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COINAGE OF ANTIOCHUS VIII OF SYRIA. 199which the reverse represents Pallas Nikephoros standingto left. It bears the mint-marks of several unidentifiabletowns never apparently that of Antioch [seePI. vni. e].The Tarsiot issue [PL VIII. 5] has a reverse type oflocal significance, the Altar or Pyre of Sandan, whichthe Greeks ignorantly called the tomb of Sardanapalus.It represents a sort of altar bound with garlands, andsurmounted by a conical erection within which is anoriental divinity standing on the back of a hornedlion and holding a double-axe in his hand. This typewas not a new one : it had been used before byAntiochus VII (Sidetes), by Demetrius II during hissecond reign, by Alexander Zabina, and by Grypus himselfwhile he was ruling only as the coadjutor of hismother. I fancy that in all these cases the Tarsiotmint had been working only because the Antiochenemint had been in the occupation of an enemy. Sideteshad probably used it while he was contending withTryphon during the first year of his reign, while theusurper was still controlling northern Syria, and hadnot been driven southward. Demetrius II lost Antiochearly in his second reign to Alexander Zabina.Cleopatra and Grypus had possessionthe Tarsus mint long before they recovered Antioch.of Cilicia andIn the case of each of them the Tarsiot coins areextremely rare, and were obviously issued only fora short time. This is especially the fact with regard toSidetes, whose normal issue,with the reverse of thestanding Athene, are among the most common Seleucidcoins, while his Tarsiot issue is of the highest scarcity.The civil war, to which these rare issues of Grypuswith the Pyre of Sandan and the standing Pallas