Tetradrachm - Lysimachus Sardis

Lysimachus struck these coins not in his own name but in Alexander's — a calculated political act. By placing the deified Alexander on the coinage, he legitimized his own rule over territories he had seized after Diadochi infighting, projecting continuity with Macedonian authority rather than the rule of a general turned king. Sardis, as a former Achaemenid administrative center with deeply entrenched commercial networks, made it a logical western mint for this propaganda campaign.

Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, yet these coins continued circulating across the Aegean world for generations — hoards from the Black Sea coast regularly surface with specimens worn smooth from decades of post-mortem use.