SELEUCID KINGDOM. Seleucus I Nicator (312-281 BC). AR tetradrachm (26mm, 16.86 gm, 11h). NGC AU 5/5 - 2/5, light smoothing. Susa, ca. 305/4-295 BC. Head of Seleucus I right, wearing Attic helmet covered with panther skin and decorated with bull horns and ear, panther skin tied around neck; dotted border / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ, Nike standing right, crowning trophy of arms built on tree, branch at base to right; KAT monogram to lower left, ΠΥΡ monogram between Nike and trophy. SC 173.4. Debate has long swirled regarding the identity of the 'helmeted hero' appearing on the obverse of this type - is it Seleucus I, or Alexander the Great, or a composite demigod incorporating features of Seleucus, Alexander and Dionysus? In the Handbook of Syrian Coins (CNG, 2009), Oliver Hoover opts for identifying the portrait as an idealized image of Seleucus I himself. The reverse design of Nike crowning trophy, in fine style on this example, was paralleled by a nearly simultaneous issue of the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles hundreds of miles away. The motif would prove highly influential in both Greek and Roman coins for centuries to come.

HID09801242017

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