Antioch was famed in the classical world for its beauty and luxury. The seat of the Seleucid dynasty, the city continued to flourish through the Byzantine era. This city coin, minted in the time of transition between the Hellenistic and roman periods, depicts the head of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, on one side and the seated image of the same deity, holding a winged victory, on the other. Today we admire the powerful energy of these images, evocative of strength and grandeur, just as some citizen of the ancient town did so long ago.