Silver drachm

Numismatists – the scholars who study coins – refer to the ‘front’ side of the coin, which usually features the head of a person or god, as the ‘obverse,’ and the ‘back’ side as the ‘reverse.’

On the obverse of this silver drachm coin, a bust of the king faces to the right. He is clean shaven wears a diadem (the headband worn by victorious athletes in ancient Greece) on his head.

The reverse, which is struck off center, shows a seated man facing left, with his legs crossed. An eagle is perched on his outstretched right hand and he holds a staff in his left. An inscription in Greek surrounds him on three sides. The inscription is illegible because of the coin’s poor condition; from other examples we know that it reads "of King Demetrius Philadelphus the Victorious."

This coin was struck by the Seleucid king Demetrius II (reigned ca. 146–138 B.C., and again ca. 129–125 B.C.). The king on the obverse is probably meant to be Demetrius himself, wearing a diadem as a symbol of victory. The figure on the reverse is Zeus, identifiable by his eagle. Zeus was used as a reverse type on many Hellenistic coins, in imitation of the coins struck by Alexander the Great.

This coin was struck at Seleucia-on-the-Tigris near modern Baghdad, Iraq, between 145 and 141 B.C. In 141 the city was captured by the Parthians, who continued to strike coins there. In 138 Demetrius himself was captured fighting the Parthians, and he spent the next decade as a hostage at the Parthian court, even marrying a Parthian princess.