SYRIA, Antioch
AE20. 9.19g, 20mm
MINTED: SYRIA, Antioch, circa 63-48 BC 
REF: Cf. RPC I 4205
OBVERSE: Laureate head of Zeus right.
REVERSE: ANTIOXEΩΝ THΣ ΜΗΤPΟΠΟΛΕΩΣ, Zeus seated left, holding eagle and sceptre; [Pompeian era date below].
 
Notes:
Attractive reddish-brown desert patina.  
In 64 BC, Roman general Pompey the Great led his army into the Levant region near the end of the Third Mithridatic War (73-63 BC).  He quickly defeated the Seleukid Empire, which had been the dominant power in the region, and then turned his attention to the Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea.  After a brief siege, Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BC and made Judea a client kingdom of Rome.  This conquest marked the beginning of Roman rule in the Levant, which would last for centuries.  Many cities in the region, such as Antioch, which became the capital of the Roman province of Syria, were allowed local self-governance under the ultimate authority of the Roman Republic.  They adopted a new calendar, called the Pompeian Era by historians, beginning from the year 63 BC, to mark Pompey's conquest of the region. 
 
Historical Notes:
Antioch on the Orontes River (modern day Antakya, Turkey) was one of the greatest and most important ancient cities during the Hellenistic Greek period.  It was originally built by Seleukos I, one of Alexander the Great's generals, in 300 BC, and from 240 BC to 63 BC it served as the capital of the Seleukid Empire.  
 
Antioch's strategic location along the trade routes between Asia and Europe made it a wealthy and vibrant cosmopolitan hub, attracting people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. It flourished as a melting pot of Hellenistic, Roman, and Eastern cultures, with a diverse population of Greeks, Romans, Jews and Arabs.  Its ascent continued in the period after its conquest by the Romans in 63 BC, and it became the third most important city in the Empire, after Rome itself and Alexandria in Egypt.  At its height, it may have been home to as many as 500,000 people.  
 
The city also played an important role in early Christian history, and it was at Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first referred to as Christians.  It was also the home of the Catechetical School of Antioch, which was one of the leading centers of early Christian thought.