation of Greece by the Romans gave Antiochus his opportunity, and he now
had the fugitive
Hannibal
at
his court to urge him on.
Aetolians. In
191 BC, however, the Romans under
Manius Acilius Glabrio
routed him at
Thermopylae
and obliged him to withdraw to Asia. The Romans followed up
their success by attacking Antiochus in
Anatolia
,
and the decisive victory of
Scipio Asiaticus
at
Magnesia ad Sipylum
(190 BC), following the defeat of Hannibal at sea off
Side, delivered
Asia Minor into their hands.
By the
Treaty of Apamea
(188 BC) the Seleucid king abandoned all the country north
of the
Taurus
, which Rome distributed amongst its friends. As a consequence of this
blow to the Seleucid power, the outlying provinces of the empire, recovered by
Antiochus, reasserted their independence.
Antiochus mounted a fresh expedition to the east in
Luristan
, where he died in an attempt to rob a temple at Elymaïs, Persia, in
187 BC. The Seleucid kingdom as Antiochus left it fell to his son,
Seleucus IV Philopator
, by his wife
Laodice
.
Born:
241 BC
Died: |
Regnal titles |
Preceded by
Seleucus III Ceraunus |
Seleucid King
223–187 BC |
Succeeded by
Seleucus IV Philopator |
|