Seleucid Alexander I Balas AR Drachm, Antioch, 150–146 BC, Apollo, 4.17g

Alexander I Balas, Drachm, silver, reign 150–146 BC, Antioch, 150–146 BC; 4.17 g, 17 mm. Obv: Anepigraphic; diademed bust of the king right. Rev: BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY ΘEOΠATOPOΣ EΥEPΓETOY; Apollo seated left on omphalos, holding arrow in right hand and resting left on grounded bow; monogram in outer left field; monogram in exergue. Struck on a broad flan; reverse centrally struck with complete legend; obverse slightly off-center; scarce monogram variety. Ref: SC 1785.5i.

Alexander Balas came to the Seleucid throne with external support and legitimized his rule by claiming to be the son of Antiochus IV, a claim echoed by the epithet Theopator (“of a divine father”) on this coin. The Antioch drachm series with Apollo on the omphalos continued a long-standing Seleucid dynastic type, linking the regime to traditional royal iconography while financing the wars that defined his short reign and the internal struggles that accelerated the fragmentation of Seleucid authority in Syria.