Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 868. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $3300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Antiochos IV Epiphanes. 175-164 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.60 gm). Antioch mint. Struck 169-164 BC. Laureate and bearded head of Zeus with features of Antiochos right / Zeus seated left, holding Nike in left hand, sceptre in right. SNG Spaer 1003; Le Rider, Antioche, Series IIIA, 247 (A24/P173 - this coin); Mørkholm Series III, 14 (A22/P93); SMA 63. VF, toned. Rare. ($3000)

From the Garth R. Drewry Collection. Ex McLendon Collection (Christie's New York, 12 June 1993), lot 67; Leu 13 (29 April 1975), lot 304.

Newell (SMA, pg. 30) identifies the tetradrachms with the head of Zeus on the obverse as a special issue for the festival of Daphne. His theory depends heavily on the story that Antiochos IV erected a copy of the celebrated Phidian cult statue at Olympia within the temple of Apollo at Daphne. But this story is now in disrepute (see Lacroix, BCH LVVIII, pp. 165-6).

The heads of Zeus on these tetradrachms are of two types, one of them sharp featured and slightly archaizing, the other, as here, softer and apparently with the features of Antiochos himself. A number of scholars have taken this as evidence that Antiochos identified himself with Zeus. However, Mørkholm (pp. 58-61), followed by Houghton (JPGMJ 10, pg. 157), argues that the resemblance is the result of the tastes or habits of the engravers. Mørkholm furthermore contends that the resemblance of the Apollo heads as well disqualifies the notion of a divine identification. But this is to overlook the essentially syncretic nature of divine kingship, as is symbolized iconographically by coin portraits of Ptolemy III with attributes of three gods. In this context it should also be recalled that Antiochos IV introduced the radiate diadem to Seleukid coinage, a symbol of royal apotheosis that alludes to Helios, and added EPIFANHS, "God Manifest," to his royal titles.