SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Antiochos III ‘the Great’, 222-187 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 16.82 g, 5 h), Laodikeia by the Sea (?) or perhaps a mint in southern Mesopotamia. Diademed head of Antiochos III to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ANTIOXOY Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in his right hand and resting his left on grounded bow; to outer left and right, monograms. SC 1069.3b. WSM 1233. Rare and nicely toned. Very fine.


Houghton and Lorber had some reservations regarding the attribution of this rare emission to Laodikeia by the Sea and suspected it might come from an eastern mint (SC p. 406). In this regard, it is worth noting that three out of five Seleukid tetradrachms found on the island of Ikaros (Failaka near Kuwait) in the Persian Gulf were from this issue, which perhaps lends additional substance to the idea that it was struck on the nearby Mesopotamian or Persian mainland.