Serrated Bronze of Antiochus VI 143-142 BCE, Antioch on the…

Serrated Bronze of Antiochus VI 143-142 BCE, Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucid Syria

Radiate and diademed head of Antiochus VI, right; wreathed in ivy

Elephant, left Basileos Antichos Epiphanes Euergetes (I think, I couldn’t find a reference for the type)

A cool bronze this week, as I try to build up a queue for us. I’m off to a conference this week, so if anyone is going to be in Boston, drop me a note. I’m going to try to get some photos of the MFA’s state of the art coin gallery and would be glad to bump into followers.

Antiochus VI (aka Dionysus) was a child king, who was nominated to the throne by Diodotus Tryphon, a general of the Seleucid kingdom. He was around 5 years old at the time that this coin was struck, and he would die within a year of it entering circulation. Though it is unclear on this coin, Antiochus appeared as a child on most of his coinage, making it clear that he was truly a puppet ruler, whose death may have been orchestrated by the same general that raised him to power.