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Royal propaganda of Seleucus I and Lysimachus*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

R. A. Hadley
R. A. Hadley
Affiliation:
George Washington University, Washington D.C.
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Extract

Modern scholars have long recognised that much of the coinage minted by Seleucus I Nicator and Lysimachus was originally designed as some form of propaganda. They have met, however, with only partial success in trying to delineate more precisely the nature and purpose of that propaganda. Especially problematical have been those coin motifs which appear to advertise various omens, prophecies, and logoi about Seleucus and Lysimachus, which, in turn, would have lent a charismatic sanction to the kingships of both men. These will be our main concern here; I wish to propose some refinements and some complete revisions of my predecessors' conclusions about this coinage as propaganda. But, in so doing, I will need to review much of the evidence for other kinds of propaganda employed by these two men.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 94 , November 1974 , pp. 50 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1974

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References

1 I will ignore some coin types minted by both men for three reasons: some have defied altogether attempts to interpret them, others are simply too controversial, and still others to which numismatists have confidently attributed meanings raise serious doubts in my own mind as to the validity of these interpretations. The absence of these types (e.g. the horned horse's head, the bull, the Medusa head, the Dioscuri, etc.) from my discussion will not, I think, detract from my main argument.

2 A particular headache in this connection has been chronology. Though scholars like E. T. Newell and Margaret Thompson have painstakingly laboured over connections and sequences of dies, styles, symbols, and monograms, generally firm dates cannot be assigned to the coins unless they can be associated with known historical events or datable artifacts. It is impossible to summarise their arguments on chronology here, but I would refer the reader to the following general summaries on the problems of dating: Kraay, C., Greek Coins (London, 1966) 18–19Google Scholar, Head, pp. lxi-lxiv, Laing, L., Coins and Archaeology (London, 1969) 19–22Google Scholar, 23–5, 26–32, 35–6, 39–51. On the general problem of the coins and history see: Kraay, , Greek Coins and History (London, 1969) 1–18Google Scholar.

3 Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum v (London, 1950) xlvi-xlvii. See also Grant, Michael, Roman History from Coins (Cambridge, 1958) 11, 16Google Scholar.

4 See below, p. 54 n. 21.

5 The best modern accounts of the careers of Seleucus and Lysimachus are: Bouché-Leclerq i 1–52, ii 513–34 Beloch, K. J., Griechische Geschichte iv.i264–9Google Scholar, 210–46 Tarn, W. W. in CAH 461–504Google Scholar, Cary, Max, A History of the Greek World 323–146 B.C. 39–58Google Scholar, Bengtson, H., Griechische Geschichte 4369–90Google Scholar, Will 19–86, Grimal, P., Hellenism and the Rise of Rome 21–64Google Scholar. In my references to events of these years I shall generally not refer back to diese modern authorities unless, at some critical points, their arguments are needed to help reconstruct or interpret the events under discussion.

6 Plate VIIa and b. ESM p. 108 nos. 283–5, pl. XXII 1–3, p. 163 nos. 428–9, pl. XXXIII 1–2.

7 Plate VIIc and d. Ibid. pp. 110, 113 nos. 298–9, pl. XXIII 1–5 (Susa), p. 176 nos. 480–1, pl. XXXVI 5–9 (Ecbatana). Seleucia was, according to Newell, the first city to issue coins bearing Seleucus' royal title (p. 12 no. 2, pl. I 1–3) but continuing the Alexander types. Recendy, however, the minting sequences worked out by Newell have been corrected by Waggoner, Nancy, ‘The early Alexander Coinage at Seleucia on the Tigris’ in ANSMN xv (1969) 21–30Google Scholar, pls. III–V. She argues that Newell's Series I could not have been minted earlier than c. 295 B.C. Serious violence is not done to my own arguments, but, as we proceed, I will explain the modifications necessitated by this change. I do, however, hesitate to accept Mrs Waggoner's suggestion that the tetradrachms showing a laureate Zeus on their obverses and Athena in a chariot drawn by elephants on their reverses with were minted as early as c. 305. This, however, I will explain below (p. 58 n. 49).

8 Plate VIIc and f. ESM pp. 109–10 nos. 291–294–297, pl. XXII 10–20, pp. 170–1 nos. 459–60, pl. XXV 4–5. The reverses of the coins from Susa display eidier an anchor wim the legend or a Nike facing left and holding in her outstretched left hand a small wreath above an anchor. The Ecbatana double darics have on their reverses the horned head of a horse, while the bronzes show a Nike facing left. As will become clear below (pp. 53 and 61), the anchor and Nike are relevant to our interpretation of the Alexander portrait. Any certain connection between the horse's head and the Alexander portraits is not to be had. As a rule I will not describe both sides of coins where there is no immediately obvious connection between them, that is, where the accompanying motif does no t help interpret the one under discussion. That this is, in fact, Alexander and not, say, Dionysus or Seleucus himself is beyond dispute. This is partly for reasons I will oudine below (p. 55) regarding Seleucus' post-Ipsus Alexander portraits. The most obvious reason for identifying this portrait as Alexander is its clear similarity to the coin portraits minted by Ptolemy as early as c. 318. Svoronos p. 5 no. 18, pl. I 12, Küschel, Brigitte, ‘Die neuen Münzbilder des Ptolemaios Soter’ in Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte xi (1961) 9–18Google Scholar. Newell, ESM 112Google Scholar has suggested that Seleucus received his inspiration to adopt this iconography from the Ptolemaic original. It follows, of course, that Seleucus' reasons for so portraying Alexander must, in some ways, parallel Ptolemy's own intention in choosing this iconography. On this see Küschel 16–17. I would modify Miss Küschel's conclusions somewhat, but I prefer to make this the subject of a separate study, Plate VIIh.

9 Newell, ESM 112Google Scholar; Tarn, Greeks 131Google Scholar. That this is a deified or heroised Alexander is clear from the parallel between the elephant scalp headdress worn here by Alexander and the lion skin worn by Heracles on Alexander's own coinage. In each case the animal skin signifies the superhuman quality of its wearer's original victory over the animal.

10 Gardner, , Archaeology and Types of Greek Coins (Chicago, 1965)Google Scholar. Though this work was originally published in 1882, Margaret Thompson, in her introduction to the 1965 reprint, indicates that Gardner's views are still accepted (Ibid. i–xii). Macdonald, G., Coin Types (Glasgow, 1905) 22–3, 134–7Google Scholar, Head lv–lvii, Pfister, F., Der Reliquienkult in Altertum (Giessen, 1912) 500–1Google Scholar. It must also be stressed that Seleucus was in no way in legitimate succession.to Alexander or the Argead house, a fact which therefore weakened his competitive stance against the other Successors. In fact, die only legitimacy his kingship bore was that conferred on it by his army which awarded him his royal title. Granier, F., Die makedonische Heeresversammlung (Munich, 1931) 13–15, 16–21, 91–106Google Scholar, Tarn, , Hellenistic Civilization3 47 ffGoogle Scholar.

11 Plate VIIe, f, and g. ESM p. 170 no. 459 pl. XXXV 4, pp. 109–10 nos. 294–6 pl. XXII 15–19. p. 112.

12 Newell, ESM 175, 112, 20–1Google Scholar. Though Newell, in this latter instance, is discussing coins now dated to a few years after Ipsus (see p. 52 n. 7 above), his interpretation of these coins could easily be applied to both the Ecbatana and Susa coins. Bellinger, Victory 26–7Google Scholar, Babelon pp. xxix–xxx.

13 Diod. xix 100.1–7, Plut, . Demetr. 7, Polyaenus iv 9.1Google Scholar, Smith, Sidney, Babylonian Historical Texts (London, 1924) p. 144 lines 43 ffGoogle Scholar. edge lines 1–2, ‘The Chronology of Philip Arridaeus, Antigonus, and Alexander IV’ in Revue d' Assyriologie xxii (1925) 182–4, 186–7, p. Schaumberger, , ‘Drei planetarische Hilfstafeln’ in Analecta Orientalia vi (1933) 3–6Google Scholar, ‘Drei babylonische Planetentafeln der Seleukidenzeit’ in Orientalia N.S. ii (1933) 103–4, 113 pl.

14 Griffith 54.

15 Diod. xix 92.5, Griffith 149 n. 4.

16 Diod. xix 44.4, 46.5, 48.5–7, 91.1 92.5, 100, Plut., Demetr. 7Google Scholar. Susa's strategie position alone would have dictated Antigonus' stationing a garrison there. Tarn, Greeks 61–2Google Scholar (cf. Arr. Anab. iii 16.9). Griffith 51–2 (and Parke, H. W., Greek Mercenary Soldiers 198Google Scholar) argues that these garrisons must have included a certain number of Greek mercenaries and possibly some Macedonians: ‘…it would have been suicidal at this point to entrust the defence of Asia to Asiatics.’

17 Diod. xx 113.3. A further potential danger lay in the imbalance of available manpower between Seleucus' and Antigonus' armies. We are told by our ancient authorities (Plut., Demetr. 28.3, Diod. xx 113.3Google Scholar) that Seleucus led to Ipsus an army of 10,000 infantrymen and between 10,500 (Plutarch) and 12,000 (Diodorus) cavalry. Antigonus' and Demetrius' combined forces probably numbered some 70,000 foot and 10,000 horse (Plut. Demetr. loc. cit.). Even though the combined armies of the allies before Ipsus were some 64,000 foot and over 10,000 cavalry (Griffith 55), there was the possibility that the allies might not converge in time to prevent Antigonus from defeating at least some of them singly. For a general discussion of these figures see: Griffit 53–5, Tarn, in CAH vi 503–4Google Scholar.

18 Bikerman, Elias, Institutions des Séleucides (Paris, 1938) 223–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Rostovtzeff, M., ‘Some Remarks on the Monetary and Commercial Policy of the Seleucids and Attalids’ in Anatolian Studies pres. to William Hepburn Buckler (Manchester, 1939) 278Google Scholar, 282, Hellenistic World i 446–51. The chief means by which Rostovtzeff and others have arrived at this conclusion is twofold. First, few copper coins occur in hoard burials, which usually contain gold and/or silver from widely separated mints (see below p. 62 n. 68). Copper is found far more frequently in archaeological excavations, and it is through such excavations that its probable range of circulation can be determined. See also Price, W. Jessop, ‘Early Greek Bronze Coinage’ in Essays in Greek Coinage pres. to Stanley Robinson (Oxford, 1968) 90–140Google Scholar.

19 For a full discussion of rates of pay, particularly that of mercenaries, see Griffith 294–301, Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers 231–4Google Scholar.

20 Diod. xix 13.1–2, 90–1, App. Syr. 57, Paus. i 16.3.

21 Diod. xviii 23.1, 39.1–4, 58.2–3, 61–2, xix 22–3, 52.1, 61.1–4, xx 20.1, 28.2–4, 37·3–6, Plut., Eum. 8.6Google Scholar, 13.3–4, Pyrrh. 11.1–2, Justin xiii 6.4, xiv 1.7, 6, Paus. i 6.3.

22 Thompson 164–5, 166 nos. 1–4 pl. XVI 1–4: Plate VIIi and j.

23 The lion symbol may be a piece of propaganda. Newell, (Royal Greek Portrait Coins, Racine, Wis., 1937, 20)Google Scholar suggests that it refers to the lion which, Curtius (viii 1.14–15) mentions, Lysimachus killed after the animal had attacked and wounded him. This event, Curtius would have us believe, took place in Syria in 333, but because Curtius is our sole source for the story, I am sceptical of its authenticity either as an actual event or as a logos originating before c. 306. There can be little doubt, however, that the forepart of the lion was some form of personal emblem. Cf. Berve, Helmut, Das Alexanderreich auf prosopo graphischer Grundlage ii 240Google Scholar.

24 Plate VIIk. Newell, , Royal Greek Portrait Coins 21–2Google Scholar, Bellinger, Victory 27, 30–1Google Scholar, Sylloge Numorum Graecorum, Fitzwilliam iv nos. 1841–62, pl. XXXIII 1840–62, Thompson 165–6.

25 Thompson 165–82.

26 Plate VIIl. Newell, ESM pp. 154–6 nosGoogle Scholar. 413–27, pl. XXXII 1–8, p. 113 nos. 300–2, 304–6, pl. XXXIII 6–9, 11–13, p. 157 n. 10.

27 Taeger, Charisma i 282–3Google Scholar; Hadley, , ‘Seleucus, Dionysus, or Alexander?’, NC 1974, 9–13Google Scholar.

28 Plate VIIIa. Newell, Demetrius p. 24Google Scholar no. 14, pl. II 1, pp. 28–31.

29 Ibid. 31–2.

30 Bellinger, Victory 29–30Google Scholar.

31 Eur. Bacch. 302 ff., Cyc. 5 ff., Arr. Anab. v 2–4, vii 3.4, Megasthenes in Strabo xv 1.7, FGrH 715.11a.

32 Hadley in JVC 1974, 9–13.

33 ‘Hieronymus of Cardia and Early Seleucid Mythology’ in Historia xviii (1969) 142–52. I should add here that Babelon xxx came within a hair's breadth of arriving at the same conclusion as myself, connecting Seleucus' new Alexander portrait with Demetrius' dream. His insistence that this portrait was Seleucus prevented him from doing so.

