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Drachm - Lysimachus Sestos
| Issuer | Kings of Thrace |
|---|---|
| Year | 299 BC - 296 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Head of the deified Alexander the Great facing right, wearing the lion-skin headdress of Heracles, the scalp drawn tightly over the skull with the lion's mane cascading behind. The facial features are rendered in the idealized Hellenistic portrait tradition, with a strong brow, prominent nose, and slightly parted lips. The ear is visible beneath the lion-skin, and the overall style reflects the posthumous Alexander coinage convention adopted by Lysimachus to legitimize his rule. No legend appears in the field. |
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated left on a throne, her body semi-draped, holding a small Nike figure in her outstretched right hand and resting her left arm on a round shield decorated with a gorgoneion; a long spear leans against her left shoulder. A monogram or mint control mark appears in the left field, and a further symbol is visible to the lower left. The Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ runs along the right side of the field and ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ continues below and to the left of the enthroned figure, identifying the coin as an issue of King Lysimachus. |
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| Additional information |
Lysimachus struck coins bearing the deified portrait of Alexander III not merely out of reverence but as a calculated political claim — by associating himself with Alexander's image and divine status, he legitimized his rule over territories he had won through the post-Alexander wars of the Diadochi. The Sestos mint operated during a particularly volatile stretch of his reign, when Lysimachus was consolidating control over the Thracian Chersonese and managing pressure from both Antigonus and, later, Seleucus.
The Price L7 attribution places this among the earlier Sestian issues, a mint active largely due to its strategic position controlling the Hellespont crossing.