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The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

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198 C. OMAN.left,sometimes draped, sometimes undraped, holding astar in his right <strong>and</strong> a sceptrein his left h<strong>and</strong>. Thisissue appears to extend over <strong>the</strong> whole five years <strong>of</strong>Grypus's undisputed reign over all Syria <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> three<strong>of</strong>7subsequent civil war. Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> issues are undated,but those which are give all <strong>the</strong> years from 193 A.S.inclusive to 197. <strong>The</strong> head is generally very pleasing,<strong>and</strong> even h<strong>and</strong>some, despite <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> too-prominent nose.Of <strong>the</strong> two specimens illustrated in <strong>the</strong> plate, <strong>the</strong> onewithout a date <strong>and</strong> bearing <strong>the</strong> mint-mark M wasevidently struck in <strong>the</strong> very beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> period, 7<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r [PL VIII. 4] gives Grypus as he looked at<strong>the</strong> age <strong>of</strong> twenty-five, on <strong>the</strong> eve <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> outbreak <strong>of</strong>civil war.<strong>The</strong> third <strong>and</strong> fourth sets<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tetradrachm -issues<strong>of</strong> Grypus's first reign must be separated from <strong>the</strong>first two, because, unlike <strong>the</strong>se, <strong>the</strong>y never show <strong>the</strong>very young portrait that appears on some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> coinswith obv. Eagle <strong>and</strong>palm-branch,<strong>and</strong> rev. Zeus Ouranios,but all display a more mature face which must belong toa man <strong>of</strong> twenty-five to twenty-eight ra<strong>the</strong>r than to aman between twenty <strong>and</strong> twenty-five. It is unfortunatethat (unlike <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two series) <strong>the</strong>y seem to includeno dated specimens. I should feel inclined to put <strong>the</strong>mall into <strong>the</strong> three years <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> civil war <strong>of</strong> 116-113 B.C.One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sets isundoubtedly a local issue <strong>of</strong> Tarsusextending over a very few years, <strong>and</strong> almost certainlydeveloped because Grypus had lost his capital Antiochfor a time. <strong>The</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r, which like <strong>the</strong> Tarsiot emissionis quite scarce, is <strong>the</strong> limited issue <strong>of</strong> tetradrachms <strong>of</strong>7 A specimen in <strong>the</strong> Hunterian cabinet is dated 113 B.C.8PI. VIII. 3.In my own collection.

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