Alexander I Balas seized the Seleucid throne by claiming — almost certainly falsely — to be the son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Rome and Pergamon backed him anyway, finding him useful against the incumbent Demetrius I. His reign lasted six years before a coalition of enemies, including his own father-in-law Ptolemy VI, turned against him. He died in 145 BC fleeing into Arabia, his severed head sent to Ptolemy as a diplomatic courtesy.
Seleucia Pieria was the dynastic port city, and coinage struck there carried particular prestige. The SC 1783 attribution places this issue within the early-to-mid portion of his reign.
Alexander I Balas seized the Seleucid throne by claiming — almost certainly falsely — to be the son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Rome and Pergamon backed him anyway, finding him useful against the incumbent Demetrius I. His reign lasted six years before a coalition of enemies, including his own father-in-law Ptolemy VI, turned against him. He died in 145 BC fleeing into Arabia, his severed head sent to Ptolemy as a diplomatic courtesy.
Seleucia Pieria was the dynastic port city, and coinage struck there carried particular prestige. The SC 1783 attribution places this issue within the early-to-mid portion of his reign.