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Drachm - Lysimachus Ephesus
| Issuer | Kings of Thrace |
|---|---|
| Year | 294 BC - 287 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Diademed head of the deified Alexander III (the Great) facing right, portrayed with the ram's horn of Ammon curling over his ear, identifying him as son of Zeus-Ammon. The effigy follows the posthumous idealised portrait type adopted by Lysimachus to legitimise his rule, with fine hair rendered in relief beneath the royal diadem. The portrait displays the characteristic upward gaze associated with Alexander's official iconography. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Lysimachus minted coins bearing the deified image of Alexander the Great as a deliberate political claim — he had been Alexander's bodyguard and needed to anchor his legitimacy among rival Diadochi who remembered the Macedonian conquests firsthand. The Ephesus mint was strategically critical, sitting at the commercial heart of the Aegean coast and producing coinage that circulated through one of the ancient world's busiest trading networks.
The Armenak reference without a Müller number suggests this variety falls outside the standard die corpus, which narrows attribution to later specialist work on the Ephesian issues specifically.