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Tetradrachm - Alexander III Amphipolis
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 336 BC - 323 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 17.22 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Zeus Aetophoros enthroned in left profile upon a low throne, his nude torso erect and his himation draped over his lower body and left arm. His outstretched right hand supports an eagle with closed wings, while his left hand grasps a tall sceptre. The Greek legend ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ runs along the right field, and a scallop shell appears as a control symbol in the left field. The composition follows the canonical Alexandrine reverse type established at the Amphipolis mint. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ |
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| Additional information |
Price 102 places this tetradrachm among the earliest lifetime issues from the Amphipolis mint, struck while Alexander was actively campaigning eastward and requiring enormous quantities of silver coinage to pay his armies. Amphipolis became the dominant Macedonian mint precisely because of its proximity to the silver and timber resources of the Strymon valley. The city had been fought over by Athens and Macedonia for decades before Philip II seized it in 357 BC — a seizure Athenians never formally accepted.
Lifetime issues from Amphipolis are distinguished from the vast posthumous coinage by subtle die characteristics catalogued by Martin Price in his 1991 corpus.