Tetradrachm In the name of Lysimachus

Byzantion's posthumous tetradrachms struck in the name of Lysimachus — who had died at Corupedium in 281 BC, fully a century before these coins were produced — reflect the extraordinary commercial longevity of that royal type. The Alexander-derived coinage bearing Lysimachus's name had become effectively a trade currency around the Black Sea and Propontis, trusted by merchants long after any political connection to the man himself had dissolved. Byzantion, sitting astride one of the ancient world's most lucrative straits tolls, had strong incentive to issue a recognized, high-weight silver denomination rather than promoting its own civic types.