(sold for $411.0)

Seleucid Empire, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC) AR Tetradrachm Coin. R!

Mint Period: 168-164 BC Mint Place: Antioch on the Orontes Reference: SC 1400a, HGC 9, 620a. R! Denomination: AR Tetradrachm (3rd series, circa 168-164 BC) Condition: Cleaned in the past with minor remaining deposits and light pitting, otherwise VF+ Weight: 16.31gm Diameter: 31mm Material: Silver

Obverse: Diademed head of  Antiochus IV Epiphanes right. Decorative border around.

Reverse: Zeus Nikephoros seated left. Monogram in outer left field. Legend: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOΧOY / ΘEOY EΠIΦANOYΣ Exergue: NIKHΦOPOΣ

The tetradrachm (Greek: τετράδραχμον) was an Ancient Greek silver coin equivalent to four drachms. It was in wide circulation from 510 to 38 BC. The currency's use was also popular in Greek-influenced areas of present-day Persia and India.

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Antiochus IV Epiphanes (/ænˈtaɪ.əkəs ɛˈpɪfəniːz/; Greek: Ἀντίοχος Δ΄ ὁ Ἐπιφανής, Antíochos D' ho Epiphanḗs, "God Manifest"; c. 215 BC – 164 BC) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was a son of King Antiochus III the Great. His original name was Mithradates (alternative form Mithridates); he assumed the name Antiochus after he ascended the throne.

Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of Egypt, which led to a confrontation that became an origin of the metaphorical phrase, "line in the sand" (see below), and the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees.

Antiochus was the first Seleucid king to use divine epithets on coins, perhaps inspired by Bactrian Hellenistic kings who had earlier done so, or else building on the ruler cult that his father Antiochus the Great had codified within the Seleucid Empire. These epithets included Θεὸς Ἐπιφανής 'manifest god', and, after his defeat of Egypt, Νικηφόρος 'bringer of victory'. However, Antiochus also tried to interact with common people, by appearing in the public bath houses and applying for municipal offices, and his often eccentric behavior and capricious actions led some of his contemporaries to call him Epimanes ("The Mad One"), a word play on his title Epiphanes.

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