DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0355
1190
Appendix N
Alexander ii Zabinas, when beaten by Antiochos viii Grypos in 123—122 b.c.,
retired to Antiocheia and, in order to pay his troops, bade men enter the temple
of Zeus and remove from the god's hand the Nike of solid gold, remarking that
Fig. 994.
Zeus had lent him victory!1 A unique
stater of gold, formerly in the Montagu
collection (fig. 995)2, was doubtless struck
by Zabinas from this stolen Nike3. A few-
days later he attempted to carry off the
whole statue of Zeus with its vast weight of
gold, but was caught in the act and forced
by popular outcry to flee from the city4.
The statue, however, did not escape for long the cupidity of the Syrian kings'
Antiochus ix Kyzikenos, son of Antiochos vii Sidetes, being in need of money,
gave orders that the golden Zeus, fifteen cubits high, should be melted down and
replaced by a copy in inferior material with gilded sheathing5. It was presumably
in connexion with the cult of Zeus Olympios that Antiochos Epiphanes held games
Cat. Coins iii. 48 no. 50, E. Babelon Les rois de Syrie Paris 1890 p. xciv f., Head Hist.
num.2 p. 762 f. The head is usually described as laureate.
1 lust. 39. 2. 5.
2 Montagu Sale Catalogue 1896 i. 92 no. 716 pi. 9 = my fig. 995.
3 E. Babelon Les rois de Syrie Paris 1890 p. cxlix f.
4 lust. 39. 2. 6, Diod. excerpta de virt. et vit. 35 p. 145, 42 ff. Dindorf,
5 Clem. Al. protr. 4. 52. 3 p. 40, 22 ff. Stahlin 'Avtioxos de 6 Kv^iKrjvbs dwopovfievos
Xpi)P-dTWv tov Aids to dya\/xa to x/juctoOj', irevreKaiSeKa ■wrjx&v to /xeyedos ov, irpoaira^e
Xwvedffai xal (J. Markland cj. k&k) ttjs aWqs t77s aTi^oTipas v\rjs dyah/jia -napair^cnov
eKeivu) 7rerdXots KexpyacopLevov duadelvai ttclKlv. Cp. Arnob. adv. nat. 6. 21 Antiochum
Cyzicenum ferunt decern (F. Orsini cj. quindecim) cubitorum Iovem ex delubro aureum
sustulisse et ex aere bracteolis substituisse fucatum.
Appendix N
Alexander ii Zabinas, when beaten by Antiochos viii Grypos in 123—122 b.c.,
retired to Antiocheia and, in order to pay his troops, bade men enter the temple
of Zeus and remove from the god's hand the Nike of solid gold, remarking that
Fig. 994.
Zeus had lent him victory!1 A unique
stater of gold, formerly in the Montagu
collection (fig. 995)2, was doubtless struck
by Zabinas from this stolen Nike3. A few-
days later he attempted to carry off the
whole statue of Zeus with its vast weight of
gold, but was caught in the act and forced
by popular outcry to flee from the city4.
The statue, however, did not escape for long the cupidity of the Syrian kings'
Antiochus ix Kyzikenos, son of Antiochos vii Sidetes, being in need of money,
gave orders that the golden Zeus, fifteen cubits high, should be melted down and
replaced by a copy in inferior material with gilded sheathing5. It was presumably
in connexion with the cult of Zeus Olympios that Antiochos Epiphanes held games
Cat. Coins iii. 48 no. 50, E. Babelon Les rois de Syrie Paris 1890 p. xciv f., Head Hist.
num.2 p. 762 f. The head is usually described as laureate.
1 lust. 39. 2. 5.
2 Montagu Sale Catalogue 1896 i. 92 no. 716 pi. 9 = my fig. 995.
3 E. Babelon Les rois de Syrie Paris 1890 p. cxlix f.
4 lust. 39. 2. 6, Diod. excerpta de virt. et vit. 35 p. 145, 42 ff. Dindorf,
5 Clem. Al. protr. 4. 52. 3 p. 40, 22 ff. Stahlin 'Avtioxos de 6 Kv^iKrjvbs dwopovfievos
Xpi)P-dTWv tov Aids to dya\/xa to x/juctoOj', irevreKaiSeKa ■wrjx&v to /xeyedos ov, irpoaira^e
Xwvedffai xal (J. Markland cj. k&k) ttjs aWqs t77s aTi^oTipas v\rjs dyah/jia -napair^cnov
eKeivu) 7rerdXots KexpyacopLevov duadelvai ttclKlv. Cp. Arnob. adv. nat. 6. 21 Antiochum
Cyzicenum ferunt decern (F. Orsini cj. quindecim) cubitorum Iovem ex delubro aureum
sustulisse et ex aere bracteolis substituisse fucatum.