Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetradrachm - Demetrius I Poliorcetes Chalkis
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 290 BC - 287 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 17.22 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Poseidon Pelagaios standing nude facing left, right foot resting on a rocky promontory, his body turned in a contrapposto stance. In his outstretched right hand he holds a trident upright, while his left arm rests at his side. The figure is rendered with bold musculature in the grand Hellenistic tradition. The legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ to the right and ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ to the left runs vertically flanking the central figure. A circular monogram within an incuse square appears to the left in the field, with a secondary control mark to the upper right. The design is enclosed within a beaded border. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Demetrius I Poliorcetes — "the Besieger" — struck coins at Chalkis during one of the most turbulent phases of the Diadochi wars, when his grip on Macedonia was already slipping. He had seized the Macedonian throne in 294 BC by murdering Alexander V, but faced near-constant military pressure from Pyrrhus of Epirus and Lysimachus simultaneously. By 287 BC, his own troops were defecting en masse. These Chalkis issues thus fall within a compressed window of desperate authority, minted while his kingdom contracted around him. He surrendered to Seleucus I the following year and died in captivity in 283 BC.