Antiochus I — AE 17, Apollo on Omphalos, Antioch

Struck at Antioch on the Orontes, c. 268–261 BC, in the closing years of Antiochus I Soter, son of Seleucus I and second king of the Seleucid empire. Antioch, founded by his father, was becoming the dynasty's western capital, and its mint supplied the small bronze change of the city alongside the royal silver. The obverse carries the diademed head of the king himself, right.

The reverse reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ, "of King Antiochus", in two vertical lines. Between them Apollo sits left on the omphalos, the navel-stone of Delphi, testing an arrow in his right hand and resting his left on a grounded bow. Antiochus I made this the standard Seleucid reverse: the dynasty claimed Apollo as its divine ancestor, and the type stayed on the coinage for more than a century. Control monograms stand in the outer left and outer right fields.

Attribution: SC 351.1a · HGC 9Mint: Antioch on the OrontesWeight: 3.86 gDiameter: 16.5 mmCatalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-G5XEK-V8N6X

Combined shipping is available — buy more than one coin and pay a single shipping charge.Attribution is believed to be correct, but ancient coin attributions can vary and the catalogue reference may be subject to revision.