IN ancient times Tarsus was an impor-tant city where influences from the Eastand the West came together. It was sit-uated in a region called Cilicia whichconsisted of a plain in the east (CiliciaPedia) and a mountainous area in thewest (Cilicia Trachea). (Figures 1 & 2– Maps) When Alexander the Greatconquered the Persian Empire Greekculture spread throughout the MiddleEast and this influence (called Hellenism)persisted down to the time of the RomanEmpire. The period from the death ofAlexander in 323 BC to 31 BC is knownas the Hellenistic Age and during thistime Greek culture profoundly affectedhuman thought in such areas as scienceand art. Following Alexander’s death his gen-erals fought among themselves over whoshould rule the various regions in theformer Persian Empire. Ptolemy ruledEgypt, Seleucus gained the largest partthat included Syria and Persia, whileAntigonos Monophthalmos (the one-eyed)controlled most of Asia Minor. Antigonos’son, Demetrius Poliorketes (the besieger)minted gold and silver coins at Tarsusuntil Cilicia was annexed by Seleucusin 294 BC. (Figures 3 and 4)In order to retain control of his empireSeleucus (312-281 BC) founded a numberof Greek cities including Seleucia on theTigris in Mesopotamia and Antioch onthe Orontes in Syria. Seleucus promotedGreek culture and religion, and in asacred grove in the forest four miles

TheCoins of Tarsus

Part 2The Seleucid

Periodby Peter E. Lewis

Figure 1 – Map of the eastern part ofthe Mediterranean Sea.

south of Antioch he built a magnificenttemple to Apollo who became the patrongod of the Seleucid dynasty. A comprehensive catalogue of the coinsissued by Seleucus and his descendantswas published by The American Numis-matic Society and the Classical Numis-

matic Group, Inc. It is entitled SeleucidCoins, and much of the information inthis article comes from it. Part 1 byArthur Houghton and Catherine Lorberwas issued in 2002, and Part 2 withOliver Hoover in 2008. An associatedwebsite is Seleucid Coins Online. Accor-

ding to these authors Seleucus I mintedgold and silver coins at Tarsus. They arelike the coins of Alexander except thatthey bear Seleucus’ name and have thecontrol mark NK in a circle. On the tetra-drachm Zeus holds the goddess Nike(Victory). (Figure 5)

Figure 2 – Map of Cilicia (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 3 – Gold stater of Demetrius Poliorketes minted at Tarsus about 298-295 BC. Obverse:Athena. Reverse: Nike (Victory) with ‘of King Demetrius’ in Greek. (Classical NumismaticGroup, Mail Bid Sale 63, Lot 199)

Figure 4 – Tetradrachm of Demetrius Poliorketes minted at Tarsus about 298-295 BC. Obverse:Nike blows a trumpet on the prow of a warship. Reverse: Poseidon with ‘of King Demetrius’ inGreek. (Gorny & Mosch Auction 190, Lot 178)

Figure 5 – Tetradrachm of Seleucus I minted atTarsus after 294 BC. Obverse: Heracles (Hercules)in lion’s head headdress. Reverse: Zeus receiveslaurel wreath from Nike. The Greek words mean‘of King Seleucus’. The control marks on all thesecoins are used to identify the mint. (ClassicalNumismatic Group, Triton XVII, Lot 360)

Seleucus I was succeeded by his son,Antiochus I (281-261). He followed hisfather’s policy of founding new cities withmostly Greek inhabitants. But Tarsusremained an important mint, and on thetetradrachms minted there the familygod Apollo appears inspecting arrows tomake sure they are straight. (Figure 6)It reminds us of a coin of the Persiansatrap Datames who also sat inspectingan arrow, but he kept his clothes on.Apollo is virtually naked and sits on theOmphalos (navel) which was a decorated

stone at Delphi in Greece. It was consid-ered to be the centre of the world just asthe navel was the centre of the body. Onthe bronze coins of Antiochus I, Athenais on the obverse while symbols of theDioscuri (twin sons of Zeus) appear onthe reverse with the club of Heracles.(Figure 7) Antiochus I was succeeded by his son,Antiochus II (261-246). He minted goldstaters of the Athena / Nike type andtetradrachms of the seated Apollo type.(Figure 8) His bronze coins show the

