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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Geographic - All Periods| ▸ |Persia & Mesopotamia||View Options:   | | | Also included on this page are coins minted under Persian rule in other regions of the Persian Empire. |
The Seleukid Empire was under attack by Egypt when Kallinikos assumed the throne. He lost much of Thrace and coastal Anatolia to Ptolemy III. While he was fighting, his mother made his younger brother Antiochos Hierax joint ruler. Kallinikos agreed to partition the empire; however, Hierax wanted it all and Hierax and his Galatian mercenaries defeated him. Kallinikos managed to retain the lands east of the Tauros. The War of the Brothers weakened the empire, permitting regions such as Parthia to secede. Anatolia was soon lost. Kallinikos died after a fall from his horse.
Richard Ashton is reported in Seleucid Coins: A Comprehensive Catalog, Part 1 (2002) of having examined two specimens of this very rare coin type in the Afyon Museum in Turkey, but with weights of 3.06 and 4.51 grams, thus implying a larger denomination. The handsome example posted by Dane Kurth on the discussion boards of FORVM Ancient Coins in July 2010, with a diameter of 19mm, gives even more credence to the existence of "Denomination C." Although less clear cut, our coin might also fit more comfortably in the larger bronze category, since the "Denomination D" metrics given for SC 760 are "15 mm., 2.62-2.80 gm."GY113943. Bronze AE 16, Houghton-Lorber I 760; Newell WSM 827 & pl. VIII, 11; SNG Spaer -; HGC 9 -, F, smooth black patina, contrasting sandy deposits, obverse off-centered, weight 3.872 g, maximum diameter 16.1 mm, die axis 0o, Mesopotamia, Nisibis (Nusaybin, Turkey) mint, c. 246 - 226 B.C.; obverse Draped, jugate busts of the Dioscuri right, wearing laureate pilei, both surmounted by a star; reverse BAΣIΛEΩΣ (above) ΣΕΛΕYKOY (below; obscured), Dioscuri on horseback, charging right with couched spears, AY monogram to right, beneath farthest horse; very rare; $160.00 (€150.40)
Elagabalus, 16 May 218 - 11 March 222 A.D., Edessa, Mesopotamia
| Although the site of Urfa has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the city was founded in 304 B.C. by Seleucus I Nicator and named Edessa after the ancient capital of Macedonia. In the late 2nd century, as the Seleucid dynasty disintegrated, it became the capital of the Arab Nabataean Abgar dynasty, which was successively a Parthian, Armenian, and Roman client state and eventually a Roman province. Its location on the eastern frontier of the Empire meant it was frequently conquered during periods when the Byzantine central government was weak, and for centuries, it was alternately conquered by Arab, Byzantine, Armenian, Turkish rulers. In 1098, the crusader Baldwin of Boulogne convinced the Armenian king to adopt him and then seized power, establishing the first crusader state known as the County of Edessa and imposing Latin Christianity on the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic majority of the population. |  |
Caracalla, 28 January 198 - 8 April 217 A.D., Edessa, Mesopotamia
During the sole reign of Caracalla a city known as Colonia Metropolis Antoniniana Aurelia Alexandria in Mesopotamia (Osrhoene) issued a series of small bronze coins with Latin legends. These types were attributed by Eckhel to Carrhae and numismatists long perpetuated this attribution. New finds and papyrological evidence instead point to Edessa as the site of this colonia and the mint for these small bronze coins, struck after Caracalla deposed its king, Severus Abgar IX, in 212/213 A.D.RP112082. Bronze AE 20, Dandrow 1/13 (O8/R10); Lindgren I 2565, Nice F, nice desert patina with highlighting earthen deposits, weight 4.642 g, maximum diameter 19.6 mm, die axis 180o, Mesopotamia, Edessa (Urfa, Sanliurfa, Turkey) mint, 212 - 8 Apr 217 A.D.; obverse M AVR ANTO-NINVS P F AVG (clockwise from upper right), laureate and bearded head right, bare shoulder visible from behind; reverse COL MET ANT-ONINIANA (clockwise from upper right), turreted, veiled, and draped bust of Tyche (city goddess) right; $70.00 (€65.80)
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