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Greek Seleucid Kingdom – Antiochus I, Soter – King: 280-261
B.C.
Bronze 17mm (3.95 grams) Struck 280-261 B.C.
Reference: Sear 6879
Laureate head of Apollo right.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ANTIOXOY either side of tripod, anchor beneath.
Seleukos was succeeded by his son, Antiochos, who had already been ruler of the
eastern satrapies from 293 B.C. Little is known of his reign other than his
victory over the Gallic invaders of Asia minor, circa 273 B.C., which earned him
the title of Soter – ‘Savior’
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A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture
used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the
tripod is the most stable furniture
construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is
particularly associated with
Apollo and the
Delphic oracle in
ancient Greece, and the word “tripod” comes
from the Greek meaning “three-footed.”
Apollo and
Heracles struggle for the Delphic
tripod (Attic
black-figure
hydria, c. 520 BC)
Ancient Greece
The most famous tripod of ancient Greece was the
Delphic tripod from which the
Pythian priestess took her seat to deliver the
oracles of the deity. The seat was formed by a
circular slab on the top of the tripod, on which a branch of
laurel was deposited when it was unoccupied by
the priestess. In this sense, by Classical times the tripod was sacred to
Apollo. The
mytheme of
Heracles contesting with Apollo for the tripod
appears in vase-paintings older than the oldest written literature. The oracle
originally may have been related to the primal deity, the Earth.
Priestess of Delphi (1891), as imagined by
John Collier; the Pythia is
inspired by
pneuma rising from below as she
sits on a tripod
Another well-known tripod in Delphi was the
Plataean Tripod; it was made from a tenth part
of the spoils taken from the
Persian army after the
Battle of Plataea. This consisted of a golden
basin, supported by a
bronze
serpent with three heads (or three serpents
intertwined), with a list of the states that had taken part in the war inscribed
on the coils of the serpent. The golden bowl was carried off by the
Phocians during the
Third Sacred War (356-346 BC); the stand was
removed by the emperor
Constantine to
Constantinople in 324, where in modern
Istanbul it still can be seen in the
hippodrome, the Atmeydanı, although in
damaged condition: the heads of the serpents have disappeared, however one is
now on display at the nearby Istanbul Archaeology Museums. The inscription,
however, has been restored almost entirely. Such tripods usually had three
ears (rings which served as handles) and frequently had a central upright as
support in addition to the three legs.
Tripods frequently are mentioned by
Homer as prizes in
athletic games and as complimentary gifts; in
later times, highly decorated and bearing inscriptions, they served the same
purpose. They also were used as dedicatory
offerings to the deities, and in the dramatic
contests at the
Dionysia the victorious
choregus (a wealthy citizen who bore the
expense of equipping and training the chorus) received a crown and a tripod. He
would either dedicate the tripod to some deity or set it upon the top of a
marble structure erected in the form of a small circular temple in a street in
Athens, called the street of tripods,
from the large number of memorials of this kind. One of these, the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, erected by him
to commemorate his victory in a dramatic contest in 335 BC, still stands. The
form of the victory tripod, now missing from the top of the Lysicrates monument,
has been rendered variously by scholars since the 18th century.
An ancient Greek coin c. 330-300 BC. Laureate head of Apollo (left)
and ornate tripod (right).
Martin L. West writes that the sibyl at Delphi
shows many traits of
shamanistic practices, likely inherited or
influenced from Central Asian practices. He cites her sitting in a cauldron on a
tripod, while making her prophecies, her being in an ecstatic trance state,
similar to shamans, and her utterings, unintelligible.
According to Herodotus (The Histories, I.144), the victory tripods were not
to be taken from the temple sanctuary precinct, but left there as dedications.
Sometimes the tripod was used as a support for a
lebes or cauldron or for supporting other items
such as a vase.
-
Delphic tripod (red-figured
bell-krater,
Paestum, c. 330 BC)
Ancient China
A
ding from the late
Shang Dynasty.
Tripod pottery have been part of the archaeological assemblage in China since
the earliest Neolithic cultures of
Cishan and
Peiligang in the 7th and 8th millennium BC.
Sacrificial tripods were also found in use in ancient
China usually cast in bronze but sometimes
appearing in ceramic form. They are often referred to as “dings”
and usually have three legs, but in some usages have four legs.
The Chinese use sacrificial tripods in modern times, such as in 2005, when a
“National Unity Tripod” made of bronze was presented by the central Chinese
government to the government of northwest China’s
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to mark its
fiftieth birthday. It was described as a traditional Chinese sacrificial vessel
symbolizing unity.
 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 I Soter (Greek:
Αντίοχος Α’ Σωτήρ, i.e. Antiochus the Savior, unknown – 261 BC),
was a king of the
Hellenistic
Seleucid Empire. He reigned from 281 BC – 261 BC.
Antiochus I was half
Persian, his mother
Apama being one
of the eastern princesses whom
Alexander the Great had given as wives to his generals in 324 BC. In 294 BC,
prior to the death of his father
Seleucus I, Antiochus married his stepmother,
Stratonice, daughter of
Demetrius Poliorcetes. His elderly father reportedly instigated the marriage
after discovering that his son was in danger of dying of lovesickness.
On the assassination of his father in 281 BC, the task of holding together
the empire was a formidable one. A revolt in
Syria broke out
almost immediately. Antiochus was soon compelled to make peace with his father’s
murderer,
Ptolemy Keraunos, apparently abandoning
Macedonia and
Thrace. In
Asia Minor he was unable to reduce
Bithynia or
the Persian dynasties that ruled in
Cappadocia.
In 278 BC the
Gauls
broke into Asia Minor, and a victory that Antiochus won over these hordes is
said to have been the origin of his title of Soter (Gr.
for “saviour”).
At the end of 275 BC the question of
Coele-Syria,
which had been open between the houses of
Seleucus
and
Ptolemy since the partition of 301 BC, led to hostilities (the
First Syrian War). It had been continuously in
Ptolemaic occupation, but the
house of Seleucus maintained its claim.
War did not materially change the outlines of the two kingdoms, though
frontier cities like
Damascus
and the coast districts of Asia Minor might change hands.
His eldest son Seleucus had ruled in the east as viceroy from 275 BC(?) till
268/267 BC; Antiochus put his son to death in the latter year on the charge of
rebellion. Circa 262 BC Antiochus tried to break the growing power of
Pergamum by force of arms, but suffered defeat near
Sardis and died
soon afterwards. He was succeeded in 261 BC by his second son
Antiochus II Theos.
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