The best ancient coin I ever found. Do you know what it is ?
MapsOnFire
Posts: 220 ✭✭✭
2
MapsOnFire
Posts: 220 ✭✭✭
Comments
Yes.
Ancient Greek, Seleucid kingdom, Antiochus I, silver drachm, I believe. Not entirely sure; the king on it is named "Antiochus", but there were 13 kings of that name, and they didn't number themselves like modern historians do. So it may be from one of the subsequent Antiochusses... Antiochii? Not sure what the correct plural form of the name is.
The reverse depicts Apollo sitting on the Omphalos. The Omphalos (the word literally means "navel", as in "belly-button") was a sacred stone in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, which the ancient Greeks believed was the "exact centre of the world". The Omphalos still exists, and you can travel to the ruins of Delphi today and see it, though it no longer sits in the exact same place where Zeus allegedly placed it, since it was moved inside a local museum after it was dug up.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
That's a good start. The legend does read ANTIOXOY. But the portrait is someone else. And it's not a drachm.
Ah, a trick question-one where the answer seems obvious but isn't.
At the risk of sounding racist, all Antiochii look the same to me. I don't know these well enough to know the difference but I'm always excited to learn something numismatically new.
OK. The question is not tricky, but the coin is, so far, unique. That's why it's the most important ancient coin I ever discovered. The portrait is Seleukos IV. Right now I don't remember which Antiochos is named on the reverse. The coin is listed in volume 2 of Houghton & Lorbers work on Seleukid coins, but I don't have that volume. Incidently, I sold this coin for $8000.00
I believe Greek plural is -es, Latin is -ii
Apparently there is no plural for this name in ancient Greek.