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Tetradrachm In the name of Alexander III, Odessos
| Issuer | City of Odessos |
|---|---|
| Year | 125 BC - 70 BC |
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| Currency | Drachm |
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| Obverse description | Diademed head of the deified Heracles facing right, wearing the Nemean lion scalp headdress, the paws knotted at the throat. The portrait is rendered in the bold Hellenistic style characteristic of posthumous Alexandrine coinage, with flowing hair visible beneath the scalp and strong facial modeling. The flan is broad and slightly irregular, with the design well centered in the field. |
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| Mint | Odessos |
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| Additional information |
Odessos — modern Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast — was a Milesian colony that outlasted Macedonian hegemony and continued striking Alexander-type tetradrachms well into the first century BC, long after the Argead dynasty had collapsed. These posthumous issues were a commercial currency, not a political statement; the Alexander type had simply become the trusted trading coinage of the western Pontic region, and local merchants expected it. The city's continued output reflects its role as a significant grain-export hub connecting the Thracian interior to Aegean markets.
Price 1181 places this issue among the later Odessos group, distinguished by specific monogram placements refined through die studies by Thompson and later Kostial.