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Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III, Erythrai
| Issuer | Kingdom of Macedonia |
|---|---|
| Year | 290 BC - 275 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Youthful head of Heracles in right profile, wearing the Nemean lion skin headdress with the scalp tied beneath the chin, rendered in high relief in the Lysippan style. The musculature and mane of the lion scalp are finely detailed, with the paws knotted at the throat. The portrait is idealised, presenting Heracles as a beardless, vigorous figure, widely understood as a heroic representation of Alexander III. The flan is irregularly shaped, as is characteristic of eastern posthumous issues of this series. |
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| Reverse description | Zeus Aëtophoros enthroned in left profile upon a low throne with a footstool, his upper body nude and draped from the waist. In his outstretched right hand he holds an eagle facing right, while his left hand rests upon a long upright sceptre. In the left field, a club symbol and a grain ear appear below the throne; in the right field, an aphlaston (ship's stern ornament) is placed as a secondary control mark. The reverse legend ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ runs along the right field, identifying the coin as struck in the name of Alexander the Great. The overall composition follows the standard Alexandrine reverse type established at the Amphipolis mint. |
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| Additional information |
Erythrai, on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, was among the Greek cities that continued striking Alexander-type tetradrachms well into the early third century BC — decades after Alexander's death in 323. These posthumous issues were not nostalgic imitations but practical monetary policy: the Alexander type had become the dominant trade currency across the eastern Mediterranean, and cities needed coinage their trading partners would accept without question.
Price 1910A is a scarce variety within the Erythrai sequence, distinguished by its specific control marks from the more frequently encountered issues of neighboring mints.