Antiochos VIII (Grypos) Seleukid Kingdom 121BC Ancient Greek Coin Eagle i52981

Item: i52981

 Authentic Ancient

:

Greek coin of

Antiochos VIII Grypos – King: 121-96 B.C.
Bronze 18mm (6.28 grams) Struck 121-120 B.C.
Reference: HGC 9, 1212; Sear 7154; B.MC. 4. 90, 27 —
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.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

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
.