Drachm - Lysimachus Ephesus

Lysimachus struck coinage in the name and image of Alexander the Great as a deliberate political act — asserting himself as the legitimate heir to Alexander's memory and, by extension, his territory. The Ephesus mint was active during Lysimachus's consolidation of Asia Minor, a campaign that culminated in his defeat of Antigonus at Ipsus in 301 BC and his subsequent control of the western Anatolian coast. The drachm denomination served the everyday commerce of a major port city; tetradrachms carried the political message further afield.

Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, and the Ephesus mint passed almost immediately to Seleucid control.