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Tetradrachm / 2 Shekels - Alexander III Babylon
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 327 BC - 323 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | An elephant advances to the right, bearing two armed figures upon its back; the rearward figure turns to look back over his shoulder while grasping a military standard, while the forward figure, seated ahead, wields a goad or ankus. The composition is rendered in vigorous relief characteristic of Babylonian mint production under Alexander III, with fine detail in the elephant's hide and the figures' drapery. |
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| Mintage | ND (327 BC - 323 BC) |
| Additional information |
Struck at Babylon in the final years of Alexander's campaign, these tetradrachms were produced to pay the army that had pushed east beyond the Achaemenid heartland into Bactria and the Punjab. Babylon became a primary mint precisely because Alexander seized its enormous bullion reserves after defeating Darius III — the Persian treasury effectively funded Macedonian conquest in coin form. The Babylon mint was among the most prolific of the eastern issues, and die links within this series have been extensively studied by Price, whose 1991 corpus remains the foundation for attribution work.