34 For full discussions about, and bibliography upon, Hieronymus see: Jacoby, Felix, PW viii 1540–60Google Scholar, Brown, T., ‘Hieronymus of Cardia’ in AHR lii (1946) 684–96Google Scholar, Bengtson, , Griechische Geschichte4 369–70Google Scholar.

35 Diod. xviii 60.3–6, xix 29.1–2, 55.5–7, 90, Plut., Pyrrh. 11.1–2Google Scholar.

36 It perhaps ought to be asked why Hieronymus chose to record such a plethora of stories, particularly about Seleucus. A multiplicity of such stories would certainly illustrate the profound impact of Seleucus' successes before and at Ipsus on the public imagination, especially in light of the odds he had to overcome to achieve this success.

37 Plate VIIIb. Newell, ESM p. 119Google Scholar nos. 329, 331, pl. XXV 5, 8, p. 13 nos. 99A, B, pl. I 7, 8, pp. 94–6 nos. 911–22, pls. XVI 9–22, XVII 1–6, p. 82 nos. 884, 885, pl. XII 11, 12. The reverses all include the legend accompanied, on the Susa coins by an Artemis shooting an arrow and standing in a biga drawn by elephants, and, on those from Seleucia, by a humped bull facing right in a butting attitude. The reverse motifs of those from the uncertain mints in Mesopotamia show the horned head of a horse or the head of a bull.

38 Admittedly the tripod shown here is not a type but rather a small symbol which is not meant primarily to convey any propaganda. However, since this tripod actually accompanies the Apollo head on the obverse a likely connection between the two is hard to discount. Head pp. lx–lxi.

39 Plate VIIIc. ESM pp. 27–8 nos. 58, 60, 61, pls. VIII 7, 9, 10. No. 61 contains the quiver and bow on its reverse, 59 and 60 show an inverted anchor.

40 Newell, ESM 45, Babelon xxxivGoogle Scholar.

41 Darenberg, C. and Saglio, E., Dictionaire des antiquités grecques et romaines v 475–6Google Scholar.

42 Newell, ESM 45–6Google Scholar, Babelon p. xxxiv, Newell, WSM 96Google Scholar.

43 Haussoulier, B., Études sur l'histoire de Milet etdu Didymeion (Paris, 1902) pp. 126 ff.Google Scholar, Stähelin, in PW iiA 1231–2Google Scholar. Cf. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., ‘Nordionische Steine’ in Abh. Berl., Phil. hist. Kl. (1909) 26, 37Google Scholar ff. no. 11, and Hadley, , Historia xviii (1969) 151–2Google Scholar.

44 Downey 581–2.

45 See above p. 53 and App. Syr. 56.

46 Libanius, Or. 11.94Google Scholar, Justin 15.4, Downey 68, 83.

47 Rehm, A., Didyma ii Die Inschriften (Berlin, 1958) no. 480 pp. 281–2Google Scholar.

48 Paus. i 16.3, viii 46.3.

49 Plate VIIId. Newell, ESM pp. 25–6Google Scholar nos. 29, 41, 44, 48–57, 59, 62–7, 69–98, 100–4, 111–16, 120–1, 122–4, Pls. VI 1–VII 4, VII 7, VII 11–VIII 6, VIII 8, VIII 11–IX 1, IX 3–X 18, X 20–XI 5, XI 10–15, XII 4–6, 7–10, pp. 118 no. 323, pl. XXIV 18, pp. 229, 231–3 nos. 657–75, Pl. L 1–22. The reverses of the Seleucia and Bactra coins show Athena wielding a spear and standing in a chariot drawn by a biga or quadriga of elephants. The Susa staters' reverses show an elephant. These reverse motifs clearly reflect Seleucus' victories suggesting, then, that the laureate Zeus head may in some way celebrate these as well. The date of 305 for the Seleucian coins is suggested somewhat cautiously by MrsWaggoner, in ANSMN xv (1969) 30Google Scholar. Here I hesitate to accept such an early date partly because of the evidence I have presented here regarding the meaning of these Zeus head types. If Mrs Waggoner is correct then these Zeus heads would appear to antedate, by some few years, the origin of the story recorded by Pausanias (i 16.1). The violence done to my own theory is, however, not serious. My other reason for questioning such an early date is a nagging doubt I entertain that Seleucia was founded before Ipsus. This, however, will be the subject of a later article.

