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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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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated left upon a throne, wearing helmet and aegis, her right hand extended to hold a winged Nike who crowns the royal name in the legend above. Her left arm rests upon a large round shield decorated with a gorgoneion in relief, while a long transverse spear leans behind her. A monogram appears in the inner left field, the civic letters BY are inscribed below the throne denoting the mint of Byzantion, and a filleted trident — the civic emblem of Byzantion — occupies the exergue. The legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ, reading 'of King Lysimachus,' frames the composition. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Byzantion struck posthumous Alexander-type tetradrachms in the name of Lysimachus well into the second century BC, long after his death at Corupedium in 281 BC. The city had every commercial reason to do so: the Lysimachan type had become effectively a trade currency across the Aegean and Black Sea littoral, trusted by merchants who cared little for its issuing authority and everything for its consistent silver content. Byzantion's position astride the Bosphorus made it a natural clearinghouse for this coinage.
The Marinescu 408 attribution places this emission within a tightly defined die study of Byzantion's output, distinguishing it from the sprawling posthumous issues of other Thracian and Aegean mints competing in the same monetary space.