MY COLLECTION FOCUSES
A Journey of Nostalgia
SELEUKID EMPIRE
What interests me the most is the tumultuous last century of this empire. In this period it was riven by dynastic disputes, secessions and rebellions, the religiously-inspired insurrection of the Jewish Maccabees, civil war and external invasion from Egypt in the West and the Parthians in the East. By the 80s BC, the empire was disintegrating, internally fractured and squeezed by the converging expansionist powers of Rome and Parthia.
MITHRIDATES VI OF PONTOS
Many people know Mithridates VI, king of Pontos from 120-63 BC, the king who caused the Romans a lot of pain in three different wars. He was ambitious and wanted the Pontic Kingdom to be the dominant power in the Black sea region, and this ambition let him to some success as well. The influence of Mithridates VI on the Greek world and it’s coins interest me a lot.
THE GREEK ISLANDS
The most fascinating about the Greek islands is that each island is unique on it's own. Each island had it's own history and legends, which was reflected on the coinage. Naxos, where Dionysos met Ariadne, according to the legend, after she had been abandoned by Theseus on his way home from Crete. Or Samos, where the coins include the depiction of the ox associated with the cult of Hera, to whom white cows were offered up as a sacrifice (see coin on right).
