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Greek Seleucid Kingdom – Antiochus I, Soter – King: 280-261
B.C.
Bronze 13mm (2.21 grams) Struck 280-261 B.C.
Reference: Unpublished Type
Laureate head of Apollo right.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ANTIOXOY either side of lyre;
anchor beneath.
* Numismatic Note: Unpublished type.
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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Apollo Belvedere
,
ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the
Olympian deities
in
ancient Greek
and
Roman religion
,
Greek
and
Roman mythology
, and
Greco
–Roman
Neopaganism
. The ideal of the
kouros
(a beardless, athletic youth),
Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and
prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, 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.
As the patron of Delphi
(Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an
oracular
god—the prophetic deity of the
Delphic Oracle
. Medicine and healing are
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
. 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 Musegetes) 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
.
Apollo (left) and
Artemis
.
Brygos
(potter signed), Tondo of an
Attic red-figure cup c. 470 BC,
Musée du Louvre
.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as Apollo
Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios
,
Titan
god of the sun
, and his sister Artemis
similarly equated with
Selene
, Titan
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 1st 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 3rd
century CE.
Etymology
Statuette of the Apollo Lykeios type,
Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens
(inv. BI 236).
Apollo was worshipped throughout the
Roman Empire
. In the traditionally
Celtic
lands he was most often seen as a
healing and sun god. He was often equated with
Celtic gods
of similar character.
Apollo Atepomarus
(“the great horseman”
or “possessing a great horse”). Apollo was worshipped at
Mauvières
(Indre).
Horses were, in the Celtic world, closely linked to the sun.[23]
Apollo Belenus
(‘bright’ or
‘brilliant’). This epithet was given to Apollo in parts of
Gaul
, Northern Italy and
Noricum
(part of modern Austria). Apollo
Belenus was a healing and sun god.[24]
Apollo Cunomaglus
(‘hound lord’). A
title given to Apollo at a shrine in
Wiltshire
. Apollo Cunomaglus may have been
a god of healing. Cunomaglus himself may originally have been an independent
healing god.[25]
Apollo Grannus
. Grannus was a healing
spring god, later equated with Apollo.- Apollo Maponus. A god known from inscriptions in Britain. This
may be a local fusion of Apollo and
Maponus
.
Apollo Moritasgus
(‘masses of sea
water’). An epithet for Apollo at Alesia, where he was worshipped as god of
healing and, possibly, of physicians.
Apollo Vindonnus
(‘clear light’).
Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at
Essarois
, near
Châtillon-sur-Seine
in
Burgundy
. He was a god of healing,
especially of the eyes.
Apollo Virotutis
(‘benefactor of
mankind?’). Apollo Virotutis was worshipped, among other places, at Fins
d’Annecy (Haute-Savoie)
and at Jublains
(Maine-et-Loire).
Origins
The Omphalos
in the Museum of
Delphi
.
The cult centers of Apollo in Greece,
Delphi
and
Delos
, date from the 8th century BCE. The Delos
sanctuary was primarily dedicated to
Artemis
, Apollo’s twin sister. At Delphi,
Apollo was venerated as the slayer of
Pytho
. For the Greeks, Apollo was all the Gods
in one and through the centuries he acquired different functions which could
originate from different gods. In
archaic Greece
he was the
prophet
, the oracular god who in older times
was connected with “healing”. In
classical Greece
he was the god of light and of
music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil.
From his eastern-origin Apollo brought the art of inspection from “symbols
and omina
” (σημεία και τέρατα : semeia kai
terata), and of the observation of the
omens of the days. The inspiration oracular-cult was probably
introduced from Anatolia
. The
ritualism
belonged to Apollo from the
beginning. The Greeks created the
legalism
, the supervision of the orders of the
gods, and the demand for moderation and harmony. Apollo became the god of
shining youth, the protector of music, spiritual-life, moderation and
perceptible order. The improvement of the old
Anatolian
god, and his elevation to an
intellectual sphere, may be considered an achievement of the
Greek
people.
Healer and
god-protector from evil
The function of Apollo as a “healer” is connected with
Paean
, the physician of the Gods in the
Iliad
, who seems to come from a more
primitive religion. Paeοn is probably connected with the
Mycenean
Pa-ja-wo, but the etymology is the
only evidence. He did not have a separate cult, but he was the personification
of the holy magic-song sung by the magicians that was supposed to cure disease.
Later the Greeks knew the original meaning of the relevant song “paean”. The
magicians were also called “seer-doctors”, and they used an ecstatic prophetic
art which was used exactly by the god Apollo at the oracles.
