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Tetradrachm In the name of Lysimachus
| Issuer | Byzantion (Thrace) |
|---|---|
| Year | 175 BC - 150 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Diademed head of the deified Alexander the Great facing right, depicted with flowing, elaborately rendered curly hair and the horn of Ammon subtly visible above the ear, a hallmark iconographic detail of posthumous Lysimachean coinage. The effigy is rendered in fine Hellenistic style with strong portraiture and deeply sculpted relief. The field is plain, with no legend, the entire face dominated by the commanding royal portrait. The truncation of the neck is visible at the lower edge of the flan. |
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| Mint | Byzantion, modern-day Istanbul, Turkey |
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| Additional information |
Byzantion's posthumous tetradrachms in the name of Lysimachus — struck roughly a century and a half after his death at Corupedium in 281 BC — reflect the city's deliberate appropriation of a prestigious monetary type rather than any dynastic connection. By the second century BC, the deified Alexander-headed coinage of Lysimachus had become the dominant trade currency across the Black Sea and Aegean circuits, and Byzantion, positioned at the straits, had every commercial reason to keep issuing it. The city added its own magistrate names and control marks to distinguish local production without abandoning the trusted type.