ALEXANDER I BALAS 152BC Seleukid Apollo RARE R1 Ancient Greek Coin i56496

$650.00 $585.00

Availability: 1 in stock

SKU: i56496 Category:

Item: i56496

 

 Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Greek Coin of

Seleukid Kingdom

Alexander I Balas – King: 

152-145 B.C.

Bronze 20mm (6.53 grams) Apameia on the Axios mint
Reference: HGC 9, 901 (R1-2); SC 1795 and 1805
Head of Alexander I Balas in lion skin headdress.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ 
either side of Apollo standing left, holding arrow and grounded bow; palm frond 
to outer left, monogram in exergue.

Claiming to be a son of Antiochus 
IV, Alexander Balas swept to power in Syria in 150 B.C. with the support of 
Attalos of Pergamon and Ptolemy of Egypt. However, his dissolute life-style soon 
made him unpopular, and he was overthrown after a reign of only five years.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of 

Authenticity.


2nd century AD Roman statue of Apollo depicting the god's attributes—the lyre and the snake Python

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.


Alexander Balas (Greek

Ἀλέξανδρoς Bάλας), ruler of the

Greek

Seleucid kingdom

150-146 BC, was a native of

Smyrna
of humble 

origin, but gave himself out to be the son of

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

and heir to the Seleucid throne. Along with his 

sister Laodice, the youngster Alexander was “discovered” by Heracleides, a 

former minister of Antiochus IV and brother of

Timarchus

an usurper in Media
 

who had been executed by the reigning king

Demetrius I Soter

.

Alexander’s claims were recognized by the

Roman 

Senate
,

Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt

and others. He married

Cleopatra Thea

, a daughter of the

Ptolemaic dynasty

. At first unsuccessful, Alexander finally defeated 

Demetrius Soter in 150 BC. Being now master of the empire, he is said to have 

abandoned himself to a life of debauchery. Whatever the truth behind this, the 

young king was forced to depend heavily on his Ptolemaic support and even struck 

portraits with the characteristic features of king

Ptolemy I

.

Demetrius Soter’s son

Demetrius II

profited by the opportunity to regain the throne. Ptolemy 

Philometor, who was Alexander’s father-in-law, went over to his side, and 

Alexander was defeated in the

battle of Antioch (145 BC)

in Syria, sometimes known as the battle of the 

Oenoparus.

He fled for refuge to a

Nabataean

prince, who murdered him and sent his head to Ptolemy Philometor, 

who had been mortally wounded in the engagement.


 Seleucid 
Empire
Σελεύκεια
Seleúkeia
 
 
312 BC–63 BC

The Seleucid Empire in 301 BC.

The Seleucid Empire  
was a
Hellenistic
state ruled by the Seleucid dynasty 
founded by
Seleucus I Nicator
following the division of 
the empire created by
Alexander the Great
. Seleucus received
Babylonia
and, from there, expanded his 
dominions to include much of Alexander’s
near eastern
territories. At the height of its 
power, it included central
Anatolia
, the
Levant
,
Mesopotamia
,
Kuwait
,
Persia
,
Afghanistan
,
Turkmenistan
, and northwest parts of
India
.

The Seleucid Empire was a major center of
Hellenistic
culture that maintained the 
preeminence of
Greek
customs where a Greek-Macedonian 
political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas. The Greek population of 
the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by emigration from
Greece
. Seleucid expansion into
Anatolia
and Greece was abruptly halted after
decisive defeats
at the hands of the
Roman army
. Their attempts to defeat their old 
enemy
Ptolemaic Egypt
were frustrated by Roman 
demands. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the
Parthians
under
Mithridates I of Parthia
in the mid-2nd century 
BC, yet the Seleucid kings continued to rule a
rump state
from
the Seleukid Kingdom
until the invasion by
Armenian
king
Tigranes the Great
and their ultimate overthrow 
by the Roman
general
Pompey
.


   

    

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