Obolos 20

SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Seleukos IV Philopator, 187-175 BC. (Bronze, 17 mm, 3.65 g, 12 h), Seleukeia on the Tigris. Radiate head of Helios facing, turned slightly to the left. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ Nike standing left, holding wreath in right hand and palm branch in left; anchor and control indistinct. HGC 9, 595. SC 1336. Very rare with the facing Helios; unusual iconography for a Seleukid coin. Cleaned, surface roughness, otherwise, nearly very fine.

Lorber and Panagiotis, The cult of Helios in the Seleucid East (p. 26) note that "[while] there is not always a clear association between the obverse and reverse types of Seleukid bronzes, the pairing of the Helios bust with a tripod suggests that there may be a fusion of Helios and Apollo. These bronze coins attest to the existence (or introduction) of a solar cult at Seleukia on the Tigris in the reign of Seleukos IV.

The Helios bust bronzes of Seleukos IV may have had recent antecedents on seals of Seleukia on the Tigris. Among the clay seal impressions from Seleukia are two that show a male head with a large, staring eye, the anastolé hairstyle rising above his forehead, and six rays emanating from his hair, but no diadem. These Seleukian seal impressions do not come from a dated context, however Vito Messina suggested that they bear the portrait of the prince Seleukos, the future Seleukos IV, in his quality as heir-designate after c. 193. If Messina is correct in his interpretation, the seal impressions not only attest to an official cult of Helios at Seleukia on the Tigris during the latter reign of Antiochos III, but also represent the earliest use of solar imagery in connection with a member of the Seleukid royal house.".