Seleukos I Nikator – Hand-Struck Silver Tetradrachm Replica

The Seleucid Kingdom, ruled by the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, existed from 312 B.C. to 63 B.C. Seleucus I Nicator received Babylonia in the division of Alexander the Great’s empire in 321 B.C. He expanded his domain, and at the height of its power, the Seleucid Empire included central Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and what is now Kuwait, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan and Turkmenistan. They were defeated by the Roman Republic and their Greek allies in 190 B.C. The subsequent Treaty of Apamea in 188 B.C. required costly war reparations and loss of territory west of the Taurus Mountains. The Parthians conquered much of the remaining empire in the mid-2nd century B.C. The Seleucid kings continued to rule a smaller state from Syria until the invasion by Armenian king Tigranes the Great in 83 B.C. and their ultimate overthrow by the Roman general Pompey in 63 B.C.
DESIGN:
Obverse side
Head of beardless Herakles wearing lion’s skin right
Legend:
Anepigraphic

Reverse side
Zeus Aëtophoros seated left, holding sceptre; head of Athena right in left field, crescent below throne
Legend:
ΣEΛEYKOY to right, BAΣIΛEΩΣ below

Compare designs and mint varieties in our Alexander the Great tetradrachm replica collection.