Tetradrachm - Demetrios I Soter Antioch on the Orontes, rare monogram

Demetrios I seized power in 162 BC by escaping from Rome, where he had been held as a political hostage since childhood — the Senate had preferred the infant Antiochos V on the Seleucid throne precisely because he was manageable. Once back in Syria, Demetrios eliminated both the boy-king and his regent Lysias within weeks. The "rare monogram" designation on this type reflects genuine die scarcity within SC2 1638n, a variant recorded in only a handful of specimens across the major reference collections.