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Tetradrachm - Antiochos III Megas
| Issuer | Seleucid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 192 BC - 187 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Diademed head of Antiochos III Megas facing right, rendered in the Hellenistic portrait tradition with finely detailed wavy hair bound by a royal diadem, the ends of which fall behind the neck. The facial features are modelled with confident relief, presenting a youthful, idealized royal effigy with a strong profile, slightly parted lips, and a short beard. The bust is draped at the lower truncation, and the field is otherwise plain, with no surrounding legend on the obverse. |
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| Reverse lettering | BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY (Translation: King Antiochos (III, Megas)) |
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| Additional information |
These tetradrachms were struck during Antiochos III's catastrophic western campaigns — the very years in which he crossed into Greece at the invitation of the Aetolian League, only to be crushed by Rome at Thermopylae in 191 BC and again at Magnesia in 190 BC. The Peace of Apamea that followed in 188 BC stripped him of Asia Minor west of the Taurus, demanded 15,000 talents in reparations, and required the surrender of his war elephants and fleet. The coin was being minted as the empire's western reach permanently contracted.
He died in 187 BC attempting to plunder a temple treasury in Elymais — the same fiscal desperation the Apamea indemnity had induced.