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Tetradrachm - Demetrius Poliorcetes In the name of Alexander III, Tyre
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
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| Year | 301 BC - 294 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Youthful bare head of Heracles in right-facing profile, wearing the Nemean lion-skin headdress, the scalp with open jaws framing the forehead and the pelt knotted beneath the chin. The facial features are rendered with idealized Hellenistic sensitivity, displaying a straight nose, slightly parted lips, and a well-modelled ear. The lion's mane falls naturalistically behind the neck, and the forepaws are tied across the chest. The field is bordered by a dotted bead-and-reel inner circle characteristic of the Alexandrine coinage tradition. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (Translation: Alexander (III, the Great)) |
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Struck at Tyre during the chaotic years following Ipsus, these pieces were issued under Demetrius Poliorcetes as he clung to the remnants of his Aegean empire after his father Antigonus I fell on that battlefield in 301 BC. Tyre itself had been taken by Antigonus in 314 BC after a fifteen-month siege, and the mint there had been producing Alexandrine-type coinage under Antigonid control since. Demetrius retained the city until Ptolemy I seized it around 294 BC.
Price 3559 is among the later Tyrian issues in this series. Newell's classification remains the standard reference for Demetrius's coinage from this mint.