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Seleucus (Seleukos) had been a Macedonian general under Alexander III “the Great”. After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, he first supported, then conspired against, the empire’s regent Perdiccas, the nominal functional, if not the official familial, successor to Alexander. After additional turmoil, and with the support of Ptolemy I of Egypt, a former comrade-in-arms, Seleucus gained control of Babylon in 312 BC and began expansions beyond Babylonia into the eastern regions of Alexander’s empire.
As did Alexander before him, his efforts succeeded as far east as India by 303 BC. He then made peace with Indian Emperor Maurya at that time. Some of the conquered territory of the Indus River Valley and other lands were ceded to India, and Seleucus obtained in exchange a large body of war elephants. These beasts were used later in successful battles against Antigonus and against Lysimachus, another former comrade. Seleucus thoughts after defeating Lysimachus were to obtain control of some of the western territories, e.g. Thrace and Macedon and possibly of Greece itself. Seleucus, however, was assassinated while in Thrace and was succeeded by his son Antiochus I.
The Seleucid Empire continued to exist until eventually overthrown by Roman general Pompey in the first century BC. The empire had previously lost much territory to the Parthians under Mithridates I in the second century BC, and later had been invaded by the Armenian king Tigranes the Great prior to Pompey’s victory.
The tetradrachm of 312-281 BC depicts Seleucus (or possibly Alexander) wearing an Attic helmet covered with panther skin and adorned with bull’s horns and ear. The reverse shows a standing Nike presenting a crowning trophy of arms. Oliver Hoover’s scholarship published by CNG in 2009 is that the portrait is of Seleucus himself. The Greek inscription makes it no doubt that the coin was issued in the name of king Seleucus.