SELEUKID KINGS. Seleukos I Nikator, 312-281 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 17.00 g, 4 h), uncertain mint in Persis (Persepolis?), circa 305/4-295. Bust of Alexander the Great, with the features of Seleukos, as Dionysos to right, wearing Attic helmet covered with a panther skin and adorned with bull's ear and horns, ear guards lowered and panther skin tied around neck. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ΣΕΛΕΥ[ΚΟΥ] Nike standing right, placing wreath on top of a trophy of arms to her right with both hands; in field to lower left, [H]; between Nike and trophy, 𐡃𐡅 or 𐡓𐡅 ('dw' or 'rw' in Aramaic). HGC 9, 21. SC 195. Very rare and in exceptional condition for this issue. Boldly struck in high relief and with an excellent portrait. Struck slightly off center and with minor marks, otherwise, about extremely fine.



Specimens of this famous type from the unidentified mint in Persis are far rarer than those from Susa. The use of Aramaic characters on the reverse is particularly striking, attesting to the involvement of local engravers and echoing the long tradition of Imperial Aramaic scribal schools under the Achaemenids. The mint may well have been the ancient royal city of Persepolis, which, though burned by Alexander’s troops, nevertheless remained in the early Seleucid period a cultural and administrative center of Persis.