ANTIOCHUS VI Dionysos Seleucid King 145BC Nude Apollo Ancient Greek Coin i29902

Item: i29902

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek – Seleucid Kingdom: Antiochus VI, Dionysos, King

Serrate Bronze 14mm (2.40 grams) Struck 145-142 B.C.

Laureate head of Apollo right within dotted border.

Nude Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow and resting on bow; on right,

BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ; on left, Α�ΤΙΟΧΟΥ.

.You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

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 VI Dionysus (ca. 148–138 BC), king of the

Hellenistic

Seleucid kingdom

, was the son of

Alexander Balas

and

Cleopatra Thea

, daughter of

Ptolemy VI of Egypt

.

Antiochus VI did not actually rule. He was nominated in 145 BC by the general

Diodotus Tryphon

as heir to the throne in opposition to

Demetrius II

, and remained the general’s tool. In 142 BC, Diodotus deposed

and succeeded him and in 138 BC announced that he had contracted an internal

disease and supposedly required surgery, which was presumably used to cover his

murder at his supposed benefactor’s bequest.

 External links

• Antiochus VI

  entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith