SELEUKOS III, Artemis w/ Apollo Seated on Revered Omphalos, Greek Coin, 16mm

Description

ANCIENT GREEK COIN
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire at its greatest stretched from Northern Greece to India and included almost all of Alexander the Great's conquests, except Egypt. Seleucus, one of Alexander's generals, became king of Babylonia in 321 BC.
This kingdom was a major center of Hellenistic culture for two hundred years. It began to decline in 190 BC after a first defeat by the Romans and lasted until 64 BC when the last Seleucid king, Antiochus XIII, was murdered by Pompey.
Seleucus III Ceraunus (
Σέλευκος Γ ὁ Κεραυνός)
was the Seleucid Greek king who reigned from about 225 to 223 B.C.
He was the eldest son of Seleucus II and Laodice II.
His nickname Ceraunus means “Thunderer”.
He was assassinated by members of his own army while on campaign against Attalus I of Pergamon.
Artemis/Diana
Artemis
was one of the most revered of the ancient Greek deities.
Her Roman equivalent was the goddess Diana.
She was the Hellenistic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the wilderness, childbirth, the protector of young girls, and relieving disease common to women.
She was often depicted as a huntress carrying bow and arrows and accompanied by a hunting dog.
She also often holds a long torch signifying her association with the moon. She was also associated with deer.
APOLLO
Apollo
was a major Greek god recognized at various times in ancient Greek times as the god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; healing; plague; music; and poetry.
In mythology, he was the son of Zeus.
Apollo was adopted by the Romans as they often did with other cultures’ religious and cultural icons.
He personified harmony, order and reason and was associated in one way or another with a long list of subjects: music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, medicine, light and knowledge.
He is often depicted wearing nothing and holding a bow, arrows, lyre, laurel wreath, and/or palm branch.
The ancients built many temples dedicated to Apollo, the most famous is the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
An
omphalos (
ὀμφαλός)
was a powerful religious symbol in the ancient Mediterranean
.
The word omphalos means “navel” or the center.
“Omphalos stones” were erected in various places to mark the center of a place or region.
The
Omphalos
of Delphi is an ancient marble monument that was found at the archaeological site of Delphi, Greece.
It was also revered as an object of power with references to the phallus, the uterus, or a cup of red wine representing a royal bloodline.
Here are this coin's attributes:
SELEUKOS III AE   (15-16mm, 3.48 gm)
OBV:  Head of Artemis right, quiver at shoulder
REV:
BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY, Apollo seated left on omphalos, eyeing arrow & resting on bow
Seleucid Antioch, Syria mint
SC 922
As usual, the pictures really don't do justice.   Let me know if you have questions.
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