Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetradrachm - Lysimachus Lampsacus
| Issuer | Kings of Thrace |
|---|---|
| Year | 297 BC - 281 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated three-quarters left upon a throne, her body turned slightly toward the viewer. She rests her left elbow upon a large round shield decorated with a boss, while her extended right hand holds Nike, who faces left and crowns the royal legend. A long spear is placed transversely behind the throne, with its point directed downward. In the inner left field, a monogram appears as a mint control symbol. The exergue contains a crescent with horns pointing to the left. The Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ ('of King Lysimachus') is distributed in the fields to either side of Athena. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Lysimachus struck these coins not merely as currency but as a deliberate political act — by placing the deified Alexander on his coinage, he claimed a legitimizing connection to his former commander that none of his rival Diadochi could easily contest. Lampsacus, a major mint city on the Hellespont, was strategically critical: controlling the strait meant controlling grain shipments from the Black Sea to the Aegean, and the mint's output funded that control directly.
Lysimachus died at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, fighting Seleucus I, effectively ending his dynasty. Yet his coinage continued circulating — and being imitated — for well over a century after his death.