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Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III
| Issuer | Chios (Ionia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 190 BC - 165 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Attic drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Zeus Aetophoros enthroned left on a low stool-throne, his upper body nude and draped from the waist, holding an eagle perched on his outstretched right hand and a long sceptre upright in his left. In the left field, a civic monogram appears above a sphinx seated left upon a horizontal amphora, with a bunch of grapes positioned before the sphinx — these control marks serving as the characteristic symbols of the Chian mint. The legend ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ runs along the right field in crisp Greek characters, identifying the issue as struck in the name of Alexander the Great. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Chios was among the more active minting centers for posthumous Alexanders in the early second century BC, producing these tetradrachms under its own civic authority while maintaining the royal type — a commercial decision as much as a political one, since the Alexander coinage had become the dominant trade currency across the eastern Mediterranean. The island's proximity to the major Aegean shipping lanes made a trusted, widely accepted silver coinage a practical necessity.
Price 2442 places this emission within a well-documented Chian sequence. The Mavrogordato reference reflects the island's unusually thorough study in the literature, a consequence of Chios's prolific and systematically varied output during this period.