50 Newell, ESM 38Google Scholar.

51 Paus. i 16.1. Cf. App. Syr. 56. This story, I would argue, must also derive from Hieronymus. Though I neglected to deal, in my article, with Pausanias' relationship to Hieronymus, I can perhaps present a few brief arguments here. First of all Pausanias refers to Hieronymus (he probably had an epitomised version at his disposal as did, quite likely, Appian and Plutarch) in i 9.7–8 and i 13.7 (FGrH 154.9, 15). Pausanias' omen-logos is part of a brief biography of Seleucus which parallels that in App. Syr. 53–7 which, I have tried to show in my article, stems from Hieronymus. Especially telling is Pausanias' reference to ‘unmistakable signs’ (σημεῑα ούκ άφανή) of which he proceeds to recount only one, thus paralleling Appian's catalogue. Particularly significant is the way in which Pausanias parallels both App. Syr. 56 and Diod. xix 55.7–9, 90.3–4 in suggesting that the omens pointed to Seleucus' future prosperity. Again, we know that Pausanias depended quite heavily on Hieronymus for his biography of Lysimachus (i 9.7–8) which includes the Ipsus sequence. One can only imagine that, if Pausanias could rely on an abbreviated version of Hieronymus for a biographical sketch of Lysimachus (not uncritically, to be sure, i 9.8) he would most likely have done the same for Seleucus' career which, I would suggest, occurs in too close a proximity to Hieronymus' account of Lysimachus for Pausanias to have ignored it. Brown, Truesdell in AHR lii (1946) 695Google Scholar has noted the limited scope of Hieronymus' subject matter referring to it as a ‘court view of history’. I would augment Brown's observation slightly by suggesting that it has a quasi-biographical flavour. In this respect Hieronymus' work must have lent itself admirably to the production of biographical extracts. For further details on the relationship of Pausanias to Hieronymus I refer the reader to Schubert, Rudolph, Die Quellen zur Geschichte der Diadochenzeit (Leipzig, 1914) 46, 52, 53, 183 f., 190 f.Google Scholar, 215 and Jacoby, FGrH ii B pp. 545Google Scholar, 547, PW viii 1540, 1542, 1543, 1547, 1548.

52 Plate VIIIc. Newell, WSM pp. 86Google Scholar, 87–8, nos. 894, 896–99, 901–4, pls. XV 2, 6–10, 12–14.

53 Ibid. 90. Cook, A. B.Zeus ii 809Google Scholar notes that κεραυνοφόροι are mentioned at Seleucia, CIG III 4458Google Scholar, OGIS 246 during the reign of Seleucus IV (187–175) and that after 108 B.C. Seleucian silver and bronze coins showed a lightning bolt bound with a fillet on a cushioned stool BMC Galatia pp. lxxii–lxxiii, 270–1 nos. 16–23, 25–7 pls XXXII 6–8, 10, pp. 273–6 nos. 32, 35, 46, 49, 53–5 pls. XXXIII 2, 6. Plate VIII f.

54 Plate VIIIg. Newell, WSM p. 86Google Scholar no. 890 pl. XIV 10–12, p. 93 nos. 907, 909 pl. XVI 3, 4, ESM pp. 15–16 nos. 13, 14, 19, 22, 23 pls. IV 1, 12, 13, 16, 18. Again, this revised date for the Seleucia coins is in accordance with MrsWaggoner, 's new scheme in ANSMN xv (1969) 27Google Scholar.

55 Newell, WSM 89Google Scholar, Bellinger, Victory 27Google Scholar.

56 Plate VIIIh. Newell, WSM pp. 84–5 nos. 1–5 pl. XIV 3–9, pp. 85–6Google Scholar.

57 Newell ESM. Bellinger, Victory 26–7Google Scholar, Lacroix, Léon, ‘Copies de statues sur les monnaies des Séleucides’ in BCH lxxiii (1949) 163–4Google Scholar.

