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Tetradrachm - Seleukos I Nikator Seleukeia on the Tigris
| Issuer | Seleucid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 296 BC - 281 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Youthful male head in right profile, depicting the hero Herakles, enveloped in the scalp and paws of the Nemean lion as a headdress, the beast's open jaws framing the forehead and crown in high relief. The facial features are rendered with fine Hellenistic craftsmanship, displaying a strong jaw, well-defined nose, and naturalistic curling hair visible beneath the lion skin. The pelt's mane falls loosely over the neck and left shoulder, its striated folds boldly articulated. A beaded border frames the design on the right field. No legend appears on the obverse. |
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| Reverse description | Zeus Aëtophoros seated left upon a low throne without back, his body draped from the waist, holding a long scepter upright in his raised left hand and extending his right hand to present a small winged Nike standing right. The figure of Zeus is rendered in the classic Macedonian tradition inherited from Alexander's coinage. In the left field, the control mark NO appears; beneath the throne, the secondary control letter Σ is inscribed. The royal legend flanks the central type in two lines, reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to the right and ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ to the left, identifying the issuer as King Seleukos. |
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| Additional information |
Seleukos I founded Seleukeia on the Tigris around 305 BC as a deliberate replacement for Babylon — strategically positioned to control Mesopotamian trade routes and politically designed to signal a break from the Achaemenid and Macedonian past. Coinage struck there carried real administrative weight, funding a kingdom that at its peak stretched from the Aegean coast to the borders of India.
Seleukos was the only one of Alexander's successors to have campaigned into the Indian subcontinent and returned, ceding territory to Chandragupta Maurya in 303 BC in exchange for war elephants that later proved decisive at Ipsus. He was assassinated by Ptolemy Keraunos in 281 BC, the same year this issue's production ended.