Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Zahra Alinezhad ¹
• Mostafa Dehpahlavan ²
• Arthur Houghton ³
• mohammad lamehi ⁴

¹ Ph. D Candidate, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Tehran

³ Professor, American Coin Association

⁴ Professor, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Center, Iranian Atomic Energy Organization

Abstract

In a new research on the Seleucid coins of Avicenna’s (Bu Ali Sina) Museum of Hamedan, eight new Tetradrachms from uncertain mint 65 have been identified. These coins issued under the authority of the Seleucid rulers, Antiochus III Megas (223-187 B.C.) and early reign of Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 B.C.). In this article, the research main aim is review the issues and identify the likely location of the uncertain mint 65 and accordingly, coins of this mint that have been found in northwest of Iran. On following, all the characteristics of the mentioned mint are studied through following steps; catalogue of mint sequence, the value and duration of the mint and its comparative analysis with the main mints, such as Antioch on the Orontes, and survey of portrait types, the number of engravers and also identification of the elements by proton induced X-ray emission and its comparison to the Eastern Mints of the Seleucid Period. Contrary to the book of Selucid Coins (SC), the results of our study suggest that the relocation of this mint from Commagene or Northern Syria on the base of Seleucid coins to the eastern Mesopotamia or to the far northwest of Iran.

Keywords

• Coins
• Seleucid
• Antiochus III
• Seleucus IV
• Uncertain Mint 65