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Drachm - Lysimachus Mytilene
| Issuer | Kings of Thrace |
|---|---|
| Year | 299 BC - 296 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.25 g |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Zeus Aëtophoros enthroned left on a low backless throne, his body draped from the waist, holding a long scepter upright in his raised left hand and an eagle with closed wings standing right in his extended right hand. The legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to the right and ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ to the left frame the seated deity. A chelys (lyre) appears in the left field as a mint control symbol, and the letter M is placed below the throne as a secondary control mark, identifying the mint of Mytilene. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ |
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| Additional information |
Lysimachus struck coinage in the name and types of Alexander III long after Alexander's death — a deliberate political claim to legitimacy rather than a straightforward commemorative gesture. This Mytilene issue dates to a particularly pressured phase of his reign, when Lysimachus was simultaneously managing Thracian frontier threats and maneuvering against Antigonus's successors for control of western Asia Minor. Mytilene, on Lesbos, had passed between Macedonian successors more than once, and the mint's output under Lysimachus was relatively limited compared to his continental mints at Lampsacus and Amphipolis.