Coins of Alexander the Great
by Andrew McIntyre
In order to understand the coinage of Alexander the
Great, it is necessary first to explain the ancient Greek world.
There were no specific nations and no specific country called Greece
in the ancient world. Greek-speaking people had settled all over
the Mediterranean. They established cities from Spain to the Black
Sea in southern Russia.
Alexander became ruler of Macedonia in 336 BC after the murder of his father
Philip II. Ancient Macedonia was situated in the northeastern area of modern
day Greece. Macedonia had grown strong under Philip II. Even though Alexander
was only 20, he launched a massive military expedition against the Persian
Empire. The area of contention between the Persians and the Greeks was Asia
Minor (modern day Turkey – the Turks had not arrived yet). Most of the coastal
cites of Asia Minor were inhabitated by Greek-speaking
people, but they were ruled by the Persian Empire. Alexander invaded Asia
Minor to liberate the Greeks and drive out the Persians. Alexander’s armies
swept down into Egypt and then circled back, taking territory the whole way
to borders of India. Alexander’s armies defeated every army for 13 years.
While traveling back home through Babylon, Alexander died at the age of 33
in 323 BC. The coins minted under his name from 336 to 323 BC are referred
to as lifetime issues and command a high price today.
After Alexander's death, the newly established Empire was divided up among
Alexander’s generals and his family. There were many kingdoms formed out this
Alexandrian Empire but the three principal kingdoms were the Macedonian Kingdom,
Seleucid Kingdom, and Ptolemy Kingdom. The Macedonian Kingdom covered mainland
Greece, the Seleucid Kingdom was Syria to Afghanistan including parts of Asia
Minor. The Ptolemy Kingdom consisted of Egypt, Israel and Lebanon. The famous
Cleopatra (VII), lover of Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, came
from the Ptolemy royal family. She was the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. The
borders of all these kingdoms changed frequently. The cities throughout this
fractured empire continued to mint coins using Alexander’s name for the next
250 years. These coins are posthumous issues and naturally make up the bulk
of the Alexander coins found today.
The two dominant coins of Alexander were the drachm (drachma) and the tetradrachm
(tetra = 4). The drachm is about 18 mm wide and weighs about 4.2 grams of silver
(size of a penny). The tetradrachm size varies according to when and where
it was minted but ranges from 25-40 mm wide and weighs 17.2 grams of silver
(larger than a quarter). Alexander coins were considered sound money as the
receiver knew that the coin was of a certain weight of silver. The value of
the coin principally came from what it was made of, not who issued
the coin. The weights of the coins were regulated by city officials called
magistrates. It is often their official symbols and monograms that we find
on the coins. Ancient forgers used to coat copper coins with silver and try
to pass them off as pure silver coins. It is not uncommon to find an ancient
banker’s mark or a test cut in ancient coins. By piercing the coin, the person
could tell if the silver ran through the coin. The Alexander coinage was principally
used to pay soldiers, tribute (levies & taxes), and later protection money to the barbarians. It was not for the purpose
of establishing the free flow of commerce. Coins were also made of gold and
bronze, but we will principally deal with the silver issues here. When Alexander
was alive, there were about 26 mints producing his coinage. After his death,
Greek rulers and cities throughout the former Alexandrian Empire produced Alexander
coinage at 52 mints at its peak. In all about 91 different mints produced Alexander
coinage over the 250 years. The last Alexanders were minted at Mesembria around
The Alexander coin has Herakles (or Hercules as the Romans called him) on the
front (obverse). On the back (reverse) was the supreme god, Zeus, who was the
father of Herakles. Zeus sits on his throne holding a scepter and eagle. Although
some people have argued the image of Herakles was Alexander himself, there
is no convincing evidence of this and the face of Herakles is different in
different regions. Herakles was the greatest hero of the Greeks. Born of the
Greek god Zeus and made mortal, Herakles attained divine status by
accomplishing 12 great tasks on Earth known as the 12 Labors of Herakles. The
idea of a man becoming a god obviously was an attractive image for Alexander.
The headdress that appears on the head of Herakles is the lion skin of the
fierce Nemean lion that was killed by Herakles during his first labor.
This is a lifetime issue - 325-323 B.C - The
legs of Zeus are side by side)
are two main styles on the back (reverse).
One has Zeus with his legs side by side and
another style has one leg behind the other.
