Pedigree: Ex-Roma Numismatics e-Sale 11, Lot 363 (part; London, 23 August 2014)
Historical Notes: Struck until the death of Demetrios in 126/125, after which the Shekel of Tyre replaced his tetradrachm.
Upon being deposed as Seleukid King, Demetrios II fled to Tyre, where he expected to find safety. Instead, upon arrival, the local prefect ordered him killed while still in his ship.
The type was the stylistic basis for, and predecessor of, the "Shekel of Tyre" of New Testament fame. The Seleukid tetradrachms of the mid 2nd century had become a standard currency of international trade in the E. Mediterranean. When the Seleukid Empire fell, the local Tyrians continued striking the popular coinage, simply substituting the image of local patron deity Herakles-Melqart on the obverse in place of the portrait of Seleukid dynasts, and replacing the Seleukid Era-date with Tyre's year of independence from the Seleukids, and the legend with a slogan of Tyre's holy inviolability.
The Seleukid type was, in turn, influenced by the Ptolemaic Tetradrachm of similar style. Even after Pompey Magnus took Tyre for Rome in 64 BC, the city continued to issue the iconic Shekel for another 130 years. When production ceased in 65/66 AD, the design of the coin remained strongly influential for Roman Provincial Tetradrachms well into the 3rd cent.