Stater - Mazaeus

Mazaeus governed Cilicia under the Achaemenid crown from around 361 BC and proved remarkably durable — surviving the Macedonian conquest to be reappointed satrap of Babylon by Alexander himself after the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. His Cilician staters were struck at Tarsus and circulated widely enough to reach hoards as far as the Levant, reflecting both the commercial reach of the satrapy and the density of mercenary pay during a period when Greek soldiers were the preferred military currency of Persian campaigning.

The SNG Levante 103 reference places this piece within a tightly documented sequence from Tarsus, where die studies have identified overlapping production runs consistent with military disbursement rather than routine civic issue.