SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Antiochos, son of Seleukos IV, 175 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 17.13 g, 12 h), Antiochia on the Orontes, 3 September-October/November 175. Diademed head of Antiochos to right. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - ANTIOXOY Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in his right hand and resting his left on grounded bow; to left, tripod; in exergue, monogram of ΠA. Le Rider, Antioche, 36 (this coin, A2/P20). SC 1369f. Very rare and among the finest known. A beautiful example of this interesting issue with an exceptionally attractive portrait of the child king. Good very fine.




Seleukos IV was murdered by his minister Heliodoros on 3 September 175. Learning of this news, the king's younger brother Antiochos (IV), with the help of the Eumenes II of Pergamon, hurried from Athens to Antioch, where he arrived in late October or late November 175 and successfully claimed the throne. We learn of this rather smooth succession from Appian, however, the numismatic record attests the brief rule of another Antiochos, namely the minor son of Seleukos IV. What likely happened is that Heliodoros, unable to assume the throne for himself, installed the infant as a puppet king in place of his assassinated father, hoping to act as the éminence grise of the new regime. The plan backfired with the arrival of Antiochos IV, who had the bureaucrat executed in 175, followed by the unlucky prince Antiochos some years later, in 170.