Tetradrachm In the name of Lysimachus

Byzantion continued striking tetradrachms in the name of Lysimachus well over a century after his death at Corupedium in 281 BC — a practice shared by several cities across Thrace and the Pontic region that found the dead king's monetary image commercially useful long after his kingdom had dissolved. These posthumous issues were essentially trade coinage, their authority resting on recognizability rather than any living ruler's mandate. Byzantion's position controlling the Bosphorus crossing made its silver particularly trusted in Black Sea commerce.

Marinescu's cataloguing distinguishes the Byzantion series by magistrate monograms and control marks, placing this specimen — Müller 233 — in the mid-second century phase of production.