Dioscuri on horseback and Athenastanding. From 261 to 253 there was awar with Egypt during which PtolemyII (285-246) seized Cilicia Trachea, andafter the death of Antiochus II PtolemyIII (246-221) occupied Cilicia Pedia. TheEgyptians minted coins in Cilicia, prob-ably at Tarsus. (Figure 9) Antiochus II was succeeded by his son,Seleucus III (226-223), who invaded theterritory of Pergamum in the west of AsiaMinor. He failed and was murdered byhis officers. His younger brother, Anti-ochus III (223-187), had been sent toSeleucia on the Tigris to govern theeastern provinces of the Seleucid Em-pire, but on the death of Seleucus IIIhe became sole ruler. Seleucus III hadminted a tetradrachm of the seatedApollo type at Tarsus, but it became amajor mint for Antiochus III who neededa lot of money to finance his militarycampaigns. His drachms and tetra-drachms are all of the seated Apollotype. (Figure 10) Large numbers ofbronze coins were also minted during hisreign but not at Tarsus. He is usuallycalled Antiochus the Great because ofhis successes. In the east he regainedwhat had been lost to the empire. In thewest he invaded Greece but was defeatedby the Romans. He then withdrew to AsiaMinor but was again defeated by themat Magnesia in 190 BC. He died the nextyear. Antiochus III was succeeded by his son,Seleucus IV (187-175) who issued some

Figure 6 – Tetradrachm of Antiochus I minted at Tarsus. On the reverse Apollo sits on theOmphalos inspecting arrows. (Gorny & Mosch Auction 108, Lot 1328)

Figure 7 – Bronze coin of Antiochus I minted at Tarsus, Diameter: 19 mms. Obverse: Athena.Reverse: caps of the Dioscuri above the club of Heracles. (Roma Numismatics, ElectronicAuction 46, Lot 304)

Figure 8 – Tetradrachm of Antiochus II minted at Tarsus. Apollo is wearing sandals. (Freeman& Sear, Manhattan Sale 1, Lot 92)

Figure 9 – Tetradrachm of the Egyptian pharaohPtolemy II minted at an uncertain mint in Cili-cia during the period 259 to 255 BC. (ClassicalNumismatic Group, Auction 93, Lot 609)

tetradrachms of the seated Apollo typeat Tarsus, but in 175 BC the Seleucidthrone was seized by Antiochus IV (175-164) the younger son of Antiochus III. Hewas a dynamic character who attemptedto extend the empire and enforce Hell-enistic culture. In 169 BC because theJewish leaders at the time opposed himhe attacked Jerusalem, desecrated theTemple and killed thousands of Jews.Again in 167 BC the city was attackedand the Jews forbidden to follow theirreligion, a decree that initiated the Macc-

abean revolution and led to Judaeabecoming an independent kingdomuntil 6 AD when a Roman governor wasappointed. In Cilicia he gave the citiesof Tarsus and Mallus to his femalefavourite, Antiochis, but the people wereoffended by this and became rebellious.Antiochus himself went to Cilicia to grantconcessions and settle the situation.The incident is recorded in the SecondBook of Maccabees 4:30. At Tarsus Antiochus IV minted tetra-

Figure 10 – Tetradrachm of Antiochus III minted at Tarsus. (Gemini Auction XII, Lot 188)

Figure 11 – Tetradrachm of Antiochus IV minted at Tarsus. (Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 81, Lot 334)

Figure 12 – Bronze coin of Antiochus IV minted at Antiochia on the Cydnus (the name he gaveto Tarsus). Obverse: Tyche wears a turreted crown. Reverse: Zeus enthroned. (Auktionshaus H.D.Rauch, Electronic Auction 24, Lot 70)

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drachms of the seated Apollo type (Fig-ure 11), but henceforth the bronze coinsof the city bear the new name thatAntiochus IV gave it: Antiochia on theCydnus. The Cydnus was the river thatflowed through the city. (Figures 12 and13) This name remained in use until atleast 140 BC, but after this a variety ofbronze coins were issued with the leg-endΤΑΡΣΕΩΝ (of the Tarsians). (Figures14 and 15) It was not till Antiochus IX(114-95) that the head and name of the

king reappear on the bronze coins mintedat Tarsus. On the coins with the newname the goddess of the city, Tyche(Fortuna), appears on the obverse, andZeus or Sandan appears on the reverse.(Figure 16) Sandan was originally aHittite god (Figure 17) but the Persiansequated him with Ahura Mazda and theGreeks equated him with Heracles. Hehad been worshiped at Tarsus for cen-turies and an annual procession throughthe city concluded with a statue of himbeing burnt in a bonfire. This regularburning of the god represented his trans-lation to heaven, which is what happened

to Heracles in Greek mythology. Sandanappears frequently on the silver coinsminted at Tarsus by Seleucid rulers downto Seleucus VI (95-94) when minting ofsilver ceased at Tarsus. After Antiochus IV the political situa-tion in the region becomes complicatedwith rival Seleucid claimants gainingthe throne for various periods, but everyking (except Demetrius I, 162-150) whominted coins at Tarsus issued tetra-drachms with Sandan on the reverse.Sometimes Sandan appears in a trian-gular structure. (Figure 18 and 19) SirWilliam Ramsay considered it to be the

