Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

(January 14, 2011) 2,100 year-old Greek coin may have marked rare astronomical event
Unreported Heritage News ^ | Friday, January 14, 2011 | Owen Jarus

Posted on 01/17/2011 9:57:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv

New research suggests that this coin marks an eclipse of Jupiter by the moon. It happened on January 17, 121 BC and was visible in Antioch, the capital of the Seleucid Empire. The coin itself show Zeus with a crescent moon above his head and a star like object hovering above the palm of his right hand... On one side is a portrait of Antiochos VIII, the king who minted it. On the reverse is a depiction of Zeus, either nude or half-draped, holding a sceptre in his left hand. Above the god's head is the crescent of the moon, and his right arm is outreached with a star like figure (that may in fact be Jupiter) hovering just above his palm. "Nobody ever re-used this iconography again -- it was a one off," said Professor Robert Weir, of the University of Windsor in Canada, who presented his research recently at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. Antiochos VIII was ruler of the Seleucid Empire, a kingdom created by one of Alexander the Great's officers, after the great conqueror died in 323 BC. By the time of Antiochos this realm was composed of a rump of territory centred on the city of Antioch, in south-eastern Turkey. The empire had been in decline for some time, with the Parthians gaining territory in the east, the Romans in the west and the Hasmoneans, a dynasty of Jewish kings, coming to power in the south.

(Excerpt) Read more at unreportedheritagenews.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; History
KEYWORDS: alexanderthegreat; antakya; antioch; antiochosviii; archaeoastronomy; coin; coins; epigraphyandlanguage; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; godsgravesglyphs; hasmoneankindgom; hasmoneans; hellenism; jupiter; michaelmolnar; moon; parthianempire; parthians; robertweir; romanempire; seleucidempire; starofbethlehem; staroftheeast; zeus
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last
To: Jewbacca

Some of them will have appreciated in value by 20 million percent by then.


21 posted on 01/17/2011 12:33:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Sacajaweau

No, it’s the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.


22 posted on 01/17/2011 12:58:44 PM PST by Erasmus (Personal goal: Have a bigger carbon footprint than Tony Robbins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

An appreciation of value by 20 million percent when the original value is 0 is still zero.

They make me ill.


23 posted on 01/17/2011 1:36:33 PM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: BigOrangeI; Lonesome in Massachussets

Thanks!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1203912/posts


24 posted on 01/17/2011 1:51:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
Researchers also found a manuscript, believed to be an advertisement for the coin, which reads as follows: “This limted edition coin, authorized by King Antiochos VIII himself, is available for a limited time only through this exclusive offer, so order yours today!”
25 posted on 01/17/2011 2:01:54 PM PST by GreenHornet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BigOrangeI
I don't care what Starry Night thinks. I happened to have been in Antioch on that date and took this picture:

OK, maybe not. But I will do a little Starry Night research and see if I can find a night on which such an occlusion was visible.


26 posted on 01/17/2011 3:06:02 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Socialists are to economics what circle squarers are to math; undaunted by reason or derision.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Maybe he’s holding tinkerbell.


27 posted on 01/17/2011 4:23:38 PM PST by Domestic Church (AMDG)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

According to my Starry Night Software, which shows the event occuring in the early morning hours of 1/17/121 BC, the depiction would have been of a partial lunar eclipse, and not a waning or waxing crescent.

The software does not depict the lunar eclipse per se, but it has a pointer to the “Earth Shadow” which passes near to the moon while Jupiter is occulted. Jupiter emerges just as it and the moon are setting, and the sun is rising on the opposite horizon.


28 posted on 01/17/2011 4:33:58 PM PST by dr_lew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dr_lew; SunkenCiv

Are you saying numimatists should leave astronomy to the astronomers?


29 posted on 01/17/2011 9:03:54 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: ApplegateRanch

The good doctor is an amateur astronomer — like Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy.


30 posted on 01/18/2011 5:04:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Domestic Church

I’d do that.


31 posted on 01/18/2011 5:06:11 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets

You’re remarkably well-preserved, if I may say so. ;’)


32 posted on 01/18/2011 5:06:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: GreenHornet

:’)

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/michaelmolnar/index


33 posted on 01/18/2011 5:06:51 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv; dr_lew
I'm sorry, I didn't get that impression from the article or his bio...except that, like me, he has an 8” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and knows how to use Starry Night or similar software.

Couldn't find any Google results (except the bio attached to this article) for him pertaining in any way whatsoever to astronomy, let alone being of the stature of Levy or Shoemaker, though he is an archaeologist & numismatist.

Or, do you mean dr_lew, to whom I was speaking, not referring?

34 posted on 01/18/2011 7:57:03 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: ApplegateRanch

I think there’s a good possibility that an error ( of omission ) was introduced by the writer of the article, due to confusion caused by a simultaneous occultation and eclipse.

That is, the writer may have failed to mention the lunar eclipse because he didn’t realize that an eclipse event was being described in addition to the occultation.

That’s my theory, anyway.


35 posted on 01/18/2011 11:10:28 PM PST by dr_lew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: dr_lew

Thanks; THAT sounds reasonable. The way it was written, taken at face value, just didn’t gel.


36 posted on 01/19/2011 12:35:43 AM PST by ApplegateRanch (Made in America, by proud American citizens, in 1946.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: ApplegateRanch

I can see what you mean, I don’t use either a telescope or Starry Night. :’) And I use computers, but am always mystified when Windows machines catch fire and whatnot. ;’)


37 posted on 01/19/2011 3:40:09 AM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


38 posted on 06/14/2016 12:45:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (I'll tell you what's wrong with society -- no one drinks from the skulls of their enemies anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Interestingly enough, this is a different coin from Antioch, found by another researcher, who is no Michael Molnar. Nevertheless, here's the Michael Molnar keyword sorted alpha, with the five or six different research threads:
39 posted on 12/21/2017 7:19:10 AM PST by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson