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.
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.