Video: Oliver Hoover, Money Talks, Seleucid Coins

American Numismatic Society - Couched as a bedtime story, this talk highlights the relationship between the political mythology of Seleucus I as recorded in ancient texts (Appian, Justin, Malalas) and the development of early Seleucid coinage, especially those related to the anchor, Apollo, and horned horse. This is followed by a discussion of the use and reuse of related types and stories by subsequent members of the Seleucid dynasty and successor states as a means of illustrating legitimacy. Treatment is also given to a developing conversation/negotiation of power visible on the coins between both the city and the Seleucid king and the influence of indigenous non-Greek peoples on the later coinage.