Seleucid Coinage in 175–166 BCE and the Historicity of Daniel 11:21–24
- Benjamin Scolnic
Abstract
Historians and Bible scholars often state that Antiochus IV, a famous figure in Hellenistic history, became the king of the Seleucid kingdom immediately after the assassination of his brother Seleucus IV in September 175 BCE. They base this idea on a reconstruction of Seleucid coinage and on three texts: an Athenian inscription, a Babylonian King List and a passage in the historian Appian. Thus a Biblical passage, Dan. 11:21–24 is considered inaccurate in portraying Antiochus IV’s accession as a gradual one that required extended political strategy. A new study of the coins of Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV, and Antiochus IV and of all these texts, however, will suggest that Antiochus, son of Seleucus IV, was king by himself for at least a couple of years if not from 175 until 170 when he was executed, and that Dan. 11:21–24, while clearly polemical, and numismatics, while complicated, should be reconsidered as evidence in the reconstruction of an important sequence in the history of this period.
Acknowledgement
I am very grateful to the editors of and the anonymous reviewers for JAH; their advice and suggestions, as well as their efficiency, made the publication of this article an energizing process. The many remaining inadequacies are completely my fault.
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