Lysimachus began striking these tetradrachms at Lysimacheia — the city he founded on the Thracian Chersonese — as part of a calculated program to legitimize his rule after the fragmentation of Alexander's empire. By placing Alexander's deified image on his coinage rather than his own, he positioned himself as the rightful heir to Macedonian authority, a claim he pressed militarily until his death at Corupedium in 281 BC, where Seleucus I defeated and killed him, ending the Thracian kingdom entirely.
Lysimachus began striking these tetradrachms at Lysimacheia — the city he founded on the Thracian Chersonese — as part of a calculated program to legitimize his rule after the fragmentation of Alexander's empire. By placing Alexander's deified image on his coinage rather than his own, he positioned himself as the rightful heir to Macedonian authority, a claim he pressed militarily until his death at Corupedium in 281 BC, where Seleucus I defeated and killed him, ending the Thracian kingdom entirely.