Struck in the name of Alexander the Great but issued under Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexander's half-brother and nominal successor, this coin reflects the political fiction maintained after Alexander's death in 323 BC — that continuity of the empire could be preserved through a cognitively disabled figurehead while the Diadochi maneuvered for real power. Miletus, a major Aegean port recaptured from Persian control by Alexander in 334 BC, remained a productive mint into the successor period. Philip III was murdered on Olympias's orders in 319 BC, closing the window for this issue.
Struck in the name of Alexander the Great but issued under Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexander's half-brother and nominal successor, this coin reflects the political fiction maintained after Alexander's death in 323 BC — that continuity of the empire could be preserved through a cognitively disabled figurehead while the Diadochi maneuvered for real power. Miletus, a major Aegean port recaptured from Persian control by Alexander in 334 BC, remained a productive mint into the successor period. Philip III was murdered on Olympias's orders in 319 BC, closing the window for this issue.