In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the
bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the
terrible
Vedic
god of disease
Rudra
.He sends a terrible plague to the
Achaeans
. The god who sends a disease can also
prevent from it, therefore when it stops they make a purifying ceremony and
offer him an “hecatomb” to ward off evil. When the oath of his priest appeases,
they pray and with a song they call their own god, the beautiful Paean.
Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are “paion” , “epikourios”, “oulios”,
and “loimios” . In classical times, his strong function in popular religion was
to keep away evil, and was therefore called “apotropaios” and “alexikakos” ,
throw away the evil).
In later writers, the word, usually spelled “Paean”, becomes a
mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of
healing
.
Homer illustrated Paeon the god, and the song both of
apotropaic
thanksgiving or triumph. Such songs
were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to
Dionysus
, to Apollo
Helios
, to Apollo’s son
Asclepius
the healer. About the 4th century
BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to
implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such
protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become
recognised as the god of music. Apollo’s role as the slayer of the
Python
led to his association with battle and
victory; hence it became the
Roman
custom for a paean to be sung by an army
on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and
also after a victory had been won.
Dorian origin
The connection with Dorians and their initiation festival
apellai
is reinforced by the month
Apellaios in northwest Greek calendars, but it can explain only the Doric
type of the name, which is connected with the
Ancient Macedonian
word “pella” (Pella),
stone. Stones played an important part in the cult of the god, especially
in the oracular shrine of Delphi (Omphalos).
The “Homeric hymn” represents Apollo as a Northern intruder. His arrival must
have occurred during the “dark ages” that followed the destruction of the
Mycenaean civilization
, and his conflict with
Gaia
(Mother Earth) was represented by the
legend of his slaying her daughter the serpent
Python
.
The earth deity had power over the ghostly world, and it is believed that she
was the deity behind the oracle. The older tales mentioned two dragons who were
perhaps intentionally conflated. A female dragon named
Delphyne
who is obviously connected with Delphi
and Apollo Delphinios, and a male serpent
Typhon
, the adversary of
Zeus in the
Titanomachy
, who the narrators confused with
Python
. Python was the good daemon of the
temple as it appears in
Minoan
religion, but she was represented as a
dragon, as often happens in Northern European folklore as well as in the East.
Apollo and his sister
Artemis
can bring death with their arrows. The
conception that diseases and death come from invisible shots sent by
supernatural beings, or magicians is common in
Germanic
and
Norse
mythology.[35]
In
Greek mythology
Artemis was the leader of the
nymphs
, who had similar functions with the
Nordic
Elves.The “elf-shot” originally indicated disease or death attributed
to the elves, but it was later attested denoting
arrow
-heads which were used by witches to harm
people, and also for healing rituals.
The
Vedic
Rudra has some similar functions with
Apollo. The terrible god is called “The Archer”, and the bow is also an
attribute of Shiva
. Rudra could bring diseases with his
arrows, but he was able to free people of them, and his alternative Shiba, is a
healer physician god. However the
Indo-European
component of Apollo, does not
explain his strong relation with omens, exorcisms, and with the oracular cult.
Minoan origin
It seems an oracular cult existed in Delphi from the
Mycenaean
ages.[53]
In historical times, the priests of Delphi were called
Labryaden
, “the double-axe men”, which
indicates
Minoan
origin. The double-axe (λάβρυς:labrys)
was the holy symbol of the
Cretan
labyrinth
.[54][55]
The Homeric hymn adds that Apollo appeared as a dolphin and carried Cretan
priests to Delphi, where they evidently transferred their religious practices.
