Essays On The Coinage of Alexander The Great / by Alfred R. Bellinger

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 20:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.
39015008384649
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#cc-by-nc-sa-4.0
ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
By
ALFRED R. BELLINGER
NUMISMATIC STUDIES
No. ii
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY
NEW YORK
1963
Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 20:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015008384649

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BY
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY
NEW YORK
PRINTED IN GERMANY AT J. J. AUGUSTIN, GLUCKSTADT
Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

NUMISMATIC STUDIES
No. ii


CONTENTS
Preface v
Abbreviations vii
The King's Money i
The King's Finances 35
The Successors and the Cities 80
The Sequence of Events 94
Bibliography 114
Index to the Plates 131
PREFACE
The study of Alexander's coinage has been pursued for a long time and has
interested a number of eminent numismatists. It is, of course, merely a part
of the study of Alexander and a part which omits or only slightly illumines the
most famous aspects of that famous man. Yet the coins have some things to
show which the texts pass over in silence and their evidence is as yet far from
exhausted. The prodigious number of coins still in existence which bear his
name and types has made it natural that a large part of the interest of those
who have dealt with them should be devoted to trying to determine where they
were struck and when. Much has been accomplished in this primary task of
arrangement but much is still to be done. And beyond this question is the more
fundamental one of what part the coinage played in the total functioning of
Alexander's empire. We need to know not only where the coins were struck and
when but by whose agency, in what quantity, with what purpose and to what
effect. These pages raise and discuss some facets of the problem. They are
essays only and far from a definitive treatment. In some cases they are pre-
mature, propounding questions which further evidence will presently resolve,
and sometimes new evidence has accumulated during the time the book was
being composed. I must beg the reader's indulgence on the plea that what I am
trying to do is not to settle questions so much as to raise them in the hope that
they may ultimately be settled by the combined efforts of many with new
material at their command and with different points of view which may sup-
plement or invalidate my own. I have set down the phenomena that seemed
to me most important from the beginning of Alexander's coinage to the end of
its imitations. If the essays should attract new students to the Alexandrine
coinage and somewhat advance the understanding of the experts they will,
I believe, have justified their existence.

The book has been a pleasure to write. It was begun and finished at the
Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, for me certainly the ideal place
for such a composition. The thought of my colleagues there and in the American
Numismatic Society will always color these essays with the happiest memories.
As in other cases, I have submitted my ideas to my most valuable mentors:
E. S. G. Robinson, Henri Seyrig and Margaret Thompson, not always con-
vincing them but always profiting by their counsel.
ABBREVIATIONS
BCH
BMC
Beloch
CAR
CIA
CIG
Cohen
Demetrius
Demanhur
ESM
Gaebler
HN
IG
JHS
JIAN
JRS
Kyparissia
MN
Myriandros
NC
NNM
NZ
Noe
OGIS
Olympia
REG
RN

RIC
Reattribution
SNG
Sicyon
Sidon and Ake
Sylloge
Tarsos
Traite
WSM
ZfN
Bulletin de Correspondence hellenique.
Catalogues of Greek and Roman Coins in the British Museum.
Karl Julius Beloch, Griechische Geschichte IV. 1, Berlin, 1925.
Cambridge Ancient History.
Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum.
Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.
Henri Cohen, Description historique des Monnaies de I'Empire romain.
E. T. Newell, The Coinages of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards II. Demanhur 1905.
E. T. Newell, The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints from Seleucus I to
Antioch'.is III.
Hugo Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen von Makedonia und Paeonia.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum.
Inscriptiones Graecae.
Journal of Hellenic Studies.
Journal international d'Archeologie numismatique.
Journal of Roman Studies.
E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards I. Introduction and Kyparissia Hoard.
Museum Notes American Numismatic Society.
E. T. Newell, Myriandros Kat'isson.
Numismatic Chronicle.
Numismatic Notes and Monographs American Numismatic Society.
Numismatische Zeitschrift.
S. P. Noe, A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards Ed. 2.
Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae.
E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards IV. Olympia.
Revue des Etudes grecques.
Roman Imperial Coinage.
Revue numismatique.
E.T. Newell, The Reattribution of Certain Tetradrachms ofAlexanderThe Great
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum.
S. P. Noe, The Alexander Coinage of Sicyon arranged from Notes of Edward
THE KING'S MONEY
Alexander's coins are inscribed AAEEANAPOY or AAEEANAPOY
They are the king's money. Not in the way that the laws are the king's laws:
abstractions of which he is the responsible source with the same relations to all
men. Nor in the way that his sword and horse are the king's: by personal,
absolute right, capable of being modified only by himself through gift or loan.
Without the king's act, entirely without his knowledge, a man may acquire
title to coins exactly as he can to any other piece of property. Doubtless the
king could take them away from him, as he could take away his cattle or his
house or his wife. Legally a man's money is no more vulnerable than any of his
other possessions. There may have been a time when coins were the property
of the king in an immediate and personal sense. Recently the interesting
suggestion has been made that they were not originally intended for currency,
but for payment of the Lydian king's mercenaries and that circulation was an
incidental and unforeseen consequence.2 It is interesting to guess at the process
by which the secondary function absorbed the primary one.3 It must have
been early, for the silver of the Greek cities was surely intended as currency
from the beginning. In any case, by Alexander's time all thought of personal
connection between the king and his money had long since been forgotten.
To one of his subjects the genitive on gold and silver must have meant that
the coins were struck by authority of the king, from his metal and that they
were the medium by which his government paid his obligations and received
his dues. They would be legal tender wherever his power extended, for both
types and weights were uniform.
Their bullion value was supposed to equal their nominal value: a silver
tetradrachm was taken to be four drachmae of silver. Yet, if that had been
1 The earliest issues have the name only without the title. At some mints, e.g., Sidon and Ake,

the title is not used at all. Its adoption is not simultaneous in the cities where it occurs and it
evidently has no constitutional significance, for sometimes an issue with the title will be succeeded
by one without (e.g., E. T. Newell, Myriandros-Alexandria Kat'isson, New York, 1920, p. 33,
nos. 21, 22). The order and placing of the words vary.
2 R. M. Cook, "Speculations on the Origins of Currency," Historia 1958, pp. 257-262.
8 Scholars writing about currency will remember with pleasure the dictum of Aristotle that
the theory of finance is a liberal study but the practice is not. Politics I,4. 1. He had no doubt
that philosophers could be rich if they wanted to but "that is not what they are interested in."
1,4.5.
2 ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
strictly true, the whole expense of manufacture would have been borne by the
king. Originally that may have been so. A man who was accustomed to receive
his pay in electrum by weight (and by metal content if that was determined)
would hardly be satisfied with a less amount simply because it bore a device
when there were still unmarked dumps in circulation of full weight. There must
have been some critical point at which the cost of manufacture was transferred
from the minting authority to the user and there is no way of telling when that
came, but it was before Alexander. His tetradrachms were in competition with
those of Athens whose minting, as we know, was an important economic asset
of the state. She certainly would not consciously lose by the process, and the
simplest way to break even was to reduce the weight of each coin a little so
that the part subtracted should be metal equal to the cost of manufacture.
That is presumably what Athens did and what Alexander did also.4 How much
the deduction was we do not know. The tetradrachm was supposed to weigh
17.62 grams.5 Four drachmae of silver must have weighed somewhat more,
but while the coins themselves conform to standard very well, such other
weights as are preserved are not nearly so uniform, so that the attempt to find
the weight of the official non-monetary drachm is not likely to be successful.
No doubt it was all governed by law and the difference a matter of record. We
know, from a much later period, what precautions the Athenians] took to keep
their weights and standards true; we know also that they were perfectly
acquainted with a coin weight which was different from the commercial
4 The term "seigniorage" is an anachronism, but we are driven to employ it because we do not
know what word the Greeks used. The amount of seigniorage in mediaeval and modem times
might be enough not only to cover costs but to provide a revenue for the sovereign (the Bureau of
the Mint of the United States is reported to have made a profit of over $45,000,000 in 1957). But

that is under conditions where the coinage does not have to compete with others whose bullion
content is higher. Leaving out of consideration all other Greek coinages, Athens and Alexander
were alike in the intention that their coins should be accepted widely and if they were to invade
territory accustomed to an economy of barter it must be because their bullion value was only
slightly lower than their face value. Athens presents the conditions where it would be easiest to
calculate the expense of striking, and where that expense would be least: invariable types and
the use of each die until it was worn out. The Alexander coinage was almost as simple: the types
were invariable but the varying symbols on the reverse meant that occasionally, at the end of an
official's term, there may have been reverse dies which were not worn out but which must be
abandoned or recut for the use of his successor.
5 A. S. Hemmy, "The Weight-standards of Ancient Greece and Persia," Iraq 1938, pp. 65-81,
gives a statistical analysis of a number of series and calculates standards of which the following
are of importance to us: Persian daric 8.43 grams, siglos 8.52 grams or 8.26 grams (two standards);
Philip gold stater 8.68 grams, tetradrachm 14.70 grams; Alexander stater 8.66 grams, tetradrachm
17.62 grams.
THE KING'S MONEY 3
weight.6 If the Macedonian citizens were aware that the government was
issuing coins of less than full weight they probably cared very little. The
conveniences of a money economy were worth much more than the amount
involved.
The king's money was struck in three metals and in a variety of denomin-
ations of which the following are the most important:
Gold Stater
Head of Athena right in crested Corinthian helmet
Rev. Winged Nike standing left, holding wreath in right hand, stylis in
left PLATE I, 5
Silver Tetradrachm
Head of young Herakles right in lion's skin headdress
Rev. Zeus seated left on throne, eagle on outstretched right hand, with
left hand leaning on long scepter. PLATE I, 1
Bronze Unit
Head of young Herakles right in lion's skin headdress
Rev. Bow in case and club PLATE I, 29
All these normally bear symbols on the reverse which distinguish the mints
and the issues.
The types of the gold have occasioned much comment. They are new to the
Macedonian coinage and are usually, though not universally, regarded as
having an Athenian origin. To be sure, their general propriety to Alexander is
sometimes held to be sufficient explanation without closer investigation into
details. Percy Gardner represented this point of view:7 the types of Philip's
gold (PLATE I, 1) "were by no means suited to the ambitious and soaring

mind of Alexander," who therefore selected Pallas "the patroness of the
besiegers of Ilium" and a warlike Nike with a "trophy-stand." The curiosity
of other scholars, however, has not been so easily satisfied, and a considerable
literature has grown up about the identification of Pallas and Nike. In 1847
6 IGII1,476.1013. Attic Decree on Measures and Weights, end of 2nd centurybeginning of
1st century B.C. August Boeckh has an elaborate commentary on this in Staatshaushaltung der
Athener, 3rd ed., pp. 318-332, which was accepted by all subsequent writers until Louis Robert,
tudes de Numismatique grecque, Paris, 1951, pp. 105-135, proved that lTE9avT|96pou Spaxucrf
which had caused much learned discussion were coins of the Athenian New Style. It was un-
fortunately not part of Robert's plan to deal with the arithmetical aspects of the inscription which
make nonsense as it appears in IG. (Indeed, he added a small item of confusion by printing SKOT&V
8pxnAsinstead of SKorr6v7revT^KovTa6poxiJiAs in the last line of the text on p. 116). O. Viedebantt,
"Der athenische VolksbeschluB iiber MaB und Gewicht," Hermes 1916, pp. 121-144, has taken
heroic means to make sense, inserting two lines which we must assume the Abbe Fourmont missed
in making the copy which is now our only witness to the text.
7 The Types of Greek Coins, Cambridge, 1883, p. 188.
Charles Lenormant8 deduced from comparison of the staters with the heads
of Athena on vases and the later bronze coins of Athens that the goddess was
Athena Promachus, Pheidias' heroic bronze statue which stood on the Acropolis
between the Erechtheium and the Propylaea, a dedication, according to
Pausanias,9 from the spoils of the Persians defeated at Marathon. In 1890
Ernest Babelon10 was quite willing to accept this and Charles Seltman11
regarded the head as probably a free adaptation of Athena Promachus, perhaps
convinced by the hearty support of this solution by Philip Lederer.12 Considering
the uncertainties in regard to this celebrated statue, a positive identification
is hardly safe,13 but the other suggestions that have been made are not persua-
sive.
1) Prokesch-Osten,14 followed by E. J. Seltman,15 put forward as a possible
original the ancient Palladium of Pella. This is met by Lederer16 with the
objection that Alexander's coins had and were intended to have an ecumenical
importance and an obscure local deity would not suit his purpose at all.17 It
may be added that when Pallas appears on the obverse of Pella's own coins18 it
is in the form of Athena Parthenus in obvious imitation of the New Style silver
of Athens.19
2} Babelon, recanting his previous acceptance of Athena Promachus be-
8 "Lettre a M. J. de Witte sur trois nouvaux Vases historiques," Annali dell' Institute
Archeologico 1847, Pp. 348-407.
I. 28.2.
10 Les Rots de Syrie, Paris, 1890, p. xxvi.
11 Greek Coins, London, 1933 and 1955, pp. 204f.
12 "Ein Goldstater Alexanders des GroBen," ZfN 1922, pp. 185-205.
18 Gisela Richter, The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, New Haven, 1930. It is true that

Behrendt Pick, in discussing much later representations of a bust of Athena ("Die 'Promachos' des
Pheidias und die Kerameikos-Lampen," Mitteilungen des deutschen archaologischen Instituts,
Athenische Abteilung 1931, pp. 9-74) says (p. 61) "One can think of no original for a head in
Corinthian helmet at Athens except the Promachos"; but to appeal to this for support of the
identification involves a petitio principii: what proves that the original of Alexander's Pallas was
at Athens?
14 NZ 1871, pp. 52 f.
16 "Rare Gold Staters with Types of Alexander III," NZ 1913, p. 205.
19 Op. cit., p. 197.
17 This is not to deny that the type might have had local significance in various places, but
its significance must not have been local only.
18 Hugo Gaebler, Die antiken Munzen von Makedonia und Paionia, II, Berlin, 1935, PI. XVIII,
26; XIX, 4.
19 There is a fighting Athena on the reverse of a late bronze of Pella which is one example of
a type introduced by Seleucus I. How insecure is the ground for identifying this as Athena Alkis
or Alkidemos is made clear by Leon Lacroix, Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies grec-
ques, Liege, 1949, pp. 12of.
THE KING'S MONEY 5
lieved that the type was Pallas "des monnaies de Corinthe"20 in which he was
followed by Svoronos21 who thought that the adoption of "Pallas Corinthien-
ne" may have resulted from a decision of the Council of Corinth and who could
not believe that relations between Athens and Alexander were such as to make
his borrowing a device from her possible. This is a good example of an attempt
to exalt likelihood into evidence. If there were no documents this might be
regarded as an interesting possibility which, from frequent repetition, would
come to be accepted as a fact. But here there is evidence, and one only has to
compare the heads of Athena on the coins of Corinth (PLATE II, 1) and of
Alexander to see instantly that it is impossible that the latter should be derived
from the former. If Alexander's goddess had been supposed to be the same
person as that on the Corinthian silver she would have been made to look the
same. What other way would there have been for men to recognize her?
3) In a recent study of the whole problem of Alexander's imperial currency
Gerhard Kleiner22 urges, on grounds of historical probability, that the goddess
is Athena of Ilium and that it was not until after his visit to Ilium that Alex-
ander began to strike his own types on gold.23 Kleiner's work is a connected
whole and cannot fairly be disposed of piecemeal; it will be treated more
thoroughly presently. But it may be said here that, on purely numismatic
grounds, his suggestion is a weak one. Athena Ilias, as she is known to us from
many coins (PLATE II, 2,3), was a deity of very special appearance: she wore a
polos, over her shoulder she held a filleted spear, and in her other hand was a
distaff; that is, she was an Anatolian deity with more oriental than Greek
features. If Alexander had had her in mind he could have produced a head
with a polos. Now it is true, as Kleiner says, that on later coins of Ilium the
head of Athena has other forms, one of which is like that on the staters. But

the first coins have on the reverse the cult statue of Athena Ilias; on the
obverse a head of Athena with a round Attic helmet (PLATE II, 3). These were
issued under Lysimachus; the head in Corinthian helmet comes later under
Seleucus I, again with Athena Ilias as a reverse type. To assume that there
was an image at Ilium of the appearance of Athena Promachus is purely
gratuitous; there were two forms of Athena known earlier on the coins and one
of them is clearly named Athena Ilias on the 2nd century silver24 (PLATE II, 2).
20 "Le Stylis, Attribut naval sur les Monnaies," Melanges numismatiques, 4, Paris, 1912, p. 213.
21 "Stylides, Ancres hierae, Aphlasta, Stoloi, Akrostolia, Embola, Proembola et Totems
marins," JIAN 1914, pp. 115 f.
22 Alexanders Reichmiinzen, Berlin, 1949, p. 19.
23 This theory had already been advanced by Esprit Marie Cousinery, Voyage dans la Mace-
doine, Paris, 1831, Vol. I, p. 231.
24 Cf. A. R. Bellinger, Troy. Supplementary Monographs 2, The Coins, Princeton, 1961.
A user who knew both Athena Promachus and Athena Ilias must conclude
that Alexander's type referred to the former and not to the latter.25 An Athenian
model for the obverse of the gold is therefore still the most likely.26
The reverse is quite as worthy of remark. Nike has a long and interesting
career on ancient coins, but none of her previous appearances has any connec-
tion with Macedonia. This in itself raises no difficulty, and when the object in
Nike's left hand was thought to be the frame for the erection of a trophy, it
seemed a most appropriate augury of the future to which Alexander was
entitled if any man ever was. But it was early noticed that the object assumed
a great variety of forms and Babelon presently showed that it was, in fact,
a stylis,27 which he took to be an instrument for propping up the aphlaston
on the stern of a Greek ship. The naval significance was accepted by Ernst
Assmann28 who asserted however that what was represented was actually a
Phoenician standard, borne on the admiral's ship. Some part of his argument
was met by G. F. Hill in the same number of the Zeitschrift fur Numismatikw
25 Indeed, Kleiner in a later passage (pp. 31 f.) seems to me to compromise his position
strangely: Harpalus the treasurer must have been influential in the choice of types; Harpalus
may have become acquainted with Athens on his first mysterious flight to Megara in 333 and he
was inclined to benevolence toward Athens by the celebrated Athenian hetairai Pythionike and
Glykera; he was therefore probably responsible for the Athenian character of the gold types.
"Durch Harpalos wird es auch am ehesten moglich, die Goldstatere mit Athen in Zusammenhang
zu bringen." But then why introduce the Trojan episode at all?
26 There is an interesting detail of the obverse type. The bowl of the helmet of Athena, when
it is decorated, may carry one of four different kinds of ornament which have been discussed by
G. F. Hill ("Alexander the Great and the Persian Lion-Gryphon," JHS 1923, pp. 156-161). The
first, and much the commonest, is a serpent in which Lederer saw a symbol of Athena (ZfN 1922,

p. 195). The second is a remarkable animal with straight wings, the body of a lion and the head
of a bird. This type of gryphon belongs to the period after Alexander's death and to Asia Minor,
Phoenicia and Babylon. A rarer variant has the head of a lion, which is sometimes horned, with
curved wings. "The lion-gryphon" says Hill, "was conceived by the Greek as the enemy par
excellence of the Persian." It appears at Ace-Ptolemais and Tarsus, at Sidon (or perhaps Damascus)
and possibly in Cyprus, and its dates suggest that it may have been used for a short time as a
symbol of the destruction of the Persian power. The rarest ornament is a Greek sphinx, used at
Babylon and perhaps elsewhere in the East. If it is symbolic its significance is now lost.
Professor Machteld Mellink of Bryn Mawr whose attention I called to this material points
out that the horned lion-headed griffin occurs by itself in contexts where it is surely apotropaic
and so can hardly be called "the enemy par excellence of the Persians." At the same time it ap-
pears to be unknown outside Persian art so that on Alexander's coins it shows familiarity with
a Persian art form. Of the other animals, all traditional as decorations on Athena's helmet, the
most striking thing is the galloping pose of the bird-headed griffin. But there is no sure explanation
of the significance of any of them.
27 Melanges numismatiques, I, Paris, 1892, pp. 203-217.
28 "Das Stabkreuz auf griechischen Miinzen," ZfN 1906, pp. 215-226.
28 "Nochmals das Stabkreuz," ibid., pp. 331-334.
THE KING'S MONEY 7
and Babelon also answered him in a discussion much extended from his first
essay30 which proved that the object was not purely Phoenician. Its function,
however, was hardly adequately treated until 1914 when Jean Svoronos31
argued with a wealth of illustration that the stylis was an image of the protect-
ing deity set up on the stern of a ship. Whatever interpretations may be
advanced in the future, one thing is clear: what Nike holds in her left hand
has a naval significance. That does raise a difficulty, for it is well known that,
at his accession, Alexander had no fleet and therefore no reason to select a type
that meant victory at sea.
There are three ways in which this dilemma is met: 1) by assuming that
Alexander looked confidently ahead to victory at sea; 2) by assuming that he
did not strike this gold at the beginning of his career but at a later time when
it would have been appropriate; 3) by assuming that the stylis was part of the
original on which Alexander's type was based and that he copied it as it was
without concerning himself about its propriety in detail.
1) Is by its nature incapable of proof, but certainly not very likely unless
at the beginning of his career he expected to have the help of some other naval
power. We do not know of any plans of his looking to control of the sea.
2) Has been argued more than once. Its acceptance means either that
Alexander struck no gold in the first years of his reign or that he continued to
issue the types of his father (PLATE I,1-3). There is, I think, no defender of
the first alternative now, for it is clear that Alexander cannot have conquered
Asia Minor without money, and the mines of Macedonia were still providing
gold. We may assume that the second alternative is the only one which needs
to be argued. It is generally assumed that the capture of Tyre is the point at
which such an announcement of naval supremacy would become appropriate.

That is Assmann's theory in the article referred to: in 332 Alexander found
himself in the position of the Phoenician admiral and could adopt his insignia.
In replying to Assmann, Babelon makes the interesting observation that by
332 there had been no sea battles (for the capture of Tyre can hardly be con-
sidered such) whereas the army of the Great King had been defeated at Issus
and one would be inclined to expect that the real victory would be commemo-
rated on any device adopted then rather than a strategic situation which was
not, in fact, of capital importance to his great conquests.
Assman is not the first to have put forward the theory that Alexander's
coinage does not begin at the beginning of his reign. It appears as early as
E. M. Cousinery in whose Voyage dans la Macedoine (Paris, 1831) there is a
section, "Monnaies d'Alexandre" (pp. 229-270). It is naive and careless in
30 Melanges numismatiques, 4, pp. 199-237.
31 JIAN 1914, pp. 81-152, esp. 115-118.
detail (particularly in regard to the correspondence of text and illustrations)
but it advances the doctrine which has had fuller and abler treatment since:
that the first coins struck by Alexander were not those with his own types but
a posthumous continuation of those of his father. "Nous ne pouvonsnous
refuser a croire qu'en entrant dans 1'Asie, il ne soit borne a mettre en emission
la monnaie de son pere dans les trois metaux" (pp. 230f.). This is rejected by
Miiller32 but has been revived in an impressive presentation: Kleiner's Alex-
anders Reichmunzen. It will be well, however, to deal first with Cousinery's
earlier and less important treatment, though this will make it necessary to
anticipate our discussion of the silver.
Cousinery's theory is founded on two convictions: first, that the head on
the obverse of the silver is invariably a portrait of Alexander. "Cette tete ne
presente rien d'ideal" he says (p. 236); he finds complete uniformity not only
on the coins struck during Alexander's lifetime but also with the head in
elephant-skin headdress issued by Ptolemy (PLATE II, 4) and that with the
horns of Ammon issued by Lysimachus (PLATE II, 5), which he rightly recogni-
zes as likenesses not of the kings who minted them but of their deified leader.
Of these he gives engravings, but none of the Alexander types to let the reader
judge whether they are of invariable style. He does, indeed, remark that
the flans of the coins of Macedonia after its division by the Romans are
thinner and broader, but there is no indication that he used this or any other
criterion to distinguish the epochs to which Alexander coins belong. Apparently
he found the same face on the earliest Macedonian silver and on the spread-flan
tetradrachms which succeeded the collapse of the Seleucid power. His second
conviction is the surprising one that it was the Greek cities, grateful for their
deliverance from the Persians, which selected the types and manufactured the

coins. A modern numismatist would hardly feel called on to refute this but, of
course, if it were true it would mean that the silver types could not have begun
until the cities had been freed. The gold, as already remarked, he thinks was
subsequent to Alexander's visit to Ilium. The appearance of Athena on the
obverse would be a natural consequence of the devotion there paid to her by
the conqueror; the Nike of the reverse appears to be no problem to the author.
After the Granicus Alexander could use Persian gold and silver, but he
continued to issue his father's types "soit par respect pour sa memoire, soit a
cause du credit que ces monnaies avaient acquis partout ou le nom de Philippe
etait parvenu. Ce que nous le prouve c'est la grande quantite de ces pieces
qu'on ne cesse de decouvrir dans toute 1'Asie" (p. 231). This last remark is the
only appearance of what can fairly be called evidence in a fabric of conjecture,
and it is evidence which we can test to some extent. It is essential to distinguish
32 L. Miiller, Numismatique d'Alexandra le Grand, Copenhagen, 1855, p. X4. n. 24.
THE KING'S MONEY 9
between the gold and silver. The gold of Philip achieved a great success as an
international medium and its popularity was such that it certainly was issued
posthumously.33 The wide currency of the staters is shown by the hoards in
which they occur. There are 19 such hoards listed by Noe:34 they come from
Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Italy and
Sicily.35 Philip's silver, on the other hand, had a more restricted territory.
Among the barbarians of the north it was well received, so that from the mint
of Amphipolis these types also were issued posthumously.36 The great number
of Celtic imitations, much commoner than those copied from Alexander, is
testimony to the success of the originals in that direction. But if the crossing to
Asia and the early campaigns there were financed with Philip's silver as well as
his gold, which is essential to Cousinery's theory, the hoards containing his
silver should be conspicuous in Asia Minor. There are 24 such hoards, and they
come from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Sicily.37 It cannot be said that there
is any lack of evidence from the territory with which we are concerned. From
Asia Minor, the adjacent islands, and north Syria Noe's list has 140 hoards,
and of these there are no less than 17 which contain silver of Alexander.38 And
not one silver coin of Philip! This is surely enough to justify us in asking "If
Philip's silver was used in the first campaigns, where is it?"
Kleiner deals with Alexander's coinage as a whole, which nobody had done
since Miiller. He has a familiarity with the literary sources which numismatists
in general would do very well to match. He has supported his thesis with great
learning and ingenuity, assembling much material on iconography with which
also numismatists should be better acquainted than they are. It is quite im-
possible to do justice to the work in any resume since it is a large body of related
details but, though I feel called upon to disagree with him, I should like to do

him as little injustice as possible.
Kleiner's thesis is that the imperial coinagesilver as well as goldwas
inaugurated at the festival at Tyre in the spring of 331 after Alexander's return
33 Margaret Thompson and A. R. Bellinger, "A Hoard of Alexander Drachms," Yak Classical
Studies, XIV, 1955, pp. 3-45, the conspectus of the Alexander mints of Lampsakos, Abydos,
Teos, Kolophon, Magnesia and Sardis (pp. 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 27).
34 Sydney P. Noe, A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards, 2nd ed. (NNM 78), New York, 1937.
The hoards are cited by his numbers.
36 Bulgaria, 526, 980; Romania, 46, 624; Greece, 267, 339, 455; Asia Minor 637, 841; Cyprus,
600; Syria, 133, 882; Egypt, 89, 322, 430; Italy, 1045; Sicily, 170, 1093, 1098.
36 E. T. Newell, Reattribution of Certain Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great, New York,
1912, pp. 12-23.
37 Bulgaria, 38,192, 446, 447, 481, 526, 866, 980; Romania, 286; Greece, 49, 69, 339, 461, 466,
533. 592. 595, 669, 783, 834, 844; Sicily, 21, 170, 1164.
38 20, 29, 30, 31, 40, 51, 67, 79, 82, 475, 488, 603, 846, 925, 926, 991, 1033.
1o ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
from Egypt.39 It was at that time that Harpalus, induced by Alexander to
return from his flight to Megara, was reinstated as treasurer. It is, of course, an
attractive idea that so large and important a system should have been planned
in advance and put into operation all at once, and the second visit to Tyre
would certainly be an appropriate moment for such an innovation. But Kleiner
does not rely on this appropriateness alone. Like others, he maintains the im-
probability of Alexander's using Nike as a device before the capture of Tyre
(pp. 12, 20, 21); he denies that Pallas is a probable deity for him to have
honored in the earliest years of his reign, before his visit to Troy (pp. 18, 19);
and he adds a more complicated psychological argument. In 197 B.C., to
celebrate the freeing of the Greeks, gold pieces were struck with the portrait
of Flamininus on the obverse, and on the reverse, with the inscription T. QVINCTI,
an imitation of Alexander's Nike with a palm substituted for the stylis (PLATE
II, 6).40 Kleiner regards this to be a presentation of Flamininus the Liberator
as an equivalent for Alexander the Liberator. But he believes that if this type
had been employed by Alexander at the beginning of his reign it would have
been remembered as the money of Alexander the Destroyer of Thebes and so
altogether unsuitable for the model of a type in honor of emancipation, whereas
if it had been introduced after his freeing of the Greek cities of Asia Minor
there would have been no such objection (pp. 5, 6).41
These arguments, to my mind, are based on probability only and are
therefore bound to fail if confronted with evidence to the contrary. And we
have contrary evidence in three places. The first is the absence of Philip's
silver in hoards from Asia Minor, already discussed in connection with Cou-
sinery. The other two are alike. In discussing the Alexander coinage of Tarsus42
and Myriandrus43 Newell shows how directly it was based on the coinage of the

Persian satrap Mazaeus which preceded it. Now Alexander entered Tarsus
September 3, 333 and won the battle of Issus November 12 of the same year.44
If coins were issued from those mints as soon after falling into Alexander's
hands as dies could be cut, obviously the theory that the first appearance of his
39 Arrian III, 6.
40 Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen von Makedonia und Paionia, II, PI. XXXVI, 17, 18.
41 There is a parallel argument affecting the use of his silver types by Greek cities celebrating
their liberation from Seleucid domination after 189 B.C.
42 Tarsos under Alexander, New York, 1919. The point had been made long before by J. P.
Six, "Le Satrap Mazaios," NC 1884, pp. 97-159. P. 101, "les premieres monnaies d'Alexandre,
frappees en Asie, font immediatement suite a celles de Mazaios;" p. 102, "La done ou finissent les
emissions de Mazaios, commencent celles d'Alexandre. II n'y a pas de lacune apparente."
43 Myriandros Kat'isson, New York, 1920.
44 Marcel Dieulafoy, "La Bataille d'lssus, analyse critique d'un travail manuscrit du Com-
mandant Bourgeois," Memoires de I'Institut national de France, 1914, pp. 41-76.
THE KING'S MONEY 1
types was in the spring of 331 must be abandoned. Newell does not undertake
to prove that the Greek coins follow the Persian ones immediately, though he
certainly believed it.45 But there are only two other possibilities: either the
mints were idle from 333 to 331 or, conformable to Kleiner's general theory,
there were intervening issues bearing Philip's types. In the first case, some
reason ought to be alleged; in the second, the issues ought to be identified.
Unless or until these conditions are met, Newell's hypothesis holds the field.46
Account should also be taken of the arrangement of the issues of Amphipolis
in Newell's study of the Demanhur Hoard.47 They extend from "circa 336 B.C.
to circa 318 B.C.," the latter being the date of the hoard's burial (p. 135); they
are put in groups A to K. This arrangement the author justifies on pp. 68f.:
"The dates here assigned the various groups of the Amphipolis coinage are,
perhaps, to a certain extent approximate. But even so, they cannot be in error
by much more than a year either way." He points out that important con-
firmation for the dating of the earlier groups comes from a hoard buried at
Kyparissia in 328 or 327.48 Kleiner's theory, which does not affect the date of
burial of the Demanhur Hoard, would force us to compress this material by
five years, reducing the groups from eleven to six. How is it to be done? It may
be urged that Newell himself had revised an earlier arrangement, and so he
had, and in important respects.49 There has been much new information made
45 Tarsos, p. 15 "it is interesting to note in how many instances the customs and peculiarities
of a local coinage will reappear on the succeeding issues of Alexander for the same district. This
shows clearly how the personnel, appliances and traditions of a mint were all retained for the
production of the new coin. The coinage of Tarsos is no exception to this rule and the issues bearing
the name and types of Alexander the Great are seen to be the direct successors of the local coins

of the Persian Satraps." Myriandros, p. 31, "This fact immediately suggests that the following
group of Alexander coins, very similar in style and character to his Tarsian issues, was really
struck at Myriandros in immediate succession to the Persic issues of Mazaios emanating from the
same important Syrian mint."
46 Reattribution, pp. 27-30. The problem of Sidon and Ake (Newell, The Dated Alexander
Coinage of Sidon and Ake, New Haven, 1916) Kleiner has met by revising Newell's dating (pp.
24-29) which I need not discuss. If the principle is established by Tarsus it is superfluous to argue
other instances, such as Kition and Salamis in Cyprus whose coinage Newell would begin "circa
332" ("Some Cypriote 'Alexanders'" NC 1915, pp. 294-322). But in the case of Sidon Kleiner's
revised date is made impossible by the existence of a Ptolemaic tetradrachm of the year 22 which
cannot have been struck in 311/10 as Kleiner's calculation would make it. (Bellinger "An Alex-
ander Hoard from Byblos" Berytus 1950-1, no. 140; G. K. Jenkins "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard
from Phacous" MN 1960, pp. 27 f.).
47 Alexander Hoards II. Demanhur, 1905 (NNM 19), New York, 1923.
48 E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards I (NNM 3), New York, 1921, pp. 18, 19.
49 In his earlier work, Reattribution, he identified the chief mint as Pella instead of Amphipolis,
concluded that the date of burial was 308 instead of 318, dated the first appearance of "Basileus"
to 317 instead of 325.
available since his second study and that needs to be worked through; a
particular need is the systematic treatment of the issues of Philip II. But it is
not enough to say that this arrangement is fallible. It is founded on careful
study and unless or until a better arrangement is proposed, we are not justified
in lowering the beginning of the coinage by five years.50
Finally, I cannot see that Kleiner has done justice to the evidence of style.
The difference between the earliest Heracles heads from the different mints is
made much of in the article by Gebaur to be discussed below.
3) Such being the weaknesses of our second possibility, we are left with our
third: namely, that Alexander's Nike is copied from one with which the stylis
belongs. An Athenian origin was an obvious possibility to those who believed
that Pallas on the obverse was Athena Promachus, but Babelon made the
suggestion very specific by pointing out51 that Nike with a stylis upon a
column beside Athena Promachus was painted on a Panathenaic vase of 336/5,
the archonship of Pythodelos.This seemed to him more than a coincidence and
he concluded that the two Nikai were related documents of a time of cordiality
between the monarch and the city. Hill defended him against Assmann on
matters of fact, but was not convinced by the suggestion that Alexander had
borrowed from Athens.52 Neither was Svoronos who, as already remarked,
could not believe that at this time Alexander would have had any reason to
flatter the Athenians as Babelon thought. Instead, he suggested that it was
the other way around and that the Nike on the Panathenaic vase was copied
from "les types dsormais historiques des stateres qu' Alexandre venait de
f rapper des son ret our en Macedoine."53 This was dismissed by Lederer as im-
possible because there was not enough time for the coins to have been struck
and become so well known as to invite imitation in the year 336/5 after Alex-

ander's return from the Congress of Corinth.54 On the other hand, he produced
as evidence of the connection with Athens a newly discovered gold stater on
which the type of Nike was accompanied by Nike also as a symbol bearing an
aphlaston and an obscure object which he thought might be a stylis. This un-
precedented use of the same figures as both major and minor device he regarded
as certainly calculated. Stylistically the coin belongs to Alexander's earliest
50 The arguments used are based rather on the silver coins than on the gold. The date of the
earliest gold at Tarsus is not particularly investigated; it is assumed to begin in 333 (Tarsos,
pp. 22,26), but in the case of Amphipolis there is gold directly connected with the silver series: e.g.,
Miiller 104f. with Demanhur 327-331 (331 B.C.) and Miiller 192f. with Demanhur 254-265 (333/2
B.C.).
51 Melanges numismatiques, 4, pp. 210-213, PI. XIV, 3.
62 Historical Greek Coins, London, 1906, p. 105, n. 2.
63 JIAN 1914, pp. 116f.
54 ZfN 1922, pp. 185-205.
THE KING'S MONEY 13
issues; Lederer believed that it was the very first die cut for the new king's
gold (and possibly cut in Athens itself). Moreover, he made more specific an
idea that had already been advanced by Babelon. Golden Nikai had been
dedicated in Athens in the latter half of the 5th century, but in the critical days
of 407/6 they had, with one exception, been melted down into money. One was
restored in 374/3 B.C.,55 others by Lycurgus in the late 4th century. In this case
we have a literary tradition and inscriptional evidence as well. The pseudo-
Plutarchian Lives of the Ten Orators (841 D and 852 B) and Pausanias I, 29 both
record the fact that Lycurgus, who was notable for the extent to which he
restored her ancient riches to Athens, had presented to the goddess on the
Acropolis, among other things, golden Nikai. Two inscriptions, IG2 II, 333 and
1493 testify to that fact. Now when the gift was dated in 336, as understood by
Babelon, a connection between Athens' and Alexander's Nike is an obvious
possibility, and Lederer (p. 202) definitely holds the coin to be inspired by
those restored statues. One item that makes this attractive is the fact that
the figure is not at all what we should expect from the 4th century, whereas it
is perfectly appropriate to a restoration of a 5th century original.56 Unfortu-
nately for the theory in this form, the two inscriptions are now dated 334/3.57
It has been rescued, however, by a daring conjecture of Homer A. Thompson:58
to wit, that the restoration of 336/5 was an act of munificence of Alexander
himself, whose selection of the type would then commemorate an act of
generosity toward a city for which he had recurring moods of affection. We
have only to read the speeches of the later Attic orators to find that not all
Athenians were his enemies; doubtless he had more friends than we know, and
perhaps he thought he had more friends than he did. It is obvious that the only
real objection to this solution is skepticism as to such cordial relations between

