| Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles > Auction 148 | Auction date: 20 October 2025 |
| Lot number: 283 Price realized: 2,200 USD (Approx. 1,886 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Seleukid Kingdom. Seleukos I Nikator. Silver Tetradrachm (15.13 g), 312-281 BC. Seleukeia on the Tigris II, after ca. 296/5 BC. Laureate head of Zeus right. Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY, Athena, brandishing spear and shield, in quadriga of elephants right; above, anchor; in exergue, A. Cf. SC 130f; HGC 9, 18a. Boldly struck in high relief. Small graffito (labrys, or double axe) in upper reverse field, and lustrous with some minor deposits scattered about. Superb Extremely Fine. Estimated Value $2,500 - UP The remarkable elephant-chariot coinage of Seleucus I was introduced around 296/5 BC as a personal royal coinage to circulate in the eastern territories of the Seleucid Empire that could replace the previous coinages with the Heracles and Zeus types of Alexander the Great. The wide acceptance of Alexander's types has made it necessary for Seleucus to produce them during his struggle to retain his satrapy against Antigonus Monophthalmus and Seleucus' work to expand his empire eastward to the borders of India. However, once Antigonus was defeated and killed at the Battle of Ipsus (301 BC) and Seleucus could undertake the consolidation of his empire, he began to unchain himself from iconographic tradition and developed new types for his coinage.The obverse type of the elephant-chariot coinage features a bearded head of Zeus that seems to be influenced by the image of Zeus that appeared earlier on the tetradrachm coinage of Philip II of Macedon. This is perhaps not coincidental since he ruled a multi-ethnic empire supported by an army largely composed of Macedonian and Greek mercenaries. Thus, the type conveyed to the Macedonian audience, which had been uncomfortable with the previous orientalizing tendencies of Alexander the Great, that Seleucus remained a true Macedonian, despite his Persian wife and his many non-Hellenic subjects. Nevertheless, at the same time, the bearded divine visage could be read by indigenous peoples as any of their great gods. In Babylonia, however, where the elephant-chariot coinage was first introduced, the Zeus of the coinage almost certainly would have been recognized as Marduk, the chief deity of the Babylonian pantheon.The reverse type depicting Athena Alkidemos driving a quadriga of elephants also has a Macedonian ethnic appeal since this goddess was the patron deity of Pella, the Macedonian royal capital. However, the elephants pulling her chariot must refer to the 500 elephants that Seleucus I received from the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta when they made peace in c. 305 BC. These animals went on to play a critical role in the defeat of Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus, which secured Seleucus' throne. Their connection to the king seems to be underlined by their unnatural adornment with horns. Horns, apparently used as an eastern symbol of power, were also previously added to the helmeted head (probably an early portrait of Seleucus I) found on the obverse of trophy coins struck at Susa (SC 173-176) and to the head of a horse thought to represent Seleucus' personal mount used on coins struck in Ecbatana and at an uncertain Bactrian mint (SC 203, 209, 267, 269). At the same time, the entire reverse type appears to be a response to the gold stater type introduced by Ptolemy I of Egypt, featuring Alexander the Great driving a quadriga of elephants. The staters of Ptolemy, a former friend of Seleucus, who seized the territories of Phoenicia and Coele Syria from him while he was fighting Antigonus, advertise his legitimacy through association with the exploits of Alexander (and his possession of his body). In contrast, the elephant-chariot coinage of Seleucus I advertises his legitimacy by reference to his own deeds in the East. |  |
