Philip III Arrhidaeus was Alexander the Great's half-brother — intellectually disabled from birth, likely due to poisoning in infancy, and installed as king in 323 BC by Macedonian troops who wanted a royal figurehead they could control. Real authority passed between competing generals throughout his reign, and he was ultimately executed on orders from Olympias in 319 BC. His gold coinage continued Alexander's established weight standard and iconographic program almost without interruption, which is precisely why attributing these issues to his reign rather than Alexander's requires careful die study.
The Sardes mint had been operational under Persian administration before Alexander seized it in 334 BC. Price P84 is among the documented die pairings from this transitional period of Diadoch control over the western Anatolian mints.
Philip III Arrhidaeus was Alexander the Great's half-brother — intellectually disabled from birth, likely due to poisoning in infancy, and installed as king in 323 BC by Macedonian troops who wanted a royal figurehead they could control. Real authority passed between competing generals throughout his reign, and he was ultimately executed on orders from Olympias in 319 BC. His gold coinage continued Alexander's established weight standard and iconographic program almost without interruption, which is precisely why attributing these issues to his reign rather than Alexander's requires careful die study.
The Sardes mint had been operational under Persian administration before Alexander seized it in 334 BC. Price P84 is among the documented die pairings from this transitional period of Diadoch control over the western Anatolian mints.