Alexander and Athens in 336.59 If that can be accepted, all difficulties are met.
But we should have the candor to admit that the choice would not have been
expected and is foreign to general historical probability.
As to the obverse type of the silver, we are met with a different kind of
question. The head of young Heracles with a lion's skin covering had ample
65 Dorothy Burr Thompson, "The Golden Nikai Reconsidered," Hesperia 1944, pp. 173-209.
S6 D. B. Thompson, op. cit., p. 189.
67 Accepted by W. S. Ferguson, The Treasurers of Athena, Cambridge, 1932, pp. 122f., n. 2.
68 "A Golden Nike from the Athenian Agora," Athenian Studies presented to William Scott
Ferguson, Cambridge, 1940, pp. 183-210.
59 It might be asked, if relations later deteriorated, why was not the type changed? But this
admits of an easy answer. It is obvious that what Alexander wanted for his new currency was
stability. No event and no sentiment was allowed to affect his types once they had been chosen.
It is possible that there was, in his lifetime, variety in the appearance of the minor denominations,
but there was none in the coins that did the main fiscal work of the empire.
precedent on Macedonian coins, having appeared under Archelaus I, 413-399,
Amyntas III, 389-383, 381-369, Perdiccas III, 364-359 and Philip II, 359-336.60
The legend of the descent of the Macedonian kings from Heracles, whenever
it was invented, had been very useful to their claim to admission among the
first families of the Hellenic world and no reason beyond tradition was needed
for the adoption of the hero's portrait as a device. Kleiner, whose theory re-
quires that the silver as well as the gold should have been inaugurated in 331,
argues that Alexander's interest in Heracles was not conspicuous until the
episode of Tyre, after which his heroic ancestor assumes great importance in
his life,61 but the conclusion is open to the same objections that have already
been discussed in regard to the gold. The simplest explanation is that the new
king adopted an old type but for a new denomination.
It is natural that the question should have been repeatedly asked: "is the
Heracles head a portrait of Alexander himself ?" There are really two independ-
ent questions, not always distinguished by investigators. Was it the intention
of the die-engravers to produce a likeness (which might be true without any
effect on the general public, most of whom would not have seen the king at
close enough range to judge) ? Was it the general persuasion that the head was
a likeness of the king (which might be true without any such intent on the part
of the die-engravers)? We have sundry bits of evidence that the second was
true in later tradition.
1) A very interesting tetradrachm was issued in the 2nd century B.C. by
Agathocles, king of Bactria, one of a number honoring his predecessors. The
obverse has the familiar head in lion's skin with the inscription AAEEANAPOY
TOY (DiAirmOY (PLATE II, y).62 Here Heracles is altogether ignored and the
portrait is meant to be not that of the deified conqueror but of Agathocles'

royal but human precursor.
2) At Alexandria-ad-Issum bronze coins were struck in the 1st century A.D.
(to judge by their style and fabric) on the obverse of which there is a Heracles
60 Gaebler, op. cit., Archelaos, hemiobols p. 156, 9, 10, PI. XXIX, 18, 19; Amyntas, hemi-
drachm, p. 159, 3, PI. XXX, 1, bronze, p. 160, 7-11, PI. XXX, 7, 9 (cf. the contemporary bronze
of Pydna, PL XX, 30); Perdiccas, didrachm, p. 161, r, PI. XXX, 14, bronze, pp. 161f., 2-5,
PI. XXX, 15-17; Philip, gold, half stater-eighth stater pp. 163f., 9-16, PI. XXX, 28, didrachm,
p. 166, 26, PI. XXXI, 1, octobol, p. 166, 27, bronze, p. 168, 37-39, 41, PI. XXXI, 10, 14-16, with
Heracles head left, p. 168, 40, PI. XXXI, 17.
61 Op. cit., pp. 11, 12. It should be remarked that his argument relies heavily on the non-
appearance of Heracles in the record of the early years, but surely, considering the nature of the
literary sources, the argumentum ex silentio is very risky. Also, some weight should be given to the
prominence of Heracles in Isocrates' Oration to Philip, especially sections 104-115.
62 Margarete Bieber, "The Portraits of Alexander the Great," Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society 1949, p. 414, fig. 63.
THE KING'S MONEY 15
head in lion's skin which, considering the town, must be understood as a picture
of Alexander.63
3) A great many bronze coins were issued in Macedonia in the 3rd century
A.D. with the head of Alexander on the obverse identified by the inscription
AAEEANAPOY (PLATE II, 8).M The most favored portrait seems to be one with
diadem and flowing hair, obviously modelled on the coinage of Lysimachus,
but there also appears the head in lion's skin headdress,65 which shows that
at that period there was no doubt as to who was represented.
4) Apollonia Mordiaeum struck a bronze coin in the time of Caracalla on
which the Heracles portrait is identified by inscription as Alexander the Founder
of Apollonia.66
5) There is also an interesting mediaeval item in the De Thematibus of the
emperor Constantine Porphyrogenetus (945-959 A.D.).67 Speaking of the
Macedonian kings who considered themselves descendants of Heracles who
slew the Nemean lion, he reports that instead of taenia or crown or royal purple,
they crowned themselves with the skin of a lion's head which they prized more
than jewels. "Trustworthy proof of this is the coin of Alexander of Macedon
adorned with that kind of portrait." So there were Alexander tetradrachms to
be seen in the loth century and at so late a date the answer to the second
question is still that the head was commonly supposed to be that of Alexander,
and surely it is not very daring to guess that the same answer would be right
for a much earlier period, even the period of Alexander's own lifetime. But for
lack of a statement it cannot be proven.
The first question may be debated and has been. It is unnecessary to refer
to all the writers who have had their say, since some have nothing new to offer.
A few believed that the head is always intended to be Alexander. We have seen

that this is the position taken, for different reasons by Cousinery and by
Kleiner.68 It was supported also by some of the older numismatists writing in
63 BMC Lycaonia, Isauria and Cilicia, p. 29, nos. 2-4.
64 Gaebler, op. cit., Erste Abteiling., pp. 94-191. The illustrations of this part of the work are
so badly arranged as to be almost unusable, and the dating is very questionable.
65 Op. cit., p. 162, no. 175, PI. IV, 14.
66 BMC Lycia, Pamphylia and Pisidia, p. 202, no. 1, PI. XXXIII, 1.
67 Book II, Theme 2. The passage is quoted by the older numismatists, e.g., Joseph Eckhel
Doctrina Numorum Veterum, Part I, Vol. 2, Vienna, 1839, p. 99.
68 In 1959 there appeared an article by Kurt Lange, "Zur Frage des Bildnis gehaltes bei
Kopfen auf Miinzen Philips II und Alexanders III, des GroBen, von Makedonien," (Wissenschaft-
liche Abhandlungen des deutschen Numismatikertages inGottingen, 1951, Gottingen, 1959, pp. 27-33)
which accepted Kleiner's theories and sometimes exaggerated them. Lange believes that the
Heracles head was a portrait and was recognized as such, at the time as well as later, but he will
not say that every tetradrachm bears a true portrait, and the numismatic part of his article is
clearly the least successful.
a day before the resource of abundant illustration, so that their conclusions
could not be presented so as to convince the eye; nor, indeed, were their own
convictions based on wide and intimate visual acquaintance with the material.
Others have held that the head was never intended as a portrait. Such is
Eckhel's belief,69 supported by a bookish argument characteristic of his time.
He appeals to the words of Horace (Epistles II. 1. 239-41):
"Edicto vetuit, ne quis se praeter Apellem
Pingeret, aut alius Lysippo duceret aera
Fortis Alexandri vultum simulantia."
He might have added the passage from Pliny the Elder (H. N. VII. 37. 125):
Idem hie imperator edixit ne quis ipsum alius quam Apelles pingeret, quam
Pyrgoteles scalperet, quam Lysippus ex acre duceret; and the later passage
(XXXVII. 4. 1) where the authorization of Pyrgoteles seems to apply only to
carving in emerald.70 Even so fortified the argument does not amount to much.
The meaning of the edict (whatever form it took) must have been that the king
was not going to sit for his portrait to any artists except those three. He cannot
have hoped, or desired, to prevent the making of copies and copies of copies
by any who felt so inclined. Indeed we have ancient references to other por-
traits besides those of the official appointees.71 Die-sinkers could certainly
make portraits of the king without breaking the law.
Most of the discussions have been, of course, parts of more general inquiries
into the portraits of Alexander in all media, but whether other kinds are included
or not, the scholars have taken one of two positions, either denying that there
were any numismatic portraits of Alexander during his lifetime, or admitting that
certain coins might be so considered. The former view has the weighty author-
ity of Imhoof-Blumer,72 which is heartily supported by Theodor Schreiber.73

69 Loc. cit. (n. 67).
70 Eckhel does refer to Apuleius, Florida, I. 7. 2, who carelessly repeats Pliny but substitutes
Polycleitus for Lysippus. The weakness of the whole tradition is well exposed by Alfred Emerson,
"The Portraiture of Alexander the Great; a Terracotta Head in Munich," A]A 1886, pp. 408-413,
1887, pp. 234-260. Nevertheless, J. J. Bernoulli (Die erhaltenen Darstdlungen Alexanders des
Grofien, Munich, 1905, p. 28) does not hesitate to subscribe to the theory that the Alexander head
on Lysimachus' coins goes back to an original of Pyrgoteles. I can see no reason for this but
sentiment.
71 Margarete Bieber, op. cit., pp. 375f.
72 Portraitkopfe auf antiken Miinzen hellenischer und hettenisierter Volker, Leipzig, 1885, p. 14.
His opinion cannot be taken as proof. In the same place he asserts that the title BAIIAEQI is
almost without exception posthumous, but this is certainly untrue; the instance cited in n. 1
above is dated 328-326.
73 Stîen fiber das Bildnis Alexanders des Grofien, Leipzig, 1903, p. 166, "Alexander hat nie
mit seinem Bilde gepragt, sowenig wie sein Vater Philip." So also Hansjorg Bloesch "Personlich-
keit und Individuality auf antiken Miinzen," Winterthurer Jahrbuch 1960, p. 62.
THE KING'S MONEY 17
According to them portraiture was an invention of the Hellenistic age, and the
difference between one Alexander tetradrachm and the next is to be explained
by differences in time and place of striking and difference of die-sinkers.
Both authors look to the issues of Lysimachus (PLATE II, 5) and Ptolemy
(PLATE II, 4) for real evidence as to the appearance of the king their master.
But other scholars are not able to dismiss the differences so lightly and
maintain, with greater or less conviction, that here and there Alexander's own
face does appear under the lion's skin. It is noticeable that the numismatists
are mostly very cautions and show no disposition to cite specific examples.
Muller who, in his time, had studied a much larger body of material than anyone
else, lays down the general principle that the earliest Heracles heads of the
reign are like their predecessors on the coins of previous kings, but that some-
times later, and commonly after 323 a likeness appears, not as a result of any
command of the king but at the choice of the several magistrates or of the
artists themselves.74 But there is no indication of where to look for these
appearances. George Macdonald75 is very reticent: "Tradition, indeed, has it
that Alexander's features are to be discerned in the head of Heracleseven if
we grant that this is so, the very circumstance that portraiture was introduced
in covert fashion, lurking under the shelter of religion, is highly significant." And
Newell in a book where positive identification would certainly be appropriate,76
says only, "The silver coins invariably bear the head of the youthful Heracles
covered with a lion's skinthe features frequently resembling those of Alex-
ander himself."
There are those, however, who are willing to be more specific. E. Q. Vis-
conti77 finds indication of the king's features on tetradrachms of Rhodes and of
Ake. G. F. Hill, more daring than his fellow numismatists, publishes "a head

of young Heracles r., with features resembling Alexander's."78 The coin is from
Amathus in Cyprus.
Using Newell's plates as a basis, Kurt Gebauer has a full and careful stylistic
analysis of the coinage as the first part of his "Alexanderbildnis undAlexander-
74 Numismatique d'Alexandre le Grand, pp. 12-15. It is strange to have Muller repeating the
tradition of the three approved artists as the reason why the making of his portrait on coins
cannot be attributed to the lifetime of Alexander.
75 Coin Types, Glasgow, 1905, p. 151.
76 Royal Greek Portrait Coins, New York, 1937, p. 13.
77 Iconographie grecque, Paris, 1811, Vol. II, Chap. II "Rois de Macedoine," 1 "Alexandra le
Grand," pp. 28-52.
78 Historical Greek Coins, London, 1910, p. 103, no. 59, PI. VII (an enlargement of the
obverse is on PI. IX of Select Greek Coins). The mint is not identified by Hill; Newell was at first
uncertain of it (Reattribution, p. 54, no. 258, PI. 30. n) but later assigned it to Amathus "after
circa 325 B.C." (Demanhur, p. 45, nos. 2703-2707).
typus."79He argues that the first pieces from the mint of Amphipolis (PLATE I,
u) and, to a lesser extent, the first from other mints, show a head which is
perfectly characteristic of the mid-fourth century. Within the next half decade
there is a breaking with tradition and a greater freedom and individuality,
usually followed by a hardening into schematization. From this the Macedonian
mints never recover but those of Asia, farther from the artistic dominance of
the homeland, and inheriting the traditions of local schools of art, produce
essentially new portraits. From Sidon in 327 comes a die which he recognizes
as the first true likeness of Alexander on a coin (PLATE II, g), the effect of the
exciting news of his invasion of India upon the imagination of a gifted engraver.
Thereafter there is no return to the impersonal and universal Heracles, though
the individual portrait too loses something of its original freshness. Another
essay in portraiture comes from Babylon in 316 (PLATE II, 10), this time
showing Lysippan influence. Gebauer regards the development of the head in
the years after Alexander's death as a combination of the conception of
Alexander as a god with that of Alexander as an historic ruler, the various
local streams finally merging in the full tide of Hellenistic art. The portraits
which appear on the first silver of Ptolemy and on both silver and gold of
Lysimachus are unmistakably identifiable as the deified Alexander.
The article has excellent, clear and well-chosen illustrations. Its tone is
logical and temperate and the case it makes is certainly a respectable one. Of
course, the language of aesthetic criticism is hard. There is so much that the
eye perceives that cannot be put into adequate words. And there are so many
times when two beholders will perceive different things as to matters of ex-
pression and emotion. The difficulties are increased when the argument is not
about single substantative works of art but, as here, about items selected as

examples from a large group which has its inner differences as well as its com-
mon characteristics. Perhaps another scholar, working with the same material,
might modify the course of this study and its conclusions. But it does seem to
me that the argument is probable as a whole and supported by its details. It
will be seen that it altogether rejects the idea that the broadcasting of his
portrait was part of Alexander's original plan, or, indeed, that he had any-
thing to do with it at any time. A priori it would be attractive to think that it
had been part of the plan for the imperial coinagethat Alexander had anti-
cipated Ptolemy and Seleucus and Demetrius Poliorcetes in making use of his
money to spread his fame. It has been suggested that he himself had been
anticipated by his father and that the bearded head on Philip's silver was
79 Mitteilungen des deutschen archaologischen Institut, Athenische Abteilung 63/64 (1938/39),
pp. 1-106.
THE KING'S MONEY 19
intended at once for Zeus and for the king.80 But in this case we have no reliable
portraits of Philip preserved for comparison and the unproven possibility can-
not be used to strengthen the case for Alexander.
The different approach of Miss Bieber's "The Portraits of Alexander the
Great" leads to a similar result. As none of her predecessors had done, she
"distinguishes between the different periods in which the bewildering varieties
of Alexander portraits preserved for us have been created." Her only addition
to the numismatic material in Gebauer's article is the enlargement, as fig. 32,
of another coin of Sidon of about 320 B.C. (PLATE II, 11).81 She would apparently
not object to his theory that the first coin portrait came in 327, though she
does not mention it. But none of her pictures which may derive from originals
earlier than that time has any relation to the head on the first coins from
Amphipolis, Tarsos and Sidon, and of these the series from Amphipolis is surely
the first of all on the evidence of style.
Both of these studies assume, as do Miiller and Hill, that the appearance
of a real portrait is the achievement of an individual engraver or perhaps an
individual magistrate or satrap. On the other hand, Erik Sjoqvist, publishing
a head in the Boston Museum82 illustrates, as a parallel, a tetradrachm of
Sicyon (PLATE II, I2)83 which "shows Alexander's likeness in the traditional
Heracles iconography." This, he believes, is not merely the work of a single
gifted die-cutter but a document of the gradual process of the deification of
80 Kleiner, op. cit., pp. 39f., notes 12-14, nas a most interesting collection of material about
the portrait of Philip and his assimilation to Zeus. Lange, op. cit., is sure that both the bearded
rider on Philip's reverse and the Zeus head on his obverse are pictures of the king. But his
deductions are more striking than his proof.
81 She cites and copies as her fig. 33 Gebauer's PL 3. 17, the coin from Babylon. But she

describes it as "Lifetime, about 324 B.C." I cannot understand why. It is dated, as Gebauer says,
to about 316 by Newell (Alexander Hoards III Andritsaena, New York, 1923, p. 20) and that
seems quite certainly right.
82 "Alexander-Heracles: a Preliminary Note," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
June 1953, pp. 30-33.
83 It is the first tetradrachm according to The Alexander Coinage of Sicyon arranged from Notes
of Edward T. Newell with Comments and Additions by Sydney P. Noe, New York, 1950, p. 12, no.
3, 1. It is instructive for anyone having to work from printed illustrations to compare the life-size
collotype of the coin on Noe's PI. I with the enlargement of the same coin which is Sjoqvist's fig. 2,
to see the effect of difference in lighting. Sjoqvist dates it without argument to 330 B.C. This
simply follows Noe's dating of "330/25 to c. 318 B.C." and that, in turn is based on Newell's
remark (Alexander Hoards: Introduction and Kyparissia Hoard, p. 14) "about 330 B.C.and
certainly by 325 B.C.a large issue of staters and tetradrachms bearing Alexander's types was
instituted at Sicyon." But, in discussing another piece in Group I (Demanhur PI. IV, 1 = Noe 13,
1b) Gebauer, pp.6, 7, says "Es hat mit den Munzen von Amphipolis und Pella eine gewisse
Verhaltenheit und Selbstverstandlichkeit des Ausdruck gemeinsam, der sie gegeniiber asiatischen
Munzen zusammenstellt," and dates it 325-315.
Alexander during his own lifetime."It marks," he says, "the first decisive
step in the evolution of an iconography that was totally new to Greek art:
that of rendering an image of a deified ruler." He enumerates convincingly the
specific traits which make this seem to be an actual individual and not a mere
traditional convention, and he believes that the original is the official portrait
of Alexander in 332, probably by Lysippus. If we are dealing with an official
program the result ought to be that from this time on the coins show with
increasing frequency and success heads that are recognizably those of an
actual person, somewhat idealized to be sure, but not those of a conventional
hero. But do they? Comparison of the different specimens selected as likenesses
by the various scholars raises a certain uneasiness in the mind of the beholder
and a feeling that we need much more material than even Gebauer has pro-
vided.
There is a certain deceptive pattern in the situation. On the one hand there
are the coins earlier than Alexander with a beardless head of Heracles. These
cannot be portraits of him. They vary considerably in style but it is impossible
that they should be portraits of the various rulers who struck them.84 They
must be Heracles alone. On the other hand there are the heads generally agreed
to be posthumous portraits of Alexander, issued by Ptolemy and Lysimachus.
Between are the issues of Alexander himself which should be related to one
extreme or the other. But it is not quite as easy as this, for no one has yet
demonstrated the uniformity of the testimony of Ptolemy and Lysimachus.
Indeed, a glance at PI. IX of Hill's Select Greek Coins (Paris, 1927) which shows
enlargements of coins of Alexander and his two successors tempts us to wonder
whether we may not recognize the later heads because they bear the accessories
of divinizationthe elephant's head and the ram's hornsand not because

they resemble each other. We must never forget that we are dealing with the
craftsmanship of many die-sinkers who varied greatly in skill and alsoas
Professor Sjoqvist reminds mein sympathy with the idea of divinization.
Alexander's mints never achieved, and probably never attempted the degree
of uniformity shown in the Athena heads of 5th century Athens. But what is
the proportion between the specimens which show conformity with an official
program and those aberrations of intent or execution which would seem to
deny its existence? An enormous task awaits some heroic scholar: analysis
which shall be not selective but inclusive of the dozens of dies of Heracles' head
84 For one thing, e.g., Amyntas uses the unbearded head on his small silver and bronze, a
bearded Heracles head on his large silver; for another, there would be no explanation for the
beardless head on coins of the Mainland Thasians and their successors the citizens of Philippi
(Gaebler, op. cit., PI. XX, 1-9). There are two entirely distinct styles here neither of which could
be regarded as a portrait of Philip II.
THE KING'S MONEY 21
to see what generalizations can be safely made. It must be done without pre-
conceptionsand it might well end in failure. Perhaps some guidance can be
provided by Cahn's synopsis of the elements which form style85 but it is a work
not to be undertaken by the impatient or the faint of heart.
For the present let us content ourselves with concluding that a traditional
type was selected by Alexander as suitable for an imperial currency, which
proved its acceptability in an empire wider than he could have imagined and
that, at some times and in some places, true likenesses of the king and his
commanding personality inspired the hands of his artisans so that men came
eventually to believe that he and Heracles were one.
The reverse type is invariable in its main features. Zeus is always seated to
the left, he has an himation over his legs but is undraped from the waist up, on
his outstretched right hand he holds an eagle, with his left he leans upon a long
scepter behind him. There are details, with which we shall deal presently, that
vary. He is sometimes called Zeus Olympics.86 Yet there are important differ-
ences from the statue of Zeus that was at Olympia in Alexander's time: the
great chryselephantine statue by Pheidias. They have deterred most scholars
from giving a title to Alexander's deity. One other identification was put
forward, but it cannot be seriously considered. Eckhel87 says "Jupiter hie
Nicephorus (a mere slip for Aetophorus) haud dubie est Bottiaeus ille seu cultus
in Bottiaea Macedoniae regione in qua sita Pella." Impressed by "haud dubie"
from so great an authority, Muller accepted the name,88 and, in his early work89
Newell contributed a rhetorical flourish which his maturer judgment allowed
to be forgotten: "on the reverse we see Zeus of Bottiaea, who had a famous
temple at Pella and was honored throughout Macedonia." But Bottiaean Zeus
is a very elusive figure indeed. The single ancient mention of him is by Libanius

in connection with a dedication of Alexander at Antioch-on-the-Orontes (or
rather where Antioch was later to be founded)90. Any connection with the
district of Bottiaea around Pella is conjecture and nothing more.
The divergence from Olympian Zeus is excellently stated by Cook in a
passage worth quoting in full.91 "When Alexander the Great placed upon his
85 Herbert A. Cahn, "Analyse et interpretation du style," Congres International de Numis-
matique, II, Actes, Paris, 1957, pp. 37-42.
86 E.g., Gardner, A History of Ancient Coinage, 700-300 B.C., Oxford, 1918, p. 426; Seltman,
Greek Coins, p. 205; Newell, Royal Greek Portrait Coins, p. 13, "a dignified representation of the
panhellenic god, par excellence, Olympian Zeus, enthroned and holding scepter and eagle."
87 Doctrina Numorum, Vol. II, p. 100.
88 Numismatique d'Alexandre le Grand, p. 5, n. 12.
89 Reattribution, p. 28.
90 A. B. Cook, Zeus, Cambridge, 1914-1940, Vol. II, pp. 1187 f.
91 Op. tit., pp. 760-62.
silver coinage the design of a seated Zeus, it might have been expected that
he would choose for the purpose the great cult-statue at Olympiaand the
more so as Mount Olympos was a prominent feature of his own domain. In
point of fact, he did nothing of the sort. He set aside all the improvements
introduced by Pheidias and deliberately reverted to the old pre-Pheidiac type.
A comparison of his tetradrachms on the one hand with the federal coins of
Arkadia (PLATE II, 13), on the other with the Olympian statue is instructive:
Arcadian Coins Pheidias' Statue Alexander's Coins
Right hand has eagle Right hand has Nike Right hand has eagle
Left hand has scepter Left hand has scepter Left hand has scepter
held high held low held high
Right leg is in Left leg is in Right leg is in
advance of left leg advance of right leg advance of left leg
Himation is wrapped Himation covers left Himation is wrapped
about lower limbs upper arm as well about lower limbs
only only
Throne has at first Throne has high back Throne has at first
no back no back
The inference is clear. Alexander, ignoring the idealized ruler at Olympia,
harked back to the more ancient and popular type of Zeus Lykaios. After all,
Mount Lykaion too was called Olympos. Yet so immense was the fame of the
Pheidiac figure that tetradrachms issued later in the name and with the
types of Alexander are increasingly influenced by it. The left leg is advanced
instead of the right, and the throne is manifestly assimilated to that of Zeus
Olympicsso even Alexander failed to arrest the moral evolution of Zeus." To
the resultant questions, "What motive led him to make the attempt? Why did

he select for his world-wide coinage the old eagle-bearer of Arkadia rather than
the newer and nobler creation of Pheidias?"he has no answer to offer.92
But the particular form of Zeus was less important than the fact that, like
Alexander's other devices, he was easy for inhabitants of the various districts
92 Seltman had suggested to him that the model might be the Baal of Tarsos and its selection
an instance of Alexander's internationalism. But, as Cook recognizes (p. 762, n. 2) this conflicts
with the dating of the first Macedonian issues, a question that has already been discussed. It
might also be pointed out that while stylistically Baal on coins of Mazaeus at Tarsus just before
Alexander is very much like Alexander's Zeus from the same mint (Tarsos, passim), the designs
have important differences: on the Mazaeus silver the scepter is in front surmounted by an eagle,
on the Alexanders the scepter is behind and the eagle held on the open hand. Gardner had recog-
nized the differences which Cook lists. The Types of Greek Coins, p. 186, "The Zeus of Alexander's
coins is certainly not an imitation in any close sense of the great Olympian statue of Pheidias, but
the type is probably introduced in honor of the god represented by that statue."
THE KING'S MONEY 23
of the empire to accept as their own. Seltman has put the case clearly :93 'Though
introduced in 336 B.C. these types were destined to appeal equally to Greeks and
to Oriental subjects of Alexander as yet unconquered; for the Phoenician was
to see in the obverse type his own god Melqart, the Cilician was to regard the
seated deity as the god Ba'al of Tarsus, and the Babylonian, though he might
not be able to read the Greek name of Alexander, was to look on pictures that
might recall his own Gilgamesh, the lion-slayer, and the figure of Bel-Marduk,
god of Babylon. When it is realized that, next to Macedonia, the greatest
mints of Alexander were to be established precisely in Phoenicia, Cilicia, and
Babylon, the uncanny foresight that the king showed in the selection of these
types becomes apparent."
Cook recorded the fact that the earliest pose, with the legs stiffly parallel,
the right in front of the left, gives place to an easier position, more like that of
Pheidias' figure, with the right leg drawn back and the right foot appearing in
back of the left one (PLATE II, 10, 11). This change does not take place every-
where at the same time, but it is general and is an indication of date rather than
of place. But there are small differences which are useful for a more exact
placing of the issues in their respective mints. Not only does the throne some-
times have a back (as mentioned by Cook) but the back may be decorated with
little Nikai on the top, and the shape of the legs and the placing of the cross-
bars differ. The god is sometimes laureate; sometimes there are long locks on
the nape of his neck, sometimes short ones, sometimes none. There may be a
dotted exergual line beneath his feet, or a straight one, or a footstool, or
nothing. Together with these items also goes a constant modification of style
which is in itself sometimes sufficient to prove the relation between reverse dies
without more objective variants.

But far more important than other minutiae for the reverses of both silver
and gold are the little ancillary figuresthe symbolsor the letters or mono-
grams which, with very few exceptions, occur in the field of the reverse type.
They are not conceived as parts of the main design, as is evident from the fact
that the scales of the type figure and the symbol are quite unrelated. Scholars
were early convinced that symbols, monograms and letters alike were indica-
tions of the place of striking, and great ingenuity was displayed in recognizing
civic devices and deciphering cities' names. Some of the suggestions were good
and have been confirmed by later work with greater resources, though the
original discoverer is sometimes forgotten. Some were quite fantastic and
displayed an astonishing ignorance of ancient history and geography. It would
be amusing to list the impossible guesses that have been made, but no serious
93 Greek Coins, p. 205. The suggestion mentioned in the foregoing note does not appear in
either the first or second edition.
value would result. Any who are disposed to investigate this chapter in the
history of human error might start with Eckhel's list of his predecessors,94
noting his own selective and conservative suggestions as to mints, based
largely upon Pellerin "post infelices aliorum conatus."95
These early attempts have one common weakness: they do not distinguish
between the first coins and the later ones, some of them very much later. Such
differentiation is among the great merits of what is still the basic work in the
field: L. Miiller's Numismatique d'Alexandre le Grand. To a volume which
discussed all aspects of the coinage of Alexander, with that of Philip II and
Philip III as well, was added an Atlas wherein is displayed in clear tabular form
all the varieties known to him (1735 for Alexander, 313 for the elder Philip, 142
for the younger) with drawings of the symbols and monograms, indication of
their placing on the coin and of its fabric.96 The fabric was arranged in seven
classes, the increasing breadth and flatness of whose flans was the sign of a
chronological development, and they are illustrated by engravings on the first
two plates. His discussion of them, on pp. 5-9, 97-104, allows for border-line
cases, and would not now be accepted in all its details, but it added an impor-
tant new instrument for the analysis of the huge number of coins with which
we have to deal.
Miiller treats of symbols and monograms more than once (pp. 35-49, 90-93,
116-122). He began with the conviction that they represented towns or districts
and in his Atlas the main headings are place names, with lists of Incerti for the
various districts, the length of which might have given him some cause for
doubt. Thus, in Macedonia he lists 15 towns followed by 61 varieties from
Incertae Urbes which, on the least reckoning, would amount to 1 1 more. He does
at one point admit that symbols might be those of magistrates,97 but he is sure

that the marks are generally those of towns.98 Of course, additions to his lists
were made, but I think there was no published questioning of his principle
until a quarter of a century later.
94 Elementa Rei Numariae Veterum sive Josephi Eckhelii Prolegomena Doctrinae Numorum,
Berlin, 1841, pp. 141-172. I would not, of course, suggest that the bad guesses stopped with
Eckhel.
95 Dodrina Numorum, Vol. II, pp. 100-103.
96 It was rightly thought to be worth while to issue a photographic copy of the Atlas in 1957
(Miinzen und Medaillen A. G., Basel).
97 P. 30.
98 He restated his position in "Remarks on the Classification of Some Coins of Lysimachus,"
NC 1870, pp. 1-1o: "In Numismatique d'Alexandre I only say (p. 37) that these symbols are in
general to be regarded as city symbolsIt is possible that some of them have been the escutcheons
or signets of magistrates or mint mastersbut I have nowhere found sufficient reason for explain-
ing any of them in that way."
THE KING'S MONEY 25
In 1869 Edward H. Bunbury published" two tetradrachms of Lysimachus,
one (Miiller100 no. 112, Aenos) with caduceus and bee, the other (Miiller no. 445 a,
Chrysaoris in Caria) with torch and bee; they were both struck with the same
obverse die. "It appears to me, therefore," he said, "as certain as any con-
clusion can be, in a subject where we are necessarily left to inference, that the
two coins in question belong to the same part of the country, and can only be
referred to neighboring cities." This is as far as his disagreement with Miiller
went. But a much more serious doubt as to the validity ofMuller's method was
raised by von Sallet.101 He found three staters of Philip II with the same
obverse die. Two of them were Miiller no. 88 (Philippi) with K and tripod; the
third, the gold counterpart of Miiller no. 237 (Incerti) with K and a broad hat
but without the tripod. He concluded that these must all have come from the
same mint, and that the mint was not Philippi. The symbols, then, may be
those of magistrates or emissions and not of places. In reviewing this essay with
approval102 Head remarked, "It is becoming every year more and more ap-
parent that the whole edifice rests on a foundation of sand. The symbols,
however much they may resemble municipal devices or coin-types, are, as Dr.
von Sallet clearly shows, merely the signets of the monetary magistrates, and
only very exceptionally to be accepted as mint-marks." This was so much more
drastic than Bunbury's essays in revision that it drew a cry of distress from
him.103 Head, he protested, was destroying the whole foundation for a reason-
able arrangement of the Alexander coinage and leaving mere chaos. To this
Head replied in a brief note.104 He granted that Muller's Classes V, VI, and VII,
which were issued by free cities after the death of Alexander, bore symbols,
sometimes accompanied by initial letters, the devices of the cities which struck
them. But, for the earlier coins, he expressed his conviction that three fourths

of the signs were those of magistrates and not of cities. Head's doctrine con-
vinced Imhoof-Blumer, who appealed to it in support of his identification of the
mint of Babylon.105 Finally, in 1912, Newell, in his Reattribution of Certain
""On Some Unpublished Coins of Lysimachus," JVC 1869, pp. 1-18, esp. 5f.
100 L. Miiller, Die Miinzen des Thracischen Konigs Lysimachus, Copenhagen, 1858, a pendant
to his work on Alexander.
101 A. von Sallet, "Beitrage zur antiken Miinz- und Alterthumskunde," ZfN 1882, pp. 138
to 189, "Die Beizeichen auf den Miinzen Philipps II von Macedonien," pp. 152-154.
102 NC 1882, pp. 296 f.
103 "Additional Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great," NC 1883, pp. 1-17, esp. 14-17.
104 "Coinage of Alexander the Great. An Explanation," NC 1883, pp. 18f.
105 NC 1906, p. 19 in "The Mint at Babylon: a Rejoinder." Sir Henry Howorth, "Some Coins
attributed to Babylon by Dr. Imhoof-Blumer," NC 1904, pp. 1-38, had made an all-inclusive attack
on the proposed identification which must have seriously disturbed the Swiss scholar, for his
rejoinder appeared in German, NZ1905, pp. 1-8 and translated into English in the article quoted.
Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great, produced such a wealth of evidence on
identical dies from the Demanhur Hoard that the hypothesis of a large number
of little mints had to be abandoned permanently.
There are, to be sure, cases in which true mint marks do appear, and they
are not all confined to the posthumous issues (for example, K or K for Kition in
Cyprus, [$ for Paphos, A for Arados, II for Sidon) but the great majority, as
Head saw, stand not for places but for persons. Who these persons were we do
not know; they had supervision over particular issues, holding office for a term,
which would usually be a year after the regular Greek custom, seeing that the
official standards were maintained and being allowed to put their private marks
on the coins struck under their charge as a subordinate guarantee to the great
guarantee of the king's name.
The bronze was less common and is much less well known. The types refer
to Heracles, both obverse and reverse, though no one has raised any question
about the portrait. The positions of the bow and club vary, and there are letters
or symbols which will ultimately help in achieving an arrangement, but corre-
spondences with the symbols on gold and silver are spasmodic and it is likely
that the bronze issues were the care of separate officials. They were certainly
not struck with the frequency and regularity of the gold and silver. The serious
study of them has hardly begun.
Such are the essential aspects of the major coins which formed the inter-
national currency of Alexander's empire.
These denominations were supplemented at one time or another by the
following multiples and fractions:
Gold Distater
The same types as the stater PLATE I, 4

There are a considerable number of these which were evidently an important
element in the currency.
Gold Half Stater
Gold Quarter Stater
Gold Quarter Stater
Head of Athena right
Rev. Bow and Club PLATE I, 8
Gold Eighth Stater
Head of Athena right
Rev. Bow and Club PLATE I, 9
THE KING'S MONEY 27
These fractions are rare and do not seem to have played an important role.
Silver Decadrachm
The same types as the tetradrachm PLATE I,10
This also is rare and was probably confined to a single issue from Babylon.106
Silver Decadrachm
Alexander on horseback with a spear attacking Porus on an elephant.
Rev. Alexander standing left in a Persian cap, holding a thunderbolt
in his right hand, leaning upon a spear with his left. He wears a
sword and is crowned by a flying Nike. PLATE I,13
Not only is the denomination extraordinary, but the types, commemorating
the battle against Porus, make it obvious that these are rather medallions than
normal pieces of money. Their weights are proper for ten drachmae, but they
can hardly have been intended to be put in circulation.107
Silver Didrachm
A rare denomination, perhaps confined to the first years of the reign.108
Silver Drachm
These occur in large numbers. They certainly provided an important sup-
plement to the tetradrachms, though their issue seems to have been concentrated
in Asia Minor.109
Silver Hemidrachm
The same types as the tetradrachms PLATE I,16
Silver Obol
The same types as the tetradrachms PLATE I,17
Silver Hemiobol

The same types as the tetradrachms PLATE I, 18
Like the fractional gold, these silver denominations are rare.
Silver Tetradrachm of Phoenician weight (14.70 gr.)
Head of Zeus right laureate
Rev. Eagle right, looking left, on thunderbolt PLATE I,12
109 Seltman, Greek Coins, p. 213, n. 3.
107 British Museum Quarterly, 1926, pp. 36 f.; NC 1927, pp. 204-206; SNG Berry Collection
ANS Part I, PL 11, 295.
108 Newell, Reattribution, pp. I2f., XV, PI. 7, 1.
109 Thompson and Bellinger, "A Hoard of Alexander Drachms," Yale Classical Studies XIV,
1955. PP. 3-45.
Imhoof-Blumer believed that this was Alexander's first issue from Mace-
donia, preceding the introduction of his own types.110 Head would attribute
it to an eastern mint, perhaps India, after Alexander's death111 and this was
accepted by Newell.112 Kleiner, however,113 returns to Imhoof-Blumer's theory
and is supported on that point by G. K. Jenkins in a review,114 and by Daniel
Schlumberger,115 but the argument of R. B. Whitehead116 for aBactrian origin
would seem conclusive. The point is not of much importance for us since the
coins are so rare that they cannot have played any significant part in the
financing of the empire (so far as I know there are none besides the three in the
British Museum).
Silver Drachm
Head of young Heracles
Rev. Eagle right on thunderbolt PLATE I, 21
Silver Drachm
Rev. Eagle right, looking left, on thunderbolt PLATE I, 19, 20
Silver Tetrobol
Rev. Eagle right on thunderbolt PLATE I, 22
Silver Hemidrachm
Rev. Eagle right on thyrsus PLATE I, 23
Silver Hemidrachm
Rev. Eagle left on thunderbolt PLATE I, 24
Silver Diobol

Rev. Two eagles, face to face, on thunderbolt PLATE I, 25
110 Monnaies grecques, 1883, pp. 118f., PI. D, 8.
111 "The Earliest Graeco-Bactrian and Graeco-Indian Coins," NC 1906, pp. 1-16, esp. 1-3,
PI. II, g;HNp. 225.
112 Reattribution, p. 13, n. 6.
113 Op. cit., pp. 7f.
114 JHS 1949, p. 121.
115 Appendix V, "Monnayage d'Etalon pr6sume 'Indien' ou 'Rhodien,'" Raoul Curiel and
Schlumberger, Tresors mondtaires d'Afghanistan, Paris, 1953, pp. 58-62.
116 "The Eastern Satrap Sophytes," NC 1943, pp. 60-72.
THE KING'S MONEY 29
Silver Obol
Rev. Thunderbolt PLATE I, 26
These types may all belong to the early issues of Amphipolis.117 Two other
small fractional issues may be from Syria or Cilicia.
Silver Hemiobol
Rev. Club and bow in case PLATE I, 27
Silver Quarter Obol
Rev. Two clubs in reverse directions PLATE I, 28
Bronze Unit
Rev. Eagle right, looking left, on thunderbolt
Bronze Half
Head of long-haired Apollo, right
Rev. Thunderbolt PLATE I, 30
A common type of bronze unit is
Rev. Bow in case and club PLATE I, 29
Of the whole list the only denominations of real imperial importance are:
distater, stater, tetradrachm and drachm.
To translate these pieces of money with any thoroughness into terms of
human existence would need far more information than we possess, but we
are not without some useful indications of value. The first point to be re-
membered is that Alexander, abandoning his father's choice of standard for

silver, coined on that of Athens according to which the drachm weighed
4.3 grams and was divided into 6 obols. There has been a good deal of discussion
as to why he made the change, and talk of bimetallism which is, I think, suf-
ficiently dealt with by Theodore Reinach who points out that the necessary
conditions for real bimetallism never existed in antiquity.118 What Alexander
did was to follow the example of Athens and strike a silver drachma of the
117 Reattribution, pp. 12-14.
118 "De la Valeur proportionelle de 1'Or et de 1'Argent dans l'Antiquit6 grecque," RN 1893,
pp. 1-26, 141-166.
same weight as the gold drachma of which two made the stater. Of the relation
of silver and gold we shall speak presently; the issuance of silver money on the
standard used by Athens was certainly not surprising considering the assured
reputation and universal acceptability of the Athenian owls. Schlumberger,
indeed, believes that his choice was influenced not only by their importance in
Greece but also by their imitations which had become so notable an element
in the currency of Persia. What Alexander wanted to do, he says, was to give
a generally recognized coinage to an empire which did not have one and to
extend the use of coinage to the whole territory.119 This largeness of view,
however, would only have been possible at a time when he could foresee the
eastern extension of his empire. It therefore fits Schlumberger's idea that the
imperial currency does not begin with the beginning of the reign. But with the
difficulties caused by this theory we have already dealt. In any case, Alexander
had silver drachms 20 of which were equal to one gold stater in value.
And what were they worth to their possessors ? Any attempt to answer this
question ought to be prefaced by a reminder that we have no evidence from
Macedonia itself. In the works of the orators and the comedians there is a con-
siderable amount of economic information about 4th century Athens, and this
has been carefully gathered by August Bockh in his book Die Staatshaushaltung
der Athener.iw There a great deal can be found out about the range of revenues
and expensesrents, dowries, wages, fines, loans, and such matters. But these
figures, while interesting and illuminating in themselves, must be used with
caution for the economy of Macedonia or Asia. Nevertheless, there is one figure
so basic that it seems safe to use it. In the latter part of Aristotle's Constitution
of Athens, which deals with the constitution of his own time, section 49 records
the fact that the Council considered the case of paupers, and any who were

found to have less than 3 minae capital and to be physically incapacitated
received 2 obols a day for food at the public expense. In 4th century Athens,
then, 2 obols a day is the level of bare subsistence. This is borne out by Demos-
thenes' proposal for an expedition against Macedon121 in which the foot soldiers
were to get 2 obols a day which would keep them alive even if they were not
supplemented by plunder. We know nothing of the cost of living in the country,
and Athens may well have been more expensive than any town in Macedonia,
but, if we keep that in mind, it is safe to calculate that a silver diobol was about
the minimum that a man could get along on for a day. Then a drachma would
support him for three days, a tetradrachm for 12.
119 Schlumberger, "L"Argent grec dans 1'Empire achemenide" op. cit., p. 27.
120 Third ed., Berlin, 1886. Translated by George Cornewall Lewis as The Public Economy of
Athens, 2nd ed., London, 1842.
lu First Philippic, Sections 28 f.
THE KING'S MONEY 31
This being the scale of values for silver, we need to convert it into gold and
bronze. Since the gold stater (of two gold drachmae) weighed just twice the
silver drachma, the ratio between gold drachma and silver drachma will be
exactly the ratio between the bullion values of the metals. Now the value of
gold and silver will vary according to supply and demand and will vary
differently except in those instances in modern times where government control
has produced a true bimetallism. Since in Greece the standard was silver the
result was an apparent fluctuation in the value of gold only, though sometimes
ancient writers recognized the interaction of the metals.122 There is evidence
that in the Persian empire there was a fixed official ratio of i^la: 1 ;123 an
Athenian inscription of 434/3 (IG II2. 352) gives a ratio of about 14: I; two
literary sources of the 4th century show that by then the proportion had sunk
to 11 or 12 : 1.124 In the middle of the 4th century the opening of the mines of
Pangaeus suddenly increased the available gold supply which appears to have
dropped the ratio to 10: I,125 and this seems to have been maintained for a
long time.126 It would be dangerous to suppose that it never varied during the
period of Alexander and his successors,127 but what testimony we have encour-
ages us to assume that 10 : 1 was the usual ratio.One gold stater, then, equalling
20 silver drachmae or 5 tetradrachms, would be subsistence for one man for
60 days, and a distater for twice as long.
122 Xenophon, Ways and Means, IV. 10, "When gold becomes plentiful it becomes cheaper
and makes silver dearer."
123 Theodore Reinach, op. cit. (n. 118), pp. 7-9, but cf. Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 113), p. 16.
For a ratio of 12: 1 in the 5th century, E. S. G. Robinson, "Some Problems in the Late Fifth
Century Coinage of Athens," MN 1960, p. 9.
124 Lysias, De Bonis Aristophanis 39-40; "Plato" Hipparchus 231 D.

125 Reinach, op. cit., pp. 146-149, believes that it was Philip's mining activity and not
Alexander's conquest of the East that was the important moment in the relation of gold to
silver.
126 Reinach cites CIA II. 2. 741 (IG II.2 2.1.1496 col. Ill) of 331/0; CIA II. 237 (an error for
737): IG II.2 2. 1.1492 U. 99-103; Menander (320-292) Parakatatheke (Pollux IX. 76); Herondas
(ca. 247-222) VII, 11. 79, 99. In RN 1902, "Le Rapport de 1'Or a 1'Argent dans les Comptes de
Delphes," pp. 66-68, he calls attention to the same ratio in the accounts of the Naopoioi in the
archonship of Dion. This is important for his thesis as to Pangaean gold, for it was then dated
336/5 and so before Alexander could have had any effect on the gold supply. But Georges Daux
will not date Dion more closely than 336/5-332/1, Fouilles de Delphes III, Fasc. hors S^rie (n. d.),
Chronologic Delphique, p. 15, C 21.
127 E.g., H. T. Wade-Gery, in publishing a difficult inscription, "The Ratio of Silver to Gold
during the Peloponnesian War: IG I.2 301," NC 1930, pp. 16-38, comes to the conclusion that
raw gold, inside the empire, was conventionally tariffed at 10: 1 although this was below its
market price when a buyer was available, and although before the war it had been 14: 1, IG I.2 355.
A great many fluctuations could fall into the lacunae in our evidence.
When we come to speculate about the bronze we are in greater difficulties.
It is generally agreed that bronze money was essentially fiduciary: that its
value was not measured by the weight of the metal. This is confirmed, though
it cannot be said to be proved, by what little information we have about the
price of bronze.128 More conclusive is the variation in weight of individual
pieces of the same denomination. In the Drama Hoard there are 94 bronze
coins of Alexander all well preserved and in about the same condition; 13 of
them weigh over 7 grams, 25 weigh less than 6. It is obvious that there has
been no such attempt at exactness as even the fractional silver shows.129 To
be sure, the loss or gain in value would be very small, but if a coin of 4.78 grams
was supposed to be worth the same as one of 8.09 that must be because the
bullion value did not matter. But too much can be made of the indifference.
I may quote the conclusions to which I came in regard to Selucid issues where
there are sometimes denominations not distinguished by difference in type.130
"'Everyone will agree that the weighing of the original flans for bronze coins
was less careful than in the case of silver because the bullion value was so much
less. On the other hand, it is too drastic to assume that the bullion value was of
no account whatever. The conception of token money with a value entirely
independent of its material, like our paper, is a modern one which cannot fairly
be attributed to Asiatics of the third century B.C. Doubtless the ultimate worth
of the bronze coins was their theoretical ability to be exchanged for precious
metals, and this allowed them to circulate freely in spite of variation in weight
and at a value higher than that of their material. Yet the analogy of silver and
gold must have affected the peasant or soldier user of bronze coins. The per-
sistence of a system of denominations distinguishable only by weight must rest
on the instinctive conviction that the more metal there is in your coin the

more it is worth."
Weight, then, may be helpful in separating denominations but is no guide
to their relation with the silver issues, and we must look for other methods of
analysis. Newell tentatively proposed alternate schemes for identifying Seleucid
bronze, based on the hypothesis of equality between the largest bronze and the
smallest silver.131 As I have had occasion to remark,132 it is doubtful whether a
single system can be substantiated for all the kings from Seleucus I to Anti-
128 Theodore Reinach, "Du Rapport de Valeur des Metaux moneiaires dans 1'Egypt au
Temps des Ptoleme'es," REG 1928, pp. 121-196, esp. 161f.
12' The tables in Reinach, op. cit., pp. I57f. give the same kind of variation for Ptolemaic
bronze.
130 The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Final Report VI. The Coins, New Haven, 1949, p. 188.
181 "Notes on the Bronze Coinages," ESM, pp. 270-274.
132 Troy, Supplementary Study 2. The Coins, Princeton, 1961, p. 13, n. 78.
THE KING'S MONEY 33
ochus III, and for all their mints, which by no means issue all the same de-
nominations in silver and bronze. But aside from this his values are unsatis-
factory for the period of Alexander. According to his calculations the piece
which he calls the unit would be either J/8 obol or x/16 obol, and therefore l/K or x/96
drachma. On the evidence of a possible reduction in weight by Antiochus IV,
he prefers the second ratio for the early Seleucid period. On the basis of con-
venience, however, the former or a lower one would be preferable. There is no
denomination between the bronze unit and the silver drachma issued frequently
enough to have been in common use, and 48 : 1 seems a wide gap, let alone 96 : 1.
The relation of gold stater to silver drachm was 20 : 1 and, as the tetradrachm
was even commoner than the drachma, there was a ratio of 5 : 1 between the
most available large denominations. Why should the minor ones be separated
by 48 : 1? Yet, as I have pointed out, in the case of Ilium the first local issues
of that mint provided not multiples of Alexander's denomination but fractions:
half and quarter, V96 and 1/192 drachma according to Newell's lower reckoning,
Yi92 an(^ Vs84 according to his higher! This surely must be rejected from its in-
herent improbability.
Reinach, who has done us the service of confuting some of the unsuccessful
speculations of his predecessors, has made a cautious suggestion as to the values
of Ptolemaic bronze.133 Since from 305 B.C. on the Egyptian standard was
Rhodian and not Attic, his definitions will not apply to Alexander's coins, but
he gives voice to an interesting principle which ought not to be overlooked.
"S'il me fallait" he says "a toute force hasarder a mon tour un systeme de
denomination, je verrais volontiers dans la classe de bronze B de Svoronos, qui
est de beaucoup la plus frequente, 1'obole, la piece divisionnaire par excellence."
The obol is, in truth, so prominent in the writers that it seems reasonable that

it should be conspicuous as an actual coin. There is a silver obol but it does not
seem to have been common enough to satisfy the requirement, and it is tempt-
ing to call our bronze piece an obol and so establish a ratio of 6 : 1 between the
minor denominations. The purely factual name chalkous "the bronze piece"
we may safely assume was used of our unit as it had been used of the much-
despised first Athenian attempt to use token money;134 as it would presumably
always be used of a bronze piece which was the only denomination or the
dominant one. In more developed systems it may have been confined to a
particular step in a series of denominations, having its multiples and divisions,
as illustrated by Newell's tables, but for this early period it is almost certain
that the commonest bronze piece would be called chalkous. That, however,
1M Op. cit. (n. 128), pp. 150f.
134 Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae, 11. 815, 818.
takes us no farther into the question of its value in terms of silver. There we
have nothing to go on except reasonable conjecture. We are neither helped nor
hindered by evidence from other places or other times,135 for it is clear that a
coin without mark of value or necessary relation to its metal content would be
very sensitive to circumstance, capable of being easily manipulated by author-
ity or changed by conditions so that the work done by the unit of one situation
might require a multiple in another. Let us assume, then, until we encounter
evidence to the contrary, that the bronze unit was an obol and that two of
them made a pauper's dole in the countries where Alexander's authority ran.
136 E. S. G. Robinson has identified the Athenian obol and diobol of 403 B.C. "Some Problems
in the Later Fifth Century Coinage of Athens," MN 1960, p. 12, PI. II, 18, 19. These are much
smaller than Alexander's bronzes, as they are smaller than later Athenian bronze coins whose
denomination we cannot prove, but there is no reason to suppose that the size first used by Athens

became the canonical size for an obol.
THE KING'S FINANCES
From the time of Alexander I, 498-454 B.C. the kings of Macedon had struck
their own coins1 and it was a matter of course that Philip II and Alexander III
should strike theirs. But the size of Philip's output was altogether beyond that
of any of his predecessors, and Alexander's dwarfed that of his father. Of
course, the thing that made this possible was that Philip came into control of the
gold and silver of the Pangaean district. When he took over theThasian colony
of Crenides in 3572 he developed the neighboring gold mines until they pro-
duced an income of more than 1,000 talents.3 That undoubtedly took the form
of coined money.4 Aristotle's Rhetoric*1 puts abundance of money at the be-
ginning of the kinds of wealth, followed by real estate, movables, cattle and
slaves. There is no mention of bullion, and while we read of Persian bullion
captured by Alexander and of gold objects included in the plunder, there is no
record of royal transactions in bullion any more than there is of transactions
on credit. This fact, that the Macedonian kings, like the Greek cities, used not
merely a money economy but a specie economy is of importance to keep in
mind. If the thousand talents of income were all gold they would be 300,000
gold staters, since a silver talent, to translate it into its commonest forms,
equalled 1,500 tetradrachms or 300 gold pieces at a ratio of 10 : 1.6 Now though
Aristotle, and doubtless his contemporaries, generally believed that a supply
of money was wealth, Philip does not seem to have accumulated much. None
1 Doris Raymond, Macedonian Regal Coinage to 413 B.C. (NNM 126), New York, 1953.
2 Diodorus XVI, 3. 7.
3 Diodorus XVI, 8. 6. "A thousand talents" means gold to the value of 1,000 silver (Attic)
talents. Diodorus specifies gold but Philip certainly got his greatly increased supply of silver from
the Pangaean region. There may therefore have been a thousand talents of gold plus an unspecified
amount of silver. I make the cautious assumption, however, that the thousand talents in fact

included gold and silver both.
4 Diodorus XVI. 8. 7 says that he struck gold pieces used in hiring mercenaries.
5 I. 5. 7 (Loeb ed., p. 50) vonlovaros 1^605.
6 1 talent = 60 minae = 6,000 drachms = 3,000 didrachms = 1,500 tetradrachms. As the
gold stater is a didrachm of gold (8.68 grams), a talent = 300 staters at the ratio of 10 : 1 which
we have accepted (above, p. 31) as generally valid for the period of Alexander. Since a talent is a
measure of weight, one gold talent would be worth 10 talents of silver but, unless it is specified
to the contrary, the sources follow the Greek fashion of calculating in talents of silver. Philip's
1,000 talents, therefore, presumably are not talents of gold, but the gold equivalent of 1,000 talents
of silver.
of the kings who preceded him had been able to coin gold7 and there was a time
when Philip had little enough.8 It might be thought that, with such a large
increase of income, he would find himself with a surplus. But Philip's ideas
were larger than those of his predecessors and his plans more costly. Not content
with the old Macedonian army which, so far as it was a citizen body, he might
have employed with no expense beyond their maintenance,9 he hired mercenaries
and devised a military force not only larger but also far more resourceful than
any previously known.10 With this force he won his victories in Europe and
from it he sent an advance contingent of 10,000 to Asia under Parmenio and
Attalus in 337.n Obviously his military expenses must have been considerable.
Moreover, Philip is reported to have said that he had enlarged his kingdom
more by gold than by arms12 and, if we had no other evidence than the charges
and counter-charges of the orators, we could judge how freely the king's money
was spent in bribery;13 it may well have amounted to a larger outlay than pay
for the troops. And the tradition, whatever its accuracy, represents Philip as
having no talent for economy. A passage from the Histories of Theopompus14
describing his dissipation is certainly sensational and probably libellous, but
it contains an interesting observation which does not seem to be an expression
of prejudice, "He was a soldier and could not calculate income and expenditure
at leisure." This must be considered in connection with the reports that Alex-
ander was, at the beginning of his reign, short of funds. In the Life of Alexander
(15.1) Plutarch quotes Aristobulus to the effect that on his crossing to Asia
Alexander had only 70 talents in the war chest; Duris says it was only provision
for 30 days15 while Onesicritus adds that he had a debt of 200 talents besides.
7 Some Thracian cities did, however. Allen B. West, Fifth and Fourth Century Gold Coins from
the Thracian Coast (NNM 40), New York, 1929.

8 Athenaeus IV. 148. d, e; VI. 231. b, c.
9 H. W. Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers, Oxford, 1933, pp. 158f. "Probably he (Philip) had
little need to spend money on his Macedonian soldiers; it was their recognized duty to follow their
king in the field, and they would require to be provided with subsistence only on long or distant
campaigns. Towards this outlay the Macedonian kings could claim some form of feudal dues
(Arrian 1.16. 5)."
10 An able description of the development of Philip's army is to be found in David G. Hogarth,
Philip and Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897, pp. 49-64.
11 Diodorus XVI. 91. 1.
12 Diodorus XVI. 53. 3.
13 As was also Persian gold, then and later. Plutarch, The Fortune or Virtue of Alexander,
I.3.327c. Persian gold in the hands of demagogues everywhere was being used to arm the
Peloponnesus.
14 Athenaeus IV. 166f.-167C.
16 In the essay on The Fortune or Virtue of Alexander II. 11, the 30 days' provisions are given
on the authority of Phylarchus. These two calculations cannot be made to coincide. If the total
THE KING'S FINANCES 37
Still more lurid accounts of his financial distress are attributed to Alexander
himself when he was haranguing the mutineers at Opis. According to Curtius
(X. 11) he said that he had inherited from his father 60 talents and a debt of
500, while the sober Arrian gives the most extreme account of all (VII. 9.6):
his assets from his father were a few gold and silver cups and less than 60
talents, while Philip's debt of 500 talents he had increased by borrowing
800 more.16 The words attributed to Alexander himself refer to the exchequer
at the time of his accession, not at the time of his crossing. We should not count
too much on the evidential value of such a speech, but there is nothing to con-
tradict the common testimony that Philip had used up his money.
Plutarch takes the circumstances to show the high adventurous spirit of the
young king and he adds the famous tale of his distributing all the royal property
to his friends, keeping for himself only his hopes, in which Perdiccas gallantly
said he would share, refusing all other benefits. But this romantic story is
of Alexander's army of invasion and Parmenio's advance force was about 40,000 foot and 6,000
horse (G. T. Griffith, The Mercenaries of the Hellenistic World, Cambridge, 1935, p. 12) it could
hardly have been supported for 30 days on 70 talents. There is an unfortunate silence of the
sources on the fundamental matter of the soldiers' daily wage in Alexander's army (Parke, Greek
Mercenary Soldiers, p. 233, n. 1. It may be pointed out that the fragmentary inscription IG II.2
1. 329, which is cited as proving that Alexander was to pay his allies 1 drachma a day, seems
rather to show a payment of 1 drachma to the hypaspistae with some other, and presumably
lesser, amount for the troops in general. Tarn does not appear to have taken account of the in-
scription in his discussion of the hypaspists, Alexander the Great II, pp. 148-154). However, we have
an interesting detailed proposal by Demosthenes (First Philippic, 28 f.) for an expeditionary force
against Philip that was never raised. His calculation allows 2 obols a day for foot soldiers, one
drachma for horse, citizen and mercenary alike. This was put forward as an emergency measure

and, in view of the fact that the pauper's allowance was 2 obols, it is very unlikely that citizen
infantry, let alone mercenaries, could have been induced to serve ordinarily for that wage, which
would have been sufficient only if supplemented with plunder. There is evidence that by the time
of Alexander the ordinary pay of a Greek mercenary was 4 obols a day (Parke, loc. cit.) and per-
haps we may assume that the pay of all privates was the same; in that case the pay of a horseman
would also be double Demosthenes' figure. Now, if we take the later amount, the pay of the foot
for 30 days would be 800,000 drachmae (40,000 X 4 obols X 30 days H- 6), that of the horse
360,000 drachmae (6,000 X 12 obols x 30 days -=- 6). The total would be 193$ talents (1,160,000
.4- 6,000), while even at Demosthenes' figures the sum would be g6f talents with no allowance for
the pay of higher ranks or any other military expense. Seventy talents would not have lasted
3 weeks even at starvation wages. Probably the reports of the king's finances at the beginning of
the campaign were no more than gossip.
16 Arrian's words imply that Alexander's own borrowing was to finance the expedition. If the
800 were added to Philip's debt of 500, the total of 1,300 talents would be no excessive burden.
Interest at Athens normally ranged from 12 % to 18 %. If we take the latter figure he would have
a yearly interest of 234 talents to pay and as the mines of Philippi alone yielded 1,000 talents
there should be no difficulty in retiring the debt. It must be observed that he did not say he was
without funds when he landed in Asia; being in debt is a different thing.
quite impossible to believe in the form in which it is given. It would mean that
Alexander embarked on an expensive and perilous enterprise without making
any provision at all for the campaign after its very beginning. One serious check
would have left him with an army that he could not support, separated from a
kingdom whose resources were exhausted with no means of being reestablished.
There may well have been a distribution of gifts, perhaps so spectacular as to
make it seem that he had left nothing for himself, but the record does not
support the legend that he would have given away his soldier's pay and their
safety to make an impression on his friends. Much that Alexander did was
adventurous to the point of recklessness. Like other great generals of antiquity
he conceived it his obvious duty to lead his troops in the field and he never
seems to have provided against the risk by arranging for a second in command,
as in the end he died without providing for the succession. If the battle-axe of
Spithridates had cut him down at the Granicus it is hard to see how the
Macedonian army could have escaped annihilation. Whether there was a
quality in the man that made him take risks beyond reason is a question out-
side the scope of this study. What concerns us is a class of evidence which lies
altogether within reason. Alexander's strategy may have been bold but it was
not hap-hazard. His plans may have been fallible at times, but there were plans,
and among them fiscal plans to provide the money without which the expedition
would have been impossible.
The records tell us a great deal about the accomplishments of Alexander but
little or nothing of what lay behind them. There is tactical information about
his arrangement of the order of battle, and such an episode as the siege of Tyre
is treated with a detail which includes experiment and failure as well as ulti-
mate success, but operations on a larger scale are treated as though they were

an automatic sequence. And yet, of course, a prodigious amount of planning
must have been required for the success of the all but incredible progress of his
arms and of this Alexander must have been the master mind. We get a glimpse
of him in his youth questioning the ambassadors of the Persian king not only
about what was that monarch's position in the line of battle, which might have
been prompted by youthful valor and his adventurous spirit, but also about
the size of the Persian forces and the shortest roads for those going inland from
the sea, which was essentially strategic material.17 The ambassadors recognized
these as subjects in which a king should properly be interested, and called him
a Great King in contrast to their own who was only rich. Slight as the incident
is, it suggests that even as a boy he had an idea of the value of military intel-
ligence, which is one element of a long-range military program. It would be
17 Plutarch, Alexander, 5. 1; The Fortune of Alexander, 1 1 (342 B.C.).
interesting if we could have even this much light on the preparations for later
stages of his campaign. But it was not the kind of thing that antiquity found
worthy of recording, and Alexander is not the only great ruler whose plans are
entirely unreported. Once in a while we get an intimation of the day to day
work which a king must do. Plutarch18 remarks that kingship, which is the
most perfect and greatest of offices, has the most cares and burdens and oc-
cupations, and he quotes Seleucus as saying, "If people knew what a labor it is
to write and read so many letters, they would not even pick up a crown that
had been thrown away." We must imagine, then, what the record fails to show:
an Alexander busy with many things less than heroic, but essential for all that.
One of those things was finance.18*
It was recognized in the 4th century that finance was a special study.
Aristotle in the Politics (I. 4. 8) lays it down that it is well for statesmen to
understand money, since states often need money like households, but in greater
quantity. Some statesmen, he says, have devoted themselves to that alone,
doubtless having in mind the Athenian statesman Eubulus whom Plutarch19 cites
as having been commended because although he held unparalleled influence he
did not deal at all with foreign affairs or the military but concerned himself
only with finance and increasing the revenue. There was even some specialized
literature: Aeneas whose Tactica appears to have been written shortly after
360 B.C. also wrote a treatise on military finance.20 An interesting, though too
brief ancient view of imperial finance is presented in Book 2 of the Oeconomica
attributed to Aristotle, edited by Van Groningen.21 In the theoretical introduc-
tion which comprises Chapter I we read "There are four kinds of economy:
that of a king; that of a satrap; that of a city state; that of an individual." It
is plain that in the opinion of the author, which can hardly have been con-

tradicted by the practice of his day, the coining of money is altogether in the
18 Whether Old Men Should Engage in Public Affairs, 790 AB.
18a Major-General J. F. C. Fuller's book The Generalship of Alexander the Great, Rutgers,
1960 is strangely silent on the question of expenses. The author appears to believe that
Alexander's coining began only after the capture of the treasure of Persepolis (pp. 112, 273 f.)
and what he has to say about finance is concerned with trade only. There is no mention of pay
or of transport and supply.
19 Precepts of Statecraft, 812 F.'
20 <H TTopiCTTiKfi ptpAos Aeneas Tacticus 14. 2.
21 Text and commentary, B. A. Van Groningen, Aristote, le second Livre de 1'f.conomique,
Leyden, 1933. His belief is that the author was a Peripatetic, writing for students with a political
futureeven the possibility of a satrapy before them; the book is a unit, not an epitome, written
between 325 and 305 B.C. since no illustrations are later than Alexander, while the royal economy
and the satrapal refer to a single kingdom, i.e., the date is earlier than the kingships of Antigonus,
Demetrius, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Seleucus. The sources cannot be recovered.
hands of the sovereign; the powers of a satrap may be great but they do not
include coining. This is a continuation of 5th century doctrine according to
which the issue of money was a declaration of sovereignty. Qualification is
necessary for the Persian practice of the 4th century, however. The striking
of gold was generally regarded as a royal monopoly. When Orontas, Satrap
of Mysia presumed to do that it was because he was in revolt against the king
and intended to declare himself independent.22 But with silver the matter is
different. The Cilician silver bearing the names of the satraps Tiribazus, Pharna-
bazus, Datames and Mazaeus is well known.23 It is so large and important a
constituent of the Persian currencyso much more important than the royal
shekelsthat it seems mere legalism to insist that these powerful subordinates
could strike only by grace of the Great King. Babelon24 maintains that no
satrap was permitted to strike qua satrap, the power being always temporary
and always in connection with the command of troops. But since on the pre-
vious page he has admitted that the client kings coined with considerable
freedom and by no means always in connection with the business of their
overlord, and since there is no way of relating each satrapal issue to a military
event, and no explanation of the fact that this military money was issued in
the name of the satrap and not of the king, we may believe that the restriction
was perhaps a theoretical but not a practical one, and that the problem of silver
coinage was generally left to the satrap's judgment. That is not the case with
Alexander, however. In Europe the coining of silver was a government monopoly,
, and when the name of a subordinate appears on a coin struck for Alexander
there is an exceptional reason for it.25 Initials were sometimes permitted to a
governor as to a mint official, but in general the empire of Alexander and the
realms of his successors observe the rule of the Oeconomica.

Our author does not discuss the relations of royal currency with that of a
city state lying within the royal dominion, yet that situation was a common
one in Asia Minor under Persian kings and Macedonian kings as well. Daniel
Schlumberger has recently shown26 that, while the Persian king's gold was a
monopoly, his silver was only one of several kinds that circulated in his own
land. Alexander came into no vacuum of currency when he brought his money
22 HN, p. 597. But see the gold piece attributed to Mazaeus by E. S. G. Robinson, NC 1948,
p. 59. Gold coinage other than royal, some sporadic, some regular (e.g. Lampsacus), occurs with
sufficient frequency to make reserve about the king's monopoly prudent.
HN, pp. 730 f.
24 Perses achemenides, Paris, 1893, p. XXIII. He follows the opinion of Lenormant and
Waddington.
25 Below, pp. 62-66.
26 "L*Argent grec dans 1'Empire acheme'nide," pp. 3-64.
to Asia. Schlumberger's statement of his purpose is very good.27 "What Alex-
ander intended to do is clear. He intended to give to an empire that did not
have it a silver coinage universally acceptable as money and, in so doing, to
extend the use of silver money as such (and not as bullion) to the entire terri-
tory of that empire." The intention was never entirely carried out, partly, of
course, because of the shortness of his life, but, aside from that, it is not likely
that the plan itself was ever so complete as to contemplate the retirement of
the great variety of silver that was already in use. Whatever the theory, the
fact was that there was a supplementary coinage from the cities28 which some-
what complicated the Oeconomica's simple conception of the king as the only
supplier of money.
But the king had to decide, as the text says, what kind of money should be
made and when, and whether the coins should be of greater or less value. The
author realized that the king would not be fulfilling his proper duty if he merely
directed that all bullion should forthwith be converted into coin, leaving the
details to the master of the mint. What was the nature of his decision and by
what considerations was it affected? Van Groningen argues that it was the
king's business to see that the official ratio of gold to silver was maintained.29
He must therefore issue sufficient quantity of each to keep the values from
fluctuating. The editor surprisingly argues on the assumption that it is the
Persian king who is under consideration, who struck only darics of 8.336 grams
or sigloi of 5.56 grams. If his date for the work be accepted (between 325 and
305) there was no Persian king at the time it was written. Moreover his hypo-
thesis, which in any case credits the monarch with an unlikely degree of eco-
nomic sagacity, is less plausible for the Persian king than for a Hellenistic one.
The Persian king could doubtless dictate how much gold should be minted, but

he could neither dictate nor foresee how much silver was to go into circulation,
for the major part of the silver was provided by the cities.30 Ptolemy was in far
better position to control the money market than any king of Persia. Never-
27 Ibid., p. 27.
28 There were certainly times when the king's contribution to the currency of a region was the
minor one, that of the cities the major. The tetrobols of Perdiccas II make a poor show in com-
parison with the great tetradrachms of Abdera, Acanthus, Aenus, Amphipolis, Maronea and
Mende. There was no king before Alexander whose silver had the scope of the Athenian.
29 It was understood that when gold is plentiful it becomes cheaper and makes silver dearer.
Xenophon, Poroi IV. 10.
30 The easy assumption that Persia had a bimetallic currency in the modern senseaccepted
even by West ("The Early Diplomacy of Philip II of Macedon Illustrated by His Coins," NC1923,
p. 173, n. 7) when he is arguing against a bimetallic currency for Philipis based on the sup-
position that the siglos had the same dominant function in Asia as the dark. Schlumberger has
now destroyed that basis.
theless, whether he was much or little concerned with preserving the ratio
between metals, the king must decide how much gold must be coined and how
much silver, and in what denominations.
Philip had used the mints of Pella and Amphipolis for gold and silver;
perhaps also that of Philippi for bronze.31 Miiller believed that his coins came
from a large number of other towns as well. Some of his identifications have
been proved wrong; other have to do with the posthumous tetradrachms and
staters; it may be that other mints of Philip will eventually be confirmed, but
certainly none to compare with the two great Macedonian cities and, on the
basis of our present information, we can only safely assume that at Alexander's
accession he found Pella and Amphipolis in operation for the precious metals.
His decision in regard to them will have been very simple. With the exchequer
low he undoubtedly required new coin as fast as he could get it. What pro-
portions of the various denominations he needed we cannot say.
His sources of supply were well placed for his first needs: in the spring of 335
he embarked on the northern expedition, which is described in detail in Arrian
I.1. 4-6. 11, which occupied him until the Theban revolt brought him back to
Greece in the fall of that year. His purpose was to discipline the barbarians on
the periphery of Macedonia who showed signs of restlessness at the news of
Philip's death. He marched from Amphipolis to the Ister, crossed it and beat
the Getae in battle, then turned westward against the Agriani and Paeones
and thence south to Pelium in Illyria where he broke up a serious rebellion.
It was there that he heard of the situation at Thebes in consequence of which
he returned to Greece with all speed. His work in the north seems to have been
thoroughly done, in spite of the interruption, for the barbarians gave him no
further trouble, even after he had crossed to Asia. There is no mention of the

acquisition of territory, the founding of cities or the establishment of garrisons.
It is very unlikely that the expedition resulted in the opening of new mints,
immediately or later. To be sure, Miiller assigns certain issues to a mint of
Pelagonia (nos. 205-215) but some of these have been identified as coming
from Amphipolis, others from Tarsus, and it is now clear that this territory
was supplied with silver by the mint of Damastion which operated until 325
B.C., to be continued by the latest coins of Pelagia and the kings of Paeonia
down to the Gallic invasions of 28o.32
How was the campaign financed? Partly by plunder. On two occasions
Arrian speaks of booty;33 the first after Alexander's victory over the Thracians
when he sent it to the cities on the coast in charge of Lysanias and Philotas;
31 See the forthcoming publication of the Drama Hoard.
82 John M. F. May, The Coinage of Damastion, Oxford, 1939, pp. 28, 160, 187; HN, pp. 236!.
33 I. 2. 1;4. 4.
THE KING'S FINANCES
43
the second when that from the conquered Getae was taken back (presumably
again to the coast cities) by Meleager and Philip. The only way we have of
forming any idea of what it would amount to is to realize that Alexander would
not in each case have detached two officers for escort duty unless the prize were
Map 1
of considerable value.34 Cohen indeed ingeniously calculates the amount by
supposing that it is the difference between his indebtedness of 200 talents
according to Onesicritus and his debt of 1300 talents according to Arrian's
34 The four are listed in Helmut Berve, Das Alexanderreich auf prosopographischer Grundlage,
Munich, 1926, II. Lysanias no. 479, Meleager no. 494, Philip no. 775, Philotas no. 802. The second

and fourth were men of importance.
report of his speech to the mutineers.35 He explains the statement no further,
but it does not seem likely that two barbarian tribes could be the source of
11oo talents, when the sack of Thebes produced only 440.36 The expedition may
have paid for itself. It is probable that if he did borrow an extra 800 talents
that would have been in preparation for the crossing to Asia.
At the outset of his great enterprise his source of money, like his father's, was
the two Macedonian cities (Map 1). But now there was a difference. Under Philip
Pella had been the premier mint; under Alexander it was Amphipolis.37 The
result was a distinction in the functions fulfilled by the two cities, which Newell
notices in an interesting comment.38 "Probably because of the contrast in their
respective situations the Pella mint now came to be used more for supplying
local demand, the Amphipolis mint for foreign commerce. It is a fact that while
the writer has records of the latter's issues being strongly represented in hoards
from European Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia, and Persia, the
Pella coins seldom turn up in finds made outside of Europe and then only in
small numbers. In the European hoards, however, they are not uncommon. It
is furthermore to be noted that such specimens of the Pella mint as did occur at
Demanhur are all beautifully preserved, the majority hardly circulated at all.
It is evident that they had not travelled much from hand to hand after leaving
their dies. In contrast to this, considerable numbers of the Amphipolis pieces,
particularly of the early issues, must by their appearance have circulated a good
deal before they were finally consigned to the ground." Here, then, is an
example of mints fillingand perhaps already of being intended to fillpar-
ticular places in the imperial currency. The tetradrachms of Pella went west
and south, those of Amphipolis went to the soldiers in Anatolia and had seen
long use before they got to Egypt.
p. 56.

