Seleucid Kingdom Antiochos VI Dionysos AR Drachm Antioch 145-142 BC

Antiochos VI Dionysos, Drachm, Silver, reign 145–142 BC; struck 145–142 BC at Antioch on the Orontes; 4.18 g; 17 mm. Obverse anepigraphic: diademed head of the king right. Reverse: BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ ANTIOXOY EΠIΦANOYΣ ΔIONYΣOY; Apollo seated left on the omphalos, testing arrow and resting left hand on grounded bow; control monograms ΘΞΡ and ΣΤΑ in the fields. Struck to the Attic standard on a compact flan, die axis about 12h. Reference: SC 2002.1a.

Antiochos VI was the child son of Alexander I Balas, proclaimed king by the general Diodotos Tryphon during the civil war against Demetrios II. The Antioch mint continued the Seleucid dynastic type of Apollo on the omphalos, while the title Epiphanes Dionysos appears in full on the reverse. The series marks Tryphon’s control of Syria and the brief regency that preceded his assumption of the diadem in 142 BC, as reported by ancient sources.