★ Fine style mournful portrait ★

SELEUKID KINGDOM: Antiochos II Theos (261-246 BCE), AR tetradrachm. Seleukeia on Tigris, 16.72g, 30mm.
Obv: Diademed head of Antiochos I right
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, Apollo seated to left on omphalos, testing arrow and resting hand on bow; monograms to outer left and outer right.
SC 587.1a
This coin was minted shortly after the death of Antiochus I in a series that is widely regarded has featuring his finest style portrait, with its very characteristic mournful expression.
Estimate: 300

Antiochos I Soter died in 261 BCE and was succeeded by his son Antiochos II Theos. Antiochos II, much like his father, was unable to keep the empire together. During his reign the satraps of Bactria and Parthia would revolt against Seleukid rule and both regions would go on to become independent kingdoms. He also had to contend with another conflict with Ptolemaic Egypt, the second Syrian War. To make peace with Ptolemy II he set aside his first wife, Laodike, and married Ptolemy's daughter Berenike. Laodike, in a desire to see her son take the throne of the empire, supposedly poisoned Antiochos II in 246 BC. She then had Berenike and Berenike's son with Antiochos II murdered. Her actions would start the third Syrian War as Berenike's brother Ptolemy III declared war against Laodike and her son. (Text from TheRed on CoinTalk.com.)