Tigranes II Tetradrachm populair coin!

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Kings of Armenia, Tigranes II 'the Great' AR Tetradrachm. Tigranocerta, circa 80-68 BC. Diademed and draped bust right, wearing tiara decorated with star between two eagles / Tyche of Antioch seated to right on rock, holding laurel branch, below, river-god Orontes swimming to right; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to right, ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟΥ to left, monogram on rock; all within wreath 15,78 gms, 26 mm, Kovacs 71.2

After decades of fratricidal strife between various members of the Seleukid dynasty, the Syrians rose up against their rulers and invited Tigranes II, the Great, of Armenia to restore order in their kingdom (83 BC). His rule extended over the following fourteen years until he was eventually driven out of Syria by the Roman general Lucullus.

This superbly preserved tetradrachm issued at the Syrian capital of Antioch shows the king wearing his distinctive Armenian tiara on the obverse, while the reverse shows the city goddess, or Tyche, of Antioch with the river god Orontes swimming at her feet. This statue was created by the Greek sculptor Eutychides of Sikyon (ca. 335-275 BC) and its image appears on the reverses of many Antiochene coins down to early Byzantine times.

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