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Oktobol - Pyrrhos
| Issuer | Kings of Epeiros |
|---|---|
| Year | 297 BC - 272 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Athena Alkidemos striding vigorously to the left in a dynamic martial pose, her right arm raised to brandish a spear overhead and her left arm extended aloft bearing a large round shield. The goddess is depicted in full divine panoply in the Hellenistic tradition. The Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ appears to the right of the figure and ΠΥΡΡΟΥ to the left, identifying the coin as a royal issue of Pyrrhos, King of Epeiros. |
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| Additional information |
Pyrrhos of Epeiros, the king whose Italian campaigns gave us the term "Pyrrhic victory," struck silver coinage intermittently across a reign fractured by his own military ambitions — he ruled Epeiros twice, losing the throne to Neoptolemos II and later recovering it, while also briefly holding Macedonia. The oktobol denomination itself is uncommon in the Greek west, and Epeirote silver from this period circulated under constant pressure from the king's need to pay mercenaries.
SNG ANS 829 and Copenhagen 94 represent well-documented die pairings for this type, situating this piece among the more precisely catalogued examples of Epeirote royal coinage.