36 Gustave Glotz, Pierre Roussel, Robert Cohen, Histoire grecque Vol. IV, Part 1, Paris, 1938,
86 Diodorus XVII. 14. 4.
37 Demanhur, p. 73. Newell never published the reasons which made him change his first
opinion that the bulk of the Demanhur Hoard was the output of Pella, as he said in Reattribution.
It was not for lack of thought on the matter. In Demanhur, p. 67, he says, "A continuous and
detailed study of the numerous later coinages of the same mint appears to prove conclusively that
it was located in Amphipolis and not in Pella. At present it is not advisable to enter upon a
necessarily lengthy discussion of the pros and cons, since this would demand the study of hundreds
of coins not in the Demanhur Hoard and thus take us outside the limits originally set for this
article." Unfortunately he found no later occasion to record his reasons; the difference between
the mints is regarded as fixed in The Coinages of Demetrius Poliorcetes, Oxford, 1927. The attribu-
tions may be taken as probable though their demonstration must await publication of the series
of the two mints.
38 Demanhur, pp. 73 f. See also Bellinger, "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos," Berytus X,
1950/1, pp. 48 f.
In the spring of 334 the cavalry and most of the infantry went with Par-
menio across the straits from Sestus to Abydus.39 The latter city had probably
been in Macedonian hands since Philip's expeditionary force three years be-
fore.40 Through it Philip must have introduced his gold, though apparently not
his silver.41 Whether or nor he intended it, the effect was to supplant the Asiatic
issue of gold from Lampsacus and electrum from Cyzicus, Phocaea and My-
tilene.42 Babelon is of the opinion that the use of electrum was encouraged by
the hegemony of Athens which also made her owls the standard large silver
on the coast of Asia Minor in the 5th and 4th centuries.43 If that is true, Alex-
ander made no attempt to change the character of the silver in use; the large
money will have been Athenian tetradrachms, the small silver being produced
by the individual cities. A notable instance is Abydus itself which issued coins
weighing 2.55-3.30 grams as well as a few of larger and smaller denomination.
Since the names of 28 magistrates are known it must have been a considerable
coinage.44 The common denomination is generally called "Persic tetrobol."
39 Arrian I. 11. 6.
40 It is stated as a fact by Babelon, Traitt, Part II, Vol. 2, p. 1324, that Philip's forces had
crossed from Sestus to Abydus. He does not cite his source and I suspect that he is only deducing
from the fact that Philip's army had never been withdrawn and therefore must have controlled
some place in Asia Minor, and that Alexander's crossing was unopposed. Indeed, Alexander was so
confident that it would not be opposed that he did not even accompany the main body but went
off on a romantic expedition of his own to Troy. It is incredible that a general of the ability of
Memnon should allow the Macedonians to cross the Hellespont without a bridge head to make
them safe. It is indeed remarkable that Philip's expedition was allowed to cross but we have only
the bare fact recorded. It may have been a surprise, or the Persian force in Asia Minor may have
been too weak at the time to resist.

41 See above, "The King's Money," pp. gf.
42 Babelon, Traite, Part II, Vol. 2, pp. 1377-1380 (Lampsacus) "Leur Emission commence
au dbut du IVe steclepour se ralentir vers 350 devant la diffusion des stateres d'or de Philippe;"
pp. 1395 f. (Cyzicus) "II est probable que des cette 6poque (that of Philip) la frappe de la monnaie
d'electrum s'est singuli^rement ralentie, mais elle ne cessa pas totalement;" pp. 1163, 1194
(Phocaea and Mytilene).
43 Op. cit., pp. 1167f. Unfortunately we have no confirmatory evidence from hoards of the
use of Athenian money in the north of Asia Minor just before Philipnot that the evidence is
contrary, but that there are no hoards recorded of the right time and location. Robinson is willing
to allow the great importance of the Athenian owls in Asia Minor in the 5th century but doubts
that it continued into the 4th.
44 Babelon, op. cit., pp. 1329-1332. Here we are faced with the difficulty of accurate dating.
Wroth, BMC Troas.Aeolis andLesbos, p. xli, says "This series may, on grounds of style, be attributed
to circa B.C. 320 to 280." Without disputing the calculation based on style, Babelon moves the series
back to 340-300. Twenty years is surely not a great difference when one is dating by style in the
4th century, but for our purpose the difference is critical. According to one system Abydus began
her large output of silver before Philip's invasion of Asia and continued it through the life of
Antigonus I; according to the other it did not begin until after Alexander's death and continued
I am not sure that the valiant effort of numismatists to give a name to every
standard that they find has contributed as much light as they have evidently
intended. The theoretical weight of the Persic tetrobol is given by Hill45 as
3.73-3.74 grams. The difference from the Abydus type is considerable, and the
title does not help to explain why the lighter coins were used at Abydus. It
certainly cannot have been because the Persian is of the same weight as the
"Persic drachm." For one thing, the sigloi were by no means of outstanding
importance in the currency of Asia Minor; for another, if she had wanted to
connect her currency to the sigloi Abydus would have struck "Persic drachms"
which she did not. She struck 2/3 drachmas which was surely inventing un-
necessary trouble if there was anything "Persic" in her intent. The conspicuous
thing about the coins of Abydus is that they are not easily related to any
adjacent currency of importance unless that of Mytilene can be considered
adjacent. Mytilene also struck "Persic" weights, though with a larger propor-
tion of didrachms and fewer tetrobols. Otherwise Abydus was isolated.46 The
neighboring town of Lampsacus struck still smaller silver (obols, diobols and
tetrobols) on what is generally supposed to be the Rhodian standard, with a
theoretical drachma of 3.72-3.88 grams.
The Rhodian standard had more adherents than the Persic in Asia Minor,
according to the received opinion, but the fact is that we need a great deal
more data before any safe conclusion can be reached. And even after the
weighing and counting has been carefully done it is not likely that any pattern
through the life of Seleucus I. I follow Babelon because he is the later (and, I think, the better)
authority and also because his dates seem to me to accord better with historical probability.
Among the phenomena following the death of Alexander I find it hard to believe that there was
any long continued show of independence by cities in Asia. Some such outburst as occasioned the

Lamian War in mainland Greece is easy to imagine, but for Abydus to begin an issue of autono-
mous coins which persisted through the terms of at least 28 officials seems very unlikely. Never-
theless, probability is not proof and the use of Abydus as evidence for the procedure of Alexander
in Asia involves a petitio principii. But neither date avoids the difficulty of simultaneous issue
of autonomous coins on one standard and drachms of Alexander on another. Thompson and
Bellinger, p. 9. Bikerman has nothing to say about Abydus in his sweeping denial that the Asiatic
cities retained the right of coinage. "Alexandre le Grand et les Villes d'Asie," REG 1934, p. 349.
Ehrenberg, admitting that because of the uncertainty of the chronology "our notions are bound
to remain rather vague" comes to the opposite conclusion that "the great majority of the cities
continued autonomous coining of silver and copper under Alexander." Alexander and the Greeks,
Oxford, 1938, p. 32.
45 G. F. Hill, Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins, London, 1899, p. 223.
46 The small silver of Abydus might, without much difficulty, be reckoned as V5 of an Attic
tetradrachm, but that is an idea likelier to occur to an American than to an ancient Greek.
will emerge which would be tolerable to modern ideas.47 The towns issued
their own small change for local use with little or no regard to the practice of
their neighbors. When different currencies were dealt with it must have been
by calculation or by convention.48 It would seem that here was an excellent
occasion for Alexander to confer the benefit of a standard currency on a district
so broken into little monetary districts. If the opportunity occurred to him he
was too busy with more immediate duties to act upon it. Between the spring
of 334 and the spring of 333 he occupied, either peaceably or by force, a great
many small towns and a number of cities of importance: Sardes, Ephesus,
Magnesia, Colophon, Miletus, Phaselis, Aspendus and Side. In no case is there any
sign of his using their mints to strike his own types (Map 1) .49 Doubtless he made
47 One thing that might abate the chaos would be accurate dating so that we should know
which issues were really simultaneous. Unfortunately if that is ever to be achieved it must be far
in the future.
48 A notable instance of the control of local value by convention is the variation in price of
gold coins at Delphi between 335 and 328. Sylloge I, 251, n. 15 and 253, n. 14. J. G. Milne was
eminent in his defense of the thesis that, in domestic transactions, the amount of bullion in a coin
was of less importance than its face value. (Cf. "The Monetary Reform of Solon," JHS 1930,
pp. 179-185; The Melos Hoard 0/1907 (NNM 62), 1934). The power of the sovereign to set a value
to a coin which should not be affected by variation in the price of metal is of course dependent on
the degree of control which he had over the metal available, and probably not many would be
tempted to apply the principle, as Milne did, to Pheidon and the very beginning of coinage (Greek
and Roman Coins, London, 1939, pp. 81f., n. X. 2). But he had been impressed by the lack of
uniformity in Greek coin weights and was inclined to echo the complaint of Sir George Macdonald
that the instrument of metrology "has indeed broken short in our hands" ("Fifty Years of Greek
Numismatics," Transactions of the International Numismatic Congress, London, 1938, pp. 3-16).

Macdonald reviews the enthusiastic hopes of the metrologists and the vigorous reaction to them
with reference to his studies in the coinage of Crete, where indeed the weights cannot be got to
make any sense. But it is going too far to assert, because this situation obtains in one area, that
Greek money is all token money except for a few issues such as the Athenian, coined with inter-
national trade specifically in view. There is too great a majority of cases in which the standards
are adhered to, though these are often obscured by the fact that we have not enough data to be
statistically safe. If value really had no relation to metal content there would be nothing to
prevent a drastic and universal reduction in weight of all coins not intended to go abroad. The
enigma of Crete would be only half solved, for though we might have an explanation for the light
coins, we should have none for the heavy. We may continue to believe that, as a rule, silver coins
were worth their weight, with exceptions, some of which we can understand and some of which
we cannot. One thing we can understand is that convenience might demand a conventional
adjustment of values to save the nuisance of perpetual weighing. If there were large quantities
in question the scales were undoubtedly resorted to as they still are in the East, but when a few
small pieces of Abydus had to be exchanged for small silver of Lampsacus it was doubtless done
by agreement. Still, we should not exaggerate an Asiatic's impatience with weighing or belittle his
willingness to spend his leisure for a small profit.
49 On the theory that the coinage of Ilium goes back to Alexander's visit, see Bellinger, "The
Earliest Coins of Ilium," MN 1957, pp. 43-49.
use of what local currency was available; contributions from the cities would
have come to him in their own coin or from such stores of gold and electrum as
they had accumulated. It is generally assumed that he collected the taxes that
had been paid to the Persians from the satrapies; this is specially attested for
Hellespontine Phrygia and the Aeolian and Ionian cities and there is nothing
to suggest that the practice was not regularly followed.50 In the case of Priene
which surrendered voluntarily there is explicit evidence of remission of taxes51
and in the case of Ephesus, where there had been rioting and danger of civil
war, Alexander directed that they should contribute such taxes as they had
paid to the Persians to rebuilding the temple of Artemis, which had burned
down.52 Both exceptions show that he was not in desperate need of money. I do
not know the basis of Tarn's dictum "till after Issus he was in financial straits and
the taxes from the king's land were his only source of revenue."53 The case of
Ephesus is particularly interesting because that was the one mint city which fell
into his hands north of the Taurus which seems to have had at the time an
output of large silver (in this instance Rhodian tetradrachms) sufficiently great
to suggest it as a possible producer of tetradrachms of his own. The other cities
which he controlled were striking small denominations or in small amounts.
But when he reached Tarsus in the spring of 333 he found a place which was
altogether suitable for the establishment of a royal mint and this was the first
to be added to those which his father had used. The early Alexandrian coinage
of Tarsus has been so thoroughly studied by Newell54 that there is no necessity
60 Arrian 1.17. 1; 18. 2; Beloch IV, 1, pp. 14f. The word used in regard to the Phrygians is
<p6pos and Beloch believes that the Greek cities, responsible only for contributions to the war
chest from time to time "waren aber sonst steuerfrei." But 96905 is used also in respect to the
Aeolian and Ionian cities, particularly Ephesus. Examples of special contributions are Aspendus

(50 talents), Arrian I. 26. 3. and Soli (200 talents) Arrian II. 5. 5.
"OG75, no. 1. 11. 131.
62 Arrian I. 17.10-13; Strabo XIV. 22.
53 Alexander the Great I, p. 34.Tarn is perhaps influenced by his desire to believe that Alexander
was as generous to the Greeks as possible. With the question of constitutional and juridical rela-
tions between them we are not concerned. The theory that the cities were freed by Alexander was
challenged by E. Bickermann, "Alexandre le Grand et les Villes d'Asie," REG 1934, pp. 346-374.
His conclusion is that such liberty as they had rested on the unilateral and revocable act of
Alexander. Tarn, op. cit., II, pp. 199-232, protested against this in favor of the earlier theory. In
1938 Victor Ehrenberg published Alexander and the Greeks, of which pp. 1-51 discuss "Alexander
and the liberated Greek Cities" and the constitutional effect of his tendency toward autocracy,
which the author believes to have been constantly increasing. An interesting study of the reality
of the cities' liberty distinguished from its juridical essence is that of A. Ranovich, "Alexander of
Macedon and the Greek Cities of Asia Minor" (in Russian), Vestnik drevnetistorit, 1947, pp. 57-63.
I am indebted to Dr. Emily G. Kazakevich for an extensive English digest.
64 Tarsos.
of doing more than recapitulate the essentials. Tarsus under the Persians had
become the capital of the district of Cilicia and North Syria. It had been the
residence of satraps, the latest of whom was Mazaeus, who ruled for their
master but issued large quantities of silver coins which were not the royal sigloi
but double shekels with a theoretical weight of 11.2 grams, bearing Cilician
types and, more remarkable still, the satraps' names (PLATE III, 1). There was
evidently a convenient near-by supply of silver sufficient to take care of the
military and administrative expenses. The obverse type was a seated Baal
which needed but little modification to become the seated Zeus of Alexander's
reverse, and the extreme similarity of the two figures produced at Tarsus shows
that Alexander's coins followed those of his predecessor immediately and
employed the same die-sinker (PLATE III, 2). Of course the size of the flan was
increased since the tetradrachms were 6 grams heavier, but Zeus was not
noticeably larger than Baal had been. The head of Heracles now replaced the
lion and bull and city walls of Mazaeus' reverse and thereby eliminated any-
thing to identify the mint, for, like the products of Pella and Amphipolis, these
were to be imperial coins showing no special mark of their origin. Indeed the
first issues bore not even the sign of a responsible official, or only an incon-
spicuous pellet between the seat and the cross-bars of the throne. At the same
time, or shortly thereafter, a series of gold was initiated. Since the satraps had
not struck gold and there seems to have been no easily accessible supply of the
metal it may be that the staters appeared only after Issus with the capture of
Darius' money which he had left at Damascus. Doubtless much of it was gold
which could be melted down and restruck; Curtius says that the coined money
amounted to 2600 talents.55
Of course it would not be necessary to restrike the Persian money and we

cannot prove that Alexander did. Newell at one time was inclined to think that
Asiatic currency was the core of what Alexander had to use. "At the time of
Alexander's invasion of Asia," he says,56 "the currency of the East consisted,
in the main, of Persian gold darics and silver sigloi and Athenian tetradrachms.
Two of thesethe gold darics and the Athenian tetradrachmshad for the
last hundred and fifty years enjoyed a world-wide circulation and were well
known to Alexander's soldiers. It is probable, therefore, that during his cam-
paigns, from the battle of the Granicus to the invasion of India, for the pay of his
troops he relied principally upon the fabulous hoards of wealth which had been
stored away by the Persian monarchs and which now fell into his hands."
He assumes without discussion and, I think, mistakenly that a large part of
the Persian treasure would have been coined money. It is questionable how far
65 Curtius, III. 13.16.
66 Sidon and Ake, p. 22.
this point of view is justified at the time with which we are now dealing. There is,
as we shall see, evidence that he used Persian money later on, and he was willing
to have earlier types continue to circulate under certain conditions; we have
just seen that he probably was content to use the local issues of Asia Minor
at least as supplements to his own. But there was a period of two or three years
after his occupation of Tarsus notable for the opening of new mints to produce
his money. Between the summer of 333 and 330 fall the first issues of Tarsus,
Alexandria-by-Issus,57 the cities of Cyprus,58 Aradus,59 Byblus,60 Sidon,61 Ake,62
as well as Sardes,63 Damascus64 and Babylon65 (Map 2). It seems very unlikely
that so remarkable a concentration should not have had as its purpose the
wholesale replacement of the Persian royal coinage by the Macedonian imperial.
Here we come dangerously close to those discussions of Alexander's psychol-
ogy and intent which fascinate the participants without always convincing the
observers. So far as our evidence goes, the decision what coins to strike, when
and where was Alexander's alone, just as the pseudo-Aristotelian Oeconomica
says it should be. The anonymous author knows that the king cannot do every-
87 Tarn, op. cit., II, pp. 237 f. cannot believe that there was an Alexandria earlier than the
one in Egypt, and presents an hypothesis that it was founded after Gaugamela by command of
Alexander but not by his act in presence. It does not matter to us at what point the city also
known as Myriandrus received the conqueror's name but I do not believe that the argument is a
very good one that some ancient writer must have mentioned the foundation if it had occurred
immediately after Issus. The city had been important enough to have its own Persian issues and
without any doubt those of Alexander at once succeeded (E. T. Newell, Myriandros). It might be
remarked that Tarn has difficulty (pp. 239f.) with another Alexandria: Alexandria Troas. The
tradition is (Strabo, XIII. 26) that the city was founded by Antigonus by the synoecism of the
surrounding towns and named after himself; that when Lysimachus acquired it he refounded

it and renamed it Alexandria. This Tarn will not credit, "It is impossible to believe" he says, "that
one Successor, just once, used the Alexander-name.There is only one explanation. Alexander must
have promised to found a city therebut he did not live to do it." But in Alexander's time a
city in that place would have made no sense at all. The whole thing is a characteristic Hellenistic
performance (Louis Robert, Etudes de Numismatique grecque, Paris, 1951, pp. 5-13). If Alexander
had in mind the founding of any Alexandria before the one in Egypt, Myriandrus would have
been a reasonable location, a site in the Troad would not.
58 E. T. Newell, "Some Cypriote Alexanders," JVC 1915, pp. 294-322.
59 G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Alexander Coins of Phoenicia," Nomisma 1909, pp. 2-5; Deman-
hur, pp. 119-121.
60 Demanhur, pp. 122-125.
61 Sidon and Ake, pp. 7-38.
62 Op. cit., pp. 39-67.
63 Thompson and Bellinger, pp. 27-31.
64 Demanhur, pp. nsf.
65 F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Die Miinzstatte Babylon zur Zeit der makedonischer Satrapen und
des Seleukos Nikator," NZ 1895, pp. 1-7.
thing single-handed. He understands the functions that should be left to the
satraps and Alexander, who retained the Persian organization just as far as
he could,66 had his own satrapsso called even when they were Macedonians
and we hear a good deal about their powers and duties.There were special
officers in charge of finance, which was the most conspicuous difference be-
tween the old administration and the new. Berve has pointed out that in the
early days of the invasion the central royal treasury and the war treasury were
one67 and the finance officers were imperial and not local officials. On the most
prominent of them, Harpalus, we have much information from excellent
sources, which Berve has fully recorded,68 but nowhere is there the slightest
indication that his powers and responsibilities extended to the mint. It is
difficult for us to imagine that Alexander should direct so detailed an operation,
especially when it had to be done from a distance, and obviously someone must
have supplied him with the information on which the decisions were based.
But the modern system of delegation of duties did not present itself to antiq-
uity as self-evidently the best way of dealing with complicated affairs.69
Pliny's correspondence with Trajan shows what surprisingly minor details
could be properly brought to the attention of the sovereign, and the scraps
that are left of Alexander's correspondence suggest that it would have showed
the same kind of picture.70 If, then, we conclude that arrangements for minting
were Alexander's own business (as we must do in default of evidence to the
contrary) can we discover anything about his motives without getting involved
in historical fiction?
6* Beloch, IV. 1, p. 11.
67 Berve, Das Alexanderreich, I, pp. 302-304.
68 Op. cit., II, pp. 75-80. Cf. A. Andreades, "Antimene de Rhodes et Cldomene de Naucratis,"

BCH 1929, pp. 1-18.
68 This does not mean that there were no cases of delegation, for the coins with satraps' names
(below, pp. 62- 66) are such cases. But there was no individual to whom Alexander entrusted authority
for a whole class of functions, no single person, that is, who was allowed to regulate the currency
as a whole. The king did not decide every detail but there was no detail that he might not decide,
and when others were allowed to act in their own names the I units of their authority were clearly
understood.
70 Athenaeus, XIII. 6071-608a. A letter from Parmenio to Alexander after the capture of
Darius' baggage at Damascus detailing the number of concubines and slaves with their special
skills. XI. 781 f-782a and 784a. Letters concerning the Persian booty with valuations and lists of
table service. XIV. 65gf-66oa is a letter to Alexander urging him to buy a cook from his mother.
How one would like to know more of the letter from Cleomenes that spoke of ten thousand
smoked coot, five thousand thrushes and ten thousand smoked quail! IX. 393c. It may seem
absurd that the sovereign's time should be imposed on with such trifles, but the alternative of a
bureaucracy had its own drawbacks. The late Roman empire found by experience how dis-
astrously a bureaucracy could divide the sovereign and his subjects.
Of course there is no need to prove that he had to have money; the central
question is why did he have to have money with his own types? Newell, after
suggesting that he might have got along with what was already in circulation,
adds71 "Even so, it seems but natural that he would issue coins bearing his own
name and types to take the place, as soon as possible, of a coinage belonging to
a fast vanishing dynasty and empire." Was this replacement to be effected by
having all the new money Alexandrine while the old issues wore out or were melt-
ed down or buried by private owners? Or was the old currency called in by the
government and melted down to be reissued as the new money? There is
evidence of the latter procedure at an earlier period. The satraps Pharnabazus
and Datames seem to have melted down the silver of their predecessor Tiribazus
to issue their own coins.72 There is no way of telling certainly whether Alexander
did the same thing but in any case the new money was to be his. In the cases
of Tarsus and Myriandrus, the metropoleis of Cilicia and North Syria, this
meant putting an end to issues in the name of the Persian satrap Mazaeus and
replacing them by the silver of Alexander, supplemented, in the case of Tarsus,
by gold also. This needs no elaborate explanation. Whether or not the Persian
empire was "fast vanishing" its control over this district was at an end.
But not all the cases were as simple as this. Perhaps the next mint to begin
operations for the conqueror was Aradus which was ruled by a king named
Gerostratus whose son Straton met Alexander on his march south along the
Syrian coast and surrendered the city to him.73 Now Aradus had its own
coinage whose types were purely local and had nothing to do with the Persians.
The fleet of Gerostratus formed a contingent of the Macedonian navy at the
siege of Tyre,74 and there would have been nothing surprising in that service
being rewarded by the continuance of the right of coinage. But Aradus at once

began to strike tedradrachms with the head of Heracles and seated Zeus, like
those of Tarsus and Myriandrus with one notable difference: their origin is
clearly marked, first by the Aramaic letters used on the autonomous coins,
then by an A and finally by the monogram A.75 A similar course was taken by
Sidon whose king, another Straton, surrendered reluctantly and was therefore
replaced.76 Thereupon the double shekels, some of which had been issued by the
king, some by the satrap Mazaeus, appeared no more, being replaced by
71 Sidon and Ake, p. 22.
72 NC 1914, p. 33, n. 14.
73 Arrian, II. 13. 7.
74 Arrian, II. 20. I.
76 Demanhur, pp. 11gf. The autonomous coins are marked with the Aramaic equivalent of
KB, MA. HN gives the reader a clue as to why this should signify Aradus: a stands for the word
"min" meaning "from;" it is the initial of the town's name.
76 Curtius IV. 1.15-26.
Alexander's tetradrachms and staters which at first bore the town's Aramaic
initial, later I or 2M.77 Slightly different is the case of Byblus, for there Ainel
(whom Arrian calls Enylos)78 having delivered the city and joined Alexander's
fleet, as did the king of Aradus, was rewardedif it was a rewardby having
the first two letters of his name "is; used on the tetradrachms instead of the
name of the city, and the later issues bear the monogram f? for his successor
Adramelek. Now these three cities all had coinages of their own and there was
nothing to prevent Alexander from allowing them to continue now that they
were his allies, as he had apparently done with the coinages north of the Taurus.
To be sure, the double shekels of Mazaeus from Sidon would need to be replaced
as had his shekels from Tarsus, but no objection of that sort could be made to
the emissions of Aradus and Byblus.
Similar treatment was accorded to the kings of Cyprus. They had not been
as prompt to surrender as the mainlanders, but they joined him with their
fleets at Sidon and he was willing to forgive their previous service to the Per-
sians as presumably enforced.79 They also joined the producers of Alexandrine
tetradrachms and those from Citium are clearly identified by the monogram K.
Salamis, however, used first a bow, then a rudder as symbol on its silver and
only the bronze is unmistakably marked IA. Paphos also, which may have
begun a little later prefers her characteristic device of a dove to a literal identi-
fication.80 About these emissions Newell uses what seems to me strange language.
On the mainland, he says, "every city which had thrown open its gates without
a struggle to Alexander was accorded local autonomy, and, where a mint had
previously existed, was allowed to continue coining; with the proviso, however,
that the issues should henceforth conform in types, weights, and denomina-
tions with the regular coinage of the empire. As a result, such cities as Aradus,

Byblus, Sidon and Ake coined as they never had before, even in their most
prosperous days.It would therefore be strange if, in return for their sub-
mission and the invaluable services of their fleets, Alexander should have
deprived the kings of Cyprus of the immemorial right of coinage, or even have
curtailed it in any vital way."81 Newell's mind at the moment was on identi-
fication and not explanation or he could hardly have written in that way. Can
there be any more vital curtailment imagined of the right of coinage of the
77 The group of staters and distaters with symbols but no letters which Newell originally
assigned to Sidon (Sidon and Ake, pp. 71.) he was later inclined to transfer in whole or in part to
Damascus (G. F. Hill, JHS 1923, p. 159, n. 8).
78 Arrian, II. 20. 1.
79 Arrian, II. 20. 3.
80 Newell reports only one coin at Marion and it is impossible to say whether or not its thunder-
bolt is to be regarded as a mint mark.
81 "Some Cypriote Alexanders," pp. 298f. See Schlumberger's comment, pp. 27f., n. 5.
king of Citium than that he should have to discontinue his own currency to
produce silver with alien types and the name Alexander on which only the
monogram of his city suggested that he had anything to do with the affair ?82
Is it not obvious that the Cypriote kings and the Phoenician kings were not
"allowed" to continue coining but directed to continue? We are told that
"Arados, Byblos, Sidon and Ake coined as they never had before" and this is
certainly true.83 Where did all the metal come from, not only the greatly in-
creased output of silver but the gold of Tarsus and Sidon and Ake?
The necessary explanation seems to me to be that Alexander, knowing that
there was a vitally important campaign before him, required much moneyhis
own moneyand used every available source of supply. If it be asked why he
should now make such efforts to provide his own money when he had opened
no new mints in Asia Minor, there are likely answers at hand. For one thing the
mint of Amphipolis was continuing to pour her abundant production across
the straits so that her gold was replacing the gold and electrum of the other
continent and her tetradrachms were providing a major denomination in that
metal. For another, north of the Taurus Alexander was to some extent among
friends. Whatever the realities behind the professed purpose of freeing the
Greek cities, he had come there as the leader of a Greek League as well as a
king of Macedon; the Greek cities understood his position and in the majority
of cases were willing to accept it. He had driven the Persians out of the country
and though they still had friends there, there was no prospect of their combining
to make head against him. If the Greek coins of the cities circulated as a minor
supplement to the Greek coins of Alexander it was not likely that any harm
would come of it and no harm did. But south of the Taurus he was in alien
territory. He had not come there to free anybody but to conquer. The Cilicians,

the Syrians and the Phoenicians had no reason for prejudice in his favor; if he
was to be as acceptable as the king of the Persians he must make his place.
82 He may have had nothing to do with it whatever. After the siege of Tyre, according to Duris
(Athenaeus IV. 167 c) Alexander gave a property to Pnytagoras which had belonged to "Pygma-
lion" of Citium. Hill (BMC Cyprus, pp. xlf.) concludes, perhaps rashly, that Pymathion of
Citium is intended and that Alexander had deposed him. All Pymathion's coins are gold and there
is a gap in his activity between the siege of Tyre and the death of Alexander.
83 It is generally supposed that Ake had never coined before (BMC Phoenicia, p. Ixxvii, "The
numismatic history of the city begins with Alexander the Great"), but C. Lambert in publishing
"A Hoard of Phoenician Coins Found on the Site of Ake" (The Quarterly of the Department of
Antiquities in Palestine, 1931, pp. 10-20), makes a very strong case for transferring to that city
two groups of Tyrian types: Group II, BMC, pp. 229f., nos. 11-18 and Group IV, pp. 231 f.,
nos. 25-42. He suggests that "coins of Group IV may have been issued for local requirements
concurrently with coins of Alexander's types struck at Acre." The group would begin shortly
after Alexander's death.
Tarsus and the cities that received him after Issus were acknowledging what
they thought to be the greater power. Tyre and Gaza held the contrary view
and were destroyed for their mistake. It was vital to him that he be recognized
as the master in all parts of his new territory and therefore all the mints were
set to work to manufacture one of the most effective kinds of manifesto known
to antiquity: his name and types on the coins. This was done quite without
regard for the normal financial needs of the district; the much increased
activity of the coast mints did not mean a sudden era of prosperity and com-
mercial activity. It was their contribution to the conqueror's needs, and since
no new mines were being opened it is only reasonable to assume that the neces-
sary extra bullion came from the melting down of the king's treasure. There
was no overstriking involved, the weights of both gold and silver pieces in
previous use being different from the weights by which they were supplanted.
We shall therefore never have the kind of proof that comes from detecting an
earlier type beneath the later ones. None the less, we have sufficient reason for
believing that in the period succeeding the battle of Issus Alexander did not
intend to continue the local coinages of the district but to replace them with his
own, and one probable means to take would be to melt down and restrike.83*
We must guard against supposing that too complete a revolution was
achieved. In the first place, the pre-Alexandrine coins did not all disappear. In
the hoard from Galilee buried about 319/8M and one found at Byblus buried
about a decade later85 double shekels of Sidon accompanied the Alexander
tetradrachms.86 Later events showed that there was still a place for the earlier
series (below, p. 78). Then, Alexander's production south of the Taurus by
no means made the country independent of coins from the north. In the
Demanhur Hoard there were 1582 pieces from the mint of Amphipolis, 1526

from the mints of Tarsus, Myriandrus, the cities of Cyprus, Aradus, Byblus,
Sidon and Ake all combined. And the situation is even more impressive than
this appears for a much higher proportion of the coins of Amphipolis were struck
during Alexander's lifetime than is the case with the southern mints.87 Before
Gaugamela, then, there would probably have been more Macedonian Alexanders
Ma An important modification of the general rule will probably be provided by a coin of
Balacrus. See below, n. 177.
84 J. Baramki, "A Hoard of Silver Coins of Sidon and Alexander from Khirbet el Kerak,"
The Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine, 1944, pp. 86-90.
85 Bellinger, "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos."
86 The same is true of the hoards of Jdita, Noe, A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards, ed. 2
(NNM 78), New York, 1937, 512 and Qasr Naba, Noe 846; the latter has also small silver of other
kinds. It must be confessed that this is not very impressive evidence for the continuance of non-
Alexandrine issues.
87 "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos," p. 48. Cf. Demanhur, pp. 150f
to be seen in Syria than Syrian and Cilician ones. This must have been the
result not of choice but of the much greater productivity of the Macedonian
mines. Obviously Alexander would prefer to strike coins as close as possible to
the place where they were to be used.
There is nothing surprising therefore in the fact that as he controlled more
of the East he should open a mint at Damascus.88 In writing to Hill about the
possibility of assigning to that mint some of the gold which he had previously
given to Sidon, Newell speaks of it as "probably struck after Gaugamela." In
Demanhur, however, he dates the first series of silver circa 332-330; that is he
believed that the mint was organized soon after the capture of the city by
Parmenio following the victory of Issus. That would mean that Parmenio's
action was not a mere raid to get the king's baggage, but an occupation of a
vital point protecting Alexander's flank and broadening his territory, as did
the campaign in Antilebanon during the siege of Tyre. This is likely enough in
itself, though no ancient author discusses it. Damascus was a new step since
it had never had a mint;89 doubtless artisans were brought there from the
coast. The complicated marks with pellets, which are hard to reduce to a system,
may be evidence of a factory not yet well organized. The mint is clearly marked
with the letters AA, to which later series add the city's device of the forepart
of a ram. It is not easy to find a consistent policy in the use or omission of mint
marks. Apparently the greatest mints: Pella, Amphipolis, Tarsus, Babylon and
Alexandria dispense with them, but by no means all the lesser ones invariably
use them and Newell's feeling that the difference was between imperial and
local issues is hard to support. Here, as so often in ancient numismatics, one
finds a general conformity without absolute uniformity which is distressing
to what one likes to think of as the tidier minds of our day.

Babylon would seem an obvious place for the minting of Persian coins and
indeed Newell says it "had probably possessed a mint under the Persian
kings,"90 but there is no proof of it. Babelon's great work Les Perses achemenides
does not raise the question at all and Hill, after discussing the difficulties of
chronological arrangement, adds,91 "Nor does it seem possible to make any
attempt to identify the mints at which coins were struck until the very difficult
problem of the mints of Alexander's coinage in the East has been more or less
cleared up." So we do not know whether this is a case of adaptation, like
Tarsus or, of original creation, like Damascus. In either case the city which
was intended to be the capital of the whole empire began to contribute its share
88 Demanhur, pp. 115!., tetradrachms; gold, JHS 1923, pp. 156-161, n. 8.
89 On the supposed new mint of Ake see n. 83 above.
80 Demanhur, p. 140.
M BMC, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia, p. cxxxv.
of the conqueror's money, presumably as soon as possible after its surrender.
The coins were long in being recognized precisely because there was no re-
cognizable mint mark. An article of Six in 1884 pointed the way,92 to be followed
by a thorough demonstration by Imhoof-Blumer eleven years later.93 The
attribution was indignantly rejected by Sir Henry Howorth94 and many who
did not rush into print must have shared his dismay in the shaking of the
system of mint identification which Miiller had so conveniently constructed,
but the evidence was against Howorth and no one doubts any more. His
insistence that a symbol or monogram should have reference to the place of
minting was in the old tradition and was mistaken, and yet his dissatisfaction
was not without reason, for the matter was more complex than the location of
a new place of origin for the gold and silver with Macedonian types. The fact
is that the great victory at Gaugamela opened a new epoch whose nature is
partly expressed in unprecedented developments of the coinage.
The first step was not revolutionary and it may, indeed, have preceded the
occupation of Babylon. It was the opening of a new mint in Asia Minor at
Sardes (Map 1).95 There is doubtful evidence that the city may have coined for
the Persians,96 but it was not issuing any local types. There is no reason why it
should not have been used by Alexander at any moment after its capture in 334
but, as we have seen, there was at that time no attempt to supplement the
emission of Amphipolis for use in Asia. Why the situation should have changed
by 331 we cannot say, but there is one important difference between the func-
tion of Sardes and that of the earlier Asiatic mints. She was used not so much
for tetradrachms, which had been the principal product of the Macedonian and
southern cities, as for gold and drachmae. In this she was a pattern for the
other towns of Asia Minor presently to be put into operation: Magnesia (330),

Lampsacus (329), Abydus, Colophon and Miletus (325), Teos (324). A reason
for this which comes to mind at once is that the pre-Alexandrine coinage of
Asia Minor had been to a large extent gold, or electrum, and small silver.
92 J. P. Six, "Le Satrap Mazaios," NC 1884, pp. 97-159.
93 F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Die Miinzstatte Babylon zur Zeit der makedonischer Satrapen und
des Seleukos Nikator," NZ 1895, pp. 1-22.
94 "Some Coins Attributed to Babylon by Dr. Imhoof-Blumer," NC 1904, pp. 1-38.
95 Thompson and Bellinger, pp. 27-31.
96 Newell was convinced (Demanhur, p. 91). Head (BMC, Lydia, p. xcvii) had not been:
"Whether the Persians, after the conquest of Lydia, struck any darics or sigloi at Sardes is very
doubtful." But Milne ("A Hoard of Persian Sigloi," NC 1916, pp. 1-12) suggests that sigloi
with a little lion's head on the reverse might be from Sardes, which Hill (BMC, Arabia,
p. cxxxv) regarded as a "very plausible suggestion." The symbol would be appropriate but there
hardly seem to be enough known to represent the output of what ought to have been an
important mint.
Presumably, therefore, the country liked and would use small silver. But there
would be an advantage in having all the small silver on a single standard, and
this may have been a belated provision of uniformity in place of the pre-existing
confusion.97 Presumably the gold was intended to fill the void caused by the
disappearance of the gold of Lampsacus and the electrum of Cyzicus, Phocaea
and Mytilene, and the metal which used to go into those types was now diverted
to the seven towns to be made into Alexander staters (above p. 45). There can
be no doubt that there was a plan for the special use of these towns, but again
we find a very general plan with unexplained eccentricities of the individual
mints such as might have resulted from decisions made by Alexander one at a
time but such as could hardly have resulted from any laying out of the plan
in detail at the beginning. It is quite out of the question, however, that this
pattern can have been achieved by accident through the independent action
of the cities themselves, or that they should have acted in concert without
reference to the sovereign whose types they proposed to strike. An eighth city,
Ephesus, was added to the group laterprobably after 294and a few other
places made minor contributions of drachmae in the 3rd century. The omission
of Ephesus from the original list was doubtless the result of the confusion at the
time of her capture which may have crippled her for some time to come.98 Not
only was the supply of drachmae adequate for Alexander's lifetime but, the
fashion having once been set, the mints of Asia Minor continued to be the
source of most of the drachmae throughout the empire into the latter half of the
3rd century. What was the proportionate manufacture of gold we do not yet
know enough to say.99
A second innovation was more radical. It was the opening of a mint at Sicyon
for tetradrachms, staters, and a surprising number of distaters (Map 1).100 There

is good reason to believe that it began operations in 330/29. Newell said "about
330 B.C.and certainly by 325a large issue of staters and tetradrachms
bearing Alexander types was instituted at Sicyon."101 Noe does not debate the
question but gives "330/25 to c. 318 B.C." as the limits of Group I. The lower
limit is provided by the burial date of the Demanhur Hoard in which speci-
mens of all the varieties of tetradrachms were found. But the group cannot
have lasted so long. Sicyon was allied with Athens against Antipater in the
Lamian War of 323/2 and cannot at that time have been striking royal Mace-
87 See above, pp. 45-48.
98 Arrian I.17.10-13.
99 On all the Alexandrine mints of Asia Minor see Thompson and Bellinger, passim.
100 Sydney P. Noe, Sicyon.
101 Kyparissia, p. 14.
donian types.102 The last issue may have been coined in 323 before the beginning
of the war but that is the latest possible date. Now there is evidence of 8
issues103 if one makes the usual assumption that each variety of symbol means
the product of a single year. That would bring the beginning to 330/29, which
would satisfy historical probability very well. For the purpose of the establish-
ment of the mint is clear: it was to assist in the hiring of Peloponnesian merce-
naries. In the fall of 334, between the beginning of the siege of Halicarnassus
and the campaign in Lycia, Alexander had sent Cleander to the Peloponnesus
to collect soldiers.104 In his mention of the matter Curtius says "Cleandro cum
pecunia misso." The nearest European supply of money would be Macedonia
and it was better to send the necessary funds with Cleander. But if there had
to be a shipment of coin from Asia whenever Greek mercenaries were to be
hired the system would be inconvenient. It would be much simpler if there
were a mint nearby where money could be issued as it was needed. That should
have been apparent as early as Oleander's first trip. But would not the opening
of a royal mint in Greece be a serious affront to the spirit, if not to the letter,
of the agreement with the League of Corinth? We have no information as to
loz The suggestion (Sicyon, p. 26) that these coins may have been "some of the sinews of the
Lamian war" is surely mistaken. Rebellion against Antipater would have been the occasion of the
prompt resumption of autonomous issues, or at least cessation of the royal ones.
103 Noe's arrangement would provide 8 issues distinguished by their symbols or by style:
1. Boy with outstretched arms alone (distater no. 1, stater no. 2, tetradrachm no. 3).
2. Boy and rudder (stater no. 5, tetradrachm no. 4).
3. Thunderbolt and A (distater nos. 6, 7supposing A and A to be the samestater no. 8).
4. Boy and A (distater no. 9, stater no. n).
5. Boy A and ivy leaf (distater no. 10).

