Hemidrachm - Spithridates

Spithridates held the satrapy of Lydia and Ionia under Darius III and was among the Persian commanders who met Alexander's army at the Granicus River in 334 BC. He came within a sword's stroke of killing Alexander outright before being cut down by Cleitus the Black. This coin was almost certainly struck in the final months before that engagement, making it one of the last issues of a satrapy that effectively ceased to exist as a Persian administrative unit the moment Alexander crossed the Hellespont.