Figure 13 – Drawing of reverse of coin in Fig-ure 11. The Greek legend, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ

ΤΩΙ ΚΥΔΝΩΙ, means ‘Antioch, the one towardsthe Cydnus.’ (Photocopy of Figure 19 in ‘TheCities of St Paul’ by W. M. Ramsay, 1908)

Figure 14 – Bronze coin minted at Tarsus after about 140 BC. Obverse: Tyche. Reverse: Sandanstands on a mythical beast. He holds a double-headed axe and other weapons. The Greek wordΤΑΡΣΕΩΝmeans ‘of the people of Tarsus.’ (Numismatik Lanz München, Auction 151, Lot 303)

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portable shrine in which the god wascarried, but in Seleucid Coins it is justcalled the altar of Sandan, and for othersit is the pyre of Sandan. Demetrius I iss-ued tetradrachms with Tyche enthronedon the reverse. As well as Sandan, Athenaappears on the reverse of tetradrachmsof Antiochus VII (138-129), while Demet-rius II (145-140, 129-125) and AlexanderII (128-123) have Zeus on the reverse.(Figure 20) An interesting character in Seleucidhistory is Cleopatra Thea (not to be con-

fused with Cleopatra VII, who was playedby Elizabeth Taylor in the film, Cleo-patra). Cleopatra Thea was the daughterof the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy VI(180-145). She was sent to Syria to marryAlexander Balas who had become kingin 150 BC, but he was deposed and shereturned to Egypt. She subsequentlymarried his successor, Demetrius II, buthe was captured by the Parthians. Next

she married his brother, Antiochus VII,but he was killed in battle. Then to every-one’s surprise Demetrius II returnedfrom Parthia and on the coins of hissecond reign he has a bushy beard like aParthian king. It made him look like Zeus.Demetrius II ruled Syria until 125 BCwhen he was murdered on Cleopatra’sorders. To these men she had borne eightchildren, and now she saw a chance to

Figure 15 – Drawing like the reverse of thecoin in Figure 14. Sandan holds a lotus flower.(Photocopy of Figure 11 in Ramsay)

Figure 16 – Bronze coin of Antiochus IV mintedat Antiochia on the Cydnus. This name for Tar-sus occurs on the reverse in Greek. (Numis-matik Naumann Auction 63, Lot 87.

Figure 17 – Drawing of rock-sculpture at Boghazkeui (Hattusha), the ancient Hittite capital. (Photocopy of Figure 12 in Ramsay)

rule on her own. With her own handsshe killed her son, Seleucus V, and be-came sole ruler. Unfortunately for her thepeople resented being ruled only by awoman and she had to accept anotherson, Antiochus VIII, as co-ruler. Theyboth appear on the only coin she mintedat Tarsus. (Figure 21)The history of the Seleucid Period is

fascinating with all sorts of interestingcharacters and exciting events. A bookabout the period and the coins that iseasy to read is The Hellenistic King-doms: Portrait Coins and History byNorman Davis and Colin Kraay, pub-lished in 1973. All the fun and games

came to an end when Cilicia and Syriawere made Roman provinces in 64 BC.But coin collectors can still hold the coinsthat circulated during those times andsee the kings and queens who are real-istically portrayed on them.

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Figure 18 – Tetradrachm of Demetrius II (2nd reign, 129-126 BC). Obverse: Demetrius bearded. Reverse: Sandan in a pyramidal structure with an eagle on the top. The Greek words mean ‘King Demetrius, divine conqueror.’ (Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 81, Lot 344))

Figure 19 – Drawing like the reverse of the coinin Figure 18. (Photocopy of Figure 21 in Ramsay)

Figure 20 – Tetradrachm of Demetrius II (2nd reign, 129-126 BC). Obverse: Demetrius bearded.Reverse: Zeus holds Nike. (Heritage Auctions, Auction 3026, Lot 23211)

Figure 21 – Tetradrachm of Cleopatra Thea and Antiochus VIII minted at Tarsus during the period125 to 121 BC. The Greek inscription means ‘of Queen Cleopatra and King Antiochus.’ (Photocopyof Coin 2260 in ‘Seleucid Coins’ published by The American Numismatic Society and ClassicalNumismatic Group, Inc., https://cngcoins.com. Image used with permission.)