ANTIOCH (SELEUKIS & PIERIA) AE21_____Provincial_____STAR OF BETHLEHEM TYPE

Description

18S150
FRASCATIUS ANCIENTS
A BEAUTIFUL BRONZE COIN OF ANTIOCH SYRIA (SELEUKIS & PIERIA) FROM 10 - 17 AD .
In his The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi, Dr. Michael Molnar sees in the reverse design the occultation of Jupiter by the moon in the constellation of Aries, which he identifies as the most probable candidate for the biblical account of the Star of Bethlehem that guided the Magi to the manager where Jesus was born.
Antioch Syria became the third largest city of the Roman Empire in size and importance (after Rome and Alexandria) and possessed magnificent temples, theatres, aqueducts, and baths.
THE SIZE IS 21.3 MM AND 6.63 GRAMS.
SNG Cop 97
OBVERSE – Laureate head of Zeus right
REVERSE – Ram leaping right, head turned to look back at star above; below, date
ANTIOCH SYRIA
Antioch was founded in 300 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, a former general of Alexander the Great. The new city soon became the western terminus of the caravan routes over which goods were brought from Persia and elsewhere in Asia to the Mediterranean. Antioch’s strategic command of north-south and east-west roads across northwestern Syria greatly contributed to its growth and prosperity in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine times. The suburb of Daphne, five miles to the south, was a favourite pleasure resort and residential area for Antioch’s upper classes; and the seaport Seleucia Pieria, at the mouth of the Orontes River, was the city’s harbor.
Antioch was the centre of the Seleucid kingdom until 64 BC, when it was annexed by Rome and was made the capital of the Roman province of Syria. It became the third largest city of the Roman Empire in size and importance (after Rome and Alexandria) and possessed magnificent temples, theatres, aqueducts, and baths. The city was the headquarters of the Roman garrison in Syria, one of whose principal duties was the defense of the empire’s eastern border from Persian attacks. Antioch was also one of the earliest centres of Christianity; it was there that the followers of Christ were first called Christians, and the city was the headquarters of the missionary St. Paul about 47–55 AD.
One of the most famous urban additions to Antioch, done by the Romans probably under Augustus when the city had more than half a million inhabitants, was the Circus of Antioch: it was a Roman hippodrome. Used for chariot racing, it was modelled on the Circus Maximus in Rome and other circus buildings throughout the empire. Measuring more than 490 metres (1,610 feet) in length and 30 metres (98 feet) of width,[16] the Circus could house up to 80,000 spectators.
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