Aulus Gabinius - General to Pompey

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 473. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Philip I Philadelphos. Circa 95/4-76/5 BC. AR Tetradrachm (15.29 g, 12h). Posthumous issue under Aulus Gabinius, Roman proconsul, 57-55 BC. Diademed head of Philip right; bead and reel border / Zeus Nikephoros seated left; monogram (of Gabinius) to inner left, monogram below throne; all within wreath. RPC I 4124; Prieur 1; SNG Copenhagen 431 (as Philip). EF, lightly toned.

The Romans revived the coinage of King Philip Philadelphos in the 50s BC under the proconsul Aulus Gabinius. Issues were minted with the monograms of Gabinius, Crassus, and Cassius, and then circa 49/48 BC the proconsul's monogram was replaced by one standing for either Antioch or 'Autonomous'. Aulus Gabinius gained fame as one of Pompey the Great's generals, and in his position as governor of Syria he played an important role in the internecine battles of the Jewish priest-kings, the Hasmoneans.