Circa 3rd century BCE
Æ 12mm 1,82g
Diademed head of Herakles right /
Lion skin set on club; CTPATONIKEIΩN around
Apparently unpublished
Stratonike was the object of perhaps one of the oddest love triangles in antiquity.
She was the daughter of Demetrios I Poliorketes and Phila, who herself was the daughter of Antipater. When her hand was requested by the much older Seleukos I Nikator, their wedding was consumated in 300 BCE. At the time, he was fifty-eight and she could not have been older than seventeen.
Nevertheless, they had a daughter, also named Phila together. However, eventually it came into the open that Seleukos’ son, Antiochos I Soter, was madly in love with her. So violent was his passion, that there was concern that he would take his own life.
What did Seleukos do? History is full of rulers who executed both wife and son for the offense, but Seleukos instead divorced Stratonike and gave her to Antiochos.
The marriage was a fruitful and happy one and they had five children. Antiochos named a city, Stratonikeia, in her honor.
Antiochos I Soter marries his stepmother Stratonike, after Seleukos divorces her for that purpose.
Birth of Antiochos II Theos to Stratonike and Antiochos I Soter.