Apollo Delphinios was a sea-god especially worshiped in Crete and in the
islands, and his name indicates his connection with Delphi[56]
and the holy serpent
Delphyne
(womb). Apollo’s sister
Artemis
, who was the Greek goddess of hunting,
is identified with
Britomartis
(Diktynna),
the
Minoan
“Mistress of the animals”. In her
earliest depictions she is accompanied by the “Mister of the animals”, a male
god of hunting who had the bow as his attribute. We don’t know his original
name, but it seems that he was absorbed by the more powerful Apollo, who stood
by the “Mistress of the animals”, becoming her brother.[49]
The old oracles in Delphi seem to be connected with a local tradition of the
priesthood, and there is not clear evidence that a kind of inspiration-prophecy
existed in the temple. This led some scholars to the conclusion that Pythia
carried on the rituals in a consistent procedure through many centuries,
according to the local tradition. In that regard, the mythical seeress
Sibyl
of
Anatolian
origin, with her ecstatic art, looks
unrelated to the oracle itself.[57]
However, the Greek tradition is referring to the existence of vapours and
chewing of laurel-leaves, which seem to be confirmed by recent studies.[58]
Plato
describes the priestesses of Delphi and
Dodona
as frenzied women, obsessed by “mania” (μανία:frenzy),
a Greek word connected with “mantis” (μάντις:prophet). Frenzied women like
Sibyls from whose lips the god speaks are recorded in the
Near East
as
Mari
in the second millennium BC.[59]
Although Crete had contacts with Mari from 2000 BC,[60]
there is no evidence that the ecstatic prophetic art existed during the Minoan
and Mycenean ages. It is more probable that this art was introduced later from
Anatolia
and regenerated an existing oracular
cult that was local to Delphi and dormant in several areas of Greece.[61]
Anatolian origin
A non-Greek origin of Apollo has long been assumed in scholarship.[3]
The name of Apollo’s mother
Leto has Lydian
origin, and she was worshipped on the
coasts of
Asia Minor
. The inspiration oracular cult was
probably introduced into Greece from
Anatolia
, which is the origin of
Sibyl
, and where existed some of the oldest
oracular shrines. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old
Assyro
–Babylonian
texts, and these rituals were spread into the empire of the
Hittites
. In a Hittite text is mentioned that
the king invited a Babylonian priestess for a certain “purification”.[33]
A similar story is mentioned by
Plutarch
. He writes that the
Cretan
–
seer
Epimenides, purified
Athens
after the pollution brought by the
Alcmeonidae
, and that the seer’s expertise in
sacrifices
and reform of funeral practices were
of great help to Solon
in his reform of the Athenian state.[62]
The story indicates that Epimenides was probably heir to the shamanic religions
of Asia, and proves together with the
Homericc
hymn, that Crete had a resisting
religion up to the historical times. It seems that these rituals were dormant in
Greece, and they were reinforced when the Greeks migrated to
Anatolia
.
Homer
pictures Apollo on the side of the
Trojans, fighting against the
Achaeans
, during the
Appaliunas, a tutelary god of
Trojan War
Wilusa
(Troy)
in Asia Minor, but the word is not complete.[63]
The stones found in front of the gates of
Homeric
Troy were the symbols of Apollo. The
Greeks gave to him the name αγυιεύς
agyieus
as the protector god of public places
and houses who wards off evil, and his symbol was a tapered stone or column.[64]
However, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the
full moon
, all the feasts of Apollo were
celebrated at the seventh day of the month, and the emphasis given to that day (sibutu)
indicates a
Babyloniann
origin.[65]
The
Late Bronze Age
(from 1700 to 1200 BCE)
Hittite
and
Hurrian
Aplu was a god of
plague
, invoked during plague years. Here we
have an
apotropaic
situation, where a god originally
bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning the son of, was
a title given to the god
Nergal
, who was linked to the
Babylonian
god of the sun
Shamash
.[12]
Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god (δεινός θεός) who brings death and
disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that
separates him from the other Greek gods.[66]
In Iliad
, his priest prays to Apollo
Smintheus,[67]
the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from
field rats.[68][69]
All these functions, including the function of the healer-god
Paean
, who seems to have Mycenean origin, are
fused in the cult of Apollo.
Oracular cult
Columns of the
Temple of Apollo
at Delphi, Greece.
Unusually among the Olympic deities, Apollo had two cult sites that had
widespread influence: Delos
and
Delphi
. In cult practice,
Delian Apollo
and
Pythian Apollo
(the Apollo of Delphi) were so
distinct that they might both have shrines in the same locality.[70]
Apollo’s
cult
was already fully established when written
sources commenced, about 650 BCE. Apollo became extremely important to the Greek
world as an oracular deity in the
archaic period
, and the frequency of
theophoric names
such as Apollodorus or
Apollonios and cities named Apollonia testify to his popularity.
Oracular sanctuaries to Apollo were established in other sites. In the 2nd and
3rd century CE, those at
Didyma
and
Clarus
pronounced the so-called “theological
oracles”, in which Apollo confirms that all deities are aspects or servants of
an
all-encompassing, highest deity
. “In the 3rd
century, Apollo fell silent.
Julian the Apostate
(359 – 61) tried to revive
the Delphic oracle, but failed
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
he became identified among Greeks with
Apollo
HeliosIn Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as 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.
