Lysimachus struck these coins in the name and image of Alexander the Great as a deliberate political maneuver — associating himself with his former commander's divine authority to legitimize his rule over Thrace and western Asia Minor. The Lampsakos mint was one of his most productive, sitting on the Hellespont and generating revenue from one of the ancient world's most heavily trafficked straits.
Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, the last major engagement between the Diadochi, and his kingdom dissolved almost immediately after. Coins from his final years at Lampsakos were still circulating widely across the Aegean decades after his death.
Lysimachus struck these coins in the name and image of Alexander the Great as a deliberate political maneuver — associating himself with his former commander's divine authority to legitimize his rule over Thrace and western Asia Minor. The Lampsakos mint was one of his most productive, sitting on the Hellespont and generating revenue from one of the ancient world's most heavily trafficked straits.
Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, the last major engagement between the Diadochi, and his kingdom dissolved almost immediately after. Coins from his final years at Lampsakos were still circulating widely across the Aegean decades after his death.