Excerpt from American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 41: And to the Proceedings of the American Numismatic Society, 1917 It is surprising that, while much has been written concerning the large and important coinage of the Seleucid sovereigns of Asia, we should still be at such a loss to assign the greater part of this coinage to the mints that were once so active in its production. To be sure, we can easily and correctly distinguish the issues of Sidon, Tyre, Berytos, and Ake Ptolemais but only because, from the reign of Alexander Balas on, these coins bear such obvious mint marks that they can not be misread. Some of the later issues of Tarsos and Mallos in Cilicia are also distinguishable. But since the appearance of Dr. George Macdonalds two illuminating monographs dealing with certain Seleucid coinages of Asia Minor, little advance has been made and the origin of the bulk of the Seleucid coinage is still an enigma. At first sight the vast material remaining seems to present almost insurmountable difficulties, but the inducements offered to students and historians to solve the problem are correspondingly many. The Seleucid coinage in particular is closely associated with, and therefore partakes of, the vicissitudes of the many rulers who issued it: its long and splendid line of living portraits - not only of the legitimate scions of the House of Seleucus but also of usurping regents and rebellious satraps such as Achaeus, Timarchus, Tryphon.

and others - give it a vital and human interest that is not surpassed in Greek Numismatics. Its many mints and long existence give it a variety of types and of artistic style that is most attractive. While the time is certainly not yet ripe for a pretentious study of the Seleucid coinage as a whole (such as, for instance, has been done by Svoronos for the Ptolemaic series) much can be accomplished in sot-ting out the issues of various mints or in the intensive study of some one of these mints. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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