Seleucid Alexander I Balas AR Drachm Antioch 150-146 BC Apollo on Omphalos

Alexander Balas, Drachm, Silver, reign 150–146 BC, struck 150–146 BC, 4.15 g, 17 mm. Antioch on the Orontes mint. Obverse anepigraphic: diademed head of Alexander I right with slight beard along the jawline. Reverse BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ AΛEΞANΔPOY ΘEOY EYEPΓETOY; Apollo seated left on the omphalos, testing an arrow and resting his left hand on a grounded bow; control marks in the fields and a monogram in the exergue. Struck on the Seleucid standard with the obverse a little off center and the reverse well centered. SC 1785.5i; HGC 9, 887a.

Issued during the Seleucid civil conflicts, this drachm advertises Alexander’s claim to legitimacy with the title Theos Euergetes (“God, Benefactor”) and retains the long-standing Seleucid dynastic reverse of Apollo on the omphalos, a type linking the ruler to earlier kings. Struck at the principal imperial mint of Antioch, the series reflects Alexander’s brief control of Syria before his defeat by Demetrios II in 146 BC and illustrates the continuity of royal imagery amid late Seleucid instability.