Tetradrachm of Seleucus I
Money—as a means of exchange, a mode of payment, and a standard of
value—was in use in the ancient Near East long before the invention of
coinage in Lydia during the seventh century B.C. Early Mesopotamian
texts record payments of silver weighed in shekels (about 8.3 grams),
minas (about 500 grams), and talents, or donkey-loads (about 30
kilograms), but the value of objects was also converted into equal-value
weights of grain, copper, and tin. The connection between money and
weight continued in coins; a drachm, for example, weighed about 4.3
grams, a tetradrachm (4 drachms) about 17 grams. The obverse of this tetradrachm displays an idealized portrait of
Seleucus I (r. 312–280 B.C.) wearing a helmet covered with a leopard
skin and adorned with a bull's ear and horns. Around Seleucus' throat is
another leopard skin, knotted in front by means of the beast's
forepaws. The features of Seleucus resemble those on coins showing
Alexander the Great and with whom the new Macedonian rulers wished to be
compared. The reverse of the coin has a winged, fully draped figure of Nike
(Victory) standing on the right. She holds a wreath in her upraised
hands, apparently about to place it upon a trophy of arms comprising a
helmet, cuirass (a breast- and backplate) with leather straps and skirt,
and a star-adorned shield. All the arms are hung upon a large tree
trunk, from the lower part of which springs a leafy branch. It has been
suggested that this symbolizes the Battle of Ipsus, fought in 301 B.C.,
in which Seleucus was victorious against his rival Antigonus. The
inscription reads "Seleucus" and "Basileus" (king).Under Seleucus I, coins were minted at a number of cities throughout his empire. This example was minted at Persepolis, the administrative center in Persia, where it was excavated by the British Institute of Persian Studies.
