SELEUKID KINGS. Molon, usurper, 222-220 BC. AE (Bronze, 20 mm, 7.59 g, 12 h), Seleukeia on the Tigris, circa 221-220. 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 right field, monogram. Babelon, Rois 457 and pl. 11, 8. ESM 227. T. Fischer, Molon und seine Münzen (222-220 v. Chr.), B.c. HGC 9, 430. SC 949.2. Of the highest rarity and of great historical interest, one of a very few coins known of this usurper. Very minor traces of corrosion and with light doubling on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.

When Antiochos III came to power, he appointed the brothers Molon and Alexander as satraps of Media and Persia, respectively. However, both rebelled as soon as the king departed Mesopotamia for his planned invasion of Egypt, once again plunging the Seleukid Empire into turmoil. Molon successfully defeated two smaller royal expeditions sent against him, expanding his control over all of Mesopotamia. But when the young king personally led a campaign against him in 220 BC, Molon’s soldiers defected upon recognizing the rightful heir to the throne on the battlefield. Seeing his cause lost, the usurper committed suicide, while his brother Neolaos fled to Persis, where he and Alexander murdered their mother and Molon’s children before meeting their own deaths by the sword