VAuctions
Triskeles Sale 25 28 Sep 2018
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This emission seems to look back to the Seleukid coinage struck by John Hyrcanus I for his ostensible overlord, the Seleukid king Antiochos VII Sidetes in 132-130 B.C.E. Both feature a lily on the obverse as a symbol of Jerusalem and an anchor as a badge of royal (Seleukid) authority. Here, however, Jannaeus seems to use it as a means of indicating his legitimacy as the successor to the now feeble and virtually extinct line of Seleukid kings. It is no accident that the Paleo-Hebrew legend appears alongside the Jewish emblem of the lily while the Greek legend is associated with the anchor.