Laodikai and the Goddess Nikephoros

• Autores: Catharine C. Lorber
• Localización: Antiquité classique, ISSN 0770-2817, Nº. 76, 2007, págs. 63-88
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 2 Citas
• Resumen

  • Bronze coins of Antiochos IV shows a goddess Nicephorus who shares in the king�s epiphany. She is a rare form of Aphrodite, previously associated in the deification of two Hellenistic queens, including the Seleukid Stratonike. The older cult of Aphrodite Nikephoros at Argos characterized her as a matrimonial deity. Her presence on coins or seals of scattered Seleukid cities suggests the establishment of a state cult for a female relation of Antiochos IV, either his wife, Laodike IV, or his mother, Laodike III. The former was the first Seleukid queen portrayed on coinage; the visual evidence supports the theory that she was the daughter of Antiochos III and married her three brothers in succession. Laodike III had already been the object of an ephemeral (?) state cult ordained by Antiochos III and was worshipped as Aphrodite Laodike in a city cult of Iasos. In the east, the Nikephoros was probably understood as the Sumerian goddess Nanaia/Nanâ, assimilated to Aphrodite and Artemis.