#which doesn't prelude the idea of her being a relative

[wishesofeternity]

"Antiochos’ and Stratonike’s activities in the eastern part of the [Seleukid] empire are largely shrouded in mystery, but, as Engels has argued, Antiochos was far from idle since he embarked on a large building programme and was active in securing the frontier. There is some evidence to suggest that his new bride accompanied him for much of this period. We can perhaps identify Stratonike’s presence with her new husband in the Upper Satrapies through the gold coinage minted in Susa and Baktria in c . 287. The two gold coin sets are of the same type, the obverse features the laureate head of Apollo facing right and the reverse features Artemis in an elephant biga facing left with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ in exergue.

Figure 1: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 163).

Figure 2: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 257).

The reverse image of Artemis in the elephant biga is within the same design type as a large range of other coinage issued by Seleukos I celebrating the success of his elephants and thus his eastern campaigns. The appearance of Artemis is however unique to these coin types. This suggests the emphasis on the close links between the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo, depicted on the obverse and reverse of this coinage . Since there appears to be as a close link between Apollo and Antiochos as there is between Zeus and Seleukos, the presence of Artemis could be seen as a symbol for Stratonike. This would create a series of parallels: Seleukos/Zeus, Antiochos/Apollo, and Stratonike/Artemis. The first two reflect what we see for these two kings at the list of priests of Seleukid kings in Seleukeia in Pieria . Additionally, it may be notable that the sister-wife ideology [...] appears to be evident later in the reign of Antiochos.

As all of the Apollo/Artemis cointypes were produced on high value gold coinage, this suggests that it was issued in order to commemorate a significant event. While the type was similar to other Seleukid coinage, the shift from Athena to Artemis was clearly discernible and unique. The arrival of the new joint-King and Queen in the region to take up residence would have been a suitable moment for the issuing of the new coin type. This advertisement of their new rule certainly falls in line with Seleukos’ wedding speech which confirmed their new roles."

-David Engels & Kyle Erickson, "Apama and Stratonike – Marriage and Legitimacy", "Seleukid Royal Women" (edited by Edited by Altay Coşkun and Alex McAuley). The pictures of the coins are screenshots from the book.

[gojira007]

Firstly, thanks for your thoughtful answer!

Secondly, I'm inclined to agree, which is funny if only because, of the two, "The Storm" is the one that's actually SUPPOSED to function as a self-contained Story unto itself, setting up Plot Ideas for the bigger picture but ultimately resolving the story of the scene it depicts, whereas the "Shattered Tomorrows" chapter is explicitly a prelude, a smaller piece of a bigger story we are ostensibly going to get later. But because "The Storm"'s only real tool is the tired Skull and Daggers Spy Stuff Penders is always so insistent on using but so dreadful at actually portraying (is Brownie a spy for Elias or Alicia? It doesn't matter because we've literally just met her), it just falls so utterly flat that even the half-formed Stuff going on in "Shattered Tomorrows" can't help but work at least a LITTLE bit better. "Better", again, being a VERY relative word in this context.

So I realize this may be a tricky one to parse given they're both, just, awful, but of the two original stories featured in the book, which do you think is better? "The Storm" or "Shattered Tomorrows"?

I'd say the art is slightly less bad on average in The Storm, but I'd give the first chapter of Shattered Tomorrows the edge for storytelling. At least you can say that Lara-Su reacting to Knuckles' (alleged, off-screen) death is an event that occurs. That's actually, like, something resembling a story, and a couple moments of the father/daughter stuff are the closest Ken comes to writing anything with any emotion here, even if the art ruins it. The Storm really is just nothing but characters talking about the nonsensical mechanics of the timeline change and going "ah jeez it looks like Knuckles and those other guys on the shuttle were up to something in the Forbidden Zone, we better investigate"