Item: i57667

 Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Seleukid Empire
Seleukos II Kallinikos – King: 246-225 B.C.

Bronze 15mm (4.31 grams) Sardes mint
Reference: HGC 9, 344; SC 657
Head of Hercules right wearing lion-skin headdress.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ /
ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ either side of Apollo Delphios seated left on omphalos; 
monograms to outer left and right.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, 

Authenticity.

Hercules 
is the Roman name for the Greek
divine

hero Heracles
, who was the son of

Zeus (Roman equivalent
Jupiter
) and the mortal
Alcmene
. In 
classical mythology
, Hercules is famous for his 
strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero’s iconography and myths for their 
literature and art under the name Hercules. In later
Western art
and literature and in
popular culture
, Hercules is more 
commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a 
multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later 
artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article 
provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the

later tradition

In 
Greek
and
Roman mythology
,
Apollo, is one of the most 
important and diverse of the

Olympian deities
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
poetryy
.
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
,
Selene
god of the sun
,
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.

Seleucus II Callinicus or   Pogon (Greek: 
Σέλευκος Β’ Καλλίνικος , the epithets meaning “beautiful victor” and “bearded”, 
respectively), was a ruler of the
Hellenistic

Seleucid Empire
, who reigned from 246 to 225 BC. After the death of this 
father,
Antiochus
, he was proclaimed king by his mother,
Laodice
 
in
Ephesos
, while her partisans at
Antioch
 
murdered
Berenice
and her son, another Antiochus.

This dynastic feud began the
Third Syrian War
.
Ptolemy III
, who was Berenice’s brother and the ruler of Egypt, invaded the 
Seleucid Empire and marched victoriously to the Tigris or beyond. He received 
the submission of the Seleucid Empire’s eastern provinces, while Egyptian fleets 
swept the coast of
Asia Minor
.

Seleucus managed to maintain himself in the interior of Asia Minor. When 
Ptolemy returned to Egypt, Seleucus recovered Northern Syria and the nearer 
provinces of Iran
. 
However,
Antiochus Hierax
, a younger brother of Seleucus, was set up as a rival in 
Asia Minor against Seleucus by a party to which Laodice herself adhered.

At
Ancyra
(about 235 BC) Seleucus sustained a crushing defeat and left the 
country beyond the
Taurus
to his brother and the other powers of the peninsula. Seleucus then 
undertook an
anabasis
to regain
Parthia
, the 
results of which came to nothing. According to some sources, he was even taken 
prisoner for several years by the Parthian king. Other sources mention that he 
established a peace with
Arsaces I
, who recognized his sovereignty.

In Asia Minor,
Pergamon
 
now rose to greatness under
Attalus I
. 
Antiochus Hierax, after a failed attempt to seize his brother’s dominions when 
his own were vanishing, perished as a fugitive in
Thrace
in 228 
or 227 BC.

About a year later, Seleucus was killed by a fall from his horse. Seleucus II 
married his cousin
Laodice II
, 
by whom he had five children and among them were:
Antiochis
,
Seleucus III Ceraunus
and
Antiochus III the Great
. He was succeeded by his elder son,
Seleucus III Ceraunus
, and later by his younger son
Antiochus III the Great
.

 External links

• Seleucus II Callinicus
  entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

This 
article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
: Chisholm, 
Hugh, ed (1911).
Encyclopædia Britannica
(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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
.