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Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 306 BC |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Reverse description | Athena Promachos standing right in a military stance, wearing a crested Corinthian helmet, a long chiton, and a himation; she holds a spear raised in her right hand and a large round shield in her left. To the lower right, an eagle with wings folded stands facing right, a characteristic emblem introduced by Ptolemy I to differentiate his coinage from standard Alexandrine issues. The legend ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ runs vertically along the left field. Two control marks, rendered as Greek letters, appear in the central field to the left and right of the figure. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (Translation: Alexander) |
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| Additional information |
By 306 BC, Ptolemy I had not yet proclaimed himself king — that step came later the same year, prompted in part by Antigonus One-Eye's assumption of the royal title. This tetradrachm, still struck in Alexander's name, belongs to the transitional moment when Ptolemy governed Egypt as satrap but was already behaving in every practical sense as an independent monarch. Issuing coinage under Alexander's authority was a deliberate political calculation, maintaining legitimacy while the successors tested one another's ambitions.
Lorber's classification places this among the earliest of Ptolemy's Alexandrine-type issues from Alexandria, before the kingdom developed its own closed currency system requiring foreign silver to be reminted at a discount.