SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Molon, usurper, 222-220 BC. AE (Bronze, 22 mm, 8.48 g, 10 h), Seleukeia on the Tigris. Laureate head of Zeus to right.
Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - MOΛΩNOΣ Apollo standing right, holding plektron in his right hand and kithara in his left; in outer left field, monogram. SC 949.3. Of the highest rarity and of great historical interest, one of a very few coins known of this usurper. Attractive earthen deposits on a green patina. Very fine.
From a European collection, formed before 2005.
When Antiochos I came to power, he gave the brothers Molon and Alexander satrapal rule over Media and Persia, respectively. However, both brothers rebelled the moment the king left Mesopotamia for his planned invasion of Egypt, once again throwing the Seleukid Empire into turmoil. Molon successfully defeated two smaller royal expeditions sent against him, adding all of Mesopotamia to his possessions, but when the now 17-year-old king himself moved against him in 220 BC, Molon's soldiers defected when they recognized the rightful heir to the throne on the battlefield. Seeing this, the usurper committed suicide, while his brother, Neolaos, fled to Persis, where he and Alexander killed their mother and Molon's children before also falling to the sword.