The lyre (Greek:
λύρα) is a
stringed musical instrument
known for its use
in Greek
classical antiquity
and later. The word comes
from the
Greek
“λύρα” (lyra) and the earliest
reference to the word is the
Mycenaean Greek
ru-ra-ta-e, meaning
“lyrists”, written in
Linear B
syllabic script. The earliest picture
of a lyre with seven strings appears in the famous
sarcophagus
of
Hagia Triada
(a
Minoan
settlement in
Crete
). The sarcophagus was used during the
Mycenaean
occupation of Crete (1400 BC). The
recitations of the
Ancient Greeks
were acco mpanied
by lyre playing. The lyre of classical antiquity was ordinarily played by being
strummed with a plectrum
, like a
guitar
or a
zither
, rather than being plucked, like a
harp. The fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings in
the chord. The lyre is similar in appearance to a small harp but with distinct
differences.
The word lyre can either refer specifically to a common
folk-instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional
kithara
and eastern-Aegean
barbiton
, or lyre can refer generally to
all three instruments as a family.
The term is also used
metaphorically
to refer to the work or skill of
a poet
, as in
Shelley’s
“Make me thy lyre, even as the forest
is” or Byron’s
“I wish to tune my quivering lyre,/To
deeds of fame, and notes of fire”
A sacrificial tripodod was a type of
altar
used by the
ancient Greeks. The most famous was the
Delphic
tripod
, on
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.
Another well-known tripod was the
Plataean Tripod
, 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
; the stand was removed by the emperor
Constantine
to
Constantinople
(modern
Istanbul
),
where it still can be seen in the
hippodrome
, the Atmeydanı, although in damaged condition, the heads
of the serpents 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
eighteenth century.
The scholar
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 for dedication.
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
.
Mariner’s
Cross
The Mariner’s Cross is a stylized cross in the shape of an
anchor
. The
Mariner’s Cross
is also referred to as
Saint Clement’s Cross
in reference to the
way he was martyred.
The Anchored Cross, or
Mariner’s Cross
, is a stylized cross in the
shape of an anchor. It is a symbol which is shaped like a plus sign with
anchor
-like protrusions at the end of each arm,
hence the name Anchored Cross. The symbol can be used to signify ‘fresh start’
or ‘hope’.
Cross and Anchor are occasionally a feature of
coats of arms
in which context they are
referred to by the
heraldic
terms anchry or ancre.
The Mariner’s Cross is also referred to as
St. Clement’s Cross
in reference to the way he
was martyred.
The History of the
anchor
dates back millennia. The most
ancient anchors were probably rocks and many rock anchors have been found dating
from at least the
Bronze Age
. Many modern moorings still rely on
a large rock as the primary element of their design. However, using pure mass to
resist the forces of a
storm
only works well as a permanent mooring;
trying to move a large enough rock to another bay is nearly impossible.
The ancient Greeks used baskets of stones, large sacks filled with sand, and
wooden logs filled with lead, which, according to
Apollonius Rhodius
and
Stephen of Byzantium
, were formed of stone; and
Athenaeus
states that they were sometimes made
of wood. Such anchors held the vessel merely by their weight and by their
friction
along the bottom. Iron was afterwards
introduced for the construction of anchors, and an improvement was made by
forming them with teeth, or “flukes”, to fasten themselves into the bottom.
An anchor frequently appears on the flags and coats of arms of institutions
involved with the sea, both naval and commercial, as well as of port cities and
seacoast regions and provinces in various countries. There also exists in
heraldry the “Anchored Cross”, or Mariner’s Cross, a stylized cross in the shape
of an anchor. The symbol can be used to signify ‘fresh start’ or ‘hope’. The
Mariner’s Cross is also referred to as St. Clement’s Cross, in reference to the
way this saint was martyred (being tied to an anchor and thrown from a boat into
the Black Sea in 102). Anchored crosses are occasionally a feature of coats of
arms in which context they are referred to by the heraldic terms anchry or ancre.
A 1914 Russian poster depicting the
Triple Entente
. Britannia’s
association with the oceanic
British Empire
is indicated by her
holding a large anchor.
The anchor coinage was a series of four denominations of
silver coins
issued for use in some British
colonies in 1820 and 1822. The name comes from the crowned
anchor
that appears on the obverse of the
coins. The denominations were sixteenth, eighth, quarter and half dollars,
indicated by the Roman numerals XVI, VIII, IV and II on each side of the anchor.
The reverse design was the royal coat of arms.
According to Krause & Mishler’s Standard Catalog of World Coins,the
coins were issued for use in
Mauritius
and other Indian Ocean colonies, then
later circulated in the
West Indies
.
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