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Tetradrachm - Achaios Usurper Sardes
| Issuer | Seleucid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 220 BC - 214 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 16.74 g |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros standing facing left, helmeted and clad in a peplos, holding a large oval shield on her left arm and raising a spear in her right hand. A small Nike figure appears at her feet to the left. The two-line Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to the right and ΑΧΑΙΟΥ to the left flanks the central figure, identifying the issuer as King Achaios. The composition follows the Seleucid Athena Nikephoros type established under Antiochus III. |
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| Additional information |
Achaios was a Seleucid general who governed Asia Minor on behalf of Antiochos III before declaring himself king outright around 220 BC — a usurpation that put him in open rebellion against his own cousin. He held Sardis and much of Anatolia for roughly six years before Antiochos, having stabilized his eastern campaigns, turned west and besieged the city. Sardis fell in 214 BC, and Achaios was captured, mutilated, and executed in a manner the sources describe in deliberate, humiliating detail.
Coins struck in his name are rare precisely because his mint operated under siege conditions in its final years.