Tetradrachm - Alexander I Balas Berytos in Phoenicia

Alexander I Balas seized the Seleucid throne in 150 BC by claiming to be the son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes — a claim almost certainly fabricated, though Rome, Egypt, and Pergamon all backed him anyway, finding a malleable pretender more useful than the legitimate Demetrius I. His reign, issued from the Phoenician mint at Berytos, lasted only until 145 BC when Demetrius II, backed by Ptolemy VI, ousted him. Berytos struck relatively few Seleucid tetradrachms in the broader series, making the Sawaya reference range of nos. 12–31 a tight die study — fewer than twenty documented specimens span that sequence.