★ Exceptional portrait of rare usurper ★

SELEUKID KINGDOM: Timarchos, rebel satrap (164-161 BCE) AE24. Ekbatana, 7.79g, 24mm.
Obv: Diademed head of Timarchos right
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΤΙΜΑΡΧΟΥ; Nike advancing left, holding wreath and palm.
SC 1594; HGC 9, 768. Rare.
From the JB (Edmonton) collection

Exceptional portrait of this rare usurper, who was the last Hellenistic king in Iran. Estimate: 250

Timarchos was with Antiochos IV while he was a hostage in Rome (as a guarantee of his father Antiochos III’s good behaviour after the Treaty of Apamea). His friend appointed him satrap of Media in the far eastern portion of the Seleukid realms. When Antiochos IV died in 164 Timarchos asserted his independence, first against the infant king Antiochos I and then against Demetrios I - not for long, though, as the latter defeated him decisively in 161 or 160. Timarchos’s devoted brother Heracleides later promoted Alexander Balas, allegedly another son of Antiochos IV, and avenged his brother in 150 when Demetrios was defeated and killed. Who was the winner in all this mess? Rome, of course!