Seleukos I Nicator, 305-381 BC, Tetradrachm

Seleukos I Nikator, AR tetradrachm, reign 305–281 BC; Susa, c. 300–295/280 BC, 17.03 g, 27 mm. Obv. Head of Seleukos I right, wearing a crested helmet covered with panther skin and fitted with bull’s ears and horns; panther’s foreparts tied beneath the chin. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ; Nike standing left, holding wreath and palm. Struck on the Attic standard at the Susa mint during the early royal issues of Seleukos I. Houghton & Lorber, Seleucid Coins (SC) 173.14.

Following the assumption of the royal title in 305 BC, Seleukos I issued portrait tetradrachms from key eastern mints to consolidate authority after the settlement of Ipsos (301 BC). Susa, a former Achaemenid capital, functioned as an important Seleucid workshop integrating Persian administrative resources into the new regime. The obverse type with crested helmet, panther skin, and bull’s horns/ears is characteristic of early Seleucid iconography that combines Macedonian martial imagery with Dionysiac and Near Eastern elements, while the Nike reverse represents the standard victory type of the dynasty’s formative phase.