The
reverse is the city's
Tyche, based on a famous statue by Eutychides which may date back to the city's founding by Seleucis Nicanor. Eutychides depicted
Tyche draped and veiled, with a turret crown, holding a
palm branch, seated on a rock (representing Mount Silpius), and with a
river god (the spirit of the river
Orontes) swimming at her feet. As Pekka K said, the imagery appears on a number of Antiochene
Roman Provincial coins - have a look at my
gallery https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7272. But I've always thought it remarkable that this pagan symbolism persists into the
Byzantine era with issues under
Justin I and
Justinian I. Actually, this little
pentanummium is one of the most common 6th century coins, so it must have been produced in vast numbers. But the mark of value is always represented as
. The coin in this
thread is the first I've come across with a normal large
.
Bill R.