6. Boy alone, different style from 1 (stater no. 12, tetradrachms nos. 13, 14distinguished
only by a die break on the former).
7. Ear of barley (tetradrachm no. 15).
8. Goat's head (tetradrachm no. 16).
Of these, 1, 3 and 6 are large issues. In 1 there are 8 reverse dies used for the tetradrachms,
though only one each for distater and stater. In 3 there are 18 reverse dies used for the distaters,
1 for the stater. In 6 there are 9 reverses used for the tetradrachms. The others are all small, each
using only a single reverse die, except that there are 2 for tetradrachm no. 4 and 2 for distater
no. 9. There is, however, no reason for combining any of the minor issues, and combining 1 and 6,
where the difference is one of style alone, would still leave 7 issues.
Since the terminal date is 323/2, that would put the beginning not later than 330/29. The
latest issue (presumably 8) might have come in 323 before the outbreak of the Lamian war. The
earliest could not be before the battle of Megalopolis in the fall of 331, and therefore an issue
before 330 would be hardly possible. If we are to provide a year for each of Noe's varieties, there-
fore, we should put 1 in 330/29 and 8 in 323.
104 Arrian I. 24. 2; Curtius III. 1.1. Cleander came back with 4,000 Greek mercenaries during
the siege of Tyre. Arrian II. 20. 5.
any provision about coining by members of the League, but there is no evidence
that there was any interference with that ancient right of the cities. The large
series of Athens, of Corinth and of Sicyon show no sign of intermission at this
time, and we have one sure instance of a city initiating an autonomous coinage
in Alexander's lifetime: the Amphictionic staters and fractions of Delphi which
were struck from about 337 to 334 for the rebuilding of the temple.105 In time
Macedonian coins did find their way into the Greek cities106 but not because
there was any effort, at this early period, of the Macedonians to replace civic
issues by royal ones. Alexander might well have hesitated to set up his own
mint in the territory of his Greek allies. But consideration for his Greek allies
certainly waned as his phenomenal successes gave him less and less need for
relying on their good will. After Gaugamela things might be done that would
not have been done in 334. Moreover there was a consideration which was more
than sentimental. Anti-Macedonian sentiment was centered in Sparta whose
strength was so considerable that Agis took the offensive in 331 and pressed
Antipater hard until, in the fall of that year, the battle of Megalopolis crushed
the Spartan power.107 After that there was no anti-Macedonian force to resist
an intrusion of royal power or to make the minting and storing of gold in the
Peloponnese an undesirable risk.
The extension of Alexander's activities into the territories of the free cities
of Asia Minor and Greece, if a new departure, was not a surprising one. The
really extraordinary developments were connected with Babylon itself. The
career of the satrap Mazaeus may perhaps deserve a closer scrutiny than it
generally gets.108 He became Satrap of Cilicia about 361 and in this capacity
he struck silver at Tarsus with his name but without title.109 From 351-344 he
was one of the commanders against the rebel king of Sidon. In 351 or later he

became Satrap of Northern Syria and Cilicia, and in this capacity until 333 he
struck silver with his name and title (PLATE III, 1).110 At the same time he
106 E. J. P. Raven, "The Amphictionic Coinage of Delphi," NC 1950, pp. 1-22.
106 Diogenes Laertius VII. 18. Zeno said of the polished discourses of the learned that they
were like the silver of Alexander, pleasant to the eye and well marked but none the better for that.
The other kind of discourse he likened to the Attic tetradrachms, carelessly cut and clumsy but
often able to demolish ornamented speeches. Evidently in Zeno's time there were Alexanders
circulating in Athens along with the Old Style Attic tetradrachmsand Zeno didn't like them.
107 Alexander sent money to Antipater for the war against Sparta after the capture of Susa.
Arrian III. 16.10.
108 It is extensively treated by J. P. Six, "Le Satrap Mazaios;" see also Babelon, Traite II. 2,
pp. 445-460; BMC, Lycaonia, etc., pp. Ixxxi-lxxxiii; BMC, Phoenicia, pp. xcvi-xcix; Cohen,
Histoire grecque IV. 1, p. 13, n. 22, pp. 97, 99, 103f., 129.
109 Myriandros, pp. 2-14, Series I-V.
no Myriandros, pp. 14f., Series VI; Tarsos, pp. 3f.
issued coins with his name but not his title from Myriandrus ;ul from circa
343-333 he issued coins of Sidonian types with his name112 and there are
imitation Athenian tetradrachms with his name, probably for use in Palestine.113
He was not Satrap of Cilicia at the time of Alexander's invasion. It was
Arsames who deserted Tarsus; he was killed at the battle of Issus.114 Where
Mazaeus was we do not know, but his coins seem to have continued through
the uneasy term of his successor who had fought at the Granicus and whose
subsequent perils had left him no time for civilian activities.115 Mazaeus next
appears in 331 in command of an advance force on the Euphrates which retired
before Alexander's advance.116 But if he proved ineffective there he gave a good
account of himself at Gaugamela where he commanded the Persian right wing
and pressed Parmenio so hard that Alexander had to halt his pursuit of Darius
to assist him. Hearing of the king's flight, however, Mazaeus broke off the
engagement and led the remnants of his troops to Babylon.117 For 30 years he
had been an important andso far as the record showsa loyal general and
official of the Persian king, yet on the approach of Alexander he surrendered
Babylon without resistance. Curtius (V. 1. 17) makes it clear that the act was
a very convenient one for Alexander. "Gratus adventus eius regi fuit; quippe
magni operis obsidio futura erat tam munitae urbis." He took the precaution
of marching his army in formation but it was unnecessary; the Babylonians
made him welcome. Perhaps the town had been indefensible in spite of what
Curtius says, perhaps it was clear to Mazaeus that his king could never make
another stand. Yet it is hard to avoid the suspicion that the surrender had
been bargained for and that there was a price involved. The suspicion is deepened
when we find that Mazaeus was promptly appointed Satrap of Babylonthe
first Persian to be given such a position. To Tarn118 this is an act of chivalry

like the later treatment of Porus: "Alexander was honoring a worthy oppo-
nent." But it is surely an extravagant gesture to put so great and rich a
district into the hands of an enemy simply because he had been "a worthy
opponent." To be sure, the compliment was not without safeguards. Apollo-
dorus of Amphipolis was made commander of the troops left with Mazaeus and
in Myriandros, pp. 16-29.
112 BMC, Phoenicia, pp. 153f., nos. 78-85.
113 Babelon, Les Perses achemenides, p. LIX.
114 Curtius III. 4. 3. qui Cilicae praeerat; Arrian II. z. 5; 11. 8.
115 Babelon supposed him to have instituted the series of unsigned staters with the head of
Athena (Traite, pp. 461-468, nos. 719-733) but Newell shows (Tarsos, pp. 42-47) that these were
no earlier than 328. But see below, n. 177.
116 Arrian III. 7. 2.
117 Curtius IV. 16.1-7.
118 Alexander II, p. 109.
Asclepiodorus was made collector of the taxes.119 There was a further unique
aspect of the new satrap's position, however. He at once began to issue silver
tetradrachms of the Attic standard (generally spoken of as staters) on one side
of which was Baaltars, as the inscription showed, and on the other, a lion with
the name of Mazaeus! (PLATE III, 3).120
It is this which most deeply shocked Howorth. "Prima facie" he says, "it
seems incredible that Alexander should have permitted one of his satraps, and
that a Persian...to issue coins in the satrap's own name." The Cilician Baal
would be inappropriate to Babylon, and the Aramaic inscriptions would be
unintelligible to the Greeks, the only people who would use the coins.121
Howorth was defending a doomed thesis, but more attention should have
been paid to the facts against which he protested. Attempts to explain this
unprecedented concession have been far from convincing. Six, who was the
first to face the problem, could only urge that Alexander, about to set out for
the Far East "ne s'est pas, certainment, occup6 des types ou des legends de
monnaies destinies aux populations indigenes." But the idea that this was a
trifle too slight to engage Alexander's attention is certainly untenable. At the
very time that the lion staters were beginning to appear Babylon joined the
great cities of Alexander's earlier conquest to produce his own types.122 He
could have attended to one series if he could provide for the other. Some
special reason must be found for this striking exception to the regular rule that
satraps could not coin in their own names. Most of the historians, if they record
the fact at all, do so without comment. Tarn123 and Cohen124 avoid the central
point: "he was the only satrap permitted to coin, doubtless for the convenience
of the Babylonian trade;" "pour aider a la renaissance du trafic (Alexandre)
lui laisse le privilege de battre monnaie." Money issued at Babylon might well

assist trade, but why this money and why the name Mazaeus? In his answer to
Howorth125 Imhoof-Blumer gave the most thorough-going attempt at an
explanation. "Alexander's efforts to make the utmost allowance for the orien-
120 The weights of these coins create a problem with which Newell has dealt at some length
in ESM, pp. 105 f. It seems clear that the first ones were intended to be on the Attic standard,
but they soon became so much lighter as to fall to the weight of three sigloi, as Imhoof-Blumer
saw, NC 1906, p. 23, n. 10. But Newell rightly pointed out that they cannot have been meant to
be "triple sigloi" for their fractions are didrachms, drachms, hemidrachms and obols, which is
division by two and not by three.
121 NC 1904, pp. 3, 4.
122 Demanhur, nos. 3980-4048.
128 Alexander I, p. 52.
124 Histoire grecque IV. 1, p. 104.
1906, pp. 23f
tal point of view is well known. For the silver, the types of the Kilikian satrapal
issues of Mazaeus, Baaltars in the guise of Zeus and the lion were retained.On
the first silver issue struck at Babylon Mazaeus continued not only the coin
types of the Kilikian satrapy, but also, in accordance with the usual practice,
their inscriptions, which records his own name and that of the god represented,
the latter being intended to promulgate the figure of Baaltars still little known
in the far east, i.e., the figure of that particular Baal of all the countless Baalim
who had to be identified with the Greek Zeus of contemporary imperial issues.
Before the end of his short term of office (330-328) the satrap Mazaeus appears
to have been induced to give up these inscriptions, and from this date on until
306 the satrapal coins remain anepigraphic" (PLATE III, 4). As to the types,
Hill has an important amendment to offer.126 "The argument of most weight
against the attribution to Babylon lies in the fact that the coins with the name
of Mazeus attributed to Babylon identify the god on the obverse as Baaltars,
who would be unknown and unworshipped at Babylon. The answer to this
objection is that, although issued at Babylon, this was a satrapal coinage in-
tended chiefly for the payment of troops, many of whom may have been raised
in Cilicia by Mazaeus and brought by him to the East." This does indeed
propose a reason for the selection of types. But can it have been necessary to
maintain a separate coinage for the convenience of a body of mercenaries? And
if they demanded western types, why the lion alone (which was the type of
Myriandrus) instead of the familiar lion and bull or lion and deer of Tarsus?
And would it not be important to give them the double shekels to which they
were accustomed instead of tetradrachms on the Attic standard used by the
conqueror? Alexander's desire to conciliate the Orientals of which Imhoof-
Blumer speaks is indeed a most important consideration. But surely it is

characteristic of his policy from this point on and not of that which guided him
before Gaugamela. Why otherwise the replacement of local issues by his own
types? When all is said there is as yet no explanation of the satrap's name on
the silver of his new office. But how much is explained by the hypothesis that
the price of the bloodless surrender of Babylon was the confirming to Mazaeus
of his title and privileges! When Imhoof-Blumer speaks of the "usual practice"
of inscriptions accompanying the types he means, of course, the practice of the
Persian satraps in Cilicia. If Mazaeus was allowed to continue that, then his
position as Satrap of Babylonia under Alexander would be equivalent to his
position as Satrap of Cilicia under Darius. But, whatever were his rights in the
matter of coining in his earlier office, it is not likely that he now arrogated to
himself that power of decision which the Oeconomica restricts to the sovereign.
The appointment of Asclepiodorus as collector of taxes shows that Mazaeus'
126 BMC, Arabia, p. cxli.
function was not financial and we may be very sure that the number and kinds
of coins to be struck were decided by higher authority than his. The phrase
"the Satrap Mazaeus appears to have been induced to give up these inscriptions"
calls up an amusing picture of Alexander persuading and Mazaeus magnani-
mously consenting.127 If the special privilege was ended before the satrap's death
in 328 it is hardly likely to have been done in so courtly a fashion. The reason
for suggesting it is that there are anepigraphic lion staters which seem to come
so early in the series that Imhoof-Blumer would assign them to the first satrap.
But that is not proven. The staters with Mazaeus' name are very rare but
Babelon128 publishes four varieties: with no symbol, with a wreath, with a
serpent, with K. If they follow the normal Greek practice of a different symbol
every year all the years of Mazaeus' satrapy would be accounted for.
Whatever the intent behind the origin of the lion staters, and their divisions,
they did serve an economic function for they continued to be issued from Baby-
lon into, and perhaps through, the reign of Seleucus I and, in lesser numbers,
from Susa129 and Ecbatana130 in the same reign. This is not easy to account for.
They were by then so much under weight for Attic tetradrachms that they
must have been at a disadvantage compared with the full weight coins of
Alexandrine type being struck at the same time. Yet, if this were intended for
the convenience of a population accustomed to the use of sigloi, the fractions
would have been made to fit the Persian system, which they do not. (Paren-
thetically it must be pointed out that we are by no means sure that the inhabi-
tants of Babylonia did have any preference for sigloi).131 One is tempted to
think of coins only locally valid where a discrepancy between face value and
bullion value could be ignored by the sovereign, and Newell132 has very tenta-
tively suggested a connection between the lion staters and the temple of Bel.

He recognizes the difficulty created by the lion issues of Susa and Ecbatana
and can only hazard a guess that "if the temple at Babylon could issue 'temple
money' so too, presumably, could the hardly less important and famous temples
of Artemis-Nanaia at Susa and of Aene at Ecbatana." He cites the interesting
187 Ulrich Wilcken, Alexander the Great, New York, 1932, p. 141, whatever his source, believes
that it was a temporary arrangement. "As an exceptional measurewhich was soon cancelled
Mazaeus as satrap was entrusted with the coining of money."
128 Traite II. 2, pp. 475-478, nos. 751-753.
ESM, pp. 117f.
130 ESM, p. 171.
131 The hoard from Mesopotamia published by Robinson, "A Silversmith's Hoard from
Mesopotamia," Iraq, 1950, pp. 44-51, contained 7 sigloi, compared with 6 Athenian coins and
10 more from western mints. Noe 1109 from the Tigris seems to have been exclusively Greek
silver with no sigloi at all.
132 ESM, p. 106, n. 14.
correspondence in fabric between the lion staters and the much later Jewish
shekels of the First Revoltalso temple money. Though I have nothing better
to suggest, I cannot believe that Newell's hypothesis is defensible. It is true
that Alexander made his offerings to Bel-Marduk and directed the recon-
struction of his temple133 but there cannot have been any intended connection
between that act and the first lion staters on which the god is specifically named
not Marduk but Baaltars. One must suppose either that the Babylonians could
not read the inscription (which is likely enough) or that the correspondence was
not thought of until the appearance of the anepigraphic staters. It is true that
Baaltars and Marduk were of sufficiently similar nature so that the seated god
could be taken for either one of them. But that is patently not true of Artemis-
Nanaia of Susa or Aene-Anaitis-Nanea of Ecbatana. And if the basis of the
lion staters' success had been real religious association it is surprising that it
should have disappeared so quickly. Only in Babylon can they have possibly
lasted beyond the reign of Seleucus I and there only until 275 at the latest,
when Antiochus moved the inhabitants to Seleucia.134 The theory of a limited
circulation is further complicated by their appearance in the Oxus Hoard.135
I cannot solve the enigma but, at the moment, the point of importance is that
the length of life of the experimental currency was enough to make it plain that
it was acceptable to the community and it is only fair to suppose that Alexander
and Mazaeus had reasonable grounds for supposing that it would be acceptable.
Mazaeus is not the only satrap to turn up on coins in Babylonia, but the
second instance has to do with a very different class of coins: the imitation of
Athenian owls. At the end of the 5th century it could be said that the owls of
Athens were the international currency par excellence, and even down to
Alexander's time they held their place as one of the principal elements of the

currency of the East, though now they were joined by satrapal silver and that
of the cities of the Syrian coast.136 The appearance of these latter issues begins
at the time of the Peloponnesian war when the supply of owls was much
reduced and they are accompanied by a growing number of imitations of
Athenian coins. Early hoards, such as those of Caboul and Malayer published
by Schlumberger, show a surprising number of 5th century owls, about equal
to the coins of all the other cities together, but the 4th century owls do not
seem to be included. Instead, one gets imitations.137 Now one kind of imitation,
134 ESM, p. 104.
135 "The Coins from the Treasure of the Oxus," MN 1962, pp. 51-67.
136 Schlumberger, pp. 22 f.
137 One imitation with AIT instead of AGE was in the Caboul Hoard (Schlumberger, p. 36,
no. 64); another had been in the Oxus Hoard (Gardner, NC 1880, p. 191).
said to amount to a "very large group" is the type of owl bearing in Aramaic
the name of Mazaces, whose provenance is consistently Babylonia (PLATE III,
5).138 These are mysterious coins, the only explanation for which is that put
forward by Newell. After Issus Mazaces had been sent as Persian satrap to Egypt
where he kept order until the arrival of the Macedonian army, and where he
issued tetradrachms with Athenian types and bronzes with the head of a satrap
and a galley, both classes bearing his name in Aramaic.139 Being too weak to
resist, he received Alexander in friendly fashion into the country and the
cities,140 handing over 800 talents and the royal furniture.141 Berve thinks it
likely that he found a place at Alexander's court142 but the sources have nothing
more to say about him. The evidence for his connection with Babylonia is
purely numismatic, as to which Newell says, "Our coins do suggest that
Alexander had entrusted to Mazaces the governorship of some important city
or district as a reward for his ready surrender of Egypt." His owls then would
be an exact parallel to Mazaeus' lion staters except that we do not know what
position Mazaces could have held which would entitle him to this distinction.
Nor do we know the location of the mint. Newell gives good reasons for not
putting it at Babylon, yet he can only suggest Uruk or Opis, neither of which
has any special claim to consideration. Yet if there are many things puzzling
about these coins their purpose is more evident than that of Mazaeus' issues.
They can hardly have been intended primarily for use in Babylonia, even
though they turn up there. The imperial mint was producing Macedonian
tetradrachms and lion staters as well, and that surely ought to have satisfied
the demand. But if one wanted to mint silver for general circulation in the East
imitation owls would be the obvious thing to strike. Of course, this cannot have
been a private venture of Mazaces. It must have been part of a plan that had

imperial approval and prima facie the plan was to supply familiar types for
use in the East.
But these two classes of silver were not the only innovation connected with
the capture of Babylonia. "Demanding explanation also" says Newell, "is the
fact that for many years double and (more rarely) single gold darics of Achae-
minid type were coined alongside the lion staters. These gold coins seem, almost
138 Newell, Miscellanea Numismatic a, Cyrene to India (NNM 82), 1938, pp. 82-88. Schlum-
berger, p. 20, n. 6, accepts the attribution as certain. Six, NC 1884, pp. 141-143 had read the name
as Mazaros and assigned his no. 3 to the Companion whom Alexander installed as commander of
the citadel at Susa. Arrian III. 16. 9.
139 Newell, op. cit., pp. 72-75. His predecessor Sabaces had also struck imitation owls with
his name and signed bronzes with a lion and a Persian archer, op. cit., pp. 62-72.
140 Arrian III. 1.2.
141 Curtius IV. 7. 4.
142 Das Alexanderreich II, p. 246.
invariably, to turn up in eastern Iran and Bactria and not in Babylonia. But as
most of the specimens of which we possess any record at all have come from
the single great Treasure of the Oxus,' this seeming fact may be illusory. That
both double darics and lion staters were mostly coined at Babylon is certain."143
The double darics "which everybody admits to be of the time of Alexander
the Great"144 are at once distinguishable from earlier Persian gold by their
appearance (PLATE III, 6). Though the conventional figure of the king in
kneeling or running position is preserved, the face, with its straight nose, is a
Hellenized version of the Persian monarch. The relief is higher and the incuse
on the reverse, instead of being an amorphous depression, is filled with wavy
lines or curves that tend to form a pattern (cf. BMC Arabia, PI. XX, 1-13).
Moreover, most of the specimens have Greek letters or monograms on the
obverse. There are no double darics which do not have some or all of these
characteristics and none, therefore, which can be assigned to an earlier period.
That is, this higher denomination is an invention of the time of Alexander.
What is the unit to which it belongsthe rarer single gold daric ? There are few
darics with letters or monograms like those of the doubles145 and none with
quite the same wavy patterns on the reverse. There are, however, some which
show a similar pattern and which also have high relief and a Hellenized por-
trait (BMC Arabia, PI. XXV, 21-25). As to these, Hill is cautious. He calls
attention to the likeness of the two denominations, but catalogues the darics
with the Persian Empire instead of with the Alexandrine Empire of the East.
They must, he says "belong to the last Persian king, Darius III,146 and in the
catalogue they appear under the caption 'Darius III' Babylon." There are a
few sigloi like them. Only one is illustrated (PI. XXV, 26) but it certainly
shows a portrait unlike the earlier sigloi. Hill's arrangement would mean that

under Darius III there was a marked artistic change in the coins issued at
Babylon affecting both darics and sigloi, and that Alexander used and developed
the new style in the same city for the making of a denomination of his own, the
double daric, though he did not strike either single darics or sigloi. The sudden
appearance of a Greek profile on coins of Darius III is possible but surprising,
143 The capital work is F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Die Miinzstatte Babylon," NZ 1895, pp. 1-22.
Except for the protest of Sir Henry Howorth, promptly answered, there has been no dissent.
However, the concession implied in Newell's phrase "mostly coined at Babylon" had been more
clearly expressed by Hill, BMC, Arabia, p. cxli, n. 1. "It may perhaps be admitted that some of
the coins were issued at other mints in the Eastern portion of Alexander's conquests;" e.g., pp.
178f., nos. 8-13. "the following are for the most part of ruder workmanship, and were perhaps
made farther East than Babylon."
144 BMC, Arabia, p. cxxvi, n. 6.
146 There is a daric with OA in the Newell collection.
146 BMC, Arabia, p. cxxx.
and the suggestion might be ventured as an alternative that these darics and
sigloi are also coins of Alexander but from a different mint, which would ex-
plain their differences from the double darics.
That these are indeed from Babylon is the general persuasion, but it can
hardly be called proven. The piece with M in the field (BMC, p. 176, no. 2) may
be compared with the Babylonian Alexander teradrachm with M (Demanhur,
3980); the combination M and <D on the tetradrachms (Demanhur, 3983-4057)
with [*i on a double daric (BMC, p. 177, no. 5). But OA or Ol are on both the
gold which Hill labels "Usually attributed to the mint of Babylon" and that
of which he says "The following are for the most part of ruder workmanship,
and were perhaps made farther East than Babylon." The idea that all these
strange issues were the product of Mazaeus is tempting147 but it will need more
facts to make it a certainty.
If there is general agreement on the fact of Alexander's striking the double
darics there is very little said about the reason for it. Unlike the lion staters these
from beginning to end are on a different standard from the Attic and there must
have been a particular reason for the premeditated confusion of two gold coins
one of which was not quite twice the weight of the other. It seems inescapable
that the invention of the double daric rests on the intention to use the daric,
and perhaps the darics which Hill assigns to Darius III are actually the units
of Alexander. But there were others available. Diodorus says that the capture
of Susa brought in 40,000 talents of uncoined gold and silver and 9,000 talents
of darics; that of Persepolis, 120,000 talents reckoning the gold at its value in
silver.148 We have seen reason to believe that the treasure captured at Damascus
147 Babelon, Les Perses achlmenides, p. xx, "De toute necessite, on doit conclure qu'Alexandre,
en laissant au satrap perse Mazaios ses droits monetaireslui permit de continuer non seulement

1'emission de ses tetradrachmes d'argent aux types de Baaltars et du lion, mais encore celle des
dariques et des doubles dariques." Babelon says nothing about the sigloi which Hill associates with
the darics. Can there have been the simultaneous issue from the same mint of Alexandrine
tetradrachms, lion staters and sigloi?
lie XVII. 66. 1; 71. 1. He is the only one who makes special reference to darics. The authors
vary in the amounts they give, but the differences are not extreme. They all reckon in silver
talents (dtpyuplou ToXavra talentum argenti) though Diodorus alone is specific: els dpyvptou A6yov
dvoyoulvou TOU xpwiov. The accounts compare as follows:
SUSA PERSEPOLIS
Arrian III. 16. 7 50,000 tal.
Curtius V. 2. 11; 6. 9 50,000 tal. 120,000 tal.
uncoined
Diodorus XVII. 66. 1, 2; 71. 1 40,000 tal. 120,000 tal.
uncoined gold and silver
9,000 tal.
of darics
THE KING'S FINANCES
69
Map 2
Plutarch, Alex., 36. 1; 37. 2
an equal amount of coin
40,000 tal.
coined
Justin XI. 14. 9 40,000 tal.
This is not serious variation. The chief question is, was any of the treasure in the form of coin?
I do not believe that Plutarch's VOU(CTUOTOS is of any importance. In view of Curtius' explicit phrase
non signati forma sed rudi pondere, and Diodorus' Aor'mou ypvaov Kocl dpyupoO we must suppose
there was bullion, which is likely even without testimony. But Diodorus is so clear in his anti-
thesis between the bullion and the dvvocKiax'Xia TdXavra xP"00" x0?010^0 SapeiKibv UXOITOC as
to make it certain that he believed there to have been both bullion and coin. It is less likely that
his source invented the darics than that the source of Arrian and Curtius made up a round number

by including them with the uncoined metal.
was melted down and reissued with Alexander's own types, but we do not find
the same conditions here. There is no activity in local mints. Indeed, it is a fact
of the greatest importance that there is no mint for Alexander coins in the East
except Babylon. The map will show the surprising lack of proportion which
multiplies the western mints and leaves nothing but Babylon to supply the
funds for the long and costly campaign east of the two rivers (Map 3). The army
cannot have been without coin. Even though they were going into country
where an economy of barter may have prevailed widely, the Greek and Mace-
donian soldiery cannot have been induced to forego their accustomed pay from
the summer of 330 to that of 325. Yet the record, which contains two mutinies,
has no suggestion of the kind of difficulty about pay so common with ancient
armies. The cancellation of debts which followed the marriages at Susa149 was,
to be sure, a phenomenon of the return to familiar civilization, but how did the
army incur debts of 20,000 talents if they had been operating on payments in
kind? The reorganization which provided for "ten stater men" between the
ordinary soldiers and the "double pay men" is reported150 without any intim-
ation that pay was being reintroduced. If Alexander had founded his eastern
cities (particularly the military colonies)151 without money could the Greek
historians possibly have avoided comment on it? There is no escape from the
fact that the army must have had money in the East and the necessary con-
clusion seems to be that it was transported from Babylon, the nearest source.
But that surely presents an enormous problem of transport. The system of the
Seleucids is enlightening. They had mints certainly at Susa, Persepolis,
Ecbatana and Bactra, with another which may have been at Hecatompylus or
Artacoana, and the contents of the Oxus Hoard show that the mint of Bactra
supplied the needs of that district as it was intended to do.152 Why should

Alexander rely on so remote a city as Babylon which, moreover, had its own
important district to serve (Map 3)?
U9 Arrian VII. 5.1-3.
150 Arrian VII. 23. 3. 4. Griffith, Mercenaries of the Hellenistic World, p. 300 believes that
pay was intermitted during the Indian campaign on two grounds: first, "It is difficult to think that
Alexander carried vast sums of money about with him during his Indian campaign" and second
"when he returned from India and discharged 10,000 Macedonian veterans, he had arrears of pay
to make up" (Arrian VII. 12. 1). The difficulty as to transport is a serious one, but not so serious
in India where he had the rivers to use as in the mountains of Bactria. And there is nothing to
suggest that the arrears in pay were of long standing. They may have been only in connection with
the march back from India. Griffith is hardly justified in saying "in fact it is certain that he did
not pay pna66s regularly by the month." In any case, this concerns only one element of expense.
151 Tarn, Alexander II, pp. 232-249.
152 "The Coins from the Treasure of the Oxus," MN 1962,
THE KING'S FINANCES
Map 3
But did he? It is instructive to look at what happened to the treasure from
Susa and Persepolis. The bulk of it was so great that Plutarch says153 it re-
quired 10,000 pairs of mules and 5,000 camels to move it. Curtius says154 that
the baggage and a large part of the army was left at Persepolis in charge of
Parmenio and Craterus. But it was not to stay there. We know from Arrian155
that Parmenio was ordered to take the treasure to the citadel in Ecbatana and
deliver it to Harpalus who had a guard of 6,000 Macedonians plus a few auxil-
iary troops. The mention of Harpalus is puzzling. We do not know how or when
he got to Ecbatana or why or when he left to return to Babylon. Moreover,
in the next section Arrian tells us that Cleitus, who had been left sick in Susa,
was ordered to proceed to Ecbatana, take the Macedonian guard of the treasure
and march against the Parthyaeans. Then who was left to guard the treasure?
Something has certainly dropped out of the account. Fortunately we know the
main fact. At the time of Parmenio's execution in the fall of 330 he was Satrap
of Media and guardian of the king's treasure whose total Diodorus gives as
180,000 talents;156 Justin says 190,000.157 Clearly this was Alexander's capital
for the financing of the campaign in Afghanistan and India. But it was not
taken to Babylon at all. Now it has been suggested what Harpalus was doing
153 Alexander, 37. 2.
154 V. 6. 11.
156 III. 19. 7.
156 XVII. 80. 3.

W7 XII. 1.1.
in Ecbatana: he was supervising the coining of the Persian treasure.158 This is
on the theory that Harpalus, as treasurer, had control over minting, which
there is nothing to support. But there is a more serious difficulty than the
theoretical one. If Harpalus put 180,000 talents into coins what are they? In
discussing the Seleucid mint of Ecbatana, Newell says,159 "There need be less
surprise that a mint was opened by the Greeks at Ecbatana than that the
mint should have commenced to function so late. At least, the earliest coins
of Alexandrine types that can be assigned confidently to Ecbatana do not
antedate the reign of Seleucus. There do exist a few earlier pieces which may
have been coined there." But "a few pieces" will not solve our dilemma. From
this enormous treasure must have come a series at least comparable in size to
that of Babylon. But there is no such series. There are still small groups whose
attribution is doubtful but the product of the great mints is known, and there
is nothing left over to assign to Ecbatana. Its output must have disappeared.
Unless its output was darics. To prove that would need the assembly of
much more evidence than is now available. The gold already published as
presumably Alexandrine is not enough in bulk to fill the need. But I think no
search for darics has ever been undertaken with this in mind. Such a search
might prove disappointing, but the possibility ought to be kept open that the
double darics "certainly from Babylon" were supplemented by others of more
eastern appearance and by darics and sigloi whose place of origin may have
been Ecbatana. To the circumstantial evidence already cited one more item is
to be added: the one experiment of Seleucus I in coining a double daric was
at Ecbatana (ESM, p. 171, no. 460).
Even this much proven would leave us with baffling questions. The
problem of transport would not be solved. Ecbatana is a couple of hundred

miles nearer the eastern campaigns but it is still far enough in all conscience.
There are several possibilities, none of them very comfortable. There may
have been mints still further east which contributed their share to the expenses
of the campaign. This would mean reducing still further the number that we
could credit to Ecbatana. There may have been other treasures containing
coin in the East of which we have no record. Money already in circulation may
have been confiscated and used for the army. Eastern cities, perhaps his own
foundations, may have been used as advance treasuries for the accumulation
of coin. Of course, if the treasure of Susa and Persepolis is involved at all in
158 Berve, Das Alexanderreich II, pp. 76f. "wo unter seiner Oberleitung in den nachsten Jahren
sich die Ausmunzung der Achaimenidenschatze vollzogen haben wird." Evidently he thinks that
Harpalus was independent of Parmenio and continued his duties as mintmaster after the satrap's
execution.
158 ESM, p. 162.
the eastern campaigns the question of transport remains. Either bullion or
coin must have been carried to the army and though bullion would have been
less bulky it would have been just as heavy. But it would seem that the most
inconvenient arrangement would be for the mint to forward its current pro-
duction at frequent intervals, though presumably that is how the paymasters
got their funds when mints were close by. For a big and remote army that
would have meant keeping the transport trains on the road constantly with
a large body of men of necessity detailed for guard duty. But obviously the
conversion into coin of enough metal for a campaign of 5 years' duration could
not be done quickly.
The problem of silver is also very obscure. A natural assumption would
be that if Ecbatana minted darics it minted sigloi as well, but here there is a
still smaller group (BMC Arabia, p. 160, nos. 88-91) which there is reason to
attribute to the time of Alexander. We know, on Schlumberger's showing, how
slight was the importance of the siglos in the total currency of the Persian
empire. Still, in Alexander's time it had some importance or no late ones would
have been struck at all. But these few sigloi and the imitations of Mazaces are
the only silver we have found so far which has the appearance of being designed
for use in the East. Could that and the late darics and double darics have been
sufficient for the need?
This would be the place to give an account of the king's income and expenses
if we could only do so with any confidence. There is a summary calculation of
income and expenses given by Beloch (IV. 1., pp. 41-43) in which the cost of
the army is put at 7,000 talents a year. The uncertainty of the figures is illus-
trated by the eclectic confidence given to the sources. Justin XIII. 1. 9 gives
specific figures for the time of Alexander's death: erant enim in thesauris L

milia talentum et in annuo vectigali ac tributo tricena milia. The first sum is
accepted, the second rejected on the grounds that Herodotus III. 90-95 gives
the yearly tribute of Darius I as 14,560 talents (10,000 "ohne den indischen
Tribut und die Naturalleistungen"), which is regarded as an exaggeration,
while Antigonus at the height of his power in 315, when he controlled nearly
all the Asiatic satrapies, had an income of only 11,000 talents (Diodorus
XIX. 56. 5). Beloch therefore reduces Justin's 30,000 talents to 15,000. Various
extraordinary sums such as that for Hephaestion's funeral, and gifts to the
army are accepted, but the total of 12,000 talents "contra decus regiumtumu-
lumque" as Justin puts it, on which Justin (XII. 12. 12) and Diodorus (XVII.
115. 5) agree, is rejected because even the funeral of a Roman emperor cost no
more than 400 talents. If we accept Beloch's figure of 7,000 talents for the
yearly cost of the army we must do so with the realization that it is no more
than a good guess. The most recent and most thorough study of Alexander's
economy is that of A. M. Andreades 'Icrropia THS 'EXXrivkris Srôafas olxouonfas
Book II, Part I, 'H 6r)uoa(a oixovoula TOU jieyaXou 'AAs^cxvSpou, Athens, 1930.
He thinks that Beloch's 7,000 is too low a figure (p. 21), but his calculations
suffer from the same unavoidable weakness of having to substitute probable
hypotheses for data. Both authors agree that Alexander's expenses exceeded
his income.
Let us for the moment accept 7,000 talents as a reasonable military budget
and, using very much simplified figures (since there is no possibility of ex-
actitude) see what the consequences would be. If Diodorus is right and there
were 9,000 talents of darics in Susa, then the first year would be paid for with-
out the need of further mintageindeed there would be a surplus of 2,000
talents. Suppose we say that Alexander would be provided for from the death
of Darius to the summer of 329. He must then make provision for 2 years'
campaigning, from the summer of 329 to that of 327 when he entered India
and an entirely new set of conditions. He would have needed 14,000 talents
for the army, which the treasure at Ecbatana was well able to provide. Let us
assume that 10,000 talents is to be in the form of double darics and (to make
things as simple as possible) let us assume that the double daric equals the
distater and that 150 of them go to the talent.160 That would mean minting
1,500,000 of them. What would be a reasonable number of specimens now
preserved to represent that number originally struck ? There is one recent study
which has at least some degree of control for its calculation of survival rate:
E. J. P. Raven, "The Amphictionic Coinage of Delphi."161 But in spite of the
author's sane and careful treatment there is an embarrassing spread in the
possibilities according to the denomination investigated and the total amount
supposed to have been strucka spread from 1 in 7,310 to 1 in 240,000! Mr.