58 Plate VIIIh. Newell, WSM p. 156Google Scholar no. 1128 pl. XXXIII 1–3, ESM p. 118 no. 323 pl. XXIV 18, pp. 15–16 nos. 15–18 pl. IV 3–11, WSM p. 316 nos. 1528–9 pl. LXVIII 9–10. The reverses of the Apamea doubles show a horned horse's head. The obverses of the Susa staters show a laureate head of Zeus. The obverses of the Seleucia bronzes show the head of Athena wearing a crested Corinthian helmet, and the obverses of the Pergamum tetra-drachms show a horned horse's head. The modification of Newell's dating of the Seleucia coins is on the basis of the recent study by Nancy Waggoner ANSMN xv (1969) 27. Cf. Newell, ESM 20–1Google Scholar, Babelon pp. xxvii–xxix.

59 Plate VIIId. Newell, ESM pp. 25–36Google Scholar nos. 2g, 41, 44, 48, 57, 59, 62–7, 69–98, 100–4, 111–16. 120–1, 122–4, pls. VI 1–VII 4, 7, VII 11–IX 1, IX 3–X 18, X 20–XI 5, XI 10–15, XII 4–6, 7–10, pp. 229, 231–3 nos. 657–75 pl. L 1–22. The denominations of these coins are tetradrachms, drachms, and hemidrachms from both mints and obols from Bactra. The inaugural date of c. 305 for the coins from Seleucia is, again, proposed by MrsWaggoner, in ANSMN xv (1969) 30Google Scholar. Here I hesitate to accept such an early date partly because of the evidence I have presented above regarding their obverse types, the Zeus heads.

60 Newell, ESM 38Google Scholar, 230, Matz, Friedrich, ‘Der Gott auf dem Elefantenwagen’ in Abh. Mainz Geistens- und Sozialwiss. Kl. x (1952) 740–58Google Scholar.

61 Waggoner, in ANSMN xv (1969) 30Google Scholar.

62 Newell, WSM 156–7, 316–17Google Scholar.

63 Plate VIIg. Newell, ESM pp. 109–10Google Scholar nos. 291, 294–7 pl. XXII 10, 11, 14, 20, pp. 25–6 nos. 45, 46 pls. VII 8, 9.

64 Svoronos i pp. pp-ρp;-ραp;.

65 ESM 44, 112. Babelon (p. vii) tried to connect the anchor with the story of Apollo's fathering of Seleucus (Justin xv 4).

66 See p. 54 n. 18 above.

67 So complete does the break in communications between Seleucus' realm and the west appear to have been that Ptolemy, when he sent reinforcements to Seleucus just before Ipsus, was obliged to send a detachment of camel cavalry via the Isthmus (Sinai?) and on across Arabia. Apparently they felt compelled to keep to the waterless desert country and to move as fast as possible. Arr. Anab. viii 43.

68 Rostovtzeff, Hellenistic World 450–1, 455–6, 459–61, 427, 475–6, 478–9, 483–4. 487Google Scholar. Tarn, Greeks 5–8Google Scholar. The evidence of very early hoards bears out the widespread circulation of Seleucus' large denomination coinage in this region and adjacent areas. In the early third century B.C. hoard from Ankara (Noe no. 51) are found large denomination coins from Marathus, (WSM pp. 1951–6 nos. 1240–4)Google Scholar, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris (ESM pp. 12–16 nos. 3, 4, 12, 24), and Ecbatana, (ESM pp. 163–5 nos. 434, 437, p. 173 no. 475)Google Scholar. The Armenak hoard dating from c. 280 B.C. (Noe no. 67) contains coins in these denominations from Seleucia-on-the-Tigris (ESM p. 12 no. 4, p. 15 no. 14, pp. 16–17 nos. 19, 27, p. 37 no. 127), Ecbatana, (ESM p. 173 no. 473)Google Scholar, Carrhae, (WSM pp. 44 no. 777)Google Scholar, Pieria, Seleucia (WSM p. 87 no. 895)Google Scholar, Laodicea-on-the-Sea (WSM p. 181 no. 1208)Google Scholar. The Gejou hoard from Babylonia, also of c. 280 B.C. (Noe no. 118), contains tetradrachms from Pieria, Seleucia (WSM p. 86 no. 890)Google Scholar, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris (ESM p. 12 no. 4, pp. 29–30, 35, 38, 41, 48, 49.53.55.57.59,62,65,67, 74, p. 35 nos. 111–13), Susa (p. 114 no. 304, p. 116 no. 310), and Ecbatana, (ESM p. 173 no. 475, p. 176 no. 480)Google Scholar. Additional evidence is furnished by the third Gordion hoard. Cox, Dorothy H., ‘The Gordion Hoards III IV V and VII’ in ANSMN xii (1966) 26Google Scholar nos. 41–2. No. 41 is from Seleucia-on-the-Tigris. ESM p. 12 no. 2, and no. 42 is from an uncertain mint in Mesopotamia struck between c. 305 and 280 B.C. WSM p. 359 no. 1623. Seleucus' post-Ipsus coins in large denomination circulated as far as Carystus. Robinson, David M., A Hoard of Silver Coins from Carystus (New York, 1952) p. 58Google Scholar nos. 85–6. No. 85 is from Seleucia-on-the-Tigris. ESM pp. 12–13 nos. 4. 5 pl. II 9, 10, p. 17, and 86 is from Ecbatana (ESM p. 176 no. 480) as are nos. 87–9.

