Alexander the Great, Bronze Unit - 323 to 319 BCE - Macedon/Greece - 9/13/23 Auction

Includes glass top display box.

Obverse: Head of Apollo wearing taenia

Reverse: Nude youth on horseback to right

Attribution: Price 2131 (From the British Museum catalogue "Coinage in the Name of Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaeus" by Martin J. Price)

This Macedonian bronze coin was minted in the name of Alexander III, better known as Alexander the Great. The denomination of these coins has been referred to as either a hemiobol or a tetrachalkon by modern scholars, but either way the value would have been one twelfth of a drachm.

Alexander's military prowess firmly cemented him into legend. At just sixteen, Alexander lead the Macedonian army to a swift win against a Thracian uprising. He not only drove them out, but colonized their territory with Greek settlers and renamed it Alexandropolis.

Of course, this same boy would grow up to conquer Greece, Egypt, Persia, and everything in between. But Alexander had a dark side. He was known for being power hungry and tyrannical, often torturing and killing those who spoke against him. Nevertheless, Alexander was struck down suddenly from unknown causes at the age of just 32. Though his legacy is complicated as it is vast, few others have changed the world so much in such little time.

All purchases include a Certificate of Authenticity. You will receive the exact item in the photos.