Raven himself is a little discouraged and recalling that "previous estimates of
survival rates have usually been in the region of 1 in 5,000" admits that "that
figure may not be far from the average of all Greek coins." Let us adopt it with
no illusions.162 It would mean that of the original 1,500,000 double darics, 300
160 This involves a considerable discrepancy since, according to Hemmy, Iraq 1938, p. 70,
two of Alexander's staters would weigh 17.32 grams, the double daric only 16.80. But the degree
of other uncertainties is so great that we need not hesitate to consult our convenience to this
extent.
161 NC 1950, pp. 1-22.
162 E. S. G. Robinson, "Some Problems in the Later Fifth Century Coinage of Athens,"
MN 1960, p. 12, making his own calculation of the survival rate of Athenian gold, concludes that
it was "something like one part in 4,000""perhaps more" he writes me, "certainly not less." He
considers that more gold went into jewelry than silver so that the survival rates of the two metals
would be unlike. The difference between 5,000 and 4,000 is a palliative, but I do not feel that it
can cure our difficulty. Since this was written Margaret Thompson's great work on the Athenian
should have survived. If we assume that 2,000 talents consisted of silver (the
other 2,000 being accounted for by the surplus darics) and that the silver was
imitation Athenian tetradrachms at 1,500 to the talent, there would have been
3,000,000 struck, of which 600 should have survived. If one follows more
closely the proportions of Seleucid coinage the amount of gold will be much
decreased and the silver correspondingly increased, but the Seleucids had no
great reservoirs of gold to make into money. I will not affront the reader by
pointing out what a tissue of uncertainties we have here. Everyone must decide
for himself whether such procedure can do any good at all. I may express my
own feeling that, no matter how you calculate, there do not seem to be enough
coins to meet the requirements. There has been no gathering of either double
darics or imitation owls, but I find it hard to believe that a census would
approach the necessary figures. It seems to me that there must have been
supplements from more Persian coins, from the Alexander coinage, or from
other series. It is unlikely that the country itself offered large amounts of
plunder.
We have some evidence of subsidiary series. There are a number of pieces
that have been often attributed to India: varieties of imitation owls, small
coins with Athena's head and an eagle, drachms and the famous tetradrachms
with the head of Zeus and an eagle, these last with the name of Alexander
(PLATE I, 12).163 The old attribution is disposed of, finally, one hopes, by an
admirable article by R. B, Whitehead164 in which he shows clearly that, though
specimens are acquired in India, their place of origin is across the mountains
in Afghanistan. These, then, might have helped to fill the need, but their
number cannot have been large.
As to the use of Alexander's regular coinage, we are in strange doubt. Alex-

anders do turn up in Afghanistan. I have recently seen a number acquired by
an inexpert collector who had no interest in selecting rarities. There were
8 tetradrachms, 6 drachms and a hemidrachm, but the only pieces surely early
enough to belong to this period were one stater of Amphipolis and one late
daric. The silver was all of 324 or later. The Oxus Hoard, which ought to be
New Style Silver has appeared with calculations that in that series the survival rate might be as
low as 1: 2625, as high as 1: 395. Her conclusion (p. 709) "There is no such thing as a general
survival rate which can be applied indiscriminately to various issues of Greek coinage" is certainly
just and reduces still further the possible evidential value of the figures used by me.
193 B. V. Head, "The Earliest Greco-Bactrian and Greco-Indian Coins," NC 1906, pp. 1-16.
164 "Xhe Eastern Satrap Sophytes," NC 1943, pp. 60-72. The eastern imitations have been
treated in A. K. Narain, The Indo-Greeks, Oxford, 1957, p. 4. He raises the interesting question
whether the Bactrian users of Greek coins may not have been Greeks from the settlements to the
north-west of India to which both Greek and Indian sources testify (pp. 1 f.).
very enlightening, fails us entirely. Of the 100 odd tetradrachms and 100 odd
drachms said to have been included, only one was sufficiently described to be
identified, and that turns out to be a coin of Seleucus I from Ecbatana, ESM,
p. 166, no. 454. We have no way of knowing the date of the others nor, if we
knew, could we tell whether they came into the country with Alexander or
later. J. Hackin's "Repartition des Monnaies anciennes en Afghanistan"165
makes no mention of Alexanders (but neither does he mention Seleucids,
though he prints "Seleucides" on his map at Tash Kurgan). So far as our
evidence goes, the coins of Alexander himself played no part of any importance
in his conquest of Bactria.
There remains the possibility that he had more Persian coins and used them,
but I do not see how that can ever be proved.166
The record of Alexander's finances in India is extremely meager. Plutarch167
records the gift to the king of Taxila of 1,000 talents, which he says was in coin,
and the great displeasure of Alexander's friends. The same incident occurs in
Curtius,168 with an interesting addition. Omphis, being confirmed as king of
Taxila, presented Alexander with sundry gifts and 80 talents signati argenti.169
Alexander was gratified but returned the offering and instead gave Omphis
1,000 talents ex praeda quam vehebat, gold and silver vessels, Persian robes
and 30 horses. This is an odd episode. What did Omphis expect to buy with so
small a gift as 80 talents ? The exchange of presents would be appropriate ritual
between two kings meeting to form an alliance but the 1,000 talents, even if
Plutarch was not right about its being coin, would be much more credible if it
were to insure the cooperation of the forces of Taxila than if it were a mere
gesture of vanity, as both the authors seem to take it to be. For what it is worth,
the incident shows Alexander as actually carrying his treasure in his baggage

165 Journal asiatique 1935.
166 It is perhaps worth mentioning that "Plutarch," Lives of the Ten Orators, 846 A, says,
apparently on the authority of Philochorus, that Demosthenes accepted a bribe of 1,000 darics
from Harpalus. No one else mentions the unit of the bribe. It is conceivable that some of the
5,000 talents with which Harpalus is said to have absconded (Diodorus XVII. 108. 6) was in
darics.
167 Alexander 59. 3.
168 VIII. 12.15 f.
168 John Allan, "The Beginnings of Coinage in India," Transactions of the International
Numismatic Congress, 1936, London, 1938, pp. 387-392, believes that what is meant is the small
silver bars with punched design, of the weight of two sigloi. Some of them were found at Taxila
with a siglos, a tetradrachm and drachm of Alexander and a tetradrachm of Philip III, and Allan
regards them as the earliest Indian coins. I doubt, however, whether argentum signatum "is
clearly more than bullion and yet something that to the Western mind was not exactly coin." The
same phrase is used to describe the money brought by Orsines, Satrap of Pasargada, Curtius
X.1. 24.
and as having enough so that he could part with a large sum before the con-
quest of India had fairly begun.
Curtius says170 that after the defeat of Porus and the founding of Nicaea and
Bucephala Alexander gave each of the leaders a crown and 1,000 aureia
detail so conventional that it is hardly to be taken seriously. Both Arrian171 and
Plutarch172 speak of Indian mercenaries. This is all that is pertinent in the
literary tradition. The coins themselves, however, are more helpful. First there
is the negative evidence of the extreme rarity of Alexander's own money in
India.173 Second there is the scarcity of Persian gold and the comparative
frequency of Persian silver.174 Third there is the existence of a class of silver
coins of double, half and quarter siglos weight175 which seems to have formed
the basic currency of the northwest district to which Alexander first came.
Macdonald explains the infrequency of Persian gold in India by the fact that
there was so much gold there that the ratio with silver was only 8: 1. This
would, of course, be unfavorable to the use of darics coined on the Persian
standard of 13. 3: 1 and, to a lesser extent, to the gold coins of Alexander
struck at 10: 1. Alexander may, therefore, have planned to use silver only,
though in this case he would have had little need to import specie. India is
notoriously rich in metal and, moreover, much given to hoarding,176 so that
here, as in Persia, the conqueror will have been able to look forward to the
capture of enough bullion to finance his campaign. It certainly was not financed
by staters and tetradrachms transported from Babylon.
This digression into the perplexities of the East has led us far from the
main course of our study, but it could hardly be neglected. No matter how the
details are finally settled, the general picture is clear. Before Gaugamela the
empire had two monetary zones: Greece and Asia Minor (Map 2) where the

170IX. 1. 6.
171IV. 26.1:27.3.
172 Alexander 59. 3.
173 I am indebted to Dr. R. B. Whitehead, whose experience and recollections are conclusive
in this matter. He cites some coins with Alexander's name collected in the Punjab, reported
without details by Charles J. Rodgers (Coin Collecting in Northern India, Allahabad, 1894,
p. 19), and Sir John Marshall's siglos, Alexander tetradrachm and drachm and Philip III tetra-
drachm, the insignificant fruit of his 20 years of excavation at Taxila (Taxila, Cambridge, 1951,
Vol. II, p. 795). I recall that Newell once told me that he had just received an Alexander found
in India, the first in his experience, but I never knew the details.
174 George Macdonald, "Ancient Persian Coins in India," Cambridge History of India, Vol. I,
New York, 1922, pp. 342-344.
176 John Allan, Catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum. Ancient India, London,
1936, pp. xv-xvii, 1-3, PI. 1,1-5, Class I.
176 A. H. Lloyd, "Hoarding of the Precious Metals in India," Transactions of the International
Numismatic Congress, 1936, London, 1938, pp. 427-438.
imperial types joined or dominated but did not extinguish the local currencies;
Cilicia and Syria (Map 3) where the local currencies were replaced by the
imperial. To this period belongs the fiscal purpose of Alexander, as defined by
Schlumberger, of eventually achieving monetary uniformity for the empire as
a whole. But after Gaugamela a third zone is added, of Mesopotamia and the
East (Map 4) in which the preexisting confusion is not merely tolerated but
augmented by the emissions of the conqueror. There is concession to the Persian
tradition, as proved by the double darics; concession to the satrapal tradition,
as proved by the imitation owls. Whether temporarily or permanently the ideal
of uniformity is laid aside. In part this was doubtless the result of difficulties
greater in the East than in the West: the continuous warfare, the strange and
remote terrain, the alien mores of the people. But it also resulted from a changed
state of mind, for there are two phenomena in the West, one beginning about
327 during Alexander's absence in the East, the other in 324 after his return.
The first is the institution at Tarsus of a series of silver staters of Persian weight
and Cilician type without any reference to Alexander, for the use of Issus,
Mallus, Soli and Tarsus itself (PLATE III, 7, 8).177 The other is the coining, in
the mints of Asia Minor, of gold staters with the name and type of Philip II.178
Neither of these can be explained by any pressure of necessity or change of
conditions. Both must have been designed to gratify the sentiment of those
who still remembered kindly the money that preceded Alexander.
All this is perfectly appropriate to the historical situation. Until the final
defeat of the Persian king Alexander was an adventurer, with everything to
gain, but much to lose. Whenever his resolution was taken that he himself was
to be the Great King, it became imperative for him to assert his prestige and
177 Tarsos, pp. 16-22. The enigmatic second series of staters (PLATE III, 8), ibid., whatever

its explanation, adds to the effect of the first. The significance of both these series will need to be
reconsidered in view of the recent discovery of a specimen on which, instead of the usual B,
there appears the name of Balacrus, Alexander's satrap of Cilicia. Babelon had suggested this
meaning for B which Newell (Tarsos, p. 18) had denied. Howorth made the same suggestion in
his article "A Note on Some Coins Generally Attributed to Mazaios, the Satrap of Cilicia and
Syria," JVC 1902, pp. 83 f. The owner of the new piece, Herr von Aulock, has kindly sent me
photographs of his interesting discovery, which he is about to publish. It would not be proper to
anticipate the publication, but it may be remarked that while the new coin proves that Series II
of Persic staters (Tarsos, pp. 42-47) was instituted before the death of Balacrus in 328 it does not
settle the question whether the B which sometimes appears on Series I (ibid. p. 17, d-f) is the
mark of the same official, still less whether he is the B who shares with A the issue of the early
Tarsiote Alexanders (ibid. p. 9). On the initial date will depend the solution to the question
whether the signed lion staters of Mazaeus from Babylon were without precedent, as assumed in
the present study, or whether Alexander had already allowed another satrap to put his name
on a coin. In any case, the privilege seems to have been of short duration.
178 Thompson and Bellinger, passim.
his power. Asiatics were to be taught that the imperial structure which they
had regarded as supreme was in process of being overthrown by a mighty
foreigner, supported by foreign gods, who was no mere raider, but had come
among them to conquer, to occupy and to organize. Heracles and Zeus and the
name of Alexander were to become as familiar to them as the gods of their own
country and the odd little monarch with bow and spear. But when the empire
was won, when he was in fact the Great King himself, what did it matter any
longer? Then came the experiments with the amalgamation of races, the
Persians in positions of trust, the oriental splendor and extravagance, the
figure of Alexander on the great decadrachm, a Macedonian king on one side
charging against Porus, but, on the other, a divine king in Persian dress, wield-
ing the thunderbolt (PLATE I, 13).
But, if there was confusion in the East and breach of precedent in the West,
it must not be thought that the general system was weakened, much less
abandoned, after Gaugamela. The old mints continued to strike their con-
ventional coins, the latest organized of the great mints, Alexandria, beginning
to operate about 326.179 About that time also there was a marked, though un-
explained, increase in the output of a number of cities.180 Neither quantity nor
quality showed signs of slackening, and there must have been few west of
Babylon who did not know the types of Alexander.
The ultimate test of a currency is its ability to provide what is needed. So
judged, Alexander's international currency had been a great success. It had
furnished him with the resources of war and peace over a vast territory whose
178 Demanhur, pp. 144-147. A violent contrast to the orthodoxy of the old mints cannot be
entirely passed over. Didrachms of very strange appearance, some of which have the name
"Alexander" in Aramaic characters are assigned by Six (NC 1878, pp. 103-118) to Hierapolis in

Syria and to the period from 315-301. Later (NC 1884, p. 113) he was inclined to believe that
those with Alexander's name may have been struck in his own lifetime. I am not competent to
deal with the linguistic and paleographical problems involved, but I believe that no one would
assign, on the grounds of appearance, the first four coins of PI. VI of the former article to the end
of the 4th century B.C. Even that, however, is more likely than that a series so barbaric should
have been begun under Alexander and in his name. The condition of the High Priest of Hierapolis
was doubtless unique, but he was not so far from Cilicia that his city would have been totally
unaware of numismatic propriety. Babelon (Perses achemenides, pp. LI-LIV) though he suggests
that the place of issue might be Comana instead of Hierapolis, accepts the theory that we have
to do with Alexander the Great and not a dynast of that name, since the types are imitations of
those of Mazaeus. But the style of imitation is quite uncharacteristic of the time, and the appear-
ance of Alexander as dynast or High Priest signing coins of a petty state with types totally un-
related to his own is without parallel and without probability. I would invite the Orientalists to
consider the possibility that the Alexander of Six' nos. 1 and 2 is a High Priest, like Abd-Hadad
of nos. 4 and 5 and that the whole series belongs to a much later time.
180 Thompson and Bellinger, pp. 30 f.
expansion he could not foresee in detail. It had succeeded, at least as far as
Mesopotamia, in introducing an economy of uniform specie to regions accustom-
ed to other currencies or to none. Trade had carried the daric and the owl far
and wide, but the army and the civil power carried the gold Athena and the
silver Heracles farther yet. As an instrument of conquest or commerce and of
government, the coinage of Alexander made a record no less brilliant than his
more familiar achievements.
Could its success have continued? Would it have served the whole estab-
lished empire which he planned? No question which must assume the con-
tinued life and health of Alexander can have a satisfying answer, but here, as
in other cases, one must doubt if he could have maintained what he created.
There is no reason to suspect that he was an economist more gifted than his
generation. It is the common belief that his expenses outran his income. Doubt-
less the mines of Macedonia seemed inexhaustible; inexhaustible also the huge
Persian treasure. With its capture begin the tales of extravagances which, in
the end, were sure to impoverish the royal power. If he could have learned in
Babylon, when there was nothing more to conquer, to match his expenses to
his needs as successfully as he seems to have done while he was winning Asia
Minor, his financial structure might have stood for generations. But who was

there to teach him?
THE SUCCESSORS AND THE CITIES
The death of Alexander left his empire without a leader and there was
great difficulty in choosing one. Some were for retaining the kingship in the
Macedonian royal house and supported Philip's son Arrhidaeus, Alexander's
half-brother. Others felt that the family of Alexander himself was the proper
source of royal power and hoped for an heir in the child which Roxane was
expecting. The factions were vehement and almost came to blows, yet to the
wiser minds it must have been apparent that the true question was not who
was to have the name of king but who was to control the armies and the
finances of the empire. The generals could not know, any more than we know
now whether it was possible that the vast realm which they had conquered
could be ruled as a unit, but even those who doubted most had no plan for
division except the appeal to arms. But civil war was to the liking of no one
and so it was essential that the formal question as to the kingship should be
settled promptly. A compromise was reached: Arrhidaeus' name was changed
to Philip and he was declared king with the proviso that if Roxane's child
should be a son he was to share the royal title. Roxane's child, as it turned out,
was a son; he was duly named Alexander and war was for the time averted.
Perdiccas and Craterus divided the ill-defined powers and duties of guardian
and regent. Many of the necessary arrangements of which we are not told must
have been made by them and it may have been they who decided that, as
money must continue to be struck, the familiar types should be retained but
that some of the coins should bear the name of Philip, and this plan was put
into effect as soon as the problem of the kingship was solved.
It was not universally done, however. The most conspicuous exception is
that the premier mint of Amphipolis never used Philip's name. It is not easy
to see why this should have been so. The Macedonians had been Philip's

supporters in the contest as to the succession and Antipater, who was regent
in Macedonia, was a thorough legitimist. Moreover, he had long been at odds
with Olympias, that fervent partisan of her grandson and foe of his co-ruler,
which should have put Antipater in Philip's party if partisanship was impor-
tant in Macedonia in 323. It is a further complication that there is an issue for
Philip from Pella in about 318.x At that time there is indeed evidence of a
1 Demanhur 1637 with the same symbols as the Alexander issue, 1635. The coin is in the British
Museum and seems to be unique. It is an odd piece with BAZIAEIiZ upside down in the exergue.
division in the country. Cassander was making head against the duly appointed
guardian Polyperchon; Eurydice, Philip's wife and half-sister, had attempted
to take charge of affairs and transfer the command from Polyperchon to
Cassander; the young Alexander was apparently with his grandmother in
Epirus. It may be that Eurydice had enough influence in Pella to have it strike
in her husband's name, but not enough to prevent the same magistrate from
striking in that of Alexander. But this does not explain why the omission
should have been made in the beginning when Babylon was using both names.2
Perhaps there will ultimately be found adequate political explanations for the
other places where Philip's name was not used, such as Miletus, Damascus and
Alexandria, but at present it seems as though the irregular procedure is no
more than a symptom of imperfect control by the regents of minting regulation.
This does not prevent the unhappy Philip, burdened with illegitimacy, an
over-bearing wife and a weak intellect, from being a person of numismatic
importance. Since his brief career began in 323 and ended in 317 his coins, of
course, must fall between those limits, and consequently also the coins with
the name of Alexander and symbols identical with Philip's which is a very
important aid in the arrangements of the coins after 323.*
2 Ibid., 4526-4609. This is the only mint that gives the impression of having coined more for
Philip than for Alexander.
3 The few pertinent facts about Philip are to be found in Diodorus XVITI, XIX, sometimes
confirmed by other sources. They may be summarized as follows:
323 The infantry supported him for the kingship. He was made king and his name changed
from Arrhidaeus to Philip. (Diodorus XVIII. 2. 2-4).
322 Perdiccas took him on campaign to Cappodocia (16. 1). After the defeat of Ariarathes
they campaigned in Pisidia (22. 1).

321 After the death of Perdiccas, Pithon and Arrhidaeus were elected regents and guardians
of the kings (36. 7). At the conference of Triparadeisos, because of the interference of
Eurydice, the guardians resigned and Antipater was elected in their place (39. 1-4). He
took the kings back to their fatherland, Macedonia (39.7).
319 On his death bed Antipater appointed Polyperchon regent and guardian (48. 4). Poly-
perchon invited Olympias to return from Epirus to take charge of Alexander's son until
he should be of age (49. 4, 57. 3). Eumenes in Asia supported the kings against Anti-
gonus (57. 3, 4).
318 On Eumenes' advice Olympias decided to stay in Epirus (58.2-4). Polyperchon supported
Eumenes by authority of the kings (58. 1, 59. 3, 62. 1, 2). Polyperchon and the kings
were in Phocis. When Cassander came to the Piraeus Polyperchon moved into Attica
but presently left part of the army with his son Alexander while he went to the Pelopon-
nesus (68. 2, 3).
317 Eurydice assumed the regency (XIX. 11. 1) (and transferred the command from Poly-
perchon to Cassander. Justin XIV. 5.1-3). Polyperchon, in alliance with Aeacides of Epirus
brought Olympias with Alexander's son back to the kingdom (11. 2). Eurydice's army
deserted her at sight of Olympias; Philip and Eurydice were captured and killed (11. 2-7).
We may suppose that Eurydice's activity caused the change of affairs between 318 and 317.
THE SUCCESSORS AND THE CITIES 83
At once after the settlement of the question about the kingship the satrapies
were dealt out, and there was a second distribution in 321 at the conference of
Triparadeisus. From the point of view of the control of mint cities the result
was very strangely proportioned. A full discussion of the satrapies will be found
in Berve's Alexanderreich I, pp. 221-290, but since not all of them contained
mint cities we may abbreviate the lists to deal only with those which did. (I give
merely mints whose position is fairly sure).
Macedonia and Greece. Antipater
Amphipolis
Pella
Sicyon
Hettespontine Phrygia. 1. Leonnatus 2. Arrhidaeus
Lampsacus
Abydus
Lydia. 1. Menander 2. Cleitus
Sardes
Teos
Colophon
Caria. Asander
Magnesia
Miletus
Pamphylia, Lycia and Greater Phrygia. Antigonus
Side
CUicia. 1. Philotas 2. Philoxenus
Tarsus
In the earlier year both the kings were with Polyperchon in Phocis. He apparently did not take

them with him to the Peloponnesus, where his failure to capture Megalopolis injured his reputation
and induced most of the Greek states to desert him for his rival Cassander. It will have been at
this time that Eurydice (who may have come back to Macedonia in 321 with the kings) achieved
her coup d'etat which must have been accompanied by the return of Philip to Macedonia and the
flight of Alexander to his grandmother in Epirus. (Miss Macurdy believes that Roxane and Alex-
ander IV stayed in Macedonia, Grace H. Macurdy, "Roxane and Alexander IV in Epirus," JHS
1932, 256-261). The role of Polyperchon is not quite clear. He generally speaks and acts in the
name of "the kings," making no distinction between them, but when he invited Olympias to
return to Macedonia to take care of "Alexander's son" he can hardly have believed that the
result would be to Philip's advantage. For a long time he did not persuade her that it would be to
hers either. There are two strange reappearances of Philip's name: on a tetradrachm of Marathus
struck about 301, WSM, p. 195, no. 1241; and on a stater from an uncertain mint which must be
even later in date, WSM, p. 373, no. 1688, Seyrig, "Parion au 3e Siecle," Centennial Publication
of the American Numismatic Society, New York, 1958, pp. 622 f.
Syria. Laomedon
Myriandrus
Damascus
Aradus
Byblus
Berytus
Sidon
Ake
Egypt. Ptolemy
Alexandria
Babylonia. 1. Archon 2. Seleucus
Babylon
Media. 1. Atropates 2. Peithon
Ecbatana
It is remarkable how few of these governors played parts of any importance
during the struggles of the Successors. The boundaries of the satrapies would
be maintained as they had been in Alexander's time and it may be that the
entrusting of important provinces to men not of the first importance was caused
less by a mistaken estimate of their abilities than by the mutual jealousies of
greater men. The fact that there was obviously no attempt to provide an equal
distribution of mints can only mean that the unity of the empire was still so
fundamental in the minds of the generals that it was taken for granted that all
money was still the kings' money, only now at the disposal of the regent. There
are positive indications that this was true. In 321, after the murder of Perdiccas,
his brother-in-law Attalus sailed to Tyre and there recovered 800 talents from
Archelaiis, the captain of the garrison, which Perdiccas had given him for safe-

keeping.4 This was evidently a transaction entirely independent of Laomedon,
the satrap. In 319 Antigonus committed what was regarded as a clear act of
rebellion when he captured and appropriated 600 talents which were being
conveyed by ship from Cilicia to the kings in Macedonia.5 And in the next year,
when Polyperchon was strengthening the hand of Eumenes against Antigonus
he sent letters in the name of the kings to the generals in Cilicia and the
treasurers to pay Eumenes 500 talents and any more that he might require.6
Ptolemy, indeed, protested to the treasurers against paying any money to
Eumenes and promised to protect them if they failed to carry out instructions,
but nobody paid any attention to him.7
4 Diodorus XVIII. 37. 3, 4.
5 Ibid., 52. 7.
6 Ibid., 58. 1; 59. 3. Plutarch, Eumenes 13. 1 says that the letter came from Polyperchon
and King Philip. 7 Diodorus XVIII. 62. 1, 2.
The assumption of the unity of empire, however, soon began to be challeng-
ed. Ptolemy was apparently the first to conceive of making a part of the empire
his own domain, though perhaps the idea had come as soon to Lysimachus,
fighting to organize the still unconquered elements of Thrace. After his re-
covery of Babylon from Antigonus in 312 Seleucus set himself to make a
permanent possession of the East. And in the spring of that same year when
Cassander had put Olympias to death, though he was the only one with any
title to be considered the guardian of the young Alexander, he showed his true
purpose by having the boy imprisoned with his mother Roxane. In 310 by
having them assassinated he left no basis for any legitimist party.
Against these separatist forces the regents had fought, Perdiccas with more
than a little personal ambition involved, Antipater with loyal devotion to the
royal house, Polyperchon with good intentions, doubtless, but with little practi-
cal sense and with diminishing effectiveness. But there was another opponent
of the separatists: Antigonus, and he was moved not by sentiment but by the
determination to keep the empire together for himself. This ambition was
shared and inherited by his son Demetrius, and the greatest episode of the
closing of the 4th century and the opening of the 3rd is the account of the
adventures of those two warriors.
The interplay of all these individuals meant constant change in the control
of territory and in the condition of the cities. Though the mints may have
struck coins originally for the use of all parts of the empire alikesubject
always to the element of conveniencethere must have come a time when for
Antigonus to capture a mint meant for him to capture additional revenue. The
activity of the Asia Minor mints in 310 and 309 seems to be part of his program,8
and perhaps some of the constant friction between the Ptolemies and their

neighbors was caused by desire to control the mint-cities of the Syrian coast.
It is impossible to give any general picture of the fortunes of the mints in
the period just after Alexander's death. That must be worked out a city at a
time, a labor which has hardly begun as yet, though many issues have been
assigned to their proper cities without historical commentary. Newell's works
on Demetrius and the Seleucids have obiter dicta about the preceding Alexander
coins and so have publications of sundry hoards, but we are still in the dark
as to such a matter as the closing of the mint at Damascus, its date and cause.
Much meticulous work with individual series is necessary before we can write
the history of the early posthumous Alexanders.
Nevertheless, there are some things that can be said as to the practice of
the different Successors, for there are only a few of them of any numismatic
8 Thompson and Bellinger, pp. 30 f.
importance. In the realm of Antipater, as one would expect, nothing was ever
minted except the old types, and that was true of the realm in the hands of Poly-
perchon. Since they regarded the empire as the kings' estate, it could be financed
only by the kings' money. Cassander held to the convention so far as gold and
silver were concerned, but he did issue bronze with the head of Heracles and a
lion with his own name.9 Antigonus also used only the Alexander types; the
coins bearing the legend Antigonus or King Antigonus belong to his grandson
Antigonus Gonatas or Antigonus Doson.10 Of course his endeavor was to avoid
anything that might seem to acknowledge the possibility of partition, and as
long as the old man lived his son Demetrius, if he is to be regarded as an in-
dependent minting authority, followed the father's example. The first breach
of tradition was that of Ptolemy about 320 when he substituted for the head
of Heracles a head of Alexander wearing a headdress made of an elephant with
jutting tusks and uplifted trunk (PLATE II, 4). This is the deified Alexander:
above his cheek may be seen the ram's horn of his divine father Zeus Ammon.
A few years later there was a more extreme innovation. The deified head
remained but the familiar seated Zeus was replaced by an Athena with helmet,
aegis, shield and thunderbolt. The earliest coins of this type bore the inscription
AAEEANAPEION, a further deviation from tradition but a somewhat puzzling
one which gave place again to the conventional AAEEANAPOY. So far there had
been no overt show of independence, but a step was taken which actually made
for more independence than a change of type could. Ptolemy abandoned the
Attic standard of 17.62 grams and began to strike tetradrachms of Rhodian
weight (15.50 grams) and so cut Egypt off from the international currency of
his rivals. Then, after the death of Alexander IV in 310 had left no legitimate
monarch, Antigonus and Demetrius, Seleucus and Lysimachus took the title

of king in 306/5 and 305/4, and Ptolemy joined them, now introducing his own
portrait on the obverse and using as his reverse the eagle which had been on
Zeus' hand. This became the standard Ptolemaic type and the Alexander
coinage thus disappears from Egypt forever.
The development of types was different in other cases. Lysimachus had
originally controlled no mint11 and it was not until 308 that he provided him-
HN, p. 228.
10 Newell, Demetrius, pp. 14!., n. 1.
11 The early currency of Lysimachus is still a mystery. He cannot possibly have been without
money from 323 to 308. He certainly used the Alexander types but as yet no city has been identified
where he could have struck them. He may simply have had some arrangement with Antipater
which allowed him to use the output of Amphipolis. It does seem odd that in 319 the kings, for
whose needs the Macedonian mines ought to have been ample, should have to import money from
Cilicia (above, n. 5). But an amicable division of coin between Lysimachus and Cassander does
not seem likely.
self with a suitable capital by building the city of Lysimacheia near Cardia in
Thrace. There he struck Alexanders on which about 303 he put a distinguishing
mark: the forepart of a lion, which was his own device; and his own name now
stood in place of Alexander's. In 29612 he imitated Ptolemy in replacing the
Heracles head with a portrait of the divinized Alexander, again with the horns
of Ammon but without the elephant skin (PLATE II, 5). It is one of the most
spectacular of Hellenistic portraits. The reverse shows a seated Athena holding
Nike and leaning on her shield. The title is that of King Lysimachus, and with
that he was content; his portrait never appeared on his coins, and since he had
no heir his types would have died with him except that, like those of Alexander,
they had caught the fancy of the cities and were imitated long after his death.
When the disaster of Ipsus had ended Antigonus' plans and ambitions
Demetrius was left to gather the remnants of his father's great empire and, from
the cities still in his control, he issued notice of his continued command of the
sea: the magnificent tetradrachms bearing his name and showing Nike with a
trumpet on a prow and Poseidon standing with menacing trident. Later there
were two series with Demetrius' own portrait, one with Poseidon seated, the
other with his foot on a rock, leaning on a trident.
The first change introduced by Seleucus was the substitution of his own
name for that of Alexander after 306 when he took the title of king. This was at
Seleucia-on-the-Tigris about 305.13 It became common about 300 and was the
regular type for gold and silver in the West, though the bronze shows consider-
able variation. An apparent exception occurs in Pergamum where Seleucus'
name is used on tetradrachms with horse's head/elephant. But those were
actually issued by Philetaerus and his governor and were followed by a re-
version to Alexander's type and name, and then to Alexander's type with

Seleucus' name.14 In the East two other types were used for silver: the head
of Zeus/Athena in a biga or quadriga of elephants;15 and head of Seleucus/Nike
and trophy.16 It is interesting that the king confined the use of his own portrait
to his eastern mints, and even there it did not entirely displace the older design
as Ptolemy's portrait did in Egypt. In Susa, for instance, there is a reversion
to the Alexander type with Seleucus' name after both of the others had been
used17 and at Ecbatana Alexander's name appears in the latter half of Seleucus'
12 Thompson and Bellinger, p. 11.
13 ESM, pp. 12-14.
14 WSM, pp. 316-318, nos. 1528-1535.
15 E.g., Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, ESM, pp. 23-25, nos. 29-41.
16 E.g., Susa, ESM, pp. 113!., nos. 300-302.
17 ESM, p. 116, nos. 309-313.
reign.18 By the end of that reign, however, the Alexander types had been
abandoned.19
Mention must be made of three interesting uses of the Alexander type by
lesser powers than the dynasts of whom we have spoken. One is the case of a
client king, Nicocles of Paphos in Cyprus. A number of tetradrachms of that
mint, apparently perfectly ordinary Alexanders, are found on close inspection,
to have the name NIKOKAEOYZ inscribed on the mane of the lion headdress in
letters so tiny that they are not visible on a photograph and are frequently only
to be seen on the coins themselves under a magnifying glass.20 J. M. F. May in
an admirably complete treatment of them21 concludes that they were issued
from 323, immediately after Alexander's death, to 320, which would allow for
their appearance in the Demanhur Hoard, buried in 318/7. As he says, the
legend has every appearance of being surreptitious and it is tempting to think
that the Paphian king was a bit intoxicated by the feeling of liberty caused by
the news from Babylon, but not so confident as to let his state of mind be
obvious to the regents. We have no way of knowing whether his temerity
escaped notice, or was indulged, or was punished. But none of his fellow kings
copied his experiment. There are letters on coins of Salamis which may perhaps
have stood for the names of the kings Nicocreon and Menelaus22 but those cases
were undoubtedly official and were far less explicit. A similar license had been
accorded kings of Byblus in Alexander's lifetime.23 But it seems that Nicocles
was aiming at something more than that.
The second case is that of a tetradrachm of eastern appearance which, in
addition to the usual inscription, has the name AHTEIIOY, under the arm of
Zeus (PLATE III, 9). E. S. G. Robinson, publishing the specimen in the British
Museum,24 called attention to a Persian named Aspeisas mentioned byDiodorus

