Tetradrachm - Demetrius I Poliorcetes Pella

Demetrius I Poliorcetes struck this issue at Pella shortly before his catastrophic loss of Macedonia to Pyrrhus of Epirus and Lysimachus in 288 BC — a campaign in which his own troops defected en masse, reportedly walking off to join Pyrrhus without a fight. The Pella mint had only recently come under his control after he seized the Macedonian throne in 294 BC by murdering Alexander V. This tetradrachm belongs to the final window of his kingship; within months of its minting, Demetrius was a fugitive.