| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 158 | Auction date: 5 November 2025 |
| Lot number: 51 Price realized: 46,000 CHF (Approx. 56,846 USD / 49,468 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Philip VI Andriscus, 149 – 148 Drachm circa 149-148, AR 23 mm, 3.82 g. Diademed head r., wearing a slight beard. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ – ΦΙΛΛΙΠΟΥ Naked Heracles standing l., holding an uncertain object in his r. hand, club in his l., lion's skin hanging on l. arm. cf. Triton sale XVII, 2014, 186 (this obverse die). Zhuyuetang 119 (this coin) Of the highest rarity, undoubtedly the finest of only three specimens known. An issue of tremendous historical importance overstruck on a Roman Republican denarius of C. Terentius Lucanus (Crawford 217/1). Light iridescent tone, a flan crack at two o'clock on obverse, otherwise about extremely fine Ex Triton III, 1999, 397 and Lanz 92, 1999, 223 (illustrated on the front cover) sales. Andriscus began his career in the second century as a fuller from the city of Adramyttium in Mysia as an adopted son of an unnamed Cretan. When his stepfather died, shortly before 154 BC, his stepmother is said to have given him a document bearing the seal of the defeated Macedonian king Perseus. This document supposedly not only recognized Andriscus as the king's illegitimate son but also provided the locations of treasures hidden near Amphipolis and Thessalonica in Roman-dominated Macedonia. Andriscus subsequently set out to reclaim the lost throne of Antigonid Macedonia. The ancient sources are unanimous in condemning the document as a falsehood to support the claims of a pretender whose only real connection to Perseus was the fact that he somewhat resembled the deposed king. Nevertheless, he went to Syria, where he sought the assistance of the Seleucid king Demetrius I Soter. He was welcomed by the Syrian populace, many of whom were military colonists of Macedonian background. However, when they threatened to overthrow Demetrius I if he did not help him, the Seleucid king ordered Andriscus arrested and sent to Rome to stand trial. The Senate found his claims to be laughable but nevertheless confined him to Italy. Much like Demetrius I before him, Andriscus escaped from Italy and sailed for Miletus in Ionia, where he again claimed to be the son of Perseus and began to raise support. Growing concerned, the Milesian authorities arrested him, but visiting Roman envoys advised them that he was harmless and should be set free. As he continued on his way through Ionia, Andriscus met several former friends of Perseus, including Callipa, a former concubine of the king who had become the wife of Athenaeus, a brother of the Attalid king Attalus II. Using her connections, Callipa supplied Andriscus with money and slaves, and recommended that he seek the help of the Thracian king Teres III. In 149 BC, Andriscus reached the court of Teres III, where he was enthusiastically welcomed. A coronation was held, at which he assumed the name of Philip IV, and he was provided with a small army with which to invade Macedonia. The new king, derided in the ancient sources as the "Pseudo-Philip," successfully reclaimed the Macedonian kingdom and even managed to defeat a Roman legion commanded by P. Iuventius Thalna before marching into Thessaly. Although Philip Andriscus attempted to negotiate his recognition by the Romans, his rise to power made them look weak in the East. The Senate, therefore, dispatched a full consular army under Q. Caecilius Metellus to crush him. In 148 BC, after reclaiming Thessaly, Metellus soundly defeated Philip Andriscus in battle at Pydna, and the Macedonians laid down their arms. The pretender fled to Thrace where he hoped to raise a new army and renew the struggle, but he was handed over to Metellus by the Thracian prince Byzes. In 146 BC, after reorganizing the former protectorate of Macedonia as a full Roman province, Metellus returned to Rome, where he received the honorific title of Macedonicus and celebrated a triumph. Philip Andriscus was forced to walk in the triumphal procession, weighed down by chains. He was executed at the end of the festivities. This remarkable drachm of Philip Andriscus is one of only three known, all of which are overstruck on Roman denarii or Thessalian drachms. The host coins involved may suggest that they were produced from plunder taken after the defeat of Thalna in 149 BC. They are important evidence not only for the reign of an ephemeral pretender in Macedonia but also for the early circulation of denarii in the Greek East. Estimate: 35000 CHF |  |
