Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Auction 117 19-20 May 2021
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SELEUKID EMPIRE. Demetrios II Nikator. Second reign, 129-125 BC. AR Tetradrachm (28mm, 16.77 g, 1h). Damaskos mint. Dated SE 184 (129/8 BC). Diademed head right / Zeus Nikephoros seated left; below throne, N above Δ; ΔΠP (date) in exergue. SC 2181.2a; Schwei Group 2, 14 (A3/P9); HGC 9, 1116d; DCA 223. Toned. Good VF. Rare.
Ex John L. Cowan Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 112, 11 September 2019), lot 326; Classical Numismatic Group 100 (7 October 2015), lot 1566.
The two reigns of Demetrios II were separated by nine years spent in comfortable Parthian captivity, during which he grew a long beard, as seen on this tetradrachm of Damaskos. That, along with his marriage to the Parthian princess Rhodogune and the exotic eastern habits he had adopted, led many of his Greek subjects to suspect him of being, in modern parlance, a "Parthian Candidate" with a secret agenda to hand over Syria. Faced with multiple crises, his few supporters quickly abandoned him and he was deposed and summarily executed four years into his second reign.
Ex John L. Cowan Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 112, 11 September 2019), lot 326; Classical Numismatic Group 100 (7 October 2015), lot 1566.
The two reigns of Demetrios II were separated by nine years spent in comfortable Parthian captivity, during which he grew a long beard, as seen on this tetradrachm of Damaskos. That, along with his marriage to the Parthian princess Rhodogune and the exotic eastern habits he had adopted, led many of his Greek subjects to suspect him of being, in modern parlance, a "Parthian Candidate" with a secret agenda to hand over Syria. Faced with multiple crises, his few supporters quickly abandoned him and he was deposed and summarily executed four years into his second reign.