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Greek coin of Seleukid Kingdom
Antiochos VIII – 121-96 B.C.
Bronze 16mm (4.50 grams) Struck 121-120 B.C.
Reference: HGC 9, 1212; Sear 7154; B.MC. 4. 90, 27
Certification: NGC Ancients F 6156464-033
Radiate and diademed head of Antiochos VIII right.
Eagle standing left, scepter in background; on right, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ/ANTIOXOY; on left, ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ; in field to left, IE; in exergue, Seleukid date and palm.
Antiochos VIII Grypos, or “hook-nosed” (B.C. 125-96), second son of Demetrios II Nikator and Cleopatra Thea. He was placed upon the throne in 125 by his mother Cleopatra, who put to death his eldest brother Seleukos V, because she wished to have the power in her own hands. He poisoned his mother in 120, and subsequently carried on war for some years with his brother Antiochos IX Kyzikenos. At length, in 112, the two brothers agreed to share the kingdom between them, Antiochos IX Kyzikenos having Coele and Phoenicia, and Antiochos VIII Grypos the remainder of the provinces. Grypos was assassinated in 96.
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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.
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.
 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.
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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