206 



EECREATIVE SCIENCE, 



tempt to place his own portrait, in his simple 

 character as sovereign, on the coinage. Lysi- 

 machus followed out the hint, when he estab- 

 lished his kingdom of Thrace, by causing his 

 features to be introduced as those of the 

 horned Bacchus on the coins which he issued. 

 The coin of Seleucus Nicanor, engraved as one 

 of our illustrations, may be taken as another 

 example of the transition from the images 

 of the gods to those of princes on the national 

 money. 



Suidas, a Byzantine author, writing in the 

 9th century, tells us that the horn of a bull, 

 etc., found on the coins of Seleucus Nicanor, 

 was used in allusion to the recapture of a bull 

 which had escaped duringa sacrifice which was 

 being performed by Alexander. This, how- 

 ever, as a statement made above a thousand 



cus, even to the last of the dynasty. The 

 device of the reverse of the coin Fig. 1 is, 

 however, formed of a figure of Victory crown- 

 ing a trophy, in allusion, no doubt, to the 

 great victory over Antigonus and Demetrius, 

 at Gaza, which completely cemented his 

 power in the West, and reopened his inter- 

 rupted communications with Babylonia. It 

 is this epoch, in fact, which forms what chro- 

 nologers term the Seleucidsean epoch, their 

 dynastic dates being calculated from that 

 period ; and nearly all the coins bear dates 

 which mark the number of years from that 

 time to the epoch at which the coins of sub- 

 sequent eras respectively were struck. The 

 inscription on this coin is simply BASlAEnS 

 2EAETK0T (of the King Seleucus). The small 

 Greek numerals, ahd a single letter, have re- 



FlG. 1. 



years after the reign of Seleucus, is nob 

 to be much depended upon, and is less in 

 accordance with the spirit of the time than 

 the supposition which I have adopted in pre- 

 ference. The reverses of many of the coins 

 of the Seleucidge have for type a very ele- 

 gantly-designed figure of Apollo, adopted as 

 a family device by the Seleucidse, in allusion 

 to a dream of the mother of the first Seleucus, 

 who, in the vision, was informed that her 

 child was the oifspring of that deity. A 

 ring is described as having been found 

 in her bed bearing the device of an 

 anchor, and the child was, it was said, 

 marked on the thigh with the same figure, 

 which continued (as Justin relates) to be 

 found on all the true descendants of Seleu- 



ference to a date, and to the name of the city 

 at which the coin was struck, or to the name 

 of the magistrate having charge of the mint. 

 The coins of Seleucus Nicanor which are 

 most usually found, and with which most 

 collectors must rest contented as a momunent 

 of his reign, are those struck by him before 

 he assumed the title of king, and on which 

 he used the types of the coinage of Alex- 

 ander, the head of Hercules clothed with the 

 lion's skin, but with the addition of wings 

 behind the ears. Of this type some have 

 only the simple name of Seleucus on the 

 reverse, while others, those struck at a later 

 period, have the title of king. Some of 

 them, especially the copper, have a bull on 

 the device of the reverse j and there are 