While most lifetime issues have Zeus with
his legs side by side and most posthumous
issues have one leg behind the other, it
is best to consult a reference book to be
sure as there are exceptions.
is a posthumous issue. One leg of Zeus is
behind the other) © Gorny Mosch.
There are two types of inscriptions found on the reverse of Alexander coins.
The primary inscription is ALEXANDROU (of Alexander) and ALEXANDROU BASILEWS
(of Alexander the King). The "of" refers
to the "coin of Alexander". The title "King" found on certain coins varied according to region and time period. The Greek
speaking people were not partial to the idea of being ruled by any king and
therefore the title is not generally found on Alexander coins of mainland Greece.
Today, our world timeline is based upon the traditional birth date of Jesus
Christ. B.C. is Before Christ and A.D. is Latin for Anno Domino which means
year of our lord. Sometimes this dating system is documented as B.C.E (Before
the Common Era) and C.E (Common Era) to remove the religious terminology but
the origin is the still the same. There was no uniform dating system for the
ancient world. Some kingdoms later dated their coins according to when a ruler
came to power (Ptolemy, Seleucid Kingdoms). Therefore, by knowing when a ruler
was in power, we can date some coins. Most ancient coins, unfortunately, had
no such archaic dating system on them. The Greeks, however, did place a mind
numbing variety of symbols and monograms on many coins. Some monograms were
abbreviations of cities or names of officals, and some still remain a mystery.
Through scholarly investigation
of common coin styles and a little Indiana Jones deciphering, most coins can
be placed into a specific date range and assigned to a particular city or region.
Books and References
The Coinage In The Name Of Alexander The Great and Philip Arrhidaeus by Martin
Jessop Price. This is most detailed book to date on Alexander coins. This book
was published by the British Museum and the Swiss Numismatic Society in 1991.
It costs between $275 to $400, if you can find a copy. I know of only two sources.
The Swiss Numismatic Society and WWW.VANDERDUSSEN.COM in the Netherlands. The
book documents about 4,000 Alexander coins and their variations. It should
be noted that as of 2005, Martin's Price work is 14 years old and he was not
infallible in his interpretations. New evidence has come to light about Alexander
coins since his work was published that would indicate he was possibly incorrect
on some of his conclusions about certains mints and certain coins.
in the Macedonian Coinage of Alexander the
Great by Hyla A. Troxell published by The
American Numismatic Society, New York 1997
is the most recent Alexander coin book. Troxell
follows up on the work done by Martin Price,
but focusing mostly on the large Alexander
Coinage issued in Alexander's homeland of
Macedonia. She presents corrections to Price's
work, revised dating of some coinages based
upon her studies and coin hoards that were
discovered after Martin Price's book was
published. This book should be seen as an
update of Martin Price's work with Troxell
giving her own conclusions. This book is
worthwhile buying and some used copies can
be bought for around $40.
Alexander tetradrachms range from $50 to $3,000 depending on condition, rarity
and desirability. Alexander drachms range from $40 to $400. It is best to research
and attribute the coin before you buy it as sellers can make mistakes in cataloging
coins. The cost difference between a quality Alexander coin that is a lifetime
issue versus a posthumous one can be substantial. If you don’t have the reference
book, try visiting WWW.COINARCHIVES.COM. If a seller references a coin, use
that reference in the search box and see what comes up.
is important to remember there are Alexanders
that are genuine but may look different from
the coin referenced. Martin Price in his
Alexander book was not trying to document
every Alexander coin but a representation
mostly of coins in the British Museum. For
example, for the mint of Perga, Martin Price
documented 26 Alexanders in photographs and
33 Alexanders in descriptions. Hans Colin
in his die study of Perga* documented 361
Alexander varieties made up of 73 different
obverses and 217 reverses. If the coin is
a slight variation of the referenced coin,
a seller will often indicate that by using
“var” after the reference.
Alexander coins principally come on the market from existing collections or
from newly discovered hoards. In the ancient world, there were no banks. If
you had money and needed to keep it safe, you buried it. Sometimes the owner
could not come back to claim it and then it sat in the ground 2,000 years until
some farmer’s plough ran into it. Hoard coins go to auction houses and are
mostly bought by dealers.
Die Munzen von Perge in Pamphylien aus hellenistishcer
Zeit : Hans Colin 1996 Tyll Kroha