Obol - Alexander

Pherai dominated Thessaly under the tyrant Jason and, after his assassination in 370 BC, a succession of rulers who fought bitterly to hold the city's power. This obol falls squarely within that turbulent period — the name "Alexander" on issues from Pherai almost certainly references Alexander of Pherai, whose brutal reign ended when his own wife Thebe and her brothers had him killed in 358 BC. Ancient sources, including Plutarch, describe Alexander as one of the crueler tyrants of the period, which lends a grim biographical footnote to even the smallest denomination his mint produced.