Alexander the Great

One of the “Great Men” of history, the fame of Alexander the Great has lasted over two thousand years. After his father, King Philip II of Macedon, united the country and paid the price of his own life, Alexander succeeded to the throne at the incredibly young age of 20. With a nation now ready to exert itself on the world stage, Alexander led the Macedonian army to glories not seen before or even since, conquering Persia, Egypt, the Middle East, and parts of Afghanistan and India – not to mention the other Greek city-states.

But Alexander wasn’t satisfied with just expanding his domain. He also envisioned a world where all the people and cultures of his empire would be unified, and set about doing this by simultaneously spreading Greek culture and adopting local customs. This new blossoming of world civilization under his successors is known as the Hellenistic Age, and it represents one of the great flowerings of art, literature, science, and yes, numismatics.

Often depicted as Heracles or even Zeus, Alexander’s portrait appears on the coins of numerous successor states and their ruling dynasties–such as the Seleucids in Persia and the Ptolemies in Egypt–to confer power and legitimacy. Alexander himself died in Babylon in 323 BCE at the age of 33, long before his effigy disappeared from Hellenistic coinage.

Profiles, Podcasts, and Numismatic News

Listen to CoinWeek’s ancient coin expert Mike Markowitz explain what made Alexander so “Great”in Episode #140 of the CoinWeek Podcast.

Read Russ Augustin’s profile of an innovative posthumous gold stater.

Learn about Alexander’s silver tetradrachms in an article by NGC Ancients.

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