ANTIOCHOS VIII Grypos 121BC Seleukid Ancient Greek Coin APOLLO ARTEMIS i53700

Item: i53700

 Authentic Ancient 

:

Greek coin of

Antiochos VIII Grypos – King: 121-96 B.C.
Bronze 14mm (3.06 grams) Antioch mint, struck circa 121-114 B.C.
Reference: HGC 9, 1220; Sear 7158
Bust of Artemis right, quiver over shoulder.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY / ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ, 
Apollo standing left, holding arrow and grounded bow; Seleukid date in exergue.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

Authenticity.

Artemis was one of 
the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe 
that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer 
refers to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
“Artemis of the wildland, 
Mistress of Animals”. In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (Greek: 
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was often 
described as the daughter of

Zeus and Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the 
hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing 
and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a 
bow and arrows. The deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later 
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.

Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a Greek moon goddess, 
sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified 
with the Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate
.

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 VIII Epiphanes/Callinicus/Philometor, nicknamed Grypus 
(hook-nose), was crowned as ruler of the
Greek

Seleucid kingdom
in 125 BC. He was the son of
Demetrius II Nicator
and
Cleopatra Thea
.

Biography

Antiochus Grypus was crowned as a teenager in 125 BC after his mother
Cleopatra Thea
had killed his elder brother
Seleucus V Philometor
, ruling jointly with her. 
After Antiochus defeated usurper
Alexander II Zabinas
in 123 BC his mother tried 
to poison him with wine, but the suspicious king forced her to drink the cup 
herself. (The story may have been inspired by the fact that Grypus was 
interested in toxicology; some poems about poisonous herbs believed to have been 
written by him are quoted by the famous physician
Galen
).

Either he or his half brother
Antiochus IX Cyzicenus
is probably identical 
with the ephemeral child ruler Antiochus Epiphanes, who was crowned by
Cleopatra Thea
after the death of Antiochus VII 
but before Demetrius II returned to Antioch. The child Antiochus Epiphanes, who 
is known from coins, was deposed—but not killed—when Demetrius II was restored 
in 129 BC.

 

Despite political shortcomings, Grypus was a popular king. His ugly, lazy 
appearance on coins (common among the last Seleucids), together with stories of 
his lavish banquets, made posterity believe his dynasty was degenerated and 
decadent. This was however a conscious image, an invocation of the Hellenistic 
idea Tryphe
– meaning good life, which the last 
Seleucids strove to be associated with, as opposed to the exhausting civil wars 
and feuds which troubled their reigns in reality.

A story of his luxurious parties claims he sent food home with guests who 
attended banquets, complete with a camel as beast of burden, as well as a with 
attendant to carry the guest himself. This should certainly have caused some 
strain on the already depleted treasury.

Family

He married the
Ptolemaic
princess
Tryphaena
, but in 116 BC his half-brother and 
cousin
Antiochus IX Cyzicenus
(see
Antiochus VII Sidetes
) returned from exile and 
a civil war
began. Cyzicenus’ wife, also named
Cleopatra
, was a sister of Tryphaena and was 
eventually killed in a dramatic fashion in the temple of
Daphne
outside
Antioch
, on the order of Tryphaena. Cyzicenus 
eventually killed Tryphaena as revenge. The two brothers then divided
the Seleukid Kingdom
between them until Grypus 
was killed by his minister Heracleon in 96 BC.

Five of Grypus’ sons later rose to kingship:

• Seleucus VI Epiphanes
• Antiochus XI Ephiphanes Philadelphus
• Philip I Philadelphus
• Demetrius III Eucaerus
• Antiochus XII Dionysus

This contributed to the confusion of civil war amid which the Seleucid empire 
ended.

He also had at least one daughter:

• Laodice VII Thea
  , married to king
  Mithridates I Callinicus
  of
  Commagene
  as part of a settlement by 
  Mithridates’ father
  Sames II Theosebes Dikaios
  to ensure peace 
  between the Kingdom of Commagene and the
  Seleucid Empire
  . Laodice and Mithridates’ 
  son was king
  Antiochus I Theos of Commagene
  . This was a 
  grandson to Grypus.

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
.