Demetrios II Nicator, 129-126 BC (Second Reign), Tetradrachm

Demetrios II Nicator, tetradrachm, AR, second reign, 129–126 BC, Antioch on the Orontes; 16.71 g; 28 mm. Diademed, bearded head of Demetrios II right. BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY ΘEOY NIKATOPOΣ; Zeus Nikephoros seated left on throne, extending Nike in right hand and holding scepter in left; legend around. Struck on the Attic standard at Antioch during the second-reign series. SC 2166.2.

Demetrios II Nicator ruled the Seleucid kingdom in two periods, returning from Parthian captivity to resume power in 129 BC. His second-reign coinage at Antioch adopts the epithet Theos Nicator and a bearded portrait distinctive of this phase, issued amid civil conflict and Ptolemaic-backed opposition from Alexander II Zabinas. These Antioch tetradrachms reflect the principal royal mint’s role in financing the final struggles of Demetrios’ reign, which ended with his defeat and death at Tyre in 125/4 BC.