Coinage in the ancient world, as it is today, is not only the primary means of transaction, but also a means of communication and dissemination of messages. The ancient Greeks, who were the first to establish the art of storytelling on a small metal surface, turned this small utilitarian object into a true work of art.
Our coin (inv. number N 514, 336-323 BC) is a chance find of unknown provenance, nevertheless in a very good state of preservation. It has a diameter of 1.8 cm and weighs 8.61 grams.
On the main view (obverse) a head of Athena is depicted in profile to the right. The goddess wears a Corinthian-type helmet with a serpent in relief. Her hair forms four twisted curls and her neck is adorned with a necklace. This type of Athena, common to the coin of Corinth, is a direct reference to the Corinthian League in 336 BC, where the new Macedonian king renewed the alliance that his father Philip II had made with the Greek city-states before leading the campaign against the Persian Empire.
On the reverse the goddess Nike (Victory) is depicted standing left, wearing a “peplos” belted just below the breast, and with her long wings half-spread. In the field of the coin, behind the figure, reads the inscription ALEXANDER and in front of her is a trident-head pointing downwards. Nike holds a laurel wreath in her right hand and a “stylis” (ship’s mast as emblem) in her left, a symbol of naval success, possibly of the seizure of Tyre by the Macedonian king in 332 BC.
Alexander in his monetary policy continued his father's bimetallism (minting gold and silver coins). In addition, he adopted the widely accepted Attic weighing standard for his silver tetradrachms, completed the monetary system with series of bronze coins and established dozens of mints in Greece and Asia, creating one of the most massive monetary productions in antiquity. The "Alexandrian tetradrachms" became the international currency of the time and continued to be minted up to two centuries after his death. Alexander's coins, like those of his father, became a model for imitation by Illyrians, Celts, and Thracians, and even by the inhabitants of Arabia.
Our gold coin, together with over 270 ancient artifacts from 14 Greek museums, is currently in China and will travel to major museums of the Asian country until the end of 2025, as part of the exhibition "The Greeks. Agamemnon to Alexander the Great”.
A similar one, N 1148-1, found in ancient Kassandreia (Nea Potidea of Chalkidike), can be seen in showcase 10 of the permanent exhibition "The Gold of Macedon".