69 Bellinger, Victory 27 n. 54Google Scholar.

70 Lysimachus did not hesitate to mint coins celebrating his victory in the very heart of the Greek world. Thompson 165–82.

71 Thompson 165 suggests that Lysimachus refrained from altering his coinage while Cassander was still alive. Lysimachus was especially close to Cassander and probably wished not to offend the latter's sensibilities by issuing any form of personal propaganda.

71 Parke, H. W., The Oracles of zeus (Oxford, 1967) 202–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. p. 224, Nilsson i 832, ii 146–7.

72 Milne, J. G., ‘Arsinoë and Ammon’ in Studies presented to F. L. Griffith (London, 1932) 13–15Google Scholar. Cf. Cerfaux 216–17.

74 Strabo xiii 593, Steph. Byz. s.v. s.v. (10) Jones, A. H. M., Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces 42 n. 23Google Scholar.

75 Plate VIIj. Thompson 165, 168 nos. 1–4 n. 1.

76 Ibid. 165–6.

77 Noe nos. 30, 46, 67, 68, 74, 82, 111, 116, 153, 172, 232, 288, 392, 455, 463, 468, 487, 488, 564, 603, 624, 530, 638, 646, 668, 675, 680, 681, 711, 754, 771, 783, 821, 822, 862, 896, 925, 959, 989, 997, 1004, 1010, 1023, 1033, 1086, 1116, 1147.

78 Habicht 17–20 for cults datable to Alexander's lifetime; 21–5 for a full discussion.

79 Plut, . Demetr. 46.3–4Google Scholar; Habicht 58–65. See p. 52 n. 5 above.

80 See above p. 57.

81 See p. 57 n. 36 above.

82 I am reminded of a similar charisma-story current in Egypt in more recent times. I first encountered it in Lane, Edward's The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (London, 1860)Google Scholar 500 where he repeats a story by the historian Al-Maqrīzī that in A.D. 641, the year of the Arab conquest of Egypt, the general ‘Amr Ibn Al-’ Ās abolished the pagan custom of drowning a virgin in the Nile for a plentiful inundation. Afterward the Nile refused to rise at its appointed time, and, fearing a famine, ‘Amr sent a letter to the khalīfa ‘Umar for guidance. ‘Umar promptly returned two letters, one addressed to the Nile, the other to ‘Amr instructing him to throw the other letter into the Nile. It ordered the Nile, if it flowed of its own accord, to cease flowing, but, if it flowed by the will of God, then he implored God to make it rise. Upon receipt of the letter the Nile rose sixteen cubits in one day. Now I myself have been told by reliable Cairo informants that this story is taught and treated as historical fact in the madrasa's of Cairo to this day. This, in a modern city whose population must be at least as sophisticated as that of a typical city of the early Hellenistic period, can perhaps give us some idea of how likely it is that stories of the type I have described above would win a wide audience in the earlier instance.

83 Dodds, E. R., The Greeks and the Irrational 236–69Google Scholar. This observation may in fact enhance the value of the story just recounted above since it, like the stories about Seleucus, came into being at a time of profound and violent ideological change with all the anxieties and uncertainties which accompany it. Festugière, A.-J., Personal Religion Among the Greeks 39–41Google Scholar, Nilsson ii 225–31.