Description
Bactria, Diodotus I as Satrap. Tetradrachm; 256-239 BC, 16.36g.
Diademed head of Diodotus I r. Rev.: BASI?EOS on r., ANTIOXOY
on l., Naked Zeus advancing l., brandishing thunderbolt in r. hand
and with aegis draped over extended l. arm; at his feet, eagle
standing l.; in l. field N
Bop-Series 2, 5.; Mitchener 1. 64.b; 16.36g;
Very Fine
The Antiochus named on reverse is the Seleucid monarch Antiochus II, 261-245 BC..
Around 250 B.C. Diodotus, governor of the Seleucid kingdom in Bactria, started to secede from his sovereign and to establish an independent kingdom in Bactria; his coinage reflects the different steps; in a first time he replaced the portrait of Antiochus II by his own, by maintaining the royal name on the rev.; in a second step, he replaced the name of the Syrian king by his own. From the sources we know that he had a son of the same name; so far it is not possible to distribute the coinages in the name of Diodotus between father and son, see Bopearachchi 41 ss.