SELEUKID KINGS. Antiochos VII Euergetes (Sidetes), 138-129 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 29 mm, 16.86 g, 12 h), Antiochia on the Orontes. Diademed head of Antiochos VII to right.
Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ - ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ Athena standing front, head to left, holding Nike in her right hand and resting her left on shield decorated with gorgoneion and set on ground; spear leaning against her left arm; to outer left, monogram of ΔΙ above H; shield decorated with gorgoneion; all within laurel wreath. SC 2061.1r. SMA 279. A magnificent piece with a superb portrait of the very finest full Hellenistic style. Faint brush marks on the obverse
, otherwise, good extremely fine.
From the Basileiai Hellēnikai Collection of Exceptional Tetradrachms, privately acquired from ArtAncient on 18 August 2020, and previously from a French private collection, acquired from Arnumis in 1999 (with a copy of the French export licence and collector's ticket enclosed).
Antiochos VII was the last significant ruler of the Seleukid dynasty. After years of decline and civil strife, he succeeded in stabilizing the kingdom following the capture of his brother, Demetrios II, by the Parthians. The resources that this newly unified Seleukid kingdom could still mobilize were demonstrated by the
anabasis of Antiochos VII, which began in 131 BC with the aim of reclaiming the eastern provinces lost to the Parthians.
With a vast army, the king marched east, defeating the Parthians in several battles and retaking Mesopotamia. After rejecting a peace offer, he advanced through Media and even into Parthyene. However, in the late winter of 129 BC, the Parthians managed to launch a surprise attack against the Seleukid king, who had only a small portion of his forces with him. His death on the battlefield marked the end of the Seleukid Empire as an imperial power, after which it descended into a fractured Middle Power torn by incessant civil wars.
This piece features one of the finest surviving portraits of the last great Seleukid king. The intricately curled hair, playfully falling over the royal diadem, the expressive facial features with slightly melancholic eyes and full lips, and the plump cheeks are not meant to serve as a 'real' likeness of the monarch but rather reflect the late Hellenistic ideal of Tryphé. The Tryphé (τρυφή), often interpreted as 'luxurious splendor' or 'opulent nobility', was a central ideal in later Hellenistic monarchy, emphasizing the king’s elevated status, opulence, cultured elegance, and divine distance
