page_title: Seleucus VI Epiphanes
section_title: Reign
hierarchical_section_title: Seleucus VI Epiphanes / Reign
caption_attribution_description: English: 863481. Sold For $975 SELEUKID KINGS of SYRIA. Seleukos VI Epiphanes Nikator. Circa 96-94 BC. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.77 g, 1h). Antioch on the Orontes mint. Struck circa 95/4 BC. Diademed head right / Zeus Nikephoros seated left, holding lotus-tipped scepter; A/(monogram)/A to outer left, Π under throne; all within wreath. SC 2415c; HGC 9, 1270. Near EF, toned.
context_page_description: Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nicator was a Hellenistic Seleucid monarch who ruled Syria between 96 and 94 BC. He was the son of Antiochus VIII and his Egyptian wife Tryphaena. Seleucus VI lived in a period of civil war between his father and his uncle Antiochus IX, which ended in 96 BC when Antiochus VIII was assassinated. Antiochus IX then occupied the capital Antioch while Seleucus VI established his power-base in western Cilicia and himself prepared for war. In 95 BC, Antiochus IX marched against his nephew, but lost the battle and was killed. Seleucus VI became the master of the capital but had to share Syria with his brother Demetrius III, based in Damascus, and his cousin, Antiochus IX's son Antiochus X.
  According to the ancient historian Appian, Seleucus VI was a violent ruler. He taxed his dominions extensively to support his wars, and resisted allowing the cities a measure of autonomy, as had been the practice of former kings. His reign did not last long; in 94 BC, he was expelled from Antioch by Antiochus X, who followed him to the Cilician city of Mopsuestia.
context_section_description: Following his father's death, Seleucus VI declared himself king and took the city of Seleucia on the Calycadnus in western Cilicia as his base, while his brother Demetrius III took Damascus. The volume of coins minted by the new king in Seleucia on the Calycadnus surpassed any other mint known from the late Seleucid period, and most of the coins were produced during his preparations for war against Antiochus IX, a conflict that would end in the year 96/95 BC (217 SE (Seleucid year)). This led the numismatist Arthur Houghton to suggest an earlier death for Antiochus VIII and a longer reign for Seleucus VI beginning in 98 or 97 BC instead of 96 BC. The numismatist Oliver D. Hoover contested Houghton's hypothesis as it was not rare for a king to double his production in a single year at times of need, and the academic consensus prefers the year 96 BC for the death of Antiochus VIII.
caption: Tetradrachm minted in Antioch depicting Seleucus VI with horns
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