Tetradrachm - Demetrius I Poliorcetes Ephesos

Demetrius I earned his epithet "Poliorcetes" — the Besieger — after his failed attempt to take Rhodes with an arsenal of siege machinery that ancient sources describe as unprecedented in scale. The Rhodians were so impressed they melted down his abandoned equipment and used the proceeds to commission the Colossus. This Ephesos mint issue dates to the period following the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, where Demetrius lost his father Antigonus and much of his kingdom in a single afternoon, yet somehow retained enough military force to remain a serious power in the Aegean.

Newell's die study placed this type firmly within the Ephesos sequence based on control marks specific to that mint's output in the years Demetrius held the city.