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Tetradrachm - Demetrius I Poliorcetes Pella
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
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| Year | 291 BC - 290 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and horned head of Demetrius I Poliorcetes facing right, rendered in fine Hellenistic style with an idealized youthful portrait. The diadem is tied at the back with trailing ends, and a bull's horn — an attribute of divine power — rises from the forehead, indicating the king's claims to godlike status. The hair is elaborately rendered in wavy locks swept back from the face. A beaded border frames the flan. |
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| Reverse lettering | BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΔHMHTPIOY |
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| Additional information |
Demetrius I earned the epithet Poliorcetes — "the Besieger" — at Rhodes in 305 BC, deploying the Helepolis, the largest siege engine the ancient world had yet seen, to ultimately no effect. By the time this tetradrachm was struck at Pella, he had seized the Macedonian throne from Antipater's son Cassander in 294 BC, though his reign there lasted barely four years before Pyrrhus of Epirus and Lysimachus jointly drove him out.
Newell's die study of this series identified Pella output as distinct from the Amphipolis and Salamis issues by reverse die linkage. The 291–290 window is narrow, placing this coin squarely in the final stable phase of his Macedonian kingship before the collapse.