The Seleucid Anchor in Old Nisa Cover Image
  • Price 4.90 €

Селевкидский якорь на Старой Нисе
The Seleucid Anchor in Old Nisa

Author(s): Archil Savelich Balakhvantsev
Subject(s): History, Archaeology, Cultural history, Political history, Ancient World
Published by: Издательский дом Stratum, Университет «Высшая антропологическая школа»
Keywords: Old Nisa; Seleucid anchor; Arsacids; Seleucids; dynastic insignia

Summary/Abstract: Excavations of Old Nisa (Turkmenistan) have shown that the Square Hall and the Tower Building were decorated with terracotta tiles depicting the Seleucid anchor. Some researchers don’t believe this image to be an anchor, while others consider it as a proof of genealogical links between the Seleucids and Arsacids as well as the evidence for the claims the Arsacids had to the Seleucids’ heritage. However, the iconography of the Old Nisa anchor is absolutely identical to the images we see on the Seleucid coins, official stamps and standarts of weight. According to the analysis of written and numismatic sources, it was only the Seleucids, who used this anchor as a dynastic insignia. Hence the fact that the anchor is located on the walls of the main Old Nisa monumental buildings proves that this monument originally belonged to the Seleucids.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 6
  • Page Range: 81-87
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: Russian