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Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III
| Issuer | Chios (Ionia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 270 BC - 220 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Youthful bare bust of the deified Heracles facing right, his head covered by the scalp of the Nemean lion, the gaping jaws framing the crown of the head and the paws knotted at the throat. The facial features are rendered in the idealised Lysippan tradition, with finely modelled curling hair visible beneath the headdress. The field is plain and unlettered, the design occupying the full flan in the characteristic style of posthumous Alexandrine coinage. |
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| Mint | Chios, Ionia, modern-day Island of Chios, Greece |
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| Additional information |
Chios was among the Ionian cities that continued striking Alexander-type tetradrachms well after his death in 323 BC, a practice that had less to do with political allegiance than with commercial necessity — the Alexander coinage had become the dominant trade currency across the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, and merchants simply expected it. The Chian issues are distinguished from royal Macedonian production by their civic control marks, which Bauslaugh's classification system uses to sequence the posthumous series.
The half-century window assigned to this type coincides with intense Ptolemaic and Seleucid pressure on Aegean trade routes following the Wars of the Diadochi.