Mar 5, 2025
stag rhyton with seleucid-inspired designs | c. 100 BCE - 50 CE | eastern parthian empire (probably made in modern day northwest iran)
in the j. paul getty museum collection
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stag rhyton with seleucid-inspired designs | c. 100 BCE - 50 CE | eastern parthian empire (probably made in modern day northwest iran)
in the j. paul getty museum collection
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In the second installment of his series on the Hellenistic Far East, Harald Blot examines the age of the Diodotids and Euthydemids, when the easternmost provinces of the Seleucid Empire gained independence and resisted subsequent attempts at reintegration.
Read the full piece here: https://alongthesilkroad.com/2025/10/02/the-making-of-a-kingdom-bactrian-independence-under-the-diodotid-dynasty-and-consolidation-under-the-euthydemid-dynasty/
Stag Rhyton
100–1 B.C.
Gilt silver and glass
The forepart of a stag emerges from the curving body of this gilt silver rhyton. The rendering of the animal is highly detailed, down to the veins in its snout. The wide inlaid eyes and the outstretched legs heighten the realistic effect as the stag seemingly bolts in flight. The horn of the rhyton has raised floral decoration, incised wave patterns on the lip, and is gilded all over. On the belly of the stag is a punched Aramaic (possibly Persian) inscription, perhaps referring to the owner.
The term rhyton comes from the Greek verb meaning "to run through,” and depictions of rhyta show that they were used to aerate wine. Poured into the top of the vessel, the wine came out of a spout or opening between the animal's legs. The spout on this example is now missing, but the hole remains visible.
Stylistic features suggest that the rhyton was made in northwest Iran in the period from 50 B.C. to A.D. 50. This region had been part of the Achaemenid Persian Empire until it was conquered by Alexander the Great. After his death in 323 B.C., the Hellenistic Greek Seleucid dynasty, whose kingdom stretched from Turkey to Afghanistan, ruled the area. In the later third century B.C., however, a group of semi-nomadic people from the steppes of south central Asia called the Parthians began challenging the weakened Seleucid authority in the eastern part of their territory. By the first century B.C., the Parthians ruled the area. This complicated political history left its legacy in the local art and material culture. Rhyta had a long history in earlier art of Iran, but the floral motifs on this elaborate example derive from Seleucid art.
Ancient Greek gold coinage.
Hellenistic Kings and Queens ruled an area from Greece in the west till India in the east.
From left to right:
1) King Asandros, Kingdom of Bosporos/Pontos (Black Sea region), 36 BC
2) King Demetrius I Poliorketes, Kingdom of Macedonia, 3rd BC
3) Seleukos II, Seleucid Empire, 3rd BC
4) Antiochos III o Megas (the Great), Seleucid Empire, 3rd-2nd BC
5) King Ptolemaios II, Kingdom of Egypt, 3rd BC
6) King Alexandros IV (the young Prince/Son of Alexander the Great), Kingdom of Macedonia, 323-315 BC
7) King Achaios (usurpator), Seleucid Empire, 220-213 BC
8) King Menander I Soter, Kingdom of Indo-Greeks (appr. modern Afghanistan -parts of India), 165-130 BC
9) Queen Arsinoe II, Kingdom of Egypt, 283-246 BC.
The Tyche (Fortuna) of Antioch by Eutychides 300 BCE. Roman copy of the Greek original.
"Ungoverned power no one can long retain; controlled, it lasts; and the higher Fortuna (Fortune) has raised and exalted the might of man, the more does it become him to be modest in prosperity, to tremble at shifting circumstance, and to fear the Gods when they are overkind. That greatness can be in a moment overthrown I have learned by conquering. Does Troy make us too arrogant and bold? We Greeks are standing in the place whence she has fallen."
-Agamemnon, The Tragedies of Seneca, Troades 695 ff
https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-tyche-fortuna-of-antioch-by.html
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Tetradrachm of the Hellenistic ruler Seleukos I Nikator (r. 312-281 BCE), minted in the name and types of Alexander the Great. On the obverse, the head of Heracles, wearing a lionskin; on the reverse, Zeus with an eagle and the inscription [BA]ΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY ("Of King Alexander"). Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com
The ruined colonnades of Apamea in northwestern Syria
~ Cuneiform tablet inscribed on both sides with a deed of dedication of 2 children, brothers, ages 6 and 10 years, to the brickwork service of the temples, dated to year 180, month 1 of the Arsacid Era (= year 184 of the Seleucid Era), from Uruk.
Place of origin: Iraq
Culture: Mesopotamian
Period: Parthian Dynasty
Inscription Language: Akkadian; Language Script: Cuneiform; Dialect: Late Babylonian