Hemidrachm - Alexander

Pherai under the tyrants Jason and then Alexander was one of the most militarily aggressive poleis in fourth-century Thessaly. Alexander of Pherai — infamous for his cruelty, eventually assassinated by his own brothers-in-law in 358 BC — issued coinage that functioned partly as a statement of regional dominance during a period when Pherai was locked in bitter conflict with the Thessalian League and its Boeotian backers. Pelopidas died fighting Alexander at Cynoscephalae in 364 BC, a measure of how seriously Thebes took the threat.

BCD 1312 is a well-documented specimen from the landmark Pherai section of the BCD Thessaly collection, auctioned by Nomos in 2011.