SELEUKID KINGS. Demetrios I Soter, 162-150 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 31 mm, 16.95 g, 12 h), Soloi, circa 155/4-150. Diademed head of Demetrios I to right, within laurel wreath. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ΔHMHTPIOΥ Tyche seated left on throne supported by tritoness right, holding scepter in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left; to outer left, monogram of NK above owl standing right, head facing; to outer right, monogram of NE. CSE 527. HGC 9, 795a. Houghton, Royal, 69-70. SC 1611.3. Beautifully toned and struck in high relief, with an exceptional portrait in the finest full Hellenistic style. Very minor doubling on the reverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Having grown up largely as a hostage in Rome, Demetrios I escaped to Syria in 162 BC under adventurous circumstances, aided by his friend Polybios, the celebrated historian, himself a former prisoner of war who had risen to considerable distinction in Rome. In Syria, Demetrios ascended the throne after the murder of Antiochos V. Initially quite successful, he too was ultimately caught up in dynastic strife, and in 150 BC he was defeated and killed by the pretender Alexander I Balas.

Despite internal dynastic conflict, usurpation, and mounting external pressures, Seleukid die engraving reached a final peak in the mid-second century BC. This tetradrachm is a particularly striking example, with its magnificent royal portrait cut in extraordinarily high relief, giving superb expression to tryphé, a central ideal of later Hellenistic monarchy that emphasized the ruler’s exalted status, opulence, cultivated elegance, and divine distance.