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Greek Coin of
Seleukid Kingdom
Seleukos III Keraunos – King:
226-223 B.C.
Bronze 16mm (4.92 grams) Antioch on the Orontes mint
Reference: Sear 6929; B.M.C. 4.22,8; HGC 9, 421; SC 922
Head of
Artemis
right, quiver behind neck.
BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ either side of
Apollo
seated left on omphalos, holding arrow
and resting on bow.
The elder son of Seleukos II, most of his brief reign was spent in attempting
to check the growing power of Attalos I of Pergamon. His invasion of Pergamene
territory was a dismal failure and soon after he was murdered by his own
officers.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek
deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself,
was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
< Artemis of the wildland,
Mistress of Animals”. In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (Greek:
(nominative)
Ἄρτεμις, (genitive)
Ἀρτέμιδος) was often
described as the daughter of
Zeus and Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the
hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing
and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a
bow and arrows. The deer
and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.
Artemis later became identified with
Selene
, a
Titaness
who was a Greek moon goddess,
sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She was also identified
with the Roman goddess
Diana
, with the
Etruscan
goddess
Artume
, and with the Greek or
Carian
goddess
Hecate
.
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.
Seleucus III Soter
,
called Seleucus Ceraunus (Greek:
Σέλευκος Γ’ Σωτὴρ, Σέλευκος Κεραυνός ca. 243 BC – 223 BC), was a ruler of
the
Hellenistic
Seleucid kingdom
, the eldest son of
Seleucus II Callinicus
and
Laodice II
.
His birth name was Alexander and changed his name to Seleucus after he succeeded
his father as King. After a brief reign of three years (225 BC-223 BC), Seleucus
was assassinated in
Asia Minor
by members of his army while on campaign against
Attalus I of
Pergamon
. His official byname “Soter” –
Greek
:
Σωτὴρ means “Saviour”, while his nickname “Ceraunus” –
Greek
:
Κεραυνός means “Thunder”.
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Seleucus III Ceraunus
Seleucid dynasty
Born:
ca. 243 BC
Died:
223 BC |
Preceded by
Seleucus II Callinicus
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Seleucid King
225–223 BC |
Succeeded by
Antiochus III the Great
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Seleucid
Empire
Σελεύκεια
Seleúkeia |
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312 BC–63 BC |
↓
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The Seleucid Empire in 301 BC.
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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
.
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