Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Auction 117 19-20 May 2021
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SELEUCIS and PIERIA, Antioch. Mark Antony, with Cleopatra VII of Egypt. 36 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26mm, 15.44 g, 12h). BACIΛICCA KΛЄOΠATPA ΘЄA NЄωTЄPA, diademed bust of Cleopatra right, wearing earring, necklace, and embroidered dress / ANTωNIOC AVTOKPATωP TRITON TPIωN ANΔ[PωN], bare head of Antony right. McAlee 174; Prieur 27; RPC I 4094; HGC 9, 1361. Lightly toned, some minor porosity, areas of flat strike. VF. Excellent portraits of Antony & Cleopatra.
The obverse legend is usually translated as "Queen Cleopatra, the younger goddess" or "...the newer goddess." Ted Buttrey ("Thea Neotera," MN VI [1954], pp. 95-109) read the legend rather differently: "Queen Cleopatra Thea, junior." Essentially, this would make her Cleopatra Thea II and thus the namesake of the Seleucid queen Cleopatra Thea (ruled 125-121 BC), the daughter of Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II. Buttrey argued that such tetradrachms of Antony and Cleopatra officially mark Cleopatra as reigning "...not as an Egyptian conquerer but as a Seleucid queen."
While the coinage is traditionally given to the Antioch mint, this attribution is by no means certain. The authors of RPC (pp. 601-2) thought differently: "...the portraits might suggest that one should look for a mint further south in Cleopatra's 'Phoenician' kingdom; an alternative explanation might be that they were made on the move by Antony, after wintering in Antioch 37/36."
The obverse legend is usually translated as "Queen Cleopatra, the younger goddess" or "...the newer goddess." Ted Buttrey ("Thea Neotera," MN VI [1954], pp. 95-109) read the legend rather differently: "Queen Cleopatra Thea, junior." Essentially, this would make her Cleopatra Thea II and thus the namesake of the Seleucid queen Cleopatra Thea (ruled 125-121 BC), the daughter of Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II. Buttrey argued that such tetradrachms of Antony and Cleopatra officially mark Cleopatra as reigning "...not as an Egyptian conquerer but as a Seleucid queen."
While the coinage is traditionally given to the Antioch mint, this attribution is by no means certain. The authors of RPC (pp. 601-2) thought differently: "...the portraits might suggest that one should look for a mint further south in Cleopatra's 'Phoenician' kingdom; an alternative explanation might be that they were made on the move by Antony, after wintering in Antioch 37/36."