18 ESM, p. 177, nos. 485f., p. 178, no. 491, p. 179, nos. 494f.
19 The case is not so clear for Demetrius. There are instances in Newell's catalogue where
Alexanders in gold and silver appear to follow the introduction of Demetrius' own types, Deme-
trius, p. 25, no. 19, p. 66, no. 59. But these might come at the beginning of their respective groups
instead of at the end. The same is true of the tetradrachms from an uncertain mint, p. 74, no. 63.
Newell suggests, to be sure, that some Alexanders were struck at Sicyon, Demetrius, p. 146 and
Noe believes that they are to be recognized in his Group III, Sicyon, pp. 28 f., but this can hardly
be regarded as proved.
20 There is an enlarged drawing in Newell, "Nikokles, King of Paphos," NC 1919, pp. 64f . and
an enlarged photograph used as a frontispiece for Sawyer Me A. Mosser, The Endicott Gift of
Greek and Roman Coins (NNM 97), 1941.
21 "The Alexander Coinage of Nikokles of Paphos," NC 1952, pp. 1-15.
22 "Some Cypriote Alexanders," NC 1915, pp. 31of., 315f.
23 Above, p. 53.
24 "Aspeisas, Satrap of Susiana," NC 1921, pp. 37f
(XIX. 55. 1) as having been installed as satrap of Susiana by Antigonus in 316
after the defeat of Eumenes, and there can be no doubt that this is the same
man. There was a mint in operation at Susa by 31y/625 striking coins with the
names of Alexander and Philip, and sometime between that date and 312 when
Seleucus recovered the territory this piece must have been struck. Though it is
without parallel and without consequence,26 it is worthy of attention, for it
ventures on a show of independence which the greater Successors were slow to
follow. Modesty or caution or both forbade the introduction of a new design.
Who was Aspeisas that the East should accept his money? But he was more
than the mint official who must be content to be known by a monogram or an
ambiguous symbol and he saw to it that he should appear as a man of
importance in the realm that had been Alexander's. One wonders whether he
knew of the case of Nicocles and declined to use such a mixture of display and
concealment. One wonders also what impression it made on Antigonus who
had appointed himAntigonus who was so scrupulous to maintain the old
types unchanged.
The third instance is even more surprising. It is the issuance by Areus king
of Sparta, 309-264, of a tetradrachm with Alexander's types and the inscription
BAZ1AEOI APEOI.27 Areus is chiefly known as the opponent of Macedon, as leader
of the Peloponnesian League in 280 and again in the Chremonidean war until
he fell in battle at Corinth. Beloch28 supposes that the act of striking his own
money, unprecedented for a Spartan, was one of the manifestations of eminence
and self-confidence which resulted from his victory over Pyrrhus in 272. No
Spartan king for a long time had been so powerful, and it is easy to assume that
his emulation of royal power of which Athenaeus speaks29 falls in this period.
It might be a time suitable for the introduction of the silver with his own

portrait,30 if that is indeed struck by him, but the use of his name on the Alex-
ander type would be much more appropriate to the years 306-304 when the
Successors whom he considered his rivals were taking the title of king. We know
nothing of what he was doing from his accession in 309 to his first campaign
in 280, and this may have been a kind of announcement that he also was one
of the Successors, with Greece for his province. But at any juncture it is
25 ESM, p. 107; Bellinger, "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos," p. 45.
26 A similar case, under Alexander, is that of Balacrus of Cilicia, above, The King's Finances,
n. 177.
27 One specimen in Berlin. ZfN 1875, pp. 126,285; BMC, Peloponnesus, p. xlvii. There is now
a specimen in the ANS.
IV. 1, p. 587.
rv. 142. b.
30 BMC, Peloponnesus, PL XXIV. I. There is no inscription but AA.
go ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
astonishing to have the types of Alexander used by a king of the one Greek
state which had been Alexander's consistent and pertinacious foe.31
The economy of these posthumous Alexanders is still unstudied. It is
evident that after the change of standard, the silver of Egypt was isolated from
the rest of the Hellenistic world,32 but what about the money of the other
Successors? How much of their product remained in their own territory? How
much was at the disposition of their rivals? I ventured remarks on this subject
a few years ago33 suggesting that there might be evidence for the development
of separate monetary districts. I did not have much material to go on, and
how upsetting to reasonable conjecture the facts can be is clearly seen in a
hoard from Basra, recently published by Georges Le Rider.34 This extraordinary
collection, of which he saw 507 pieces, begins with a 5th century Attic owl and
ends with a tetradrachm of Attambelus I of Characene struck in 45/4 B.C. It
includes 4 drachms and 159 tetradrachms of Alexander. Of these 93 are from
the mint of Amphipolis (60 being of the series with A and race torch from the
beginning of the 3rd century) ;35 23 more are imitations of Amphipolis. There
are only 2 from Tarsus and 7 from Babylon. Such a proportion could not
possibly have been anticipated. Surely the mint of Babylon could have supplied
money to Basra (it did in fact supply 1 1 lion staters) without anyone getting
coins from Macedonia! Yet though at present we are at a loss, the accumulation
of evidence will in time certainly show us something of the movement of cur-
rency in the early Hellenistic world. We are not without some indications. We
know that the kings were not as rich as Alexander had been.36 We know that
they issued much less gold and much more bronze. We know that they modified
his geographical arrangement of mints: Lysimachus was served by some which
had never struck for Alexander, and the Seleucids pushed eastward to Bactria

itself (Map 4), showing that whatever were the dispositions of Alexander there
31 On psychological grounds this is harder to explain than the use of Alexander types on the
posthumous civic coins which troubles Kleiner so much.
32 Not completely, of course. It occurs frequently in the Peloponnesus: Newell, Alexander
Hoards IV Olympia (NNM 39), 1929; Oscar E. Ravel, "Corinthian Hoard from Chiliomodi,"
Transactions of the International Numismatic Congress, 1936, pp. 98-108; David M. Robinson,
"The Alexander Hoard of Megalopolis," MN IV, 1950, pp. 13-28.
33 "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos," pp. 47-49.
34 "Monnaies de Characene," Syria 1959, pp. 240-250.
35 The assignment of this series to Uranopolis in SNG Copenhagen is an error. It comes just
before the issues of Demetrius from Amphipolis in 294, Demetrius, p. 102, notes 1-3.
36 Antigonus was assiduous in his search for funds. When somebody said "Alexander wasn't
like that" he replied "Of course not. He was reaping Asia. I am gathering straw." Plutarch,
Sayings of Kings 182 A.
they could not be made permanent. But these were phenomena that lie beyond
the limits of this study.
After the death of Demetrius no one had any illusions about the possibility
of keeping the empire together, and even before that, at the death of Cassander
in 297 or of his sons in 294, the uniform types as a symbol of imperial unity had
been abandoned. It would seem that Heracles and the seated Zeus had come
to the end of their career. But in fact they reappear, not in the service of the
kings but in that of the cities. Indeed, their use now is a sign of independence
of the kings.37 These issues as related phenomena have had the benefit so far of
only one serious study: Henri Seyrig's article "Parion au 3e Siecle avant notre
fire"38 in which he considers the posthumous Alexanders of northern Asia
Minor together with the posthumous imitations of the tetradrachms of Lysi-
machus coined after 281 on both sides of the Propontis and on the Thracian
coasts. There are two distinct periods to which the Alexanders belong, clearly
distinguished in appearance. As to the earlier I can do no better than quote
Seyrig's summary. "We have in Seleucid Asia two kinds of money. At Sardes
the types are royal, the name of the ruling sovereign is habitual; civic symbols
are absent, the issue is continuous, the likeness of the coins to those of the
eastern mints reveals the imperial centralization. In the other towns, on the
contrary, the pieces have the traditional types of Alexander the Great, the
name of the ruling sovereign is absent, the use of civic symbols is habitual, the
issues are of limited importance. In other words, the coins of Sardes testify to
immediate royal control while those of the other towns show no trace of it. The
fact is that Sardes, the ancient capital, was left by Alexander under its Lydian
laws and depended directly on the royal authority, while the other towns were
Greek cities. The coins show, therefore, that the administrative capital in the

first half of the 3rd century was still subject, while Seleucus had given the Greek
cities a status which respected certain attributes of sovereignty."39
After the death of Antiochus I, however, the royal power encroached on this
sovereignty, whatever its nature, and royal types reappear in various cities.
This was the situation until the death of Antiochus Hierax in 229/8. There
followed another period of quasi-independence under the friendly protection
of Attalus I of Pergamum. This was celebrated in many towns by the issuance
of Alexander type tetradrachms with low relief and very large flans. I illustrate
37 It is this use of types as a declaration of independence which Kleiner feels would have been
sentimentally unlikely, if not impossible, if they were associated in the minds of the users with the
early days of Alexander and the destruction of Thebes. But the Greek world had been using Alex-
ander's types for a great many years without any sign of hurt susceptibilities.
38 Centennial Publication of the American Numismatic Society, New York, 1958, pp. 603-625.
89 Op. cit., pp. 620 f.
one such from the mint of Myrina, Miiller 934 (PLATE III, 10). On these, as on
the earlier series, the symbols and monograms identify the issuing town, and
they must be regarded as civic, not as royal issues. I have endeavored to put
both series into their context in the case of Alexandria Troas.40
Seyrig observes, as to the earlier posthumous series, "the issues are of
limited importance," and that would seem to be still more true of the later
ones. They are, in fact, analogous to the civic types, also struck on large flans,
whose explanation, I am convinced, is sentimental rather than economic. I
have discussed this matter at length in regard to the tetradrachms of Ilium41
and I need not repeat the argument here. It is clear how wide a difference there
is between these rare pieces and the great Macedonian issues which, more than
a century before, financed the campaigns of Alexander.
There is no study comparable to Seyrig's for other districts and I will not
embark on the complicated problems involved except by way of illustration.
Coins are known, for example, certainly attributable to Miletus, Miiller 1043
(PLATE III, u) and to Rhodes, Miiller 1160 (PLATE III, 12). These evidently
contemporary series are confidently dated in the old catalogues to the period
after the battle of Magnesia 190 B.C.42 But Head supposes that all the Alex-
anders of Miletus, Miiller 1033-1057, belong to the same period, whereas
Newell43 puts Miiller 1054 "about the first quarter of the third century B.C."
and Seyrig44 thinks that most of the posthumous Alexanders ceased at the
battle of Magnesia and that their attribution to the second century is very
doubtful. There were exceptions: dated Alexander tetradrachms from Aradus
go as late as 171 B.C.,45 and the series from Odessus in Thrace belongs to the 1st
century B.C.46 Some comparative work is obviously called for here. The
Peloponnesian specimens also invite and deserve investigation. In publishing

the Olympia Hoard Newell called attention to the presence of some of those
rare varieties and offered comments on them which were intended as only
preliminary observations.47 Since then the publication of Noe's Sicyon has
given us new information about that mint without altogether settling the
questions raised by Olympia,48 and a hoard from Megalopolis has produced
40 Troy. The Coins. Supplementary Monograph No. 2, Princeton, 1961, pp. 82, 92 f.
41 "The First Civic Tetradrachms of Ilium," MN 1958, pp. 11-24.
42 BMC, Ionia, p.l., BMC, Caria, Cos, Rhodes, p. cix.
*3 Demetrius, p. 59.
44 Op. cit., p. 623.
46 HN, p. 789.
46 Behrendt Pick and Kurt Regling, Die Antiken Miinzen von Dacien und Moesien, Berlin,
1910, pp. 534-540.
47 Olympia, pp. 19, 20.
48 Sicyon, p. 35, III.
three Alexanders from that city, contributing a few more details of uncertainty.49
Someone should have the courage to go through the fragmentary history of
Hellenistic Greece and try to discover whether the Alexanders belong to con-
nected episodes or to independent ones and how they relate to the autonomous
coinage.
The need for more systematic study of the posthumous Alexanders is really
part of a much larger one: the need for more attention to the relation of one
Greek mint with another. The study of Greek issues city by city has, of course,
been a first necessity and has not yet been completed by any means. Never-
theless, the independence of Greek towns, important as it is, must not obscure
the fact that their careers were parallel and that the fiscal fabric of antiquity
must be judged by coincidences as well as by consequences. But that subject
far transcends the concern of these essays which is only a single aspect of a
picture almost infinitely complex. If we pursue the types of the Macedonian
king into a period so long succeeding his death we may as well acknowledge
that we are moved by sentiment as well as by science, and perhaps the best
illustration that can be found of his place in the imagination of later generations
is the fact that from 92 to 88 B.C. the Roman governors of a conquered Mace-
donia could find no fitter type for the coins they struck than the head of Alex-
ander the Great (PLATE III, 13).

49 "The Alexander Hoard of Megalopolis," MN 1950, pp. 13-28.
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
The following list is intended to serve a restricted purpose: to give a
chronological framework for the years while Alexander's types were being issued
by the Conqueror and his successors, and to mention some of the events which
may be of importance for the understanding of those issues. Of course, it is not
a history of the period, which would include much material foreign to this
inquiry. Such histories are available in Vol. VI of the Cambridge Ancient
History; Karl Julius Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, ed. 2, Vols. III-IV, Berlin,
1924-1927; Gustave Glotz, Pierre Roussel and Robert Cohen, Histoire grecque,
Vol. IV, Part I, Alexandre et le Demembrement de son Empire, Paris, 1938;
M. L. W. Laistner, A History of the Greek World from 479 to 323 B.C., London,
1936, and M. Gary, A History of the Greek World from 323 to 146 B.C., 2nd ed.
London, 1951. Lists of special studies may be found in the bibliographies of
these works, though many have appeared since their publication which must
be sought for in the periodicals.
Under each entry I have set a reference to the ancient source. In the
interests of brevity I have generally given one reference only, though the event
may be attested in a number of places, since it is the fact and not its inter-
pretation which is important to us; when there are more references than one it
is because the second provides some important information which the first does
not. The commonest ancient Greek chronological system is the list of epony-
mous archons of Athens. I have used the archon years, indicating closer dating
only when some evidence is given in the source.
The only continuous ancient account that we have is that of Diodorus of
Sicily whose Greek Bibliotheca Historica, in 40 books, was written under Caesar
and Augustus. Books XVII-XX, which deal with our period, are preserved
complete. The work is invaluable but very fallible; the author used good sources

and used them assiduously, but his power of organization was not equal to the
demands of constructing a world history. He was not unaware of the seriousness
of the difficulties, and in XX. 43. 7 he makes apology for history which cannot
present simultaneously simultaneous events. But his attempt to combine
episodic treatment with a chronological reckoning by Roman consuls (who
took office in January) and Attic archons (who took office in July) has led to
great confusion which the ingenuity of modern scholarship has not wholly
dispelled, and never will. Nevertheless, I have followed their conclusions
THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS 95
fortunately fairly harmonious for this periodas best I could, and have not
indicated the places where I depart from his chronology. Nor have I called
attention to his errors as to consuls and archons. To have argued the justifica-
tion for these deviations would have occupied a quite unreasonable amount
of space, and might not have been convincing in the end.1 The chronology here
presented may be called reasonably orthodox at the present time. There is a
Loeb Library text and translation of Diodorus XVIII-XX by Russel M Geer:
Vol. IX, 1929; Vol. X, 1933.
For the lifetime of Alexander a more reliable source is The Anabasis of
Alexander written by Arrian in Greek in the 2nd century A.D. His subject was
more limited than that of Diodorus and his historical sense better, and most of
what we need to know is in his pages. His special study of India is printed as
Book VIII of the Loeb Anabasis by E. Iliff Robson: Vol. I, 1954; Vol. II, 1949.
Arrian also wrote a continuation, Ti PET& 'AAôtvSpov, Post Alexandrum, which
is excerpted in the Bibliotheca of Photius. The Greek text is published in Felix
Jacoby's Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker II, Berlin, 1929, no. 156.
There is an English translation in J. H. Freese, The Library of Photius, Vol.I
(no more published), London and New York, 1920, XCII, pp. 159-167.
The History of Alexander by Quintus Curtius, a Latin work of uncertain
date, while it gives more extended accounts of many episodes, provides no
reliable data of importance not given by the two preceding authors, and is not
cited here. More useful are two other Greek works: the Parallel Lives of Plut-
arch, and the Geography of Strabo. The former is a series of biographies of
notable Greeks and Romans written in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. They
are ethical in purpose and do not confine themselves to the use of impeccable
sources, but the lives of Alexander, Eumenes and Demetrius preserve some

significant facts not given elsewhere. Strabo published his monumental Geo-
graphy about 7 B.C. He sometimes furnishes us with special information about
places connected with Alexander.
The sparse references to other authors and to inscriptions should not mislead
the reader into supposing that the scattered evidence for this period is slight.
On the contrary, it is abundant, but very little of it provides otherwise un-
known events for such a list as this.
It will be seen that our main authorities are far later than their subjects
and though that has little importance for this study, for general historical
purposes it is important to know where they got their information and how
they used it. A characteristically brilliant analysis of the sources for Alexander
is to be found in W. W. Tarn's Alexander the Great, Cambridge, 1948, Vol. II,
1 Beloch IV. 1, p. 134, n. "Natiirlich gibt es immer Leute, denen der Buchstabe hoher steht,
als die Sache, sogar wenn es sich um Diodor handelt."
pp. 1-133, while Beloch's much briefer "Quellen und Literatur," Vol. IV,
Part 2, pp. 1-19, deals also, to some extent, with modern works as well as with
ancient. Lionel Pearson's book, The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great,
Philological Monographs XX, American Philological Association, 1960, which
appeared too late for me to use extensively, will be found to contain a great
deal of valuable criticism.
The composition of the listthe decision which items to include and which
to excludehas been difficult and has certainly been imperfect. Something of
the kind has already been done in the "Zeittafeln" of Beloch, Vol. Ill, Part 2,
pp. 450-464 and Vol. IV, Part 2, pp. 623-639, which I have found very helpful,
but those were not devised to serve our special need. Since we are concerned
with the striking of coins, the basic question is: who was in control of a certain
territory at a certain time? Generally the answer bears on the operation of
particular mints, but sometimes it is important to know that a ruler controlled
such-and-such a place but did not operate a mint there. When we know the
location of a mintas we do of the most important oneswe can follow its
history and fortunes so far as the sources give us information, which is not as
complete as one could wish. There are others, to be sure, not yet exactly
located, as to which there is perhaps more to be known than we realize, and future
scholars may wish that this or that piece of information had been included.
But it is not my purpose here to record every mention of every place that has
or may have connection with a mint. I am trying to give more general guidance,
and since the decision that an item is worth citing must be a subjective one,
I cannot hope that the reader's judgment will always coincide with mine. I have
omitted, with entire confidence, all reference to Italy, Sicily, and to Cyrene
after its first surrender to Alexander. I have omitted, with less feeling of

certainty, affairs in Epirus, Aetolia and the barbarian countries of Asia lying
outside the empire. I do not believe that any of these produced Alexander
coins during the period treatedbut I may turn out to have been mistaken.
Since others besides Alexander struck his types and name it has been
necessary to carry the entries down beyond the date of his death. But as
posthumous Alexanders appear very much later I have had to set a terminus,
and the one selected has been the battle of Ipsus in 301 B.C. when Antigonus
died, who was that one of Alexander's marshals who clung most tenaciously
to the hope of himself controlling all the empire, and who never issued gold or
silver except with the traditional types and names. Later revivals, by younger
rulers, are brief and intermittent phenomena for which a complete chronology
is not so necessary. The list might have been continued to the death of Cassander
in 297, for Cassander also never issued his own types in the noble metals, but
the portion of Diodorus which is complete ends with the 2oth book, just before
97
Ipsus, and thereafter the materials for an outline are even less satisfactory than
before. It has seemed wise to deal with later issues separately without trying
to work them into an historic scheme.
The abbreviations used are A for Arrian, D for Diodorus, P for Plutarch,
S for Strabo.
365/5
End of July 356
336/5
Elpines archon
Birth of Alexander
P. Alexander 3. 3 6 Hekatombaion
donians call Loos"2
'which the Mace-
Spring 335
335/4
Oct. 8-12, 335
Pythodelos archon
Accession of Alexander
A. I. 1. I Pythodelos (mss. Pythodemos) archon
Alexander about 20
D. XVII. 2. 1 Euainetos archon (D's archon list is un-
reliable) presumably at the beginning of the Attic year,
since it is the first event mentioned under that archon-
ship
Congress of Corinth. Alexander elected general of the war

against Persia. Sparta hostile
A. I. 1.2
Expedition against the northern barbarians
A. I. 1. 4-6. 11. In the spring he went toward Thrace
Euainetos archon
Revolt and destruction of Thebes
A. I. 7. 1-1o. 6
P. Camillus 19. 6. At the time of the Mysteries
2 The Attic and Macedonian months are as follows:
Attic
1. Hekatombaion (ca. July)
2. Metageitnion
3. Boedromion
4. Pyanopsion
5. Maimakterion
6. Posideion
7. Gamelion
8. Anthesterion
9. Elaphebolion
10. Mounychion
11. Thargelion
12. Skirophorion
Macedonian
1. Dios (ca. October)
2. Apellaios
3. Audenaios
4. Peritios
5. Lystros
6. Xanthikos
7. Artemisios
8. Daisies
9. Panemos
10. Loos
11. Gorpiaios
12. Hyperberetaios
Early spring 334 March to the Hellespont
A. I. 11. 3. At the beginning of spring
Alexander at Ilium
A. I. 11. 7-12. 5
(S. XIII. 1. 26 puts the visit after the Granicus)
March to the Granicus
A. I.12.6. Arisbe, Percote, passing Lampsacus and Colonae,
Hermotos
Priapus surrendered
A. I. 12. 7
May 15-June 14, Battle of the Granicus
334 A.I. *3. 1-16. 7
P. Alexander 16. 1-8. Daisios
P. Camillus 19. 4. Thargelion
Capture of Dascylium by Parmenio
A. I. 17. 1
Surrender of Sardis
A. I. 17.3
334/3 Ktesikles archon
Capture of Ephesus
A. I. 17.10-13. There is no indication of the month so
that this may have taken place at the end of Euainetos'
year
Surrender of Magnesia and Tralles
A. I. 18. 1
Reduction of the towns of Aeolis and Ionia

A. I. 18. 1
Aug. 334 Capture of Priene
Hiller von Gaertringen, Inschriften von Priene, Berlin,
1906, no. 2, Metageitnion 2
Capture of Miletus
A. I. 18. 3-19. 6
Dittenberger, Sylloge,3 no. 272. Alexander eponymous
334/3
3 This stay, not otherwise attested, but agreeing with Arrian's date for the death of Darius,
creates a difficulty by allowing Alexander too little time to reach the Hindu Kush. C. A. Robinson,
The Ephemerides of Alexander's Expedition, Providence. 1932, Appendix: "When did Alexander
reach the Hindu Kush"? disposed of the problem by making Alexander leave Persis in March
instead of in May. D. G. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897, Appendix,
Capture of cities between Miletus and Halicarnassus
A. I. 20. 2
Beginning of the siege of Halicarnassus
A. I. 20. 2
Appointment of Ada as Satrap of Caria
A. I. 23. 7
Conquest of the Lycian and Pamphylian coast: Hyparna,
Telmissus, Pinara, Xanthus, Patara
A. I. 24. 4
Mid-winter 334/3 Campaign in the Milyas mountains
A. I. 24. 5. Mid-winter
Surrender of Phaselis
A. I. 24. 5
Capture of Perga
A. I. 26. 1
Surrender of Aspendus
A. I.26.2, 3; 27. 1-4
Capture of Side
A. I. 26. 4, 5
Siege of Termessus
A. I. 27. 5-28. I
Capture of Sagalassus
A. I. 28. 2-8
Surrender of Celaenae
A. I. 29. 1, 2
Reunion with Parmenio at Gordium

A. I. 29. 3, 4
333/2 Nikokrates archon
March from Gordium to Ancyra
A. II. 4. 1. There is no indication of the month, so that
this may have taken place at the end of Ktesikles' year
Surrender of the Paphlagonians
A. II. 4. 1
pp. 288-305, settles it by supposing that he spent a winter in Drangiana (unrecorded) and that
the two winter quarters recorded for Bactria were really one. W. W. Tarn, Cambridge Ancient
History VI, p. 390, concludes that he did not go into winter quarters at all in 330/29. Since the
question is of little importance for the present purpose, I repeat the dates in the sources without
trying to resolve their contradiction.
7-
too ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Conquest of much of Cappadocia
A. II. 4. 2
March to the Cilician Gates
A. II. 4. 4
Persian desertion of Tarsus and Alexander's entry
A. II. 4. 5, 6
Occupation of Anchialus
A. II. 5. 2
Occupation of Soli
A. II. 5. 5
Campaign in the Cilician mountains
A. II. 5. 6
News of the capture of Halicarnassus, Myndus, Cannus,
Thera, Callipolis, Cos and Triopium
A. II. 5. 7
Occupation of Mallus
A. II. 5. 9
Abortive rising of Agis of Sparta. Crete held by Spartan
mercenaries
A. II. 13. 4-6
Nov. 333 Victory at Issus
A. II. 7. 1-11. 10. Nikokrates archon. Maimakterion
Capture of Damascus by Parmenio
A. II. 11. 10
March to Phoenicia
A. II. 13.7

Surrender of Aradus, Marathus, Sigon and Mariamne
A. II. 13. 7, 8
Surrender of Byblus and Tripolis
A. II. 15.6
Surrender of Sidon
Curtius IV. I. 15-26
Jan.-July 332 Siege of Tyre
A. II. 17. 1-24. 6. Tyre captured in Hekatombaion in the
archonship of Niketes. Hekatombaion 1 = July 22
P. Alexander 24. 3. Siege of seven months
Surrender of the kings of Cyprus during the siege
A. II. 20. 3
Campaign in Antilebanon during the siege
A. II. 20. 4, 5
332/1 Niketes archon
Sept.-Oct. 332 Siege of Gaza
A. II. 26. 1-27. 7
D. XVII. 48. 7. Siege of two months
Invasion of Egypt
A. III. 1. 1-5
Founding of Alexandria
A. III. 2. 1,2
Submission of Cyrene
D. XVII. 49. 2
Spring 331 Departure from Egypt
A. III. 6. 1. At the beginning of spring
Spartan victory over Macedonians in the Peloponnesus
Aeschines, Against Ktesiphon 165
331/0 Aristophanes archon
July-Aug. 331 Crossing of the Euphrates at Thapsacus
A. III. 7. 1. Hekatombaion
Sept. 331 Crossing of the Tigris
A. III. 7.5
Sept. 20, 331 Eclipse of the moon
A. III. 7. 6
P. Alexander 31. 4, Boedromion
Oct. 1. 331 Battle of Gaugamela
A. III. 8. 1-15. 7. Aristophanes archon. Pyanepsion (in
error)
P. Alexander 31. 4. On the 11th day following the eclipse

P. Camillus 19. 3. Boedromion 25
Spartans beaten at Megalopolis
D. XVII. 63
Surrender of Babylon
A.III. 16.3,4
Stay of over 30 days in Babylon
D. XVII. 64. 4
Surrender of Susa
A. III. 16. 6, 7. Journey of 20 days
Conquest of Persis
A. III. 17. 1-18. 10
1o2 ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Jan.-May 330 Stay in Persepolis
P. Alexander 37. 3. He spent four months there3
Conquest of Paraetacae
A. III. 19. 2
Arrival at Ecbatana
A. III. 19.5
Conquest of Hyrcania
A. III. 19. 7
March to Rhagae
A. III. 20.2
330/29 Aristophon archon
July 33 Death of Darius
A. III. 22. 2. Aristophon archon. Hekatombaion
March to Zadracarta
A. III. 23. 6-25.1
Campaign in Parthia and Aria
A. III. 25. 1, 2
Bessus proclaimed king in Bactria
A. III. 25. 3
Revolt and reduction of Aria
A. III. 25. 5, 6
Foundation of Alexandria in Aria
Pliny, Natural History VI, 92, 93. The date is not given
Execution of Philotas and Parmenio
A. III. 26. 1-4
Reduction of Drangiana and Gedrosia

A. III. 28. 1
Conquest of the Arachoti
A. III. 28. 1
Mid Nov. 330 Through the Paropamisadae to the Caucasus (Hindu Rush)
S. XV. 2. 10. At the setting of the Pleiades
Foundation of Alexandria
A. III.28. 4
Spring 329 Crossing the Hindu Kush
A. III. 28. 9. Deep snow
Capture of Aornos and Bactra
A. III. 29. 1
Capture of Bessus
A. III. 30. 3-5
103
Late spring 329
329/8
Winter 329/8
328/7
Winter 328/7
Spring 327
Summer 327
327/6
Reduction of seven Bactrian strongholds
A. IV. 2. 1-3. 5. The winter water courses were low
Foundation of Alexandria Eschata
A. IV. 1. 3:4. 1
Pliny N. H. VI. 49
Kephisophon archon
Victory over the Scythians across the Tanais
A. IV. 4. 1-9
Defeat by Spitamenes and Scythian allies
A. IV. 5. 2-6. 5
Winter quarters at Zariaspa (Bactra)
A. IV. 7. 1
Campaign in Sogdiana
A. IV. 15. 7-17. 7. As there are no indications of dates or
duration, I have assumed that the campaign occupied
all the time from the winter of 329/8 to that of 328/7
Euthykritos archon

Campaign in Sogdiana
A. IV. 15. 7. 1-17. 17
Whiter quarters in Nautaca
A. IV. 18. 2
Reduction of the Rock of Sogdiana
A. IV. 18. 4-19. 4. The beginning of spring
Marriage of Alexander and Roxane
A. IV. 19. 5
Surrender of the Rock of Chorienes in Paraetacene
A. IV. 21. 1-1o
Crossing the mountains to India
A. IV. 22. 3. When spring was over
S. XV. 1.17. After the setting of the Pleiades
Hegemon archon
Alliance with the king of Taxila
A. IV. 22. 6. Taxiles
D. XVII. 86. Mophis, Taxiles' son and successor
Conquest of the country to the Indus
A. IV, 24.1-30. 9
Winter 327/6 Winter quarters in the mountains
S. XV. 1. 17
Spring 326 Descent into the plain
S. XV. 1. 17. At the beginning of spring
Crossing the Indus and arrival at Taxila
A. V. 7. 1-8. 3
Apr. 326 March to the Hydaspes
A.V. 8.3
S. XV. 1. 17. The first rain at Taxila. Hogarth, Philip and
Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897, p. 293
Apr.-May 326 Victory over Porus
A. V. 8. 4-19. 3. Hegemon archon. Munychion. Hogarth,
1. c., who will not use Arrian's dates by months, puts
the battle in mid-summer on the basis of indications of
weather in S. XV. 1. 17
Foundations of Nicaea and Bucephela
A. V. 19.4
Campaign against the younger Porus
A. V. 20. 1-24. 8
Capture and destruction of Sangala
A. V. 24. 4-8
Refusal of the army to cross the Hyphasis
A. V.28.1-4
326/5 Chremes archon
Return to the Hydaspes
A. V. 29.1-3

Early Nov. 326 Start down the river
A. VI. 3. 1-5
S. XV. 1. 17. A few days before the setting of the Pleiades
Hogarth, p. 293
Campaign against the Malli
A. VI. 6. 1-11.2
Revolt in Bactria and Sogdiana
D. XVII. 99. 5
325/4 Antikles archon
Early Aug. 325 Arrival at Pattala
A. VI. 17. 5
S. XV. 1.17. At about the time of the rising of the Dog
Star; the trip took 10 months
P. Alexander 66. 1. The trip took 7 months. This would
agree better with the meteorological data
Hogarth, p. 294, n. 1
Departure from Pattala
A. VI. 21.3
Sept. 325 Departure of Nearchus with the fleet
A. Indica 21. 1. Kephisodoros archon (in error) Boedromion
20
March through Gedrosia and Carmania
A. VI. 21. 3-28. 4
News of the murder of the Satrap of India
A. VI. 27. 2
Meeting of Alexander and Nearchus
A. VI. 28. 5
Arrival at Pasagardae
A. VI. 29. 1-1
Arrival at Persepolis
A. VI. 30. 1-3
Arrival at Susa
A. VII. 4. 1
Flight of Harpalus
D. XVII. 108.6. On the chronology of the flight of Harpalus
see E. Badian "Harpalus" JHS 1961, pp. 42 f.

Arrival of Nearchus at Susa
A. VII. 5. 6
Mutiny at Opis
A. VII. 8. 1-11.9
324/3 Hegesias archon
July 324 Decree restoring the exiles sent to Greece
D. XVII. 109. 1. Read at the Olympic Games
Stay in Ecbatana
A. VII. 14. 1
Conquest of the Cossaeans
A. VII. 15.1-3
Arrival at Babylon
A. VII. 16. 5
1o6
ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
June 13, 323
323/2
Aug. 323
March 322
322/1
Aug. 6, 322
Death of Alexander
A. VII. 28. 1. Hegesias archon. Age 32 years, 8 months
Reign 12 years, 8 months
P. Alexander 76. 4. Daesius 28 according to the Ephem-
erides
P. op. cit., 75. 4. Daesius 30 according to Aristobulus
Kephisodoros archon
Compromise of the generals: Philip Arrhidaeus king; Perdic-
cas regent
D. XVIII. 2. 1-4. Kephisodorus archon
Division of the satrapies and offices
D. XVIII. 3. 1-5
Birth of Alexander, son of Roxane; made king with Philip
A. Post Alexandrum FGH 156. 1. 9
Justin XIII. 2. 5
Revolt of the Greeks in the eastern provinces and its sup-
pression
D. XVIII. 4. 8; 7. 1-9
Expulsion of the Macedonian garrison by Rhodes

D. XVIII. 8. 1
Beginning of the Lamian war against Antipater
D. XVIII. 9. 1-n. 5
Drawn battle in Thrace between Lysimachus and Seuthes
D. XVIII. 14. 2-4
Reinforcement of Antipater
D. XVIII. 14. 4, 5
Raising of the siege of Lamia; retirement of Antipater
D. XVIII. 15.1-7
Perdiccas' conquest of Cappadocia
D. XVIII. 16. 1-3
Macedonian naval victory at Amorgus
Parian Chronicle. Kephisodorus archon
T. Walek "Operations navales pendant la Guerre lamia-
que" Revue de Philologie 1924, pp. 27f.
Philokles archon
Antipater's victory at Crannon
D. XVIII. 17.1-5
P. Camillus 19. 5. Mategeitnion 7
107
. 18
Spring 321
321/0
Winter 321/0
320/19
319/8
Macedonian garrison in Athens
D. XVIII. 18. 5, 6
P. Camillus 19. 6 Boedromion 20
Ptolemy's annexation of Cyrene
D. XVIII. 21. 9
Death of Craterus in battle with Eumenes in Asia Minor
D. XVIII. 30. 1-32. 4
Assassination of Perdiccas on campaign against Ptolemy
D. XVIII. 33. 1-36. 7
Archippos archon
Surrender of Tyre to Attains, Perdiccas' brother-in-law
D. XVIII. 37. 3, 4
Redistribution of offices at Triparadeisos in Syria
Antipater the kings' guardian
D. XVIII. 39. 5-7
Return of Antipater with the kings to Macedonia
D. XVIII. 39. 7
A. Post Alexandrum FGH 156. 11. 45
Eumenes in winter quarters at Celaenae

P. Eumenes 8. 4
Neachmos archon
Victory of Antigonus over Eumenes at Orcynii in Cappadocia
D. XVIII. 40. 6-8
P. Eumenes g. 2
Eumenes besieged in Nora in Cappadocia
D. XVIII. 41. 1
Antigonus' campaign in Pisidia
D. XVIII. 44. 1-47. 5
Apollodoros archon
Death of Antipater. Polyperchon the kings' guardian
Cassander second in command
D. XVIII. 48. 4, 5
Raising of the siege of Nora
D. XVIII. 53. 5. The siege lasted a year
Conquest of Syria by Ptolemy
D. XVIII. 43. 1, 2
Parian Chronicle. Apollodoros archon
Antigonus' conquests in Asia Minor
D. XVIII. 52. 5, 8
Edict of freedom for the Greek cities issued by Polyperchon
in the name of the kings
D. XVIII. 56. 1-8
Eumenes' levy against Antigonus in Cilicia
D. XVIII. 61. 4, 5
War of the eastern satraps against Peithon
D. XIX. 14. 1-4
Occupation of the Peiraeus by Cassander
D. XVIII. 68. 1
Democratic governments reestablished in the Peloponnesus
D. XVIII. 69. 3, 4
Polyperchon's unsuccessful siege of Megalopolis
D. XVIII. 70. 1-72. 1
318/7 Archippos archon
Command of the sea won by Antigonus
D. XVIII. 72. 2-9
Adhesion of the cities of Greece to Cassander
D. XVIII. 74. 1
March east of Eumenes, followed by Antigonus
D. XVIII. 73. 1, 2
Winter 318/7 Their winter quarters in Mesopotamia
D. XIX. 12. 1; 15. 6
Hostility of Seleucus to Eumenes
D. XIX. 12. 1-13. 5

Junction of Eumenes with the eastern satraps
D. XIX. 14. 4-15. 1
317/6 Demogenes archon
Alliance of Antigonus, Seleucus, and Peithon
D. XIX. 17. 2
July 317 Victory of Eumenes over Antigonus at the Cophrates river
D. XIX. 18. 1-7. The time of the Dog Star's rising
Sept. 317 Killing of Philip III by Olympias
D. XIX. 11. 5. He had reigned 6 years, 4 months
Drawn battle between Antigonus and Eumenes in Paraeta-
cene
D. XIX. 30. 1-31.5; 34.7
Dec. 317 Battle in Gabiene. Betrayal and death of Eumenes
D. XIX. 37. 3; 42. 1-44. 2. About the time of the winter
solstice
Antigonus' winter quarters in Media
D. XIX. 44. 4
Antigonus' execution of Peithon
D. XIX. 46. 1-4
Antigonus' distribution of the eastern satrapies
D. XIX. 48. 1-5
Cassander's capture of Pydna, Pella and Amphipolis
D. XIX. 50. 5-8
Founding of Cassandreia
D. XIX. 52. 2
Seleucus' flight from Antigonus to Ptolemy
D. XIX. 55. 5; 56. 1
316/5 Demokleides archon
Rebuilding of Thebes
D. XIX. 54. 1-3. In the 20th year after its destruction
Nov. 316 Antigonus' winter quarters in Cilicia
D. XIX. 56. 5. After the setting of Orion
Coalition of Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander against
Antigonus
D. XIX. 57. 2
Summer 315 Building of Antigonus' fleet in Phoenicia, Cilicia and Rhodes
D. XIX. 58. 1-6. He planned to launch it "that same
summer"

His capture of Joppa and Gaza
D. XIX. 59. 2
His successes in the Peloponnesus and Asia Minor
D. XIX. 60. 1-4
Edict of freedom for the cities of Greece
D. XIX. 61. 3
Beginning of the siege of Tyre
D. XIX. 61. 5
Counter-edict by Ptolemy
D. XIX. 62. 1
315/4 Praxiboulos archon
Campaigns in the Peloponnesus
D. XIX. 63. 1-64. 3
11o
ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
314/3
Winter 314/3
313/2
Winter 313/2
Spring 312
Alliance of Polyperchon's son Alexander with Cassander
D. XIX. 64. 4
Naval victory of Ptolemy's admiral Polycleitos
D. XIX. 64. 5-7
Nikodoros archon
Antigonus' capture of Tyre
D. XIX. 61. 5. The siege lasted a year and 3 months
Cassander's unsuccessful attempt to conquer Caria
D. XIX. 68. 5-7
Antigonus' march across the Taurus, leaving his son
Demetrius in Syria
D. XIX. 69. 1, 2
Antigonus' winter quarters at Celaenae
D. XIX. 69. 2
Lysimachus' victory over a coalition of cities, Thracians and
Scythians
D. XIX. 73. 1-1o
Successes of Antigonus' general Telesphoros in the Pelopon-
nesus
D. XIX. 74. 1, 2

Antigonus' capture of Miletus, Tralles and Caunus
D. XIX. 74. 3-5
Theophrastos archon
Capture of Chalcis, Thebes and Phocian cities by Antigonus'
general Ptolemaeus
D. XIX. 78. 2-5
Ptolemy's pacification of Cyprus and raids in Syria
D. XIX. 79. 4-7
Antigonus' winter quarters in Asia Minor
D. XIX. 77. 7
Defeat of Demetrius at Gaza by Ptolemy and Seleucus
D. XIX. 80. 5; 83. 3-84. 8. The troops were brought out
of winter quarters
Recovery of Babylon by Seleucus
D. XIX. 90. 1-91. 5
His conquest of Susiane and Media
D. XIX. 92. 1-5
312/1 Polemon archon
Antigonus' recovery of Syria and Phoenicia
D. XIX. 93. 7-94. 1
Oct. 7, 312 Beginning of the Seleucid Era in Syria. Dios 1 = Pyanop-
sion 1
Apr. 3, 311 Beginning of the Seleucid Era in Babylonia. Nissanu 1 =
Munychion 2
Beloch IV. 2, pp. 5of.
Demetrius' raid on Babylon
D. XIX. 100. 5-7
Peace treaty of Antigonus with Cassander, Ptolemy and
Lysimachus; Seleucus not included
D. XIX. 105. 1
R. H. Simpson "The Historical Circumstances of the Peace
of 311" JHS 1954, pp. 25-31
311/0 Simonides archon
War between Antigonus and Seleucus in Babylonia
CAH VI, p. 493
Founding of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris
Beloch IV. 1, p. 146, n. 2
310/09 Hieromnemon archon
Assassination of Roxane and Alexander IV by Cassander
D. XIX. 105. 2
Founding of Antigoneia in the Troad
S. XIII. 1.33

