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Tetradrachm In the name of Lysimachus
| Issuer | Byzantion (Thrace) |
|---|---|
| Year | 190 BC - 175 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Attic drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated left upon a throne, her right hand extending forward to present a small Nike (Victory) and her left arm resting upon a large round shield set against the throne's side; a long transverse spear rises diagonally behind her in the field. The legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ runs along the right and left fields respectively, identifying this as coinage issued in the name of King Lysimachus. A monogram appears in the inner left field, the civic abbreviation BY is placed below the throne, and an ornate trident — the civic emblem of Byzantion — occupies the exergue. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ BY |
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| Additional information |
Byzantion's posthumous tetradrachms in the name of Lysimachus — struck nearly a century after his death at Corupedium in 281 BC — were a deliberate piece of monetary politics. The city exploited the prestige of Lysimachus's coinage type, by then a widely trusted commercial currency across the Aegean and Black Sea trade routes, to ease its own silver into regional circulation. Byzantion controlled the Bosporus toll, one of the most lucrative chokepoints in ancient commerce, and its mint output from this period reflects that wealth directly.
Marinescu's die study catalogues this issue among a tightly sequenced group, placing production squarely within Byzantion's most active phase of posthumous striking.