Tetradrachm - Antiochos IV Epiphanes Antioch

Antiochos IV took the epithet "Epiphanes" — the God Manifest — and meant it literally. His reign saw the most aggressive Hellenization campaign in Seleucid history, culminating in the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple in 167 BC and the installation of a Zeus cult there, the event Jewish sources call the Abomination of Desolation and the direct trigger for the Maccabean Revolt. The Antioch mint was his primary production center, and the coinage actively participated in this ideological program.

SC 1400a is among the earlier Antioch issues of his reign, predating the more radical later types where he styled himself explicitly as Zeus incarnate. The series is relatively well-documented for die varieties, and specimens occasionally surface showing slight die axis inconsistencies attributable to the mint's high output during the Syrian wars.