★ A wonderful Baktrian portrait of Antiochos I, struck at the famous city of Aï Khanoum ★

SELEUKID KINGS. Antiochos I Soter, 281-261 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 25 mm, 16.94 g, 6 h), Aï Khanoum. Diademed head of Antiochos I to right. Rev. ΒAΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ANTIOXOY Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in his right hand and resting his left on grounded bow; in inner left field, monogram of ΔΟ. ESM 696. Kritt, Aï Khanoum, p. 118, 32 (A14/P23). SC 438.1a. A bold and unusually attractive example with a wonderful Baktrian portrait. Minor flan faults on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the Basileiai Hellēnikai Collection of Exceptional Tetradrachms and from the collection of W. Weise, Künker 347, 22 March 2021, 768 (with collector's ticket), ex Spink Numismatic Circular CIII, 5, June 1995, 3234 (with dealer's ticket). Antiochos I served as viceroy of the eastern satrapies of the Seleucid Empire from 294 BC. In this capacity, he played a key role in consolidating and expanding Seleukid control in the East, following his father Seleukos' conquest of the region during his multi-year anabasis. Whether the renowned northern Afghan city of Aï Khanoum, where our coin was minted, was founded by Seleukos or Antiochos I remains a subject of debate. However, it was undoubtedly Antiochos I who drove the extensive urbanization efforts in Baktria. The discovery of Aï Khanoum's ruins in the 1960s marked a major milestone in the study of Hellenistic remains in Central Asia. The idea of a wholly Greek city amid the vastness of Central Asia captured the imagination of many Western scholars. Today, following numerous archaeological surveys, our understanding of Greek-Macedonian rule in Central Asia has expanded significantly. Aï Khanoum is now considered within a broader cultural and historical context, one that acknowledges the region's diverse influences. Still, it remains the only fully excavated Hellenistic city in Central Asia