Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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SELEUCID KINGDOM. Antiochus Hierax (246-227 BC). AR tetradrachm (29mm, 17.10 gm, 1h). Lampsacus, ca. 241-227 BC. Diademed head of Hierax right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Apollo sitting left on omphalus, holding arrow in right hand, left hand resting on bow; Pegasus forepart and monogram in exergue. SC 849.2. WSM 1552α. An exceptional portrait, struck in high relief on a broad flan of sound metal. NGC XF★ 5/5 - 5/5.Antiochus Hierax ("the Hawk," supposedly for his grasping nature), was the younger son of Antiochus II by his first wife, Laodice. On the death of Antiochus in 246 BC, Hierax and his mother controlled Seleucid Asia Minor, which was quickly invaded by Ptolemy III of Egypt in the Third Syrian War. During the conflict, the legitimate king, Hierax's elder brother Seleucus II, appointed him governor of Asia Minor north of the Tarsus. But once Ptolemy had been repulsed, Hierax revolted and declared his province an independent kingdom. Preoccupied on other fronts, Seleucus at first gave tacit recognition to the rebel regime, but in 239 BC he struck against Hierax and nearly crushed him. Hierax, however, made an alliance with Mithradates II of Pontus, who had an army stocked with Galatian mercenaries. Mithradates counterattacked and defeated Seleucus at the battle of Ancyra. An uneasy peace obtained between the brothers for a few years before Hierax made the huge mistake of attacking the autonomous kingdom of Pergamum, whose king Attalus I inflicted a string of defeats on him. Weakened, he attempted a coup against Seleucus II while his brother was fighting in Parthia, but was easily thwarted and forced to flee to Thrace, where he was captured by Ptolemaic forces. He escaped and fled back to his own former realm, only to be murdered by a band of marauding Galatians in 227 BC.
Estimate: 1200-1600 USD
SELEUCID KINGDOM. Antiochus Hierax (246-227 BC). AR tetradrachm (29mm, 17.10 gm, 1h). Lampsacus, ca. 241-227 BC. Diademed head of Hierax right / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Apollo sitting left on omphalus, holding arrow in right hand, left hand resting on bow; Pegasus forepart and monogram in exergue. SC 849.2. WSM 1552α. An exceptional portrait, struck in high relief on a broad flan of sound metal. NGC XF★ 5/5 - 5/5.Antiochus Hierax ("the Hawk," supposedly for his grasping nature), was the younger son of Antiochus II by his first wife, Laodice. On the death of Antiochus in 246 BC, Hierax and his mother controlled Seleucid Asia Minor, which was quickly invaded by Ptolemy III of Egypt in the Third Syrian War. During the conflict, the legitimate king, Hierax's elder brother Seleucus II, appointed him governor of Asia Minor north of the Tarsus. But once Ptolemy had been repulsed, Hierax revolted and declared his province an independent kingdom. Preoccupied on other fronts, Seleucus at first gave tacit recognition to the rebel regime, but in 239 BC he struck against Hierax and nearly crushed him. Hierax, however, made an alliance with Mithradates II of Pontus, who had an army stocked with Galatian mercenaries. Mithradates counterattacked and defeated Seleucus at the battle of Ancyra. An uneasy peace obtained between the brothers for a few years before Hierax made the huge mistake of attacking the autonomous kingdom of Pergamum, whose king Attalus I inflicted a string of defeats on him. Weakened, he attempted a coup against Seleucus II while his brother was fighting in Parthia, but was easily thwarted and forced to flee to Thrace, where he was captured by Ptolemaic forces. He escaped and fled back to his own former realm, only to be murdered by a band of marauding Galatians in 227 BC.
Estimate: 1200-1600 USD