Seleukos II Kallinikos, 246-225 BC, Tetradrachm

Seleukos II Kallinikos, Tetradrachm, AR, c. 246–225 BC, 16.56 g, 29 mm, Nisibis mint. Diademed head of Seleukos II right. Reverse with BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY; Apollo seated left on the omphalos, testing arrow and holding bow. Struck on the Attic standard at Nisibis; rare issue for this mint. Reference: Houghton & Lorber, Seleucid Coins I 748c.

Issued during the reign of Seleukos II, this tetradrachm belongs to a period defined by the Third Syrian War against Ptolemy III, the secession of Bactria and Parthia, and the “War of the Brothers” with Antiochos Hierax, events that fractured Seleucid authority. Nisibis, a strategic Mesopotamian frontier city controlling routes between Syria and the upper Tigris, supported royal finances and garrisons; the Apollo-on-omphalos reverse, the standard Seleucid dynastic type since Antiochos I, underscores continuity of royal ideology amid political contraction.