Louis Robert, Etudes de Numismatique grecque, Paris, 1951,
PP.5f.
309/8 Demetrios of Phaleron archon
Alliance between Cassander and Polyperchon
D. XX. 28. 2, 3
Winter 309/8 Winter quarters of Polyperchon in Locris
D. XX. 28. 4
Founding of Lysimacheia
D. XX. 29. 1
Surrender of Corinth and Sicyon to Ptolemy
D. XX. 37. 2
Treaty between Ptolemy and Cassander in Greece
D. XX. 37. 2
H2 ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
308/7 Kairimos archon
June 11, 307 Freeing of Athens by Demetrius
P. Demetrius 8. 3. Thargelion 25
307/6 Anaxikrates archon
Taking and destruction of Munychia by Demetrius
D. XX. 45. 5-46. 1
Founding of Antigoneia-on-the-Orontes
D. XX. 47. 5
Naval victory of Demetrius over Ptolemy off Salamis in Cyprus
D. XX. 51. 1-52. 3
306/5 Koroibos archon
Taking of the title of king by Antigonus and Demetrius
D. XX. 53. 2
Oct.-Nov. 306 Failure of their expedition against Egypt
D. XX. 73. 1-76. 6. The time of the setting of the Pleiades
Beginning of Demetrius' siege of Rhodes
D. XX. 83.1-88. 9
305/4 Euxenippos archon
Taking of the title of king by Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Seleucus
and Cassander
Parian Chronicle between archons Koroibos and Pherekles
D. XX. 53. 3, 4
P. Demetrius 18.1,2 says that Cassander did not use the title
on his letters; his bronze coins bear it, however, HN, p. 228
End of the siege of Rhodes. Treaty with Demetrius
D. XX. 99. 1-1oo. 1. The siege had lasted a year

304/3 Pherekles archon
Demetrius' campaign in central Greece
D. XX. 100. 6
His capture of Sicyon
D. XX. 102. 2
His capture of Corinth
D. XX. 103.1-3
His campaign in the Peloponnesus
D. XX. 103. 4-7
Revival of the Hellenic Confederacy at the Isthmus
P. Demetrius 25. 3
IG. IV. 1, 68
Treaty of Seleucus with Sandrokottos
Justin XV. 4. 20, 21
303/2 Leostratos archon
Alliance of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Seleucus
against Antigonus
D. XX. 106. 2-5
Cassander's invasion of Thessaly
D. XX. 107. 1
Lysimachus' invasion of Asia
D. XX. 107. 2
Successful campaign of his general Prepalaus in Asia Minor
D. XX. 107. 3-5
302/1 Nikokles archon
Demetrius and Cassander stale-mated in Greece
D. XX. 11o. 2-6
Demetrius' raids on the coast of Asia
D. XX. 111. 3
Antigonus' march north from Syria
D. XX. 108. 2, 3
Winter 302/1 Antigonus' and Lysimachus' winter quarters in Asia Minor
D. XX. 109. 4-6
Ptolemy's campaign in Syria
D. XX. 113. 1
301/0 Klearchos archon
Battle of Ipsus. Defeat and death of Antigonus

P. Demetrius 29. 3-5
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL WORKS
Ernest Babelon, Les Perses achiminides, Paris, 1893.
Ernest Babelon, Les Rois de Syrie, Paris, 1890.
Ernest Babelon, Traite des Monnaies grecques et romaines. Part II, Vols. 1-4, Paris, 1907,
1910, 1914, 1932.
Helmut Berve, Das Alexanderreich aiif Prosopographischer Grundlage, Munich, 1926.
Joseph Eckhel, Doctrina Numoritm Veterum, Part I, Vol. 2, Vienna, 1839.
Hugo Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen von Makedonia und Paeonia II, Berlin, 1935.
Percy Gardner, A History of Ancient Coinage 700-300 B. C., Oxford, 1918.
Curt Gebaur, "Alexanderbildniss und Alexandertypus" Mitteilungen des deutschen archd-
ologischen Institut, Athenische Abteilung, 1938/9, pp. 1-106.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, Oxford, 1911.
G. F. Hill, Historical Greek Coins, London, 1906.
Gerhard Kleiner, Alexanders Reichmunzen, Berlin, 1949.
L. Muller, Numismatique d'Alexandre le Grand, Copenhagen, 1855.
E. T. Newell, The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints from Seleucus I to Antiochus III,
New York, 1938.
E. T. Newell, The Coinage of the Western Seleucid Mints from Seleucus I to Antiochus III,
New York, 1941.
E. T. Newell, The Coinages of Demetrius Poliorcetes, Oxford, 1927.
E. T. Newell, The Reattribution of Certain Alexander Tetradrachms, New York, 1912.
E. T. Newell, Royal Greek Coin Portraits, New York, 1937.
S. P. Noe, A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards, ed. 2, New York, 1937.
Charles Seltman, Greek Coins, London 1933 and 1955.
MINTS
Abdera

Muller, pp. 155-157.
Abydus
Demetrius, p. 74, no. 63.
Thompson-Bellinger, pp. 16f.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos. 150-158, 224-229.
Acanthus
Muller, p. 138.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 115
Acroathon
Miiller, p. 141.
Aegae
Miiller, p. 310.
Aegina
Miiller, pp. 225!.
Ake
G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Alexandrine Coinage of Phoenicia" Nomisma IV, 1909, pp. 1-15.
G. K. Jenkins, "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous" MN 1960, pp. 27f.
C. F. Lehmann, "Der erste syrische Krieg und die Weltlage um 275-272 v. Christ" Klio
1903, pp. 49-547. esp. pp. 51 f., n. 4.
Miiller, pp. 303 f.
Demanhur, pp. 55 f, 134-139, nos. 3769-3975.
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Ph6nice" JIAN 1901, pp. 193-232.
Aldbanda
Miiller, pp. 257f.
SNG Berry Collection I, no. 319.
Alexandria in Egypt
G. K. Jenkins, "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous," p. 24.
Miiller, pp. 319f
Demanhur, pp. 64, 144-147, nos. 4610-4826.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos. 186-189, 299.
Alexandria Troas
Miiller, pp. 236 f.

WSM, p. 340. Cf. Seyrig, "Parion au 3e Siecle avant notre Ere," p. 622 and n. 82.
Amathus
Demanhur, pp. 44f., 108-110, nos. 2683-2714.
Amphipolis
Miiller, pp. 127-134.
Demetrius, p. 102.
Demanhur, pp. 26-32, 65-71, nos. 1-1582.
Kyparissia, pp. 9-11, 15-17, nos. 16-30.
Andritsaena, pp. 5-8, nos. 1-32.
Antigoneia on the Or antes
WSM, pp. 84f., nos. 1-5.
n6 ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Antiock in Caria
Antioch in Pisidia
Aphytis
Miiller, pp. 142 f.
Apollonia on Athos
Miiller, p. 141.
Apollonia in Thrace
Miiller, p. 180.
A pter a
Miiller, p. 230.
Aradus
E. Babelon, "Aradus" RN 1891, pp. 283-314.
G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Alexandrine Coinage of Phoenicia," pp. 1-15.
J. G. Milne, "The Coinage of Aradus in the Hellenistic Period" Iraq V, 1938, pp. 12-21.
Demanhur, pp. 50-52, 119-121, nos. 3269-3585.
Andritsaena, p. 12, nos. 63-67.
WSM, p. 192.
J. Rouvier, "Le Monnayage alexandrin d'Arados" RN 1900, pp. 36-52, 137-151.
J. P. Six, "Observations sur les Monnaies phe"niciennes" NC 1877, pp. 177-239.
Thompson-Bellinger, p. 12, nos. 63-67.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos. 269-273.
Argos
Sicyon, p. 35.

S. P. Noe, "The Corinth Hoard of 1938" MN 1962, pp. 37-39.
Ascalon
C. F. Lehmann, "Der erste syrische Krieg und die Weltlage um 275-272 v. Christ," pp.
496-547, esp. p. 517, n. 1.
Miiller, pp. 308 f.
Aspendus
Assus
Miiller, pp. 237 f.
Astypalaea
Miiller, p. 261.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 117
Atarnea
Miiller, p. 238.
Athens
Kleiner, Alexanders Reichmiinzen, pp. 31 f.
Attuda
Miiller, pp. 261 f.
Azotus
Miiller, p. 308.
Babylon
N. Breitenstein, "Studies in the Coinage of the Macedonian Kings" Ada Archaeologica
1942, pp. 242-258, esp. 252-256.
G. F. Hill, BMC Arabia, pp. cxli-cxlviii, 176-187, 191.
Sir Henry Howorth, "Some Coins attributed to Babylon by Dr. Imhoof-Blumer" NC
1904, pp. 1-38.
F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Die Miinzstatte Babylon zur Zeit der Makedonischer Satrapen und
des Seleukos Nikator" NZ 1895/6, pp. 1-26.
G. K. Jenkins, "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous, " p. 28.
Demanhur, pp. 57-64, 140-143, nos. 3980-4609.
Andritsaena, pp. 13-15, 20, nos. 74-83.
J. P. Six, "Monnaies grecques in6dites et incertaines" NC 1898, pp. 193-245.
J. P. Six, "Le Satrap Mazzaios" NC 1884, pp. 97-159.
Berytus
Muller, p. 310.
Demanhur, pp. 53, 126, no. 3653.
Botrys
Byblus

Muller, p. 310.
Muller, p. 310.
Demanhur, pp. 52, 122-125, nos. 3586-3652.
Andritsaena, pp. I2f., nos. 68-71.
Cabyle
T. Gerassimov, "The Alexandrine Tetradrachms of Cabyle in Thrace" Centennial Publi-
cation of the American Numismatic Society, pp. 273-277.
T. Gerassimov, "Rare Coins of Thrace" NC 1957, pp. 1-5.
G. K. Jenkins, "Recent Acquisitions of Greek Coins by the British Museum" NC 1959,
pp. 23-45.
Calchedon
Kurt Regling, "Neue Konigstetradrachmen von Istros und Kallatis" Klio 1929, p. 298.
Callatis
Muller, pp. 181 f.
Kurt Regling, "Neue Konigstetradrachmen von Istros und Kallatis," pp. 292-302.
G. Severeanu, "Consideratiuni asupra Tetradrahmelor batute in Kallatis" Buletinul so-
cietatii numismatice romane 1924, pp. 20-29.
Cardia
Carne
G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Alexandrine Coinage of Phoenicia," p. 5.
Demanhitr, pp. 50, 117-119, nos. 3267f
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Phe'nice," pp. 64-66.
Carrhae
WSM, pp. 40 f.
Chalcis
Muller, p. 210.
Demetrius, p. 139, n. 4.
Chios
N. Breitenstein, "Studies in the Coinage of the Macedonian Kings" Ada Archaeologica,
pp. 242-258.
P. Gardner, "The Financial History of Ancient Chios" JHS 1920, pp. 160-173.
Muller, pp. 252 f.
Thompson-Bellinger, p. 40.

Cilicia
Citium
E. T. Newell, "Some Cypriote Alexanders" NC 1915, pp. 294-322.
Demanhur, pp. 43, 1o6f., nos. 2545-2666.
Andritsaena, p. u, no. 59.
Clazomenae
Muller, pp. 244 f.
Cnidus
Muller, pp. 258 f.
Coela
Muller, pp. 166f.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 119
Colone
Muller, p. 237.
Colophon
Thompson-Bellinger, pp. 20-22.
Commagene
Muller, p. 286.
Cos
B. V. Head, BMC Caria, p. cix, 200.
Muller, pp. 259 f.
Crithote
Muller, p. 162.
Curium
D. H. Cox, Coins from the Excavations at Curium, 1932-1953, New York, 1959, pp. 3, 90f.
Cydonia
Muller, pp. 230 f.
Cyme
Muller, pp. 239 f.
Cyprus
D. Pierides, "On the Coins of Nicocreon, one of the Kings of Cyprus" NC 1869, pp. 19-24.
E. J. Seltman, "Rare Gold Staters with Types of Alexander III" NZ 1913, p. 209. Cf.
E. T. Newell "Some Cypriote Alexanders," p. 313, n. 21.
Cyrene
BMC Cyrenaica, pp. cxxxviii-cxl.

Muller, pp. 320 f.
Cyzicus
Muller, pp. 233 f.
Damascus
G. F. Hill, JHS 1923, p. 159, n. 8 quoting Newell.
Demanhur, pp. 48-50, H5f., nos. 2898-3266.
Dionysopolis
Muller, p. 171.
Dioscurides
G. Severeanu, "Tetradrachme d'Alexandre le Grand f rappee par Dioscurides" Buletinul
societatii numismatice romane 1924, pp. 29-31.
Dium in Pieria
Miiller, pp. 148 f.
Ecbatana
ESM, pp. 163-179.
Ephesus
Miiller, pp. 248!.
Demetrius, p. 66, no. 59.
Thompson-Bellinger, pp. 40!.
Epidaurus
Paul Lambros, Nonfancrra TTJS Nfjaou 'AuopyoO, Athens, 1870, p. 19.
Erythrae
Miiller, pp. 245 f.
Euboea
Heraclea in Ionia
Miiller, pp. 250 f.
Heraclea Pontica
Heraclea Sintica
Heracleum in Pieria
Miiller, pp. 149 f.
Hierapolis-Bambyce
Demanhur, pp. 48, 114!., no. 2897.

Histiaea
Miiller, pp. 21of.
India
B. V. Head, "The Earliest Graeco-Bactrian and Graeco-Indian Coins" NC 1906, pp. 1-16.
A. von Sallet, "Die Nachfolger Alexanders d. G. in Baktrien und Indien" ZfN 6, p. 285.
R. B. Whitehead, "The Eastern Satrap Sophytes" NC 1943, pp. 60-72.
Istros
Kurt Regling, "Neue Konigstetradrachmen von Istros und Kallatis," pp. 292-302.
Itanus
Miiller, p. 229.
Joppa
Miiller, p. 307.
Lamia
Miiller, p. 187.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 121
Lampsacus
Agnes Baldwin Brett, "The Gold Staters of Lampsakos" American Journal of Numismatics
1924, pp. 1-76, esp. 65-72.
Muller, p. 235.
Demanhur, pp. 36, 82-87, nos. 1687-1747.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos, 145-149, 214-223.
Laodicea-ad-Mare
Muller, pp. 289 f.
Laodicea in Thrace
Muller, p. 146.
Larissa in Troad
Limyra
Muller, p. 276.
Locris
Muller, p. 208.
Lysimacheia
Lyttos
Muller, p. 229.
Magnesia on the Maeander
Muller, pp. 251 f.
Thompson-Bellinger, pp. 23 f.

Magnesia in Thessaly
Mallns
Marathus
E. Babelon, "Monnaies de Marathus" RN 1888, pp. 497-528.
Muller, pp. 298 f.
WSM, pp. 194!.
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Phe*nice, "pp. 125-152.
Marium
E. T. Newell, "Some Cypriote Alexanders."
Demanhur, pp. 45, 111, no. 2715.
Maronea
Muller, pp. 158 f.
Megalopolis
S. P. Noe, "The Corinth Hoard of 1938" MN 1962, pp. 39-41.
von Prokesch-Osten, NZ 1869, p. 48.
D. M. Robinson, "The Hoard of Megalopolis" MN 1950, pp. 16f.
J. N. Svoronos, Eupripia ZocpiKoG 'EmBaupias, JIAN 1907, p. 36.
Melitaea
Mende
Muller, p. 144.
Mesembria
N. Breitenstein, "Studies in the Coinage of the Macedonian Kings," pp. 251 f.
Percy Gardner, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC 1886, p. 251.
T. Gerassimov, "Tresor de Tetradrachmes de Mesembria et d'Odessos" Bulletin de la SociiU
archeologique d Varna X, pp. 65-78.
Kurt Regling, "Neue Konigstetradrachmen von Istros und Kallatis," p. 296.
Methymna
Muller, p. 242.
Midaeum
Muller, pp. 263 f.
Miletus
Muller, pp. 249f
Demetrius, pp. 59-61.

Demanhur, pp. 37, 93-96, nos. 1751-1818.
Mylasa
Muller, pp. 256 f.
Askidil Akarca Les Monnaies qrecques de Mylasa, Paris, 1959, pp. 55-59.
Myra
Muller, p. 275.
Myriandrus
Muller, pp. 46-48, 112-114.
Myriandros.
Myrina
Muller, pp. 238 f.
Mytilene
Muller, pp. 241 f.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 123
Nagidus
Muller, pp. 285 f.
Demanhur, pp. 57, 139f., nos. 3976-3978.
Nisyrus
Muller, pp. 260f.
Odesstis
T. Gerassimov, "Tre'sor de Tetradrachmes de Mesembria et d'Odessos" Bulletin de la
Societt archtologique d Varna X, pp. 65-78.
B. Pick and Kurt Regling, Die Antiken Miinzen von Dacien und Moesien, Berlin, 1910, pp.
529-540.
Kurt Regling, "Neue Konigstetradrachmen von Istros und Kallatis," p. 296.
Paltus
Muller, p. 298.
Paphos
J. M. F. May, "The Alexander Coinage of Nikokles of Paphos" NC 1952, pp. 1-18.
E. T. Newell, "Some Cypriote Alexanders."
Demanhur, pp. 43f., 107f., nos. 2667-2682.
Parium
H. Seyrig, "Parion au 36 Siecle avant notre Ere" Centennial Publication of the American
Numismatic Society 1958, pp.6o3~625.
Pelagonia
Muller, p. 146.
Pella

Demanhur, pp. 32-34, 71-74, nos. 1583-1638.
Perga
G. Le Rider, Monnaies d Legende grecque et Monnaies des Rois d'fclymatde, Paris, 1960,
p. 25, n. 2.
Pergamum
F. Imhoof-Blumer, Die Miinzen der Dynastic von Pergamon, Berlin, 1884.
E. T. Newell, The Pergamene Mint under Philetaerus (NNM) 1936.
WSM, p. 317.
Perinthus
Muller, pp. 170 f.
Phalasarna
Muller, p. 231.
Pharsalus
Miiller, pp. 187 f.
Phaselis
Miiller, pp. 275 f.
Demanhur, pp. 37f., 96-102, nos. 1819-1973.
Andritsaena, pp. 9!., nos. 41-50.
Philadelphia
Miiller, pp. 308 f.
Philippi
Miiller, pp. 137!.
PhilomeUum
Miiller, pp. 266 f.
Phocaea
Miiller, pp. 242 f.
Phocis
Miiller, p. 209.
Phoenicia
R. Dussaud, "L'ere d'Alexandre le Grand en Phe"nicie" RN 1908, pp. 445-454.
J. Rouvier, "Nouvelles recherches sur 1'ere d'Alexandre le Grand en Ph6nicie" RN 1909,
pp. 321-354.
Priene
Miiller, p. 249.
Rhodes
BMC Caria, p. cix.
Churchill Babington, "On an unpublished Tetradrachm of Alexander III struck at Rho-

des with some Observations on the Rhodian symbol and other matters connected with
Rhodes" NC 1864, pp. 1-6.
Miiller, p. 260.
Salamis
G. Le Rider, RN 1961, pp. 9!.
Demetrius, pp. 19-25.
Demanhur, pp. 42, 105f., nos. 2436-2544.
Andritsaena, pp. 1of., no. 58.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos. 171, 268.
Salymbria
Miiller, pp. 169 f.
Samos
Percy Gardner, "Samos and Samian Coins" NC 1882, pp. 210-290.
Miiller, p. 254.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 125
Samothrace
Miiller, pp. 157 f.
Sardes
Demanhur, pp. 36-93, nos. 1748-1750.
Scione
Muller, p. 143.
Scythopolis
Muller, pp. 300 f.
Seleucia on the Tigris
ESM, p. 14.
Sestus
Muller, pp. 165!.
Sicyon
George Finlay, "Thoughts about the Coinage of the Achaean League" NC 1868, pp. 21-35.
F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Griechische Miinzen aus dem Museum in Klagenfurt und anderen
Sammlungen" NZ 1884, pp. 244-246.
G. K. Jenkins, "Recent Acquisitions of Greek Coins by the British Museum" NC 1959, p.31.
Demanhur, pp. 34f., 75-80, nos. 1649-1673.
Sicyon.
E. J. Seltman, "An unpublished Gold Stater of Sikyon" JIAN 1912, pp. 177-180.
SNG Berry Collection I, nos. 144, 213.
Side
Muller, pp. 270 f.

Demanhur, pp. 37f., 96-102, nos. 1819-1973.
Andritsaena, pp. gf., nos. 41-55.
Sidon
C. F. Lehmann, "Der erste syrische Krieg und die Weltlage um 275-272 v. Christ," pp.
496-547. esp. p. 517, n. 2.
Sidon and Ake.
Demanhur, pp. 53 f., 127-133, nos. 3656-3768.
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Phe"nicie," pp. 117-121.
Sigeum
MiUler, p. 235.
Sillyum
Muller, p. 270.
Sinope
G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Alexander Coinage of Phoenicia," pp. 6-10.
E. T. Newell, The Alexandrine Coinage of Sinope, New York, 1919.
Smyrna
Muller, pp. 243 f.
Soli
Muller, pp. 284 f.
Demanhur, pp. 45, 111f., nos. 2716-2718.
Sozusa
Muller, pp. 306 f.
Stratonos Pyrgos
Muller, p. 306.
Susa
E. S. G. Robinson, NC 1921, pp. 37f.
Sycaminum
Muller, pp. 300 f.
Synnada
Muller, pp. 262f
Tarsus
L. J. G., "Decouvertes et Nouvelles" Revue Archtlogique 1845, p. 178.

Muller, p. 280.
Tarsos.
Demetrius, p. 48.
Demanhur, pp. 39-42, 103-105, nos. 1974-2435.
J. P. Six, "Le Satrap Mazaios" JVC 1884, pp. 97-159.
Temnos
Muller, pp. 240 f.
Tenedos
F. Lenormant, "Note sur deux ateliers mone"taires d'Alexandre le Grand" RN 1863, pp.
169-175.
Muller, p. 255.
Teas
Percy Gardner, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC 1886, p. 151.
Muller, p. 246.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 127
Thompson-Bellinger, pp. 18f.
Terone
Miiller, p. 142.
Thebes
G. K. Jenkins, "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous." p. 27.
Miiller, pp. 209 f.
Therma
Thessalonica
Muller, p. 146.
Thrace
Traelium
Muller, pp. 134f
Tricca
Muller, pp. 188f.
Tyre
Muller, pp. 302 f.
E. T. Newell, Tyrus Rediviva, New York, 1923, pp. 1-23.
Demetrius, pp. 44 f.
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des villes de la Phe'nicie," pp. 276!
J. Rouvier, "L'ere d'Alexandre le Grand en Phe'nicie (note complementaire)" RN 1904,
pp. 239-251.

H. Seyrig, "Sur une pre"tendue ere Tyrienne" Antiquites syriennes 1957, pp. 93-98.
J. P. Six, "Observations sur les Monnaies pheniciennes," pp. 189-195.
Uranopolis
N. Breitenstein, "Studies in the Coinage of the Macedonian Kings" Ada Archaeologica
1942, pp. 248-251.
Xanthns
Muller, p. 275.
HOARDS
1765 J. Pellerin, Latakia Hoard Mdlange de diverses Medailles Vol. I, Paris, pp. 104-140.
1853/54 Charles T. Newton, (Communicated by W. S. W. Vaux) "A Hoard of Coins of
Alexander the Great, discovered near Patras in 1850" NC, pp. 29-37.
1865 W. H. Waddington, "Trouvailles de Saida et de Marmara" RN, pp. 1-28.
1871 R. H. Long, "Treasure-trove in Cyprus in Gold Staters" NC, pp. 229-234.
1905 G. Dattari, "Comments on a Hoard of Athenian Tetradrachms found in Egypt"
JIAN, pp. 103-114.
1907 J. N. Svoronos, EOprma Ioq>iKou 'EmSaupfas, JIAN, pp. 35-46.
1908 A. J. B. Wace, "A Hoard of Hellenistic Coins" Annual of the British School at Athens,
pp. 149-158.
1912 E. T. Newell, Reattribution of Certain Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great (Reprinted
from American Journal of Numismatics).
1921 E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards I. Introduction and Kyparissa (NNM 3).
1923 E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards II. Demanhur 7905 (NNM 19).
1923 E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards III Andritsaena (NNM 21).
1925 Archdologischer Anzeiger, p. 64.
1929 E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards IV Olympia (NNM 39).
1931 E. T. Newell, The Kuchuk Kohne Hoard (NNM 46).
1932 C. Lambert, "A Hoard of Phoenician Coins found on the Site of Ake" The Quarterly
of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine, pp. 10-20.
1934 E. T. Newell, A Hoard from Siphnos (NNM 64).
1947 E. S. G. Robinson, "The Tell El-Mashkuta Hoard of Athenian Tetradrachms" NC,
pp. 115-121.
1948 E. S. G. Robinson, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC, pp. 43-59.
1949 BCH "Chronique," p. 520.
1950 D. M. Robinson, "The Alexander Hoard of Megalopolis" MN 4, pp. 13-28.
1950 E. S. G. Robinson, "A 'Silversmith's Hoard' from Mesopotamia" Iraq, pp. 44-51.
1950/51 A. R. Bellinger, "An Alexander Hoard from Byblos" Berytus, pp. 37-49.
1952 D. M. Robinson, A Hoard of Silver Coins from Carystus (NNM 124).
1953 D. H. Cox, A Third Century Hoard of Tetradrachms from Gordion. Museum Mono-
graphs University Museum, Philadelphia.

1954 Margaret Thompson, "A Countermarked Hoard from Buyukfekmece" MN 6,
pp. H-34.
1955 Margaret Thompson and A. R. Bellinger, "Greek Coins in the Yale Collection IV:
a Hoard of Alexander Drachms" Yale Classical Studies, pp. 3-45.
1956 W. P. Wallace, The Euboean League and its Coinage (NNM 134), pp. 50-52, 59-61.
1958 P. R. Franke, "Zur Geschichte des Antigonos Gonatas und der Oitaioi. Ein Schatz-
fund griechischer Miinzen von Phayttos" Archaologischer Anzeiger, pp. 3862.
1960 G. K. Jenkins, "An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous" MN, pp. 17-37.
PERSIANS AND SATRAPS
R. P. Austin and M. N. Tod, "Athens and the Satraps' Revolt" JHS 1944, pp. 98-100.
E. Babelon, "Les Monnaies des Satrapes dans 1'Empire des Perses Achemenides" RN 1892,
pp. 227-328, 413-463.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 129
E. Babelon, Catalogue des Monnaies grecques de la Bibliotheque nationale. Les Perses
achimtnides Paris, 1893, pp. xx-xxiii.
O. Blau, "Aramaische Legenden auf Munzen athenischen Geprags" NZ 1872, pp. 181-184.
O. Blau, "Satrap Orontas" NZ 1876, p. 233.
O. Blau, "Barsine, Gemahlin Alexanders des GroBen" NZ 1876, pp. 234-237.
O. Blau, "Die achaemenideschen Feldzugmeister und ihre Munzen" NZ 1879, pp. I-52.
G. Dattari, "Comments on a Hoard of Athenian Tetradrachms found in Egypt" JIAN
jgoS. pp. 103-114.
H. Droysen, "Die Munzen der persischen Satrapen in Kleinasien" ZfN 1875, pp. 309-319.
Percy Gardner, "New Greek Coins of Bactria and India" NC 1887, pp. 177-184.
J. Hackin, "Repartition des Monnaies anciennes en Afghanistan" Journal asiatique
1935.
B. V. Head, The Coinage of Lydia and Persia from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the
Dynasty of the Achaemenidae, London, 1877.
G. F. Hill, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC 1921, pp. 161-178.
G. F. Hill, "Notes on the Imperial Persian Coinage" JHS 1919, pp. 116-129.
G. F. Hill, BMC Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia, pp. cxx-cxl, 148-175.
H. Howorth, "A Note on some Coins generally attributed to Mazaios, the Satrap of Cilicia
and Syria" NC 1902, pp. 81-87.
F. Imhoof-Blumer, "Antike griechische Munzen," Revue suisse 1913/4, p. 9.
C. M. Kraay, "Greek Coins recently acquired by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford" NC
1954, pp. 15 f.
G. Le Rider, "Le Tresor de Basra" Syria 1959, pp. 229-53.
M. A. Levy, "Die aremaische Legende auf einer Drachme athenischen Geprags" NZ 1871,
pp. 433 f.
A. H. Lloyd, "Hoarding of the Precious Metals in India" Transactions of the International

Numismatic Congress 1936, London, 1938.
H. de Luynes, Essai sur la Numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phtnice sous les Rois
achimlnides, Paris, 1846.
E. Merzbacher, "Satrapenmiinze mit arama'ischer Schrift" NZ 1871, pp. 427-429.
E. T. Newell, Miscellanea Numismatica, Cyrene to India (NNM 82), pp. 62-75, 82-88.
Tarsos, pp. 16-22.
E. J. Pilcher, "Philistine Coins from Lachish" Palestine Exploration Quarterly 1921,
pp. 134-151.
E. J. Rapson, "Note on Ancient Coins collected in Seistan by Mr. G. P. Tate I Coins
derived from Greek Sources" Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1904, pp. 673-675.
K. Regling, "Dareikos und Kroiseios" Klio 1915, pp. 91-112.
E. S. G. Robinson, "The Tell El-Mashkuta Hoard of Athenian Tetradrachms" NC 1947,
pp. 115-121.
E. S. G. Robinson, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum 1938-48" NC 1948,
pp. 43-59.
J. Rouvier, "Repartition chronologique des Monnayage des Rois pheniciens d'Arvad
avant Alexandre le Grand" JIAN 1898, pp. 263-298.
J. Rouvier, "Numismatique des Villes de la Phenice" JIAN 1901, pp. 35-63; 1902,
pp. 99-134, 229-284.
A. von Sallet, "Satrapenmunzen mit griechischer Inschrift" NZ 1871, pp. 419-426.
J. P. Six, "Monnaies grecques inedites et incertains" NC 1895, pp. 169-210.
J. P. Six, "Monnaies d'Hierapolis en Syrie" NC 1878, pp. 103-131.
J. P. Six, "Le Satrap Mazaios" NC 1884, pp. 97-159.
J. P. Six, "Monnaies grecques inedites et incertains" NC 1888, pp. 97-137.
J. P. Six, "Observations sur les Monnaies pheniciennes" NC 1877, pp. 221-239.
R. B. Whitehead, "The Eastern Satrap Sophytes" NC 1943, pp. 60-72.
Some Additions to Muller's Catalogue
1859 A. de Longperier, "Medailles grecques de la Collection Palin" RN, pp. 109-123.
1861 F. Lenormant, "Distatere d'or de Philippe II" RN, pp. 397-401.
1868 E. H. Bunbury, "On some unpublished Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great" NC,
pp. 309-320.
1869 Baron de Prokesch-Osten, "List des Alexandres de ma Collection qui ne se trouvent
pas dans le Catalogue de M. L. Muller" NZ, pp. 31-63.
1870 Baron de Prokesch-Osten, "Inedita meiner Sammlung 1870" NZ, pp. 268-270.
1871 Baron de Prokesch-Osten, "Suite des Monnaies inedites d'or et d'argent d'Alexandre
le Grand" NZ, pp. 51-72.
1883 E. H. Bunbury, "Additional Tetradrachms of Alexander the Great" NC, pp. 1-17.
1883 F. Imhoof-Blumer, Monnaies grecques, Amsterdam, pp. 118-123.
1886 P. Gardner, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC, pp. 249-264.
1890 W. Wroth, "Greek Coins acquired by the British Museum" NC, pp. 311-329.
1891 NC, p. 122. 8, pp. 26 f.
1893 NC, pp. 10 f.
1894 ATC, p. 3. 2.

1897 G. F. Hill, "Notes on Additions to the Greek Coins in the British Museum 1887-1896"
JHS, pp. 78-91.
1909 J. de Foville, "Les Monnaies grecques et romaines de la Collection Valton" RN,
pp. 305 f.
1913 E. J. Seltman, "Rare Gold Coins with Types of Alexander III" NZ, pp. 203-210.
1919 NC, p. 8.
1928 NC, pp. 7f.
1936 NC, p. 174.
INDEX TO THE PLATES
All coins are in the collection of The American Numismatic Society except PLATE I:
9-10 (British Museum), 12-13 (British Museum); PLATE II: 6 (Paris), 7 (British Museum)
PLATE I, PAGE
1. Philip. Gold Stater. 3, 7
2. Philip. Silver Tetradrachm. 7
3. Philip. Silver Tetradrachm. 7
4. Alexander. Distater. 26
5. Alexander. Stater. 3
6. Alexander. Stater. 26
7. Alexander. J Stater. 26
10. Alexander. Decadrachm. 27
11. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Amphipolis. 3. 18
12. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Phoenician Weight. 27, 75
13. Alexander. Decadrachm. 27, 79
14. Alexander. Didrachm. 27
15. Alexander. Drachm. 27
16. Alexander. Hemidrachm. 27
17. Alexander. Obol. 27
18. Alexander. Hemiobol. 27
22. Alexander. Tetrobol. 28

132
INDEX TO THE PLATES
25. Alexander. Diobol.
26. Alexander. Obol.
27. Alexander. Hemiobol.
28. Alexander. Quarter Obol.
29. Alexander. Bronze Unit.
30. Alexander. Bronze Half.
PLATE II, 1. Corinth. Silver Stater.
2. Ilium. Tetradrachm.
3. Ilium. Bronze Unit.
4. Ptolemy. Tetradrachm.
5. Lysimachus. Tetradrachm.
6. Flamininus. Gold Stater.
7. Agathocles of Bactria. Tetradrachm.
8. Macedonia. Bronze.
9. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Sidon.
10. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Babylon.
11. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Sidon.
12. Alexander. Tetradrachm. Sicyon.
13. Arcadia. Hemidrachm.
PLATE III, 1. Mazaeus. Shekel of Tarsus.
2. Alexander. Tetradrachm of Tarsus.
3. Mazaeus. Lion Stater. Babylon.
4. Mazaeus. Lion Stater. Babylon.
5. Mazaeus. Imitation Athenian Owl.
6. Alexander. Double Daric.

7. Persic Stater. Tarsus.
8. Persic Stater. Tarsus.
9. Aspeisas. Tetradrachm. Susa.
10. Posthumous Alexander. Tetradrachm. Myrina.
28
29
29
29
3,29
29
8, 17, 86
8, 17, 87
10
14
15
18
18,23
I9>23
19
22
49, 60
49
62
63
66
67
78
78
88
92
11. Posthumous Alexander. Tetradrachm. Miletus.
12. Posthumous Alexander. Tetradrachm. Rhodes.
13. Aesillas. Tetradrachm.
92
92
93

PLATES

15 16 17 18

|I

Ill
INDIAN.', i.

Essays On The Coinage of Alexander The Great / by Alfred R. Bellinger

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Essays On The Coinage of Alexander The Great / by Alfred R. Bellinger

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 20:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.

ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 20:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015008384649

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

PRINTED IN GERMANY AT J. J. AUGUSTIN, GLUCKSTADT

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 20:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015008384649

The King's Money i

The King's Finances 35

The Successors and the Cities 80

The Sequence of Events 94

Index to the Plates 131

interested a number of eminent numismatists. It is, of course, merely a part

mature, propounding questions which further evidence will presently resolve,

to me most important from the beginning of Alexander's coinage to the end of

I believe, have justified their existence.

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

As in other cases, I have submitted my ideas to my most valuable mentors:

E. S. G. Robinson, Henri Seyrig and Margaret Thompson, not always con-

vincing them but always profiting by their counsel.

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

Sidon and Ake

Bulletin de Correspondence hellenique.

Catalogues of Greek and Roman Coins in the British Museum.

Karl Julius Beloch, Griechische Geschichte IV. 1, Berlin, 1925.

Cambridge Ancient History.

Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum.

Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum.

Henri Cohen, Description historique des Monnaies de I'Empire romain.

E. T. Newell, The Coinages of Demetrius Poliorcetes.

E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards II. Demanhur 1905.

E. T. Newell, The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints from Seleucus I to

Hugo Gaebler, Die antiken Miinzen von Makedonia und Paeonia.

B. V. Head, Historia Numorum.

Journal of Hellenic Studies.

Journal international d'Archeologie numismatique.

Journal of Roman Studies.

E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards I. Introduction and Kyparissia Hoard.

Museum Notes American Numismatic Society.

E. T. Newell, Myriandros Kat'isson.

Numismatic Notes and Monographs American Numismatic Society.

S. P. Noe, A Bibliography of Greek Coin Hoards Ed. 2.

Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae.

E. T. Newell, Alexander Hoards IV. Olympia.

Revue des Etudes grecques.

Roman Imperial Coinage.

E.T. Newell, The Reattribution of Certain Tetradrachms ofAlexanderThe Great

Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum.

S. P. Noe, The Alexander Coinage of Sicyon arranged from Notes of Edward

THE KING'S MONEY

Alexander's coins are inscribed AAEEANAPOY or AAEEANAPOY

of the king in an immediate and personal sense. Recently the interesting

incidental and unforeseen consequence.2 It is interesting to guess at the process

types and weights were uniform.

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:43 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000055037786

2 R. M. Cook, "Speculations on the Origins of Currency," Historia 1958, pp. 257-262.

2 ESSAYS ON THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

those of Athens whose minting, as we know, was an important economic asset

the weight of the official non-monetary drachm is not likely to be successful.