Hellenistic Portraits, McFadden 1951George H. McFadden

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but also the old cult statue, the colossal bronze statue of Apollo by Canachus, which the Persians had once taken to Ecbatana. In addition, Seleucus contributed money to the rebuilding of the temple. It seems that the oracle of Didyma had first proclaimed him king in 312 and that therefore he reckoned his kingship from that year.

In 299/2 he married the young Stratonice, the daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes, but in 294/2 he ceded her and the part of his Empire east of the Euphrates to his son Antiochus, whom he made king and co-ruler. In 281, when about seventy-five to seventy-seven years old, he ceded all Asia to his son and proceeded to Macedonia, which he intended to conquer as the successor of Alexander and where he wanted to live for the rest of his life. But he was murdered on the Thracian Chersonnese by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the son of Ptolemy I (No. 50) and half-brother of Ptolemy II (No. 52).

Philetaerus (No. 55), who had been under the protection of Seleucus, gave him a funeral and sent his ashes to his son Antiochus I. From 281-263 Philetaerus minted coins with the portrait of the deified king (Pl. XCV, 1), as did also Antiochus I as co-regent (293-281) and successor (281-261+ (Fig. 45), who gave him a horn as the symbol of divinity. The coins are probably based on statues erected to the king in Antioch (Libanius, I, 301) and certainly in most of the cities founded by him. The Milesians set up his statue in the Delphinium and there is evidence that others were erected in the Stoa Poikile at Athens (Pausanias I, 16.4) and in Olympia, where Seleucus appeared on horseback (Pausanias VI, 11, 1, cp. VI, 16.2). Three great artists are said to have portrayed Seleucus: Lysippus, Sthyaxus, and Aristodemus. The excellent bronze bust from Herculaneum in Naples (Pl.XCV, 24)