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Stater In the name of Lysimachus
| Issuer | Byzantion (Thrace) |
|---|---|
| Year | 210 BC - 195 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated left upon a throne, her right hand extending a small Nike (Victory) figure, her left arm resting upon a large round shield adorned with a decorative boss. A long transverse spear is visible in the background behind the goddess, leaning diagonally across the field. The legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ ('of King Lysimachus') is disposed in the fields to the left and right of the enthroned figure. A monogram appears in the inner left field, the ethnic ΒΥ (for Byzantion) is placed beneath the throne, and an ornate trident symbol occupies the exergue, serving as the distinctive mint mark of Byzantion. |
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| Mint | Byzantion, modern-day Istanbul, Turkey |
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| Additional information |
Byzantion struck posthumous gold staters in the name of Lysimachus — the Macedonian general who had died at Corupedium in 281 BC — decades after his death, exploiting the enormous commercial prestige his coinage carried throughout the Greek world. By the late third century, these posthumous issues had become a de facto trade currency across the Black Sea and Aegean networks, and Byzantion's position at the Bosphorus crossing made it a natural mint for precisely that purpose. The city's own monetary interests were inseparable from the grain trade passing through its straits.