SELEUCID, HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

The wealth of the Seleucid Empire led to extravagant tastes, and heavy silver vessels such as this one were fashionable among society's elite. This plate is unusually heavy and roughly corresponds to a multiple of standard weights of the time. 82 troy ounces is roughly equivalent to between 450-470 Persian sigloi, which ranged in weight from 5.45, 5.55 and 5.69 grams. Comparatively little Seleucid silver survives today since during periods of political instability, much of the existing silver was melted down for basic coinage, making this large and impressive plate a rare survival from antiquity. For a pair of Seleucid bowls with similar fluted decoration, cf. M. True et al., A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, Malibu, 1994, pp. 227-228, nos 115 A-B. For plate as coinage, see M. Vickers, 'Persian gold in the Parthenon inventories', in Revue des Etudes Anciennes 91 (2), 1989, pp. 249-257.