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Stater - Demetrius I Poliorcetes Amphipolis
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 294 BC - 293 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
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| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, wearing a Corinthian helmet adorned with a flowing horsehair crest and decorated with a coiled serpent at the bowl. The goddess's features are rendered with fine Hellenistic naturalism, her hair visible beneath the helmet's cheekpieces falling in loose locks onto the neck. The ear is partially visible below the helmet's cheekguard, and the neck is gracefully modeled. The flan fills the field with no legend, the design occupying nearly the full diameter of the coin in the tradition of Macedonian gold staters derived from the types of Alexander III. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Demetrius I earned his epithet "Poliorcetes" — the Besieger — through his siege machinery, but it was his capture of Macedonia itself that gave him the authority to strike gold coinage of this type. He seized the Macedonian throne in 294 BC after murdering Alexander V, his own father-in-law's son, consolidating a reign that would last only until 288 BC when Pyrrhus and Lysimachus drove him from power. Amphipolis had been one of Macedonia's premier gold-striking mints since Philip II, and Demetrius used it accordingly.
His tenure there was brief enough that the Newell corpus remains tight — Newell #93 represents a closely defined emission within a short window of production.