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Tetradrachm - Lysimachus Sestos
| Issuer | Kings of Thrace |
|---|---|
| Year | 297 BC - 281 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Reverse description | Athena Nikephoros seated left on a throne, wearing helmet and aegis, holding in her extended right hand a figure of Nike who crowns the royal name inscribed in the field. Her left arm rests upon a large round shield decorated with a lion's head boss. A transverse spear leans against her left shoulder behind her. The two-line Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ ('of King Lysimachus') flanks the figure, and control monograms appear in the inner left field and on the throne. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ |
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| Additional information |
Lysimachus struck tetradrachms bearing the deified image of Alexander the Great as a deliberate political act — framing himself as Alexander's rightful heir at a moment when the Diadochi were carving up the Macedonian empire through constant warfare. The Sestos mint, positioned on the European side of the Hellespont, was strategically critical: controlling it meant controlling the crossing between Europe and Asia, and the coins produced there funded the military apparatus that held that chokepoint.
Lysimachus was killed at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, and the Sestos mint closed with his reign. Coins from this mint are scarcer than those from his larger production centers at Lampsacus and Amphipolis.