Antiochos VIII Grypus, Seleucid King ; Antiochos XIII Philometor, Seleucid King

Antioch

1 Mina

Metal: Lead

Cast

Square

9.80 cm

10.00 cm

- cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
575.00	-	-	Auction Leu 2020	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche
Anchor	Relief
Lattice pattern	Relief

Auction Leu 2020: SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Antiochos XIII Philometor, circa 83/2–75 BC. Weight of 1 Mina (Lead, 98×100 mm, 575.00 g). BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ANTIOXOY - ΦΙΛOMHTO/POΣ MNA Seleukid anchor. Rev. Latticework design. Pondera 3521 and 3526 (attributed to either Antiochos VIII or Antiochos Philometor). Very rare and of great historical interest. Holed twice for suspension and with a flan crack, otherwise, very fine.

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Greek	Relief	Authority, Denomination

ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ
ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ

ΦΙΛΟΜΗΤΟ
ΡΟΣ   ΜΝΑ

Βασιλέως | Ἀντιόχου | Φιλομήτο|ρος μνᾶ.

GREEK

FROM -121 TO -97

Reign of Antiochus VIII Grypus (121–97 BCE).
Weiß and Ehling 2007: either Antiochus VIII (125–98/7 BCE) or another Antiochus Philometor, son of Cleopatra V Selene (92 BCE). Arguments for Antiochus VIII: typology (neither date nor name of an agoranomos on the obverse; lattice of the reverse), and the greater possibility of having conserved two weights of a 25-year reign rather than a 1-year reign. Arguments against Antiochus VIII: the use of the epithet Philometor rather than his main epithet Epiphanes. According to Weiß, the king is Antiochus VIII; according to Ehling, he is Antiochus Philometor, son of Cleopatra V Selene.
Finkielsztejn 2012: Si Antiochos VIII a initié la pratique des poids “royaux”, suivi par son (Séleucos VI assuré) ou ses fils (avec Démétrios III, non assuré), c’est lui qui est nommé ici. L’autre possibilité, choisie par les éditeurs, est Antiochos XIII (69–67 puis 65–64 a.C.), qui aurait pu poursuivre la pratique, elle-même utilisée par son père, Antiochos X (assuré par la date et l’épithète). Le poids de la mine n’est pas déterminant car, pour Antiochos VIII, nous sommes à la charnière entre les IIe et Ier s. a.C., quand une mine lourde est déjà utilisée.
Auction Leu 2020: Antiochos Philometor is only known from a handful of extremely rare coins, which show him together with his mother, the infamous Ptolemaic Queen Kleopatra Selene (SC 2484-2486), and from his lead weights, of which this is the third known example. It has been suggested that the latter should be attributed to Antiochos VIII, thus recording an otherwise unknown epithet for this king. However, this seems unlikely and this cataloguer therefore prefers to assign them Kleopatra's son, the only Antiochos whose coins record the epithet 'Philometor'. We do not know when Antiochos Philometor died, but his mother's end came in 69 BC, when she was besieged by Tigranes II 'the Great' in Ake-Ptolemais and killed shortly thereafter.

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Antiquities Trade	Dec. 12, 2020	None

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Auction Leu 2020f	None	905	None	None
Smirnov 2022	142–151	12	None	None
Tekin 2025a	129